The Buffalo Bills had a busy Tuesday with roster transactions. Just so it isn’t lost in the news that no one seems to have much of an opinion on, the Bills added wide receiver Rico Gafford and defensive tackle Joey Ivie via the waiver wire.
Rico Gafford signed with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free-agent cornerback in 2018, but switched to wide receiver after being picked up by the then-Oakland Raiders later in the year. Gafford went to school in Wyoming where he probably ran into Josh Allen a time or two since they were teammates and all. Gafford was most recently with the Arizona Cardinals who have essentially zero recent history with the Bills that I can recall.
Joey Ivie came into the league in 2017. Ivie has bounced around quite a bit since then, but did appear in eight games with the Titans during the 2019 season. Ivie was most recently with the Indianapolis Colts.
Another player returned to the Bills (sort of), Duke Williams was added to injured reserve. Williams was waived on Monday with an injury designation due to an undisclosed malady, but he cleared waivers, which reverts him to the Bills—albeit on injured reserve. Williams may end up on IR for the remainder of the season, especially if Buffalo sees a future for him in Western New York. The team and Williams could also agree on an injury settlement that would open the door for Williams to land elsewhere, or even return to the Bills later this season.
And as you may have heard by now, four players were added to the COVID-reserve list after they were deemed to be close contacts with a trainer who tested positive for COVID-19. Those players are Cole Beasley, Star Lotulelei, Gabriel Davis, and Vernon Butler.
The trainer was the only person who tested positive and was fully vaccinated. All four players have to go through the league’s protocols for a five-day re-entry to the team, which suggests all four were not considered vaccinated at the time of the contact. I know none of you have opinions on the league’s protocols, and should you develop an opinion I know that you’ll be nice to people who have a different stance than you do.
General manager Brandon Beane gave an update during an afternoon press conference and stated that not all of the close contacts occurred on Tuesday with some contacts happening days earlier. Beane suggested that this could mean some players would be back relatively quickly.
“None of them have tested positive, but basically due to close contact, they’ll have to be out five days from when their last contact was,” said Beane. “It’s not necessarily today. So there’s a chance we can get a player back, maybe two. We’ll see by game day. But they’ll be out up to five days.”
The trainer had reported to work on Tuesday and went out for testing after reporting that they didn’t feel right. The person was sent home after the positive result and the contact tracing process was initiated. For more of Brandon Beane’s thoughts, feel free to click though here.