Bills reshuffle WR room after camp tryout pays off

The Bills didn't waste much time acting on a tryout. Buffalo brought in a trio of veteran free-agent receivers earlier in the week to work out for the coaching staff, and by the end of the day one of them had a locker at St. John Fisher.

That tryout group included KhaDarel Hodge, Isaiah Whitehead and Dante Pettis, and it was Pettis who walked away with a deal. Per Adam Schefter, Buffalo signed the 30-year-old to a one-year contract, and per the team, he'll wear No. 87. Pettis is an eight-year vet who's bounced through 4 organizations since San Francisco took him in the second round back in 2018, and he spent the last two seasons in New Orleans. Career-wise he's a modest but real contributor: 92 catches for 1,231 yards and 13 touchdowns across 66 games, with legit juice as a returner too, averaging north of 24 yards a pop on kickoffs.

For a Bills receiver room that's been picked apart in headlines all camp, adding a veteran who can play outside, work special teams and has actually caught touchdown passes in the league is a low-cost, sensible depth move. It's the kind of signing that barely registers in July and quietly matters in December when someone in the top 5 goes down.

The corresponding cut is the less feel-good part of the story. Jalen Virgil, who'd been fighting for a roster spot, was waived with a non-football injury designation, reportedly after failing his physical the day before camp opened. NFI waivers are a quieter, more procedural kind of bad news than a straight release, but the outcome is the same: he's off the roster, and the roster spot went to a guy with a decade of NFL tape instead of a younger unknown.

None of this is a headline-grabbing move in the way a trade or a splashy free-agent deal is, but training camp is where those margins get decided. Buffalo now has one more body who's proven he can catch balls from an NFL quarterback and flip field position on special teams, and it cost them almost nothing to find out. Worth watching whether Pettis sticks on the 53 or ends up as camp-body depth once the real cuts start.