The Buffalo Bills’ offseason additions on the defensive side of the ball are dominating story lines and with good reason. Almost the entirety of the team’s most recent NFL Draft focused on defense, and the recent playoff disappointments from that side of the ball led to the general consensus that the investments were directionally prudent.
But there are multiple players who took meaningful special teams snaps in 2025 who aren’t around to take those snaps this year. Whether they aren’t with the Bills anymore or whether they’re slated for a role that would necessitate them not playing as often on teams, the overall unit will look different in 2025 than it did in 2024.
Who left and who’s likely going to play special teams for Buffalo this year? Let’s take a gander:
The departure of former third tight end Quintin Morris leaves the most significant hole in the group. Morris played 324 special teams snaps (72.65%) in 2024, second most on the team and only six snaps behind leader Reggie Gilliam who returns as the Bills’ fullback. The most obvious and logical choice is that sixth-round 2024 draft selection Jackson Hawes, as the new TE3 and a player who projects as a blocking tight end and teams role, steps into replace those snaps. Hawes played 454 special teams snaps over the course of his college career, and his scouting reports frequently noted his likely effectiveness in the role.
2024 second-round pick Cole Bishop represents the most interesting part of this discussion. Second-round picks don’t frequently end up playing 219 special teams snaps (49.10%) in their rookie season, but an offseason shoulder injury set him back in his quest to start at safety.
If his second season goes the way he was likely hoping his first would go, the ironic thing is that the man most likely to fill his spot on teams is the man who was ahead of him on the depth chart at his position last season: Damar Hamlin. Hamlin played 94 special teams snaps in 2023 and 53 even as a starter in 2024 to go along with 76 in 2022. He set a career high with 125 teams snaps in 2021, which puts him at 348 for his career.
Backup linebackers are a significant part of any team’s special teams unit, and there are two players who took notable snaps there in 2024 and are noteworthy here: Nicholas Morrow 182 snaps, 40.81%) and Baylon Spector (157, 35.20%). Morrow is no longer with the team, and, while the Bills signed former Carolina Panther Shaq Thompson recently to a one-year deal, the player most likely to see an increase to fill the Morrow gap is 2024 draft pick Edefuan Olofoshio, who saw 60 special teams snaps last season and profiled as that type of contributor coming out of the University of Washington.
Baylon Spector falls into his own category for this conversation, because he’s on the team, not projected to become a starter, but is someone who may be considered firmly on the roster bubble after the signing of the aforementioned Thompson last week. When the Bills didn’t make any moves of note at linebacker in the first wave of free agency in March and then doubled down on their lack of investment in the NFL Draft, some observers were left to believe that perhaps they simply liked Spector a lot more as depth at the position than some fans and analysts did.
The Thompson signing doesn’t mean that hypothesis is incorrect, but it shines a little doubt there and on Spector’s roster projection for 2025. The natural replacement for Spector’s snaps on teams in the event of him being waived is different than the others we’ve discussed here, because utilizing the scrimmage position for the replacement player as the replaced player might not be the best place to look. The eye might instead turn to rookie Dorian Strong, a physical cornerback who contributed on teams during his time at Virginia Tech.
Casey Toohill was a forgotten free-agent signing in 2024. A defensive end coming over from Washington, Toohill ended up playing 135 snaps on special teams last season (30.27%). Former first rounder and new Dallas Cowboys cornerback Kaiir Elam (65 snaps, 14.57%), and vibe-setting New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins (100 snaps, 22.42%) were both members of Buffalo’s special teams unit in 2024 as well.
Free-agent signing do-it-all edge rusher Michael Hoecht is a natural fit to take Toohill’s snaps, but Hoecht is suspended for the first six games of the season due to to a performance enhancing drug violation. Third-round pick Landon Jackson has the mentality and athleticism to pick up some of the slack there and has a whopping 604 teams snaps under his belt from his time in college, so his contribution could encompass all three of the above-departed players.
Overall, over 1,100 special teams snaps could reasonably be considered “up for grabs” in Buffalo coming into the 2025 season.
It’s important to note that the “replacement” for special teams players isn’t a 1:1 proposition. A team does have to play 11 people on every snap of teams, but the answer for a departing player or a player changing roles isn’t always a precise “next man up” situation. Sometimes it means that players like Ty Johnson and Dorian Williams end up playing more.
Instead of having 18 players with 100 or more special teams snaps in a season like they did in 2024, the team has 16 or 15 fall into that category. But I cannot think of a topic that has a greater divide between “how much the coaches care about it” and “how much it gets talked about widely in the offseason” than special teams.
What do you think the special teams group will end up looking like in 2025?
…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!