Buffalo

Bills

It’s a homecoming for Matakevich, who spent the first four years of his career with the Steelers (2016-2019) after being drafted by them in the seventh round. Matakevich has played in 129 games over his career, contributing primarily on special teams. He’s started just one game on defense and has never totaled more than 23 tackles in a season.

Cephus spent about a month with the Bills before the team opted to part ways with the former fifth-rounder. Cephus is returning from a season-long gambling suspension that sidelined him for all of 2023 and hopes to latch onto a 53-man roster in training camp. He’s caught 37 passes for 568 yards and four touchdowns over three seasons and wouldn’t be anything more than added depth if he were to make the Texans.

The Bills now have the entirety of their rookie class under contract. To no one’s surprise, Coleman has been one of the biggest post-draft risers in the fantasy landscape. He was drafted one pick outside of the first round and landed in a spot with a runway to being Josh Allen’s top receiver as a rookie. Coleman has already turned some heads early in the offseason program and could see his ADP continue to rise through minicamp and training camp.

Allen made the changes after struggling with arm pain in 2023. He used digital mapping technology to analyze his throws from last year in order to be as “efficient as possible with my throwing motion.” “I wouldn’t call it a complete overhaul of my throwing motion, but definitely some things to work on and clean up,” Allen said. “Anytime you go through something like that, sometimes it’s gonna feel really good, sometimes it’s not gonna feel really good.” Allen’s 2023 adjusted completion rate (76.6 percent) was the second highest of his NFL career. Only Brock Purdy had a higher completion rate over expected than Allen last year.

Haack signed with the Bills earlier this offseason after joining their practice squad in January. The veteran punter appeared in just one game for the Browns last season, attempting three punts while averaging 41.7 net yards per punt. He’s bounced around four different teams since being let go by the Dolphins after the 2020 season but has enough experience to catch on elsewhere and compete for a job in camp.

Steveson doesn’t have a football background but won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 125kg freestyle. The former Minnesota Golden Gopher compiled an 85-2 career record in college and won two NCAA titles in his weight class. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Steveson will play defensive line and first put on a pair of cleats a few weeks ago when he worked out for the Bills. We’ll see how this plays out in camp, but the 24-year-old champ faces an uphill battle to make the roster.

It might go without saying, but it’s further confirmation that the Bills have finally accepted that the team must let Allen cook if they are to go anywhere in the competitive AFC. As recently as last offseason, Buffalo coaches talked openly about limiting Allen’s rushing role and encouraging him to take easy check-down throws instead of riskier downfield shots. Allen was fantasy football’s top scoring quarterback during Brady’s time as Bills play caller in 2023. He logged at least eight rushing attempts in six of his final seven games — including 12 in a season-ending loss to the Chiefs — after dialing down his running in the first half of the season. A fully unleashed Allen is a frightening prospect for Buffalo opponents.

It’s just pad-less practices, but for a player hoping to contribute to a team more than he did in 2024, it’s a positive sign for Claypool, who entered the league as a second-round pick of the Steelers in 2020 but has already been labeled a journeyman. The fifth-year receiver is on his third team in two seasons and has totaled just 22 receptions for 217 yards and one touchdown since being traded to the Bears during the 2022 trade deadline. Claypool joined a rather thin receiver room earlier this offseason when he signed a one-year deal with the Bills. He joins veterans Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, along with rookie Keon Coleman, as new faces on the team. At just 25 years old, Claypool has a chance to contribute if he can get back to his rookie-year form in which he went for 62-873-9.

Hyde is once again mulling retirement but affirms “it’s Bills or retire.” He is reportedly in no rush to make a decision and the team has players in place should Hyde choose to hang up his cleats. He remains a capable coverage defender and was targeted at the position’s eighth-lowest rate last year (6.0%), ranked among safeties with at least 500 coverage snaps.

Valdes-Scantling, 29, who averaged 3.5 targets per game over 33 regular season games with the Chiefs over the past two seasons, will likely function as Josh Allen’s primary downfield pass catcher in the run-first Buffalo offense. MVS posted much higher Expected Points Added per target against Man Coverage last season (.38) than Zone (.09), and the Bills faced the most Man Coverage last season, so the team likely views him as a potential avenue to combat that defensive gameplan. MVS will once again occupy a boom-bust role in the Bills offense, catching passes from one of the game’s strongest-armed quarterbacks while Curtis Samuel and Dalton Kincaid eat up short-area targets.