Casey Rogers isn’t a lock to make the Buffalo Bills’ roster or practice squad, but his locks are if he does.
The defensive tackle hasn’t cut his hair in seven years. He won’t until his NFL career is over.
That was the pact between Rogers and his best friend when they were freshmen at the University of Nebraska: no haircuts until both their football careers were over. They both kept it. His friend had to stop playing for medical reasons but still hasn’t picked up the scissors.
Rogers was a longshot to make it to the NFL. Now he has some of the longest hair in the league. The 6-foot-5, 305-pounder doesn’t have a seven-year itch.
“It’s promise we made,” Rogers said, pointing to his tips. “It signifies when we’re done. When we cut it, all the hair from here to here was all there when we started this thing. It shows all the hard work. I was able to get to the NFL, play in some games, achieve one of my dreams. When I cut it, it’ll signify I did it.”
The 26-year-old from just west of Syracuse, is one of the more unlikely faces — if you can find it behind the mane — at Bills training camp. He went undrafted in 2024 after a productive college career split between Nebraska and Oregon. The New York Giants signed him as an undrafted free agent, and he clawed his way from the practice squad to the active roster in December.
He didn’t get a lot of volume — 33 defensive snaps and nine special teams snaps — but he was razor sharp with hair-raising plays on special teams.
Rogers made his NFL debut in Week 14 against the New Orleans Saints and blocked a 60-yard field goal attempt to end the first half. He was first rookie to block a field goal in the NFL last season.
“I knew I needed to find a way to make plays,” Rogers said. “I wasn’t going to get a ton of reps on the D-line that game, so I had to make an impact some other way. Field goal block is a play where a lot of guys are tired and take it off. I used my motor and just got through and put a hand up.”
Buffalo signed Rodgers, who has a reputation as a tireless worker, one day after he was waived by the New York Giants in May. Rodgers stayed in his home state — if you count the Giants as New York — and hopes to keep his career flowing.
Buffalo’s defensive tackles room is knotted and needs some detangler. The Bills return starters Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones and second-year reserves DeWayne Carter and Zion Logue are back, Buffalo added five defensive tackles in the offseason, spending two of its first four picks on the position — TJ Sanders (second round) and Deone Walker (fourth round) — and signing nine-year veteran Larry Ogunjobi along with former seventh-rounder Marcus Harris.
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“This is a dream opportunity for me,” Rogers said. “When I was a kid, I wanted to play football for the Buffalo Bills. To do it in front of my family and my hometown, it’s amazing. Yes, the room is loaded, but there’s a window for opportunity everywhere. I’m going to give it everything I have, and at the end of the day, I can’t be mad about it.”
The opportunity is even more meaningful because upstate New York isn’t just where the Bills play, it’s where Rogers lives. He and his wife grew up two miles apart in the Westhill School District. They bought a house directly in between, a mile from each childhood home. One day of camp, Rogers had 25 friends and family on hand to watch training camp.
“I want to take advantage of being this close for my community,” Rogers said. “Not every day do you have someone from your neighborhood playing in the NFL and practicing down the road. I’m really prideful of my community. It’s where I grew up. I’ve got a house there now. It’s cool. I want to give the kids the experience of growing up around an NFL player. When I was a kid, that would’ve been really cool for me. Hopefully I can do the same for them.”
There are a lot of layers to Rogers, who was a clean-cut All-American high school lacrosse player initially committed to play at Syracuse University, where his father was the Orange’s defensive coordinator. His Division I sport changed and so did his look.
The long, wavy locks have earned him plenty of nicknames over the years.
“Off-brand Jason Momoa,” Rogers said, smiling. “Walmart brand Jason Momoa. Aquaman is a big one. Flowseidon is a good one.”
He’ll get it edged up every now and then (“because you can’t be a grease ball,” he said) but that’s it. Rogers brushes aside any negativity with the look.
“I didn’t know what it would look like,” Rogers said. “I’d never seen my hair long. It started to become more flowy. I didn’t know it was curly at all.”
Now it’s part of the package. The hair, the hustle, the hometown pride.
“This has been my look. Long hair, don’t care. And I have fun with it.”
If things go his way, the hair will keep growing.
“Hopefully by the time I’m done in Buffalo,” Rogers said, “my hair’s down to my ankles.”
He’s not ready to cut the dream, or the hair, short.