Wide receiver Quintez Cephus, who was cut by the Lions last year — immediately after the NFL handed him an indefinite suspension for violating its gambling policy — was reinstated earlier this month.
Cephus now has a new employer, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting that the Wisconsin product has agreed to sign with the Bills.
After trading
Stefon Diggs to the Texans and allowing Gabriel Davis to depart in free agency, Buffalo had a major need to fill at wide receiver going into this weekend’s draft despite having added Curtis Samuel to its WR room.
The club was linked to a blockbuster trade for 49ers star Deebo Samuel before the second round of the draft got underway, and it ultimately landed Florida State wideout Keon Coleman with the first pick of Round 2.
A Deebo Samuel trade no longer appears likely, at least not in the immediate future. And while the Coleman selection and the Cephus signing may not entirely silence the chatter that the Bills need to add more receiving talent, the fact that the team did not pull off a major deal for a player of Deebo Samuel’s caliber does give Cephus a seemingly decent chance of cracking the roster.
Now 26, Cephus was selected by Detroit in the fifth round of the 2020 draft. He caught 20 passes for 349 yards as a rookie and 15 balls for 204 yards in 2021, scoring two touchdowns in each season.
He spent much of the 2022 campaign on IR but had one more year remaining on his rookie deal when the Lions cut him.
Cephus will compete for reps with the likes of fellow offseason pickups Mack Hollins and KJ Hamler and 2023 fifth-rounder Justin Shorter in support of the presumptive starting trio of Khalil Shakir, Coleman, and Curtis Samuel.