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Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady

The Buffalo Bills waited close to two years to land cornerback M.J. Devonshire, but the speedy defensive back is now gone without ever playing a snap for the team.

The Bills announced this week that they released Devonshire, who had earned a reserve/futures contract earlier this year. The team is starting to shape the 90-man roster that will start training camp, and Devonshire was one of the early subtractions.

Bills First Showed Interest in M.J. Devonshire in 2024

The Bills signed Devonshire to their practice squad in December, but released him one week later when an injury to kicker Matt Prater led them to sign veteran Michael Badgley.

The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia noted that the Bills showed interest in Devonshire prior to the 2024 NFL draft, when he was leaving Pitt. Devonshire generated some buzz after running the 40-yard dash in 4.35 seconds, the 11th best among defensive backs entering the draft that year.

“Another Pitt DB for the Bills locker room,” Buscaglia shared in a post on X. “The Bills showed some pre-draft interest in Devonshire in 2024. His arm length is nearly 33 inches, so perhaps that signals they’re looking at him at boundary CB. Definitely an interesting one.”

The Bills had a thin secondary when Devonshire initially signed, having lost reserve cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram to the waiver wire. The Bills had put in a claim on veteran defensive back Darius Slay, waiving Ingram to make room for him on the roster.

Ingram was claimed by the Houston Texans, while the Bills were left empty-handed when Slay decided not to report to the team.

Bills Leaving Door Open for Another Cornerback to Return

The Bills made some sweeping changes to their secondary earlier this offseason, parting ways with some longtime veterans. The team traded nickel cornerback Taron Johnson to the Las Vegas Raiders and parted ways with Dane Jackson, a pair of cap-saving moves for a team with little financial breathing room.

The Bills also allowed former All-Pro Tre’Davious White to hit free agency, though general manager Brandon Beane hinted that White could return at some point this offseason.

“Yeah, I mean, we love Tre’Davious,” Beane said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “I think at this point, you know, we’re waiting through the draft and probably he is as well. You would never close the door on bringing a guy like Tre back here to Buffalo.”

The team already made a big investment in their secondary in the NFL draft, taking Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun with their second-round pick. Even though the Bills had used a first-round pick on cornerback Maxwell Hairston last year, Beane explained that they can never have too many capable cornerbacks.

“You want to make sure, as the season goes along, if injury strikes, that you’ve got enough guys, even if they’re not starters,” Beane said, via the team’s official website. “How many guys we went through last season that played in the playoffs for us, or helped us get to the playoffs. So you’re going to need those guys.”