Buffalo Bills 2020 practice squad signing tracker

The day after NFL roster cut downs is when teams can start signing players to their practice squads. Several rules are in place to expand practice squads in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, so it’s going to be the Wild West out there. Players with tons of experience are going to be available for these spots for the first time.

The following have also been added to the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad per the team's Twitter account:

T Trey Adams

TE Nate Becker

OL Evan Boehm

TE Jason Croom

CB Dane Jackson

T Victor Salako

LB Andre Smith

RB Christian Wade

UDFA safety Josh Thomas is back on the Bills

DT Justin Zimmer is added to practice squad

DE Mike Love re-joins Bills practice squad

OL Brandon Walton latest addition to Bills practice squad

Former New York Giants DL Chris Slayton added to Bills taxi squad

QB Davis Webb is back on the practice squad

RB Antonio Williams will be joining practice squad

CB Cam Lewis re-joins the Buffalo practice squad

Duke Williams is sticking on the Bills practice squad

Bills keeping DE Bryan Cox Jr. on their practice squad

Bills adding Green Bay Packers WR Jake Kumerow to practice squad

Practice Squad

The practice squad was originally set to increase to 12 players this year, but new COVID-19 rules bumped that up to 16 for this year only. Up to six of those spots can be used on veterans with any amount of experience, while the other ten are the typical players with less than two full seasons accrued.

Any player to be placed on the practice squad will still need to go through the usual waiver process (unless they’re a five-year veteran cut during the initial roster cut down on Saturday). Once a player clears waivers and is signed to a practice squad, however, NFL teams have a few new changes to keep track of.

First, a team can designate up to four players as “protected” from signing. Those players can’t be poached by other NFL teams while they’re on the practice squad. Normally, an NFL team can sign another team’s practice squad player to their roster, and the only way to stop that move is signing the player to your own roster.

The second change involves elevating players to the active roster. NFL teams will be allowed to promote two of their practice squad players per week on game day, as special 54th and 55th men on the active roster, and can then return them to the practice squad the next day without exposing them to the usual waiver process. This can happen up to twice with each practice squad player.

How might this sort of thing work? Imagine a defensive lineman day-to-day with a back injury. The NFL team can watch the injury, and promote a DL from the practice squad in a pinch if their usual player can’t play in the game. Their DL will return to the practice squad after the game without the team possibly losing him to another team.

List of Bills roster cuts

Teams usually start with players that they recently released that they want to keep around, so here is the full list of players let go by the Bills on Saturday. Players with less than four years of experience are subject to waivers and another team can claim them today.

• QB Davis Webb
• RB Antonio Williams
• RB Christian Wade (IPP exemption)
• WR Andre Roberts (Re-signed to active roster)
• WR Duke Williams
• WR Robert Foster (signing on Green Bay’s practice squad)
• TE Nate Becker
• TE Jason Croom
• DB Brian Allen
• DB Dane Jackson
• DB Cam Lewis
• DB Dean Marlowe (Re-signed to active roster)
• DB Josh Thomas
• DE Bryan Cox Jr.
• DE Mike Love
• DT Justin Zimmer
• DT Tanzel Smart (not being retained)
• DT Vincent Taylor (Claimed on waivers by Cleveland)
• LB Andre Smith
• OL Evan Boehm
• OL Trey Adams
• OL Marquell Harrell
• OL Victor Salako
• OL Brandon Walton

DT Tanzel Smart won’t be back

WR Robert Foster is leaving

The Bills won't be signing CB Brian Allen to their practice squad

OL Marquel Harrell will not be back