Here’s something I bet you haven’t heard in a few minutes: the Buffalo Bills lack proven depth and talent at the wide receiver position. As a result, the competition for spots at the back end of the roster should be fierce this summer, with multiple players with completely different backgrounds and skill sets vying for the opportunity to make an NFL roster.
In the 75th edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we profile one of the young guns, an undrafted free agent with a stellar college resume.
Name: Cam Phillips
Number: 5
Position: WR
Height/Weight: 6’0” 201 lbs.
Age: 22
Experience: R
College: Virginia Tech
Draft: Signed by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent following the 2018 NFL Draft
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Phillips’s deal is standard for undrafted free agents—it’s a three-year pact worth a total of $1,710,000, with no money guaranteed. His cap hit for 2018 would be $480,000 if he were to make the team.
2017 Recap: Phillips capped off his stellar four-year career as a Hokie with an excellent senior campaign. He caught 71 passes for 964 yards (good for a career-high 13.6 yards per catch average) and 7 touchdowns.
Positional outlook: Phillips joins a crowded positional group that has little proven depth behind three presumed starters. After Kelvin Benjamin, Zay Jones, and Jeremy Kerley, the Bills have some veterans who have not produced much in their careers (Rod Streater, Kaelin Clay, and Andre Holmes), younger players from the practice squad (Quan Bray, Brandon Reilly, and Malachi Dupre), and other rookies (Austin Proehl, Ray-Ray McCloud, and Robert Foster) fighting for 2-4 roster spots.
2018 Offseason: Phillips has attended all offseason workouts to date, and he did receive time with the first team during minicamp. All of the wideouts on the roster saw first-team snaps, however, with Zay Jones still recovering from surgery.
2018 season outlook: Phillips is undersized, and while he was more productive in college than some of the other young receivers on the roster, he lacks the physical ability of a Proehl or a Foster. His lack of size combined with a dreadful Pro Day showing (he ran a 4.79-second 40-yard dash) led all 32 teams to pass on him multiple times. If he comes out and continues to be productive, however, his chance to make the team is just as good as most of the players on the receiver depth chart.