The Buffalo Bills continue making roster moves to shed salary cap and better align their roster for 2026 and beyond under new leadership from head coach Joe Brady. After reports stating the team will move on from cornerback Taron Johnson and wide receiver Curtis Samuel, it now appears likely that the Bills are parting ways with safety Taylor Rapp — at least per his Instagram story, which simply says “Thank you, Buffalo” with red and blue heart emojis.
Sal Capaccio notes that by releasing Rapp, One
Bills Drive will save “just over $3 M in cap space.”
A relentless hitter, Rapp joined the Bills on a one-year, $1.77 million contract during free agency ahead of the 2023 NFL season, providing experienced depth behind starters Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. Rapp returned to Buffalo the following season, signing a three-year $10.62 million contract in 2024. Entering that season, Rapp was presumed to be in line for a starting position alongside rookie safety Cole Bishop, but injury derailed those plans and he lost significant snap to safety Damar Hamlin.
As with other players exiting One Bills Drive this week, Rapp’s story with the Bills involves plenty of injury discussion, and also diminished returns on the football field as a result. Few will ever discount Rapp’s ability to wreak havoc as a hitter, but it was too often true that such hits came with a heavy price.
During his final season in Buffalo, Rapp only played in six games, landing on Injured Reserve (IR) in late October (and later declared as likely out for the season) thanks to a nagging knee injury that disrupted his play from the outset that campaign. Before being placed on IR, Rapp’s play was notable for the wrong reasons, only later learning that the team and he decided to try and gut it out to begin the regular season. Unfair as it may be due to injury, once Rapp was replaced by Jordan Poyer (who had returned ahead of Week 1), the team’s safety play show notable improvement, especially by Bishop.
In three years with the Bills, Rapp played in 36 games (including 16 in 2023 and 14 in 2024), while making 158 tackles (98 solo), three tackles for loss, one quarterback hit, half a sack, three interceptions, eight pass defenses, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.
