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WEEK 6
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Bills bring back Tre’Davious White on the practice squad for a third stint in Buffalo

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The former All-Pro cornerback returns to the 5-1 Bills, who cut A.J. Woods to make room and have the Week 7 bye to get White ready.

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WhyNFL Sports DeskPublished
Tre'Davious White, wearing No. 27 for the Buffalo Bills, in a 2018 preseason game
Tre’Davious White with the Bills in August 2018. Photo by Erik Drost, CC-BY-2.0, cropped and resized.

The Buffalo Bills brought back cornerback Tre’Davious White on Monday, October 19, signing the former All-Pro to their practice squad for his third stint with the club. To open the spot, Buffalo released cornerback A.J. Woods from the practice squad.

Adam Schefter reported the agreement first and said White will use the practice squad to get acclimated before he joins the active roster. Schefter added that White had turned down several chances to come back to Buffalo before this one, and his agents, Kevin Conner and Robert Brown, confirmed the deal. The club announced the signing about two hours later.

Buffalo Bills on X

A familiar fit

White, 31, is a first-round pick of the Bills from 2017, taken 27th overall out of LSU. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2019, when he had six interceptions and 17 passes defensed, and went to the Pro Bowl that season and the next. In his time in Buffalo he has 19 interceptions and 78 passes defensed.

After a torn Achilles tendon in 2023, he split the 2024 season between the Los Angeles Rams and the Baltimore Ravens, then returned to Buffalo in 2025 and started 16 regular-season games and both playoff games. He finished last season with 40 tackles, 10 passes defensed and one interception. This is his ninth season with the Bills and his tenth in the league.

Why now

The Bills carry only three true outside cornerbacks on their 53-man roster, and the position has already been stretched, with Christian Benford missing a game because of a toe injury. Maxwell Hairston, the 2025 first-round pick, has been up and down in coverage, and rookie Davison Igbinosun has taken on a bigger share of the snaps. White gives coordinator Jim Leonhard a veteran who already knows the building, if not yet this defense.

The timing also helps. Buffalo is 5-1 and has its bye in Week 7, so White gets two weeks of practice before the next game. That game, against the Ravens at home on Sunday, November 1, will be played without safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was suspended for one game on Monday for spitting at a Raiders player. Our story on that suspension has Joe Brady’s reaction.

How the practice squad route works

As a veteran on the practice squad, White can be called up for game days without being exposed to waivers. Clubs get three standard elevations per player per season, and after that the player has to be signed to the 53-man roster to keep playing. Schefter’s report points to the second path: practice first, then a full roster spot once the coaches think he is ready.

Every move from Monday’s wire is in our Monday transactions roundup.

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