One of Buffalo’s three specialists, Ferguson is a roster lock
The Buffalo Bills have a strong special teams unit. The three specialists — kicker, punter, and long snapper — are all among the best in the league at their craft. With that in mind, the Bills probably won’t see much change here. There’s no need to fix what isn’t broken. However, the team may try to play some “voodoo roster games,” which could lead to one of these specialists being released on cut-down day.
In today’s edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss one of the team’s specialists, a player whose spot is secure, though he may end up a “wait in the parking lot” cut at the end of the preseason.
Name: Reid Ferguson
Number: 69
Position: LS
Height/Weight: 6’2”, 235 pounds
Age: 29 (30 on 3/24/2024)
Experience/Draft: 7; signed with Buffalo as UDFA following the 2016 NFL Draft
College: LSU
Acquired: UDFA signing
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Ferguson is in the second year of a three-year contract extension, a pact worth a total of $4 million. For the 2023 season, he carries a cap hit of $1.08 million, and there is no dead-cap charge should the Bills release him.
2022 Recap: Ferguson entered the year as the team’s undisputed long snapper, and he also entered as the team’s longest-tenured player following the departure of defensive end Jerry Hughes. He appeared in all 16 games and was essentially perfect snapping — seriously, I can’t remember one kick or punt where I thought, “Man, that was a bad snap.” Ferguson also notched one tackle on the year, the ninth of his career.
Positional outlook: He’s the only long snapper. He will be the team’s long snapper this season barring something very weird happening.
2023 Offseason: Ferguson is healthy and participating in offseason work.
2023 Season outlook: The only reason that Ferguson wouldn’t make the 53-man roster out of camp is if Buffalo wants to keep an extra player who they think they won’t be able to pass through waivers. Then, after the team places someone like Von Miller on the PUP list, they’ll have an open roster spot that they can use to re-sign Ferguson. In any case, the longest-tenured member of the team will add another year to that title this season.