The Bills have made a pair of roster moves on Wednesday.
Buffalo announced the club has signed center Sincere Haynesworth and waived receiver Mac Dalena.
Haynesworth, 25, entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2024. He’s spent time with the Saints, Patriots, and Cardinals but has not appeared in a regular-season game.
He also played for the UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks in 2026.
Buffalo has been dealing with injuries at center, so Haynesworth provides some depth at the position.
Dalena joined the team in June. He’s also spent time with the Seahawks.
Bills Clips
The Bills’ new stadium has many great things. The obstructed views at some of the seats are not great.
The possibility that some customers committed to Personal Seat Licenses without being properly informed about the obstruction is the opposite of great.
Via Michael Petro of the Buffalo News, the Bills continue to work with PSL holders who have concerns about the sight lines from the seats they’ve committed to purchase. The team, per Petro, is “making sure these fans, who purchased a personal seat license for the right to own season tickets at the stadium, have had their expectations met for their seats.”
The Bills are dealing with the complaints on a case-by-case basis. Bills COO Pete Guelli told Petro that 20,000 fans remained on a waiting list after all PSLs were sold.
The easy fix would be to offer full refunds to those who believe they weren’t properly informed about the obstructed views, and then to offer the seats to those on the waiting list — with full disclosure of the obstructions. It’s possible that the Bills will have to charge less for the seats, if people won’t pay the suggested price for seats with an obstructed view.
Another possibility would be to negotiate a reduced rate for the obstructed-view seats, with the PSL purchasers getting a partial refund.
Regardless, someone will buy the tickets. And, as long as they know what they’re getting, it’s not an issue.
The Bills think that the sight-line issues were “clearly indicated” to those who committed to the tickets. Still, it’s unlikely that some 500 fans would be upset with the view they got if they knew in advance that it’s the view they would be getting.
The stadium architect has said the obstructions were part of the design. Apparently, something went haywire along the way. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t be an issue; everyone who showed up for seats with an obstructed view would have had no reason to be upset.
Josh Allen started at quarterback for the Bills in their preseason opener and that will be his only game action ahead of Week 1.
Bills head coach Joe Brady told reporters on Tuesday that Allen will not play against the Steelers on Thursday night. His next snaps against another team will come in Houston on September 13.
Brady said that Allen could call some of the offensive plays during the game.
The head coach also said some of the team’s starters will play in the final preseason game. Decisions on which players will be in that group will come after practice on Tuesday.
On Saturday, the Bills acknowledged that defensive tackle Ed Oliver’s young son died earlier this summer, after a report regarding the tragedy had emerged a day earlier.
On Monday, authorities in Houston closed the investigation regarding the situation.
“The incident was thoroughly investigated by detectives, and their finding [was] no criminal findings,” the Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office said Monday, per the Associated Press. “The case is now closed.”
Oliver’s son, who was nearly two, was found unresponsive in a swimming pool in late June.
Quarterback Josh Allen spoke out on Saturday against the decision to publish information about the boy’s death, saying he was “very, very sad and angry” that the information had come to light before Oliver was ready to share it.
The situation sparked a discussion regarding journalism ethics, with the prevailing view being that the story should not have been shared until Oliver was ready to do so.
The Bills and defensive tackle Ed Oliver had decided not to announce that Oliver’s young son had died in late June. The news was reported on Friday. It forced the Bills to acknowledge it on Saturday.
After Saturday’s preseason game, coach Joe Brady addressed the situation.
“I’m a parent, right?” Brady told reporters. “And ever since I found out, it’s really hard and I can’t fathom what he’s going through. There’s really not words to describe it. As a coach, as a father, it’s my job to be what he needs right now, and that’s loving him and giving him the privacy that he deserves. Whatever it looks like, no matter how someone might want to handle it, it’s however he wants us to handle it, and go through it.”
The apparent justification for reporting the development before Oliver or the Bills could announce it arose from the perception that the Bills possibly were attributing his absence from the team to a phantom injury.
"[H]e’s not here right now because of an injury and he’s dealing with that,” Brady said. “This wasn’t the reason why he’s not here, but it’s unfortunate, the way that it came out, but I respect a lot of you guys and you might have known about it, and [the way you] handled it. That’s part of journalism as well, but I appreciate your guys’ hearts and understanding the human elements of it. It’s hard. You know, it’s hard when I see him and I can’t imagine. I haven’t had the words since, and I don’t really have the words, but all I can do is just be there for him . . . in whatever way that he needs.”
In situations like this, everyone has to make a decision as to whether the details of a player’s personal tragedy will be reported before the player is ready to share them. The problem is that, even if every other reporter who knew about it decided to give Oliver the time and space to announce it on his own, it only takes one to decide to handle it differently.
That’s what happened here. Absent evidence that it’s anything more than a personal tragedy, it’s hard to justify going there. Which perhaps explains the attempt to make the news relevant by suggesting that the Bills weren’t being truthful about Oliver’s absence. Regardless of whether Oliver actually is injured.
Many were aware that Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver’s young son died earlier this summer. The vast majority of those who knew decided to wait for the Bills or Oliver to announce the development when they were ready to do so.
The news came out on Friday before the Bills or Oliver announced it. Bills quarterback Josh Allen isn’t happy about that.
“How it came out makes me very, very sad and angry at the same time,” Allen told a group of reporters on Saturday after the preseason game at Cleveland, via Matt Parrino of NewYorkUpstate.com. “Obviously, very unfortunate what happened, and as a teammate of him, and as someone in this locker room, all we can do is love on him.”
Allen said that many of the team’s players knew what had happened.
“What we’ve been doing is giving him his space and time, but at the same time being around him, loving up on him,” Allen said. “But not trying to do anything to to reopen that. . . . Just guys being around him and putting their hand on him and not having to say too much, but ‘I got your back.’”
Although someone decided it was newsworthy to share the story before the Bills or Oliver could do so, most decided that the nature of the tragedy called for discretion.
“It’s very hard to wrap your mind around a teammate going through a situation like that,” Allen said. “Because you have kids, you understand what that could be like and what that could feel like. You never want to put yourself in that situation or those shoes. He’s a strong man.”
Every reporter and/or content creator has to make a decision for themselves as to how they’ll handle situations like this. For most, the right move is to wait. For some, a different decision is made.
And when that decision is made, it opens the person up to scrutiny and criticism by those who believe that the right thing to do was to say nothing until those directly impacted by an unimaginable loss choose to acknowledge it.
At a time of increasing online chatter regarding a personal tragedy experienced recently by defensive tackle Ed Oliver, the Bills have issued a statement acknowledging the situation.
“On behalf of the entire Buffalo Bills organization, we want to publicly express our condolences to Ed Oliver and his family on the devastating loss of his son,” G.M. Brandon Beane said in a statement. “It’s an unthinkable tragedy for any parent. We will continue to support Ed and his family as we all grieve this tragic loss.”
We extend our condolences to Ed Oliver and his family. The loss of a child is a nightmare that no one should ever have to experience. We hope he and his family will eventually find peace and comfort.
Shedeur Sanders’s opportunity to make a closing argument for the starting job in Cleveland has been delayed.
Four snaps into the Bills-Browns preseason contest, with the Buffalo offense on the field, lightning in the area stopped the action.
As of this posting, the game has not yet resumed.
Deshaun Watson started the Week 1 preseason game, with the benefit of the rest of the starters. Sanders will have only left tackle Spencer Fano and receiver Denzel Boston.
Watson is expected to play in the third quarter. If that plan suddenly changes, it will be the clearest sign yet that Watson has won the Week 1 starting job.
Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins and Browns right defensive end Jared Verse had some heated battles during joint practice this week, and afterward Dawkins said they brought out the best in each other.
“I’m gonna run my mouth, Verse is gonna run his too,” Dawkins said. “You meet people that match your energy, and I’m one of those that I’m gonna bring it, and Verse is one of those that he’s gonna bring it.”
Dawkins said it was great working against Verse and knowing that even if Verse got past him, Josh Allen wasn’t going to get hit.
“He brings it,” Dawkins said. “Being able to come out here and practice, and practice against him, I know I can try some things because he’s really not going to hit Josh. It feels good. I love the kid. He has a bright future as he keeps going. His bull rush is insane. So talk about that: His bull rush is definitely good, he’s going to rack up sacks all season long. I’m a Verse fan. I’m a Verse fan, and he’s been playing well.”
At a time when joint practice fights have led to some controversy in the NFL, Dawkins and Verse found out how to make a touch competition beneficial to both of them.
The Broncos are adding some depth at safety.
According to multiple reports, Denver has signed veteran Taylor Rapp on Thursday.
Rapp, 28, spent the last three seasons with the Bills. He appeared in just six games last year due to a knee injury before being released in March.
A Rams second-round pick in 2019, Rapp has played 93 games in his career with 72 starts. He’s recorded 12 interceptions with 31 passes defensed in his career.
Denver will host Green Bay for the second week of preseason play on Friday.
