The Bills took a late-round flier on a flyer — can he crack the 53-man roster?
The Buffalo Bills have boasted one of the NFL’s best offenses throughout this decade. While there have been some great wide receivers to play in Buffalo during that time — looking at you, Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, and John Brown, among others — the current receiver group has taken some criticism.
Of Buffalo’s current receivers, there’s really just one who has shown himself to be a consistent weapon for quarterback Josh Allen. That’s not to say that the other players won’t provide strong production, but it is one of the more concerning points about the current roster.
In today’s installment of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we discuss a rookie receiver who has some intriguing physical traits.
Name: Kaden Prather
Number: 81
Position: WR
Height/Weight: 6’3”, 204 pounds
Age: 22 (23 on 9/6/2025)
Experience/Draft: R; selected by Buffalo in the seventh round (No. 240 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft
College: Maryland
Acquired: Seventh-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Prather’s four-year rookie contract is worth $4,310,368 overall. For the 2025 season, he carries a cap hit of $867,592 if he makes the 53-man roster. Buffalo can release him and carry a dead-cap charge of $110,368 if they wish.
2024 Recap: Prather’s fourth NCAA season was solid overall, as he followed up an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten season with another good year for the Terrapins. Prather caught 56 passes for 624 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran the ball once, losing a yard.
Those numbers weren’t as explosive as his 2023 stats, but they were close. In that 2023 season, he caught 42 passes for 666 yards and five scores, adding one rush for 36 yards.
Prather earned an invitation to the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, where he displayed some great straight-line speed by running the 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds. He also leapt 30” in the vertical jump and 9’6” in the broad jump. At his pro day, Prather completed the 20-yard shuttle drill in 4.14 seconds.
Positional outlook: Prather is one of 13 wideouts in camp at the moment. He’s joined by Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, Elijah Moore, Joshua Palmer, Keon Coleman, Jalen Virgil, Laviska Shenault Jr., Tyrell Shavers, Kelly Akhariyi, Stephen Gosnell, K.J. Hamler, and Kristian Wilkerson.
2025 Offseason: Prather is healthy and he has participated in offseason work to date.
2025 Season outlook: While Prather is an intriguing, big-bodied deep threat, nothing about his profile suggests to me that he’s ready to make the 53-man roster as a rookie. There are at least eight players I’d have in front of him for sure as camp opens, and a handful of others who I’d say have an inside edge based on their experience in the NFL or in Buffalo’s system—or both.
Prather’s best route to the roster is to show out on special teams, and even that may lead to a practice squad invite rather than a place on the 53-man roster. There’s some long-term potential here, but if you’re looking for immediate impact, Prather likely isn’t the guy who’s going to provide it.