Bills Sign New Punter After Injury to Cameron Johnston
The Buffalo Bills have enjoyed one of the strongest starts to the 2025 campaign of any team in the NFL, having raced out to a 4-0 start, making them one of only two undefeated teams remaining in the league. However, they have recently run into some trouble at the punter position thanks to an injury to Cameron Johnston.
After becoming the Bills’ punter heading into Week 2, Johnston held down the fort until he was forced out of the team’s Week 4 win over the New Orleans Saints. With Johnston headed to injured reserve due to foot and ankle injuries, Buffalo needed a new punter to fill in for him, and they ended up finding his replacement on Tuesday.
Bills Sign Mitch Wishnowsky to Replace Cameron Johnston
The Bills initially began the 2025 season with Brad Robbins as their punter, but he ended up getting released after the team’s season-opening victory over the Baltimore Ravens. That led to Johnston getting signed, but he is going to miss time with his aforementioned injuries, which forced the team to find its third punter of the season.
While Robbins would have made sense as a potential reunion candidate, Buffalo’s front office looked in a different direction. They ended up turning to another Australian punter, Mitch Wishnowsky, who spent the first six seasons of his career punting for the San Francisco 49ers before getting released in May after he missed the final eight games of the 2024 campaign with a back injury.
Wishnowsky is fully healthy now, and he’s been waiting for his next opportunity in the NFL after getting cut by the Niners. That opportunity has popped up with the Bills, as the team brought him to town on a one-year contract to fill in for Johnston, who will miss at least the next four games as he recovers from his aforementioned injuries.
The Bills have added a punter to the roster ahead of Week 5. The team announced it has signed P Mitch Wishnowsky to a one-year deal and placed P Cameron Johnston (foot/ankle) on injured reserve, sidelining him for a minimum of four games,” Alec White wrote on the team’s official website.
Bills Turn Attention to Crucial Week 5 Contest
Wishnowsky is set to be thrown right into the action for Buffalo, as he will be tasked with getting up to speed quickly ahead of their Week 5 action. Considering how he hasn’t played in a game in almost a full year, there is going to be rust for Wishnowsky to shake off, but should he find the form he enjoyed earlier in his career with San Francisco, he could quickly become a weapon for his new team.
The Bills have a big game on their slate this weekend, as they will be facing the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football. Nobody else in the AFC East has looked particularly threatening to Buffalo’s chances of winning the division, but the Patriots could be on the rise, as their 2-2 record puts them in second place in the division. Kickoff for this game is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET, and the Bills will be quite motivated to push their record to 5-0 on the year.
Eagles Sign Talented Young RB With ‘Bad Reputation’ for Pouting
How talented running back Audric Estime is wasn’t the problem with the Denver Broncos. In the end it was about his attitude and his willingness to compete.
The Philadelphia Eagles are willing to roll the dice that Estime, a 2024 fifth round pick, has already learned some tough lessons after he was released by the Broncos on August 25.
Estime’s bad reputation for pouting — something he was called out for in Denver — won’t do him much good in his next stop on Philadelphia’s practice squad.
“Sources: The #Eagles are signing former #Broncos RB Audric Estime to their practice squad,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz wrote on his official X account on August 27 “Talented young RB out of Notre Dame lands in Philly.”
“Former #broncos RB Audric Estime is signing with the #Eagles practice squad per source,” The Athletic’s James Palmer wrote on his official X account. “Estime is a bruiser back that’s still young, 21 years old, and was a 5th round pick a year ago. Change of scenery will be … good for him.”
ffAs a rookie in 2024, Estime had 76 carries for 310 yards and 2 touchdowns while averaging 4.1 yards per carry.
Estime Responded To Competition With Pouting
Denver’s weakest position group in 2024 was arguably their running backs. It was something that was addressed several times in the offseason as the Broncos drafted UCF’s RJ Harvey in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft and signed free agent J.K. Dobbins.
While that duo will probably end up with the bulk of the carries for the Broncos in 2024, Denver was probably always going to keep 4 running backs.
Estime ran into trouble when he took umbrage with his position on the depth chart — which is truly inconsequential on a Sean Payton coached team in the preseason — and former Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay called him out for “pouting” over where he was listed.
Lindsay implied attitude issues had been an issue for Estime dating back to his rookie season.
Add in Estime’s underwhelming performance in a 27-7 preseason win over the Arizona Cardinals on August 16 in which he had 9 carries for 20 yards (2.2 yards per carry) and we start to see the writing on the wall.
“Show the coaching staff that you want this job,” Lindsay said on July . “Instead, with Audric Estime, it seems like he would walk to his rep or when he’s sitting there it’s like he’s not paying close enough attention or he’s going through the motions because he’s pouting … to the coaches it seems like you’re the same person as last year, and when things don’t go your way, you pout.”
33 days until Notre Dame football. Throwback to Audric Estime’s 80 yard rushing touchdown on the road vs NC State in 2023 pic.twitter.com/wim8XKk6r7
— CJ Carr Enjoyer (@UndercoverFan24) July 29, 2025
Broncos Would Have Given Estime More Chances
While Estime seemed destined to start the season at third on the depth chart, there was no guarantee he was going to have to stay there — his opportunity would have certainly come at some point early in the season.
Instead, the Broncos start the season with Harvey and Dobbins, along with Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie as backups on their 53-man roster.
The Eagles kept 3 running backs on the 53-man roster in reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley, Will Shipley and veteran A.J. Dillon.
