Bills Make Seven Roster Moves Including Activating WR Cole Beasley & DT Star Lotulelei

The Buffalo Bills announced that they’ve made seven roster moves on Friday, including activating WR Cole Beasley, DT Star Lotulelei, WR Gabriel Davis, and DT Vernon Butler from the COVID-19 list.

Buffalo also released WR Rico Gafford and DT Joey Ivie, and placed DT Treyvon Hester on injured reserve. 

We’ve activated DT Vernon Butler, DT Star Lotulelei, WR Cole Beasley, and WR Gabriel Davis from the reserve/Covid list.

WR Rico Gafford and DT Joey Ivie have been released and DT Treyvon Hester has been placed on IR.

More details: https://t.co/CuIwsMPpfh pic.twitter.com/H4I5g79NHy

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 27, 2021

Beasley, Lotulelei, and Davis were among three players exposed to a trainer who tested positive for COVID-19 and was deemed close contacts as a result. The trainer was fully vaccinated. 

Neither player has tested positive for the virus but because both are unvaccinated and had to clear the five-day reentry testing protocol to ensure they remain negative. 

Beasley, 32, signed on with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of SMU back in 2012. He spent seven years in Dallas and finished out the final year of his four-year, $13.6 million contract.

The Bills later signed Beasley to a four-year deal worth $29 million. He’s set to make base salaries of $4.7 and $4.9 million over the next two seasons. 

In 2020, Beasley appeared in 15 games for the Bills and caught 82 passes for 967 yards receiving and four touchdowns.

Lotulelei, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Panthers back in 2013. He played out the final year of his four-year, $9.605 million rookie contract before the Panthers picked up his fifth-year option.

Lotulelei made a base salary of $6 million for the 2017 season before eventually signing a five-year contract with the Bills in 2018. 

In 2019, Lotulelei appeared in all 16 games for the Bills and recorded 19 tackles, two sacks, an interception and a pass defense.