This Bills WR may be a longshot to make the roster, but don't count him out just yet
Every day that Tyrell Shavers steps onto the practice field at St. John Fisher University, he takes part in what might be the Buffalo Bills’ fiercest roster spot competition.
The 24-year-old who was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2023 and spent the entire season on the practice squad, is considered a longshot to make the final 53-man team because ahead of him there’s Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, and Mack Hollins who appear to be locks, plus veterans Marques Valdes-Scantling and Chase Claypool.
However, no one should be counting Shavers out because one week into training camp, he has continually made plays, and some of those have come on passes thrown by Josh Allen.
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“Shaves, his approach is where it needs to be,” offensive coordinator Joe Brady said Tuesday. “And he’s very accountable and he has a responsibility in the offense. You can move him around, he can play all positions, and he always knows what he’s gonna do. He’s had some opportunities there and he’s made the most of them; you know what you’re getting with him, the consistency. I’ve been pleased with how he’s started.”
Brady didn’t want to hear anything about the tall mountain Shavers has to scale to make the team, especially at this early stage before any preseason games have been played or injuries begin to pile up. For instance, Claypool missed his second straight day with a toe injury.
“There is no mountain right now, we don’t have a depth chart, right?” Brady said. “Today’s a third-and-long day so we’re going 30 straight snaps of third-and-seven-plus. There’s going to be guys in there, a lot of guys rolling with the 1’s and some of that is just because of legs and you can’t consistently go with it.
“I don’t want our guys kind of looking at it and saying ‘Hey, am I getting enough reps with the 1’s, am I getting enough reps with the 2s?’ We’re trying to be intentional about, ‘Are you getting these routes?’ A guy like Shaves and the rest of the receivers, they’re not kind of worried about who they’re getting with and where they’re getting with and how the depth chart looks. It’s ‘I gotta make sure I’m getting these plays and I feel comfortable learning the offense and the rest will take care of itself.’”
Tyrell Shavers was also a baseball player in college
Shavers has ideal size at 6-foot-4 and 211 pounds, an element that is always needed in the receiving corps. He had quite a college journey as he began his career with three seasons at Alabama, also playing a season for the Crimson Tide baseball team before deciding to focus solely on football.
He transferred to Mississippi in 2020, then went on to play two seasons at San Diego State where he finally got decent playing time, though he caught only 56 passes for 856 yards and five touchdowns.
However, one thing that caught the Bills’ eye when they signed him was that he was a special teams standout. During the entirety of his career he scored five touchdowns on blocked punts.
“Very impressed,” coach Sean McDermott said of Shavers. “Even if you go back to his rookie season, he's so consistent with his approach. Knows what we're doing offensively, systematically. When you look up consistent in the dictionary, like his face shows up in my mind because he's so consistent, and at a young age. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for that.”
Buffalo Bills training camp news
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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Tyrell Shavers shines as he tries to crack Bills WR depth chart
