DE Shane Ray, out of NFL since 2019, signs with Bills

BUFFALO, NY — After being out of the NFL in 2019, defensive end Shane Ray is back in the league and is signing with the Buffalo Bills after trying out at the team’s rookie minicamp on Friday and Saturday.

Ray was drafted 23rd overall by the Denver Broncos from Missouri in the 2015 draft and played four seasons for the Broncos. He played in 49 games, starting 15 of them, with 14 career sacks, 94 tackles and 33 quarterback hits. He was part of the Broncos team that won Super Bowl 50, resulting in a game fumble. As of 2017, Ray was dealing with a left wrist injury and subsequent surgeries.

“Words cannot describe the emotions I am feeling right now. So many tears, sleepless nights, depression, everything that comes with defeat. So many days of having nothing but hope while fighting a hard battle,” Ray wrote on his Instagram on Saturday Account.

Ray, 29, added that there were “times when I thought maybe I should give up, but I wouldn’t be myself if I gave up” and that “even in my darkest moments, I believed in myself. I believed in my preparation. I believed I would get another chance even if the world didn’t believe it.

Ray joined the Baltimore Ravens in the 2019 offseason but was released at the end of training camp. He played for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts in 2021 and 2022 and had six sacks last season. Upon joining the Bills, Ray will reunite with former Broncos teammate Von Miller.

The Bills also signed former UCF running back Isaiah Bowser and linebacker Travin Howard — a 2018 Rams seventh-round pick who played in 29 games with Los Angeles — after rookie minicamp tryouts.