The Buffalo Bills enter the 2026 season with positive vibes after the ceremonial ribbon-cutting of the new Highmark Stadium this past Tuesday. Now that the Bills can start prepping for their home opener against the Detroit Lions in Week 2, they have to conquer the most difficult part of training camp: figuring out which current players make the 53-man roster and which may have played their final season in Orchard Park.
General manager Brandon Beane and head coach Joe Brady will be heading out to St. John Fisher University at the end of July to evaluate all the players at training camp to see who fits the team's culture, and if they make the 53-man roster for another year, or face the frustrating possibility of being let go from the team after the preseason.
3 Bills players who may not have lived up to their standards in 2026
1.) OG/C Sedrick VanPran-Granger
When the Bills drafted Sedrick Van Pran-Granger in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bills believed they were getting a future starter at either left guard or center. The 6-foot-4, 315-pound athlete came over from the Georgia Bulldogs with the size and the tools to be a solid NFL offensive lineman. He also came over with a winning pedigree, having won two National Championships with the Bulldogs under head coach Kirby Smart.
But Van Pran-Granger was not named the starter immediately, as the team already had two impressive veterans starting with David Edwards at left guard and Connor McGovern at center.
The only action Van Pran-Granger saw in his rookie season was in a Week 18 regular-season game against the New England Patriots, in which he and the rest of the backup linemen started to have their regular starters rest for the playoffs.
With a small sample size, he has shown he is an effective pass blocker, but in an offense that also wants to run the ball with James Cook, he needs to improve his run blocking tremendously.
His run blocking should concern Bills fans, as he doesn't have much time in training camp to improve it and has to, if he wants to be the new starting left guard for the departed Edwards.
2.) WR Tyrell Shavers
Shavers has been an impressive story since he joined the Bills. After years of making the practice squad, he finally cracked the 53-man roster last season and played well in a small sample size before injuries derailed a promising 2025 campaign.
At 6-foot-4, 211 pounds, Shavers is the prototypical receiver Beane likes to have: tall and lengthy, an excellent red-zone threat, and physical off the line of scrimmage.
Despite being active for all 17 regular-season games, he only started nine of those games, and his heavy targets came midway through the 2025 regular season before he was targeted only twice in his only playoff game, the AFC Wild Card round at Jacksonville.
This season, Shavers will basically have to deliver a flawless performance at training camp due to the additions at wide receiver, including D.J. Moore.
3.) RB Ray Davis
Ray Davis would be a sad sight to see leave the Bills after just one season of offensive potential and another season where he was an All-Pro kick returner. But Davis hasn't been happy recently about his decrease in running back snaps, despite having everything going for him as a dominant kick returner in the NFL.
Then you add the fact that the Bills just added UFL running back Ian Wheeler, who was the 2026 United Bowl MVP after a fantastic season with the Louisville Kings. Wheeler is 24 years old; had he not torn his ACL in the 2024 preseason with the Chicago Bears, he might not have been on the Bills right now.
With Wheeler being young and Davis not happy, this may be the motivation Davis needs to earn his reps back as the team's No. 2 ball carrier, while continuing to score touchdowns on long returns on special teams.
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