90 Buffalo Bills players in 90 days: WR Dezmon Patmon

The Buffalo Bills have added some different receivers this offseason, and many of them share something in common: their size. The Bills seem to be looking for some bigger targets in the passing game, as they’ve added some wideouts who are much taller than the players they carried on the roster last year.

Whereas the Bills seemed to be in search of smaller, shiftier wideouts in years past, they now seem to be searching for the type of receiver who’s “open even when he’s covered,” with four players at the position who are at least 6’4” tall.

In today’s installment of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss one of those big targets — a former sixth-round pick spending his first offseason with Buffalo.

Name: Dezmon Patmon

Number: 19

Position: WR

Height/Weight: 6’4”, 225 pounds

Age: 24 (25 on 8/6/2023)

Experience/Draft: 3; selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round (No. 212 overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft

College: Washington State

Acquired: Signed with Buffalo practice squad on 1/17/2023

Financial situation (per Spotrac): Patmon signed a reserve/futures deal at the conclusion of last season. That pact is a one-year deal worth a total of $1,020,000. Of that total, just $10,000 is guaranteed. That number represents the dead-cap charge Buffalo will carry if Patmon is released. Patmon carries a cap hit of $1,020,000 if he makes the 53-man roster.

2022 Recap: Patmon made the Colts’ roster out of camp, but he was inactive for the team’s first game. In Week 2, he was active, catching two passes for 24 yards on total of six targets. That was the only game in which he played, as he was a healthy scratch for the Colts’ following two games before being released and re-signed to the team’s practice squad in October. He was elevated to the active roster for Indianapolis’ Week 7 game against the Tennessee Titans, but he was a healthy scratch. He reverted to the practice squad after the game, where he remained until the Colts’ season ended. Indianapolis didn’t offer him a reserve/futures deal, so he was free to sign elsewhere, which is exactly what he did by signing to Buffalo’s practice squad. The Bills signed him to a reserve/futures deal upon the conclusion of their season.

Positional outlook: Patmon is one of 13 wideouts on Buffalo’s current roster, and he is the biggest of the bunch in terms of both height and weight. The other 6’4” targets are Justin Shorter, Marcell Ateman, and Tyrell Shavers. Jalen Wayne, Bryan Thompson, Isaiah Coulter, Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Deonte Harty, Trent Sherfield, Khalil Shakir, and KeeSean Johnson round out the group.

2023 Offseason: Patmon is healthy and participating in offseason activities.

2023 Season outlook: Barring a great preseason and/or some injuries, Patmon is less likely to be auditioning for a spot on the roster than he is to be auditioning to retain his spot on the practice squad. He did not play a single snap on special teams in Indianapolis, which is going to have to change if he has any chance at making Buffalo’s roster.

With Diggs, Davis, Shakir, Harty, and Sherfield all looking like pretty sure bets to make the roster, there’s room for either one or two players on the final roster. I think they’re going to go with six wideouts, not seven, and I’d bet Justin Shorter is the final player in the positional group to make it.

Patmon reminds me a lot of Duke Williams, another bigger-bodied player who struggled to gain separation — and who was a fan favorite thanks to some good games here and there. I anticipate that Patmon will have some chances to shine this preseason, and he’ll probably gain a sizable cult following throughout the summer. I doubt he ends up one of the guys catching touchdown passes from Josh Allen this season, though.