According to a tweet from Kimberley Martin, the newest sports columnist at The Buffalo News, the Buffalo Bills were among four teams who claimed wide receiver Bruce Ellington on waivers.
Source: #Jets, #Bills, #Texans and #Chiefs all put in a claim for WR Bruce Ellington
— Kimberley A. Martin (@KMart_BN) August 5, 2017
Ultimately, Ellington was awarded to the New York Jets, who announced the signing by tweeting a picture of a player who wasn’t Ellington when announcing the signing. The team did eventually correct the error.
The claim suggests that the Bills are still attempting to improve their stable of wide receivers. The team signed veterans Andre Holmes and Rod Streater in the offseason, and while the former was handed a big contract, he has not had a great camp. The latter, on the other hand, signed for the veteran minimum and has been a player Sean McDermott called “one of the highlights of camp” thus far. The Bills have also shown interest in Anquan Boldin, although the Bills have also signaled that they won’t wait around forever for him to sign.
If nothing else, this attempted claim should signal to all of the wide receivers not named Sammy Watkins or Zay Jones that they need to do more to impress McBeane and company.