Bills training camp: Marquez Stevenson trending down

Sixth-round rookie Marquez Stevenson was brought in to add dynamic speed to the Buffalo Bills’ wide receiver room and challenge for the punt return and kick return duties with the departure of Andre Roberts. Instead, he finds himself buried on the depth chart.

During his time as the general manager of the Buffalo Bills, Brandon Beane has only cut two draft picks and both were seventh-round selections. In 2018, WR Austin Proehl couldn’t crack the Bills’ roster and in 2020 it was CB Dane Jackson. Jackson was added to the practice squad and elevated to the active roster several times and is on track to make the 2021 53-man roster.

That’s a pretty solid track record of draft picks making the initial roster, but in 2021 that streak looks like it’s going to be shattered. With a more stacked roster than ever before, it’s going to be harder just to get a shot.

Stevenson hasn’t impressed in kick return and punt return, which was really his only shot at making the team. With Isaiah McKenzie leading that competition, Stevenson doesn’t really have a place on the active roster.

At the receiver position, Stevenson is low. On the first depth chart of the season released by the team, he’s listed with the fourth team at one spot behind Stefon Diggs, Jake Kumerow, and Duke Williams. Overall at the position, he’s running behind Diggs, Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders, Gabe Davis, Kumerow, Isaiah Hodgins, and Williams at the very least.

Stevenson is going to have to ball out in the preseason in order to avoid becoming the third draft pick casualty of the Beane era.