Does White have what it takes to be QB2?
The Buffalo Bills have one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks on their roster. They also have a former first-round draft pick who understands their system well to serve as the backup for said elite quarterback. That sounds like there isn’t much room for anyone else to break into a quarterback room, right?
As coach Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.” Thanks to the realities of the salary cap, there is always a chance that some shuffling occurs in the ranks of the reserves in order to create more room for additions elsewhere. At quarterback, the Bills have a chance to save some cash on the 2025 salary cap by shuffling their quarterback room. Will they do it?
In today’s installment of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we profile the current QB3, a player who needs to show that he can handle emergency snaps well enough to make QB2 expendable.
Name: Mike White
Number: 14
Position: QB
Height/Weight: 6’5”, 220 pounds
Age: 30 (31 on 3/25/2026)
Experience/Draft: 6; selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round (No. 171 overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft
College: Western Kentucky
Acquired: Signed with Bills’ practice squad on 8/28/2024
Financial situation (per Spotrac): White signed to Buffalo’s active roster on January 3, 2025, and the team gave him a one-year contract through the 2025 season shortly thereafter. For this year, he’ll make $1.195 million if he’s on the 53-man roster. The contract includes no guaranteed money, so the Bills can release him prior to Week 1 without a dead-cap charge. As a vested veteran, his salary becomes fully guaranteed after Week 1 if he’s on the roster for that game.
2024 Recap: White spent the season on Buffalo’s practice squad, only appearing in one game — the regular-season finale. Prior to that last game, he was elevated from the practice squad for the Bills’ December 1 game against the San Francisco 49ers, but he was inactive. Against the New England Patriots in that final, meaningless regular-season game, White completed three passes on 11 attempts for a total of 28 yards.
Positional outlook: White joins former No. 2 overall pick Mitchell Trubisky and reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen in the quarterback room. Shane Buechele is also on the 90-man roster.
2025 Offseason: White has attended all voluntary offseason workouts to date.
2025 Season outlook: Entering camp, White is clearly slotted in as QB3. The question becomes whether the Bills think Trubisky’s presence is more valuable, or the $2.5 million they’d save by releasing him. Given that they’d need to replace Trubisky with White, the actual cap savings to go from Trubisky to White comes in at $1.305 million. Is that enough to necessitate a change?
The answer to that question really lies in whether you think Trubisky provides a substantially better chance at holding down the fort in the event of an injury to Josh Allen than does White. For what it’s worth, I think Trubisky is significantly better than White is, so unless the team finds itself in dire straits financially, swapping out their backup quarterbacks feels like money for nothing.
White is very likely to see plenty of action this preseason, and there is an outside chance that he could unseat Trubisky for a spot on the 53-man roster. However, if everyone in the QB room is healthy, I expect that they’ll look to retain either White or Buechele as their practice-squad quarterback, with Allen and Trubisky serving as the active players on game days.