91 Buffalo Bills players in 91 days: LB Shayne Simon

The Buffalo Bills like their linebackers to be more athletes. Considering they typically play two linebackers at a time, this makes sense. The linebackers in head coach Sean McDermott’s defense have big coverage responsibilities, and they need to be fast mental processors as well as great athletes.

Another important trait for Bills linebackers, especially those who will be reserves, is toughness on special teams. If they are willing to cover kicks, they have a chance to make the team. What if they do it well? They’ll likely have a job for a long time, as the team has made a strong special teams core a priority.

In today’s edition of our “91 Players in 91 Days” series, we profile an undrafted rookie who will need to excel in the third phase of the game in order to make an impression this summer.

Name: Shayne Simon

Number: 49

Position: kg

Size weight: 6’2″, 230 pounds

Age: 24 (25 on 03/14/2025)

Experience/Project: R; signed with Bills as a UDFA after the 2024 NFL Draft

College: Pitt

Acquired: UDFA signature

Financial situation (by Spotrac): Simon signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract after a tryout with the Bills at rookie minicamp. This deal is worth a total of $795,000 if he makes the 53-man roster, but Buffalo won’t have dead money if they release him.

2023 summary: Simon played in 12 games for the Panthers last year, his second year with the team after playing for Notre Dame for four years prior. Simon had 48 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and five sacks, all of which were career-high totals. He also had two assists to bring his total with Pitt to eight in his two years there. He was not invited to the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, but he ran a 4.75-second 40-yard dash at Pitt’s pro day. He also benched 225 pounds a total of 23 times, had a 34.5-inch vertical jump and completed the three-cone exercise in 7.13 seconds.

Positioning prospects: Simon joins an evolving group of linebackers as the Bills look to bolster their depth after injuries decimated the group last season. Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard, Dorian Williams, Baylon Spector, Joe Andreessen, Nicholas Morrow, Deion Jones and Edefuan Ulofoshio are the other off-ball linebackers on the roster.

2024 offseason: Simon is healthy and has participated in OTAs and mandatory minicamps.

Outlook for the 2024 season: Barring some sort of crazy performance this summer, Simon will likely try to impress enough to show the coaching staff that he should stay on the practice squad. His lack of college production combined with average measurables doesn’t stand out much, and in a group that has two studs at the top and a few additional players who have had greater production at the NCAA and professional levels, it’s hard to rank Simon above eighth place in this nine-man group. He’s a long way from even making the practice squad.