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Gametime
The Buffalo Bills visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight at 7:30 pm EST. in a Saturday night primetime game to close out the preseason. After a close week 1 loss and an abysmal outing by the Bills’ depth in week 2, Sean McDermott hopes to see more out of the young rookies and veterans before the August 27th cut day, in which NFL teams must reduce their rosters to 53 players.
Bills That NEED To Show Up
KJ Hamler is nothing more than a return specialist at this point in his career, and assuming Brandon Codrington is safe coming off a solid season as the Bills’ return man last year, the only other spot up for grabs is the KR2 slot next to Codrington. As it stands, I believe Laviska Shenault Jr. has the spot, so Hamler needs to make some magic happen if he hopes to be on the roster next week.
Another WR I’d like to mention is Tyrell Shavers, whose had a pretty good preseason thus far. Shavers, an undrafted free agent out of San Diego State, was signed back in 2023 and has been a consistent practice squad player for Buffalo. This year, it appears his game has taken a leap, and if he shines again, perhaps he can maybe, just maybe claim the WR6 spot on the Bills depth chart.
Ray Davis, someone I thought could challenge James Cook this season, not for the starting spot, but for more reps per game, just isn’t having the camp or the preseason I expected. Hopefully, he can turn it around because in a limited time last season, he was fun to watch and aided the Bills, especially when James Cook was out.
The entire defense. I don’t care if all of the starters need to play, or if Jerry from Starbucks is in pads this week for his only career game ever. We cannot get dominated back-to-back weeks heading into the season versus the Baltimore Ravens in week 1. Many say preseason is meaningless, but it’s the only time for young players and depth pieces to get reps in and establish any momentum heading into the season. If we go 0-3 with two terrible losses, it’s going to raise some alarms for me, at least on the defensive side of the ball.
Buccaneers To Watch
Emeka Egbuka continues to shine and look like the elite prospect many believed him to be. With the Bills’ secondary in shambles, look for Egbuka to make a highlight or two in the first quarter as he prepares to open as the Buccaneers’ week 1 starter alongside Mike Evans, as Chris Godwin continues to recover from an injury.
Sean Tucker is another guy, like Ray Davis, who was fun to watch when filling in limited time last season, and while Bucky Irving is the clear starter, Tucker is challenging Rachaad White for RB2 reps. White has had a diminishing role in the Buccaneers offense after the Bucky Irving takeover, but it’s also due to Whites inability to have consistent performances.
Cut Day
Keep an eye out for my article next week, where I will break down some roster moves from the Buffalo Bills! I’ll go over the roster moves I didn’t expect and some players from other teams the Bills should target ahead of week 1.
Check out our most recent video on YouTube, where we discuss whether or not the New England Patriots can shock the NFL this season.
