When you have a talented roster like the Buffalo Bills have, the end of training camp is usually filled with tough decisions.
Even so, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who thought Raheem Blackshear would be part of that equation.
An undrafted rookie free agent, Blackshear joined a group with a top four locked in this spring.
Devin Singletary has long been at the top of the depth chart. Rookie James Cook was a second-round pick by Buffalo. Zack Moss underwhelmed in 2021, but he wasn’t going to go anywhere. Taiwan Jones is a great special teamer.
After two preseason games, the Bills have Blackshear making a lot of noise in that unit. Even Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott had to admit it.
“He’s got great juice. You can just feel him when he’s going there,” McDermott said via video conference. “You feel the burst, whether it’s in the return game or when he’s carrying the ball on offense or catching the ball out of the backfield.”
In the Bills’ preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts, Blackshear had two rushing scores and 60 yards in the air on four catches. Against the Broncos, Blackshear led the Bills with 58 yards rushing.
Helping Blackshear produce early successes is his listening. Blackshear told Syracuse.com that he’s talking to the veterans around him such as Singletary and Duke Johnson, who had two scores of his own against Denver, for advice.
“One thing they always teach me is to slow down,” Blackshear said.
That looks like it’s working. Blackshear has displayed promising vison as a rusher throughout the preseason thus far, both near the goal line and against the Broncos when he broke a defender’s ankles on a 25-yard carry.
Even with all Blackshear’s successes, there’s a chance he still doesn’t make the final 53-man roster. At that point, the Bills would love for him to end up on the practice squad, but like other of his teammates in Buffalo, there’s a better chance he gets picked up by another team.
Rightfully so.
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