What might the Bills have in Jermaine Burton?

“Easy speed. Sudden and glides on the field. Shows natural ability to flip on the jets, and at top speed he absolutely flies. Awesome hands. The suddenness that comes with his athleticism helps him generate separation, and he ran a fair amount of routes (mostly vertical) in college but doesn’t translate after the catch. Minimal flashes in those scenarios. Tracks it over his head awesomely, and his true speciality is his ability to stretch defenses vertically. Decent height and slender-ish frame lends itself to his effortless speed. Despite smaller-ish frame, he’s a tenacious blocker on the outside. Somewhat of a niche WR but his speed and flashes of dynamic route running make him an intriguing WR prospect who can be instant impact down the field. Older-ish prospect.

And here’s all his pertinent NFL Combine information:

During those four seasons in the SEC, Burton aligned on the boundary on 74% of his snaps, dropped just four passes on 197 targets and won on 52.6% of his contested-catch opportunities, per PFF.

During his rookie season with the Bengals, Burton appeared on just 11.5% of the offensive snaps and caught four passes for 107 yards without a touchdown. He had two 40-plus yard receptions against the Chiefs and Eagles that year.

As far as why Burton’s available before the start of his third professional season, he was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute, per ESPN, but no charges were filed and no punishment was handed down by the NFL.

Beyond that serious matter, there’s no use speculating as to the exact details that led to his release in Cincinnati, and while of course the Bills will probably be closely monitoring Burton, what transpired during his first stop in the NFL is essentially irrelevant now because Buffalo’s brass first needs to see if Burton can make an impact at rookie minicamp before it assess how much “risk” he poses if they decide to make room for him on the roster entering mandatory minicamp/training camp.

There’s no question Burton is a clearly talented, vertical-based wideout. He’ll take part in Bills rookie minicamp with the potential to be this year’s version of the Chase Claypool Experiment, a trail run that was going well in 2024 before the wideout was injured at St. John Fisher.