The NFL Draft has come and gone and the Buffalo Bills have filled out their roster. They also made their moves with signing undrafted free agents right after the draft, as well as extended invites to players. You never know, a team might just find a player that went undrafted and still make the final 53-man roster.
We saw it just last year when the Bills signed a local Buffalo native in Joe Andreessen who made the 53-man roster and even got some playing time throughout the season. He impressed in preseason and beat out veteran Deion Jones, who was familiar with Sean McDermott’s defensive scheme.
The Bills drafted nine players (six on the defense) and have signed a bunch of undrafted free agents, as well as extended many rookie minicamp invites. This is their opportunity to show the Bills that they can be an impactful player, but unless one of them really shines to the point where they can’t be ignored, they may either not make the roster or end up on the practice squad.
Former undrafted free agent for Bills sends important reminder to current undrafted free agents
Wide receiver Tyrell Shavers went undrafted in 2023 coming out of college. He attended Alabama, Mississippi State, and then eventually settled with San Diego State. He was a practice squad player for two consecutive years, but had a lot of promise last year in training camp and in the preseason. Ultimately, it just didn’t work out in his favor.
However, Shavers finally got the chance to suit up on gameday against the New York Jets in Week 17 last year and he took advantage of his opportunity. On what was supposed to be a simple pass to the outside from Mitch Trubisky, Shavers took that pass 69 yards to the endzone to put the exclamation point on the Bills’ dominant win.
Shavers signed a future contract with the Bills once their season ended and now he is giving advice to the undrafted free agents that didn’t hear their name get called. On X, Shavers gave fantastic advice for any player that might be feeling bad about going undrafted.
Undrafted don’t mean nothing. Soon as you get that call, have a plan and execute! 30% of the NFL is undrafted…It’s possible, believe in yourself and come in to work everyday with a plan and purpose!
— Tyrell Shavers (@rell4six) April 27, 2025
Even though every player wants to be drafted, not hearing your name called doesn’t mean that you can’t make it big. Look at Kurt Warner for example, who is considered to be the greatest undrafted player of all time. He was a multi-time MVP and won a Super Bowl as well. Warner played for the Rams, Giants, and Cardinals and his successful career landed him in the Hall of Fame in 2017.
Shavers makes an excellent point about how it doesn’t matter if you are drafted or not, it’s all about how you produce on the field in front of coaches. While yes, the moment to have being drafted is an experience that all players should want, it doesn’t mean anything if they can’t play the pro level.