That headline should serve as a stark reminder of the speed at which time flies in the NFL.
After the firing of nine-year head coach Sean McDermott, the construction of a revamped coaching staff, the Buffalo Bills first-round pick from 2019, Ed Oliver, is now the fourth-longest tenured player on the roster.
Can you list the three-longest tenured Bills?
Third-longest is Josh Allen (2018, first round)
Second-longest is Dion Dawkins (2017, second round)
And the longest-tenured Bills player is long snapper
Reid Ferguson, now 32, who joined the Bills as an undrafted free agent out of LSU after the 2016 NFL Draft.
Heck, when Ferguson takes the field in Week 1, he will be playing for his third Bills head coach (Rex Ryan, McDermott, and now Joe Brady).
Here’s a graphic to demonstrate:
Hats off to Dawson Knox too… the fifth-longest tenured member of the Bills entering the 2026 season.
One of the indisputable characteristics of the McDermott era was the coach’s unwavering reliance on familiar players regardless of age or amount of stops outside of Buffalo — think Jordan Phillips, Baylon Spector, A.J. Klein, Deane Marlowe, Matt Milano, Jordan Poyer, Shaq Thompson, Tre’Davious White, Shaq Lawson, Gabe Davis etc.
Because of that, the 2025 Bills were relatively well-represented by players acquired in some way, shape, or form during the 2016 and 2017 offseasons. And many of those players were placed in key roles, in key games.
Now, when Oliver steps on the grass at the new Highmark Stadium, he will be the longest-tenured Buffalo defender by two whole years over Greg Rousseau. I don’t know if Oliver has reached “Unc” status yet. But his inching his way toward it.
Another indication of the Bills massive roster churning over the past few months — Rousseau, who only turned 26 in April, is the team’s seventh-longest tenured player.
