XFL players heading to Buffalo Bills training camp

No contracts have been given — just invitations for four XFL players to join the Bills at camp this summer

After they closed out the 2023 NFL Draft and signed a handful of undrafted free agents, the Buffalo Bills turned to the XFL looking for personnel who could potentially fit in their system and add depth on the roster.

Over the past week, the Bills have invited several XFL players to join them at camp this offseason: cornerback Antoine Brooks, tackle Eric Magwood, safety Nate Meadors, and quarterback Quintin Dormady.

Brooks, who played with the Seattle Sea Dragons this season, has NFL experience being drafted In the sixth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020 and being a part of the Super Bowl LVI Champion Los Angeles Rams in 2021. While Brooks was a member of both NFL teams’ practice squads, he was elevated to the Rams active roster in November 2021 before finding himself back on the practice squad by the time the Rams hosted the Cincinnati Bengals for the Super Bowl. After being waived by the Rams in May 2022, the cornerback was drafted by the Sea Dragons in November of the same year. Brooks, who played safety for the Seattle-based XFL team this season, spent his college career as a nickel cornerback for Maryland.

Magwood, who spent his college days at Middle Tennessee University after being a double transfer from Eastern Kentucky and Old Dominion, joined the XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks after spending the 2022 season with the IFL’s Arizona Rattlers. The Bills have been looking to improve protection for quarterback Josh Allen and Magwood may bring some added competition to camp this summer.

Fellow Battlehawk Nate Meadors, also got an invitation to join Magwood at the Bills’ camp this summer. Meadors, who was an UDFA in 2019, is no stranger to the NFL. Meadors spent 2019 and 2020 bouncing back and forth between the practice squad and the active rosters of both the Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars, managing to record two tackles in actual game-time while with the Vikings.

Meadors then spent the next two offseasons bouncing between the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants, but never made it back to an active roster.

Quinton Dormady is a 27-year-old quarterback who spent three years at the University of Tennessee before transferring to Houston and finally Central Michigan. After going undrafted in 2020, Dormady signed with the Montreal Alouettes but did not make the roster. Montreal brought him back again the next season, but once again Dormady was cut — this time in the first round of training camp.

The quarterback finally found his roster spot with the XFL’s Orlando Guardians during the 2023 season, appearing in five games and starting three of them. Dormady put up 1,272 yards, seven touchdowns, and four interceptions on 113 pass completions. He also added another 82 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

However, the quarterback’s season was shadowed by controversy concerning sharing the team’s plays with rival teams. Ultimately cleared of the accusations, the league and Dormady never came up with an explanation for what actually happened.

While it is highly unlikely that any of the XFL’s players will find their active-roster positions with the Bills’ this season, they do all bring competition to positions that Buffalo is looking to add depth to and could, theoretically, find spots on the team’s practice squad at the end of camp.

It’s also important to note that none of the above mentioned players have any contracts in place with the Buffalo Bills, they simply have received invitations to join the team for camp this summer.