Bills Suddenly Terminate DB Contract Following Win Over Rams

The Buffalo Bills waived cornerback Anthony Kendall on Tuesday, the day after he saw action in their 37-34 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football.

Kendall had been elevated from the practice squad to the 53-man roster shortly before kickoff. The Bills released outside linebacker Mike Danna in the corresponding move to open a spot.

The addition came because of an injury in the secondary. Nickel cornerback Dee Alford sat out the game with an ankle issue that had limited him in practice the week before.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the waiver Tuesday afternoon.

“The Bills are waiving defensive back Anthony Kendall, who was signed to the 53-man roster before the game last night. He started at nickel and played 30 solid snaps before being waived today. The plan is to sign back to the practice squad if he clears waivers,” Rapoport said.

Kendall, 26, logged those snaps primarily in the slot and finished with three tackles. It marked his first regular season defensive work since his rookie year.

He originally signed with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2023 after playing at Baldwin Wallace, a Division III school where he earned second-team All-American honors in 2022 with 56 tackles and three interceptions.

In his lone full NFL season with Tennessee, Kendall appeared in all 16 games. Nearly all of his work came on special teams, where he recorded nine tackles on more than 320 snaps while seeing just a few plays on defense.

After later stops on the practice squads of the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns, he joined the Bills in August. Buffalo cut him during final roster decisions and immediately re-signed him to the practice squad.

The Bills’ overtime victory Monday improved their record to 4-1 and left them alone atop the AFC East.

The game stayed tight throughout. Buffalo took an early lead, the Rams answered, and the teams traded scores into the final minutes before regulation ended tied.

In overtime the Bills turned the ball over on a fumble by running back James Cook. Los Angeles drove into field-goal range, but outside linebacker Greg Rousseau blocked the attempt.

Josh Allen then moved the offense into position, and Tyler Bass connected from 45 yards for the winner.

“It’s awesome. I mean, that’s who T-Bass is,” Allen said. “We trust him implicitly. Yeah, go out there and drill a kick to win a game. It feels pretty good.”

Coach Joe Brady said the staff chose not to run additional plays and instead trusted the kick immediately.

“The confidence I had in Bass is like, ‘Hey, look, 45-yard line, he’s going to make this kick,’” Brady said. “Does that make it the right decision? Not necessarily. You can’t judge the quality of a decision by the result, but through the conversations that we had both on the field, having a conversation with Josh and the coaching staff, we felt like that was the best thing for us to do and had confidence in him to go make it. And fortunately, he did.”

Buffalo now prepares for a road game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. The secondary remains a point of focus, with Alford’s status and other injuries still being monitored heading into Week 6.