ORCHARD PARK – In less than two weeks’ time, Jimmy Ciarlo went from thinking his dream of playing in the NFL had expired to becoming an unlikely star on Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Buffalo Bills.
Life comes at you fast, and for Ciarlo – a West Point graduate who will commence an eight-year military service commitment once his football career ends, which could be very soon – August has been quite a whirlwind.
If there’s one guy you want to root for Saturday night when the Bills play their preseason finale against Tampa Bay, it’s the 24-year-old linebacker/special teamer who joined the Bills on Aug. 6 and in his brief time with the team, has caught the eye of coach Sean McDermott.
“At this point, I’m not too concerned with what the outcome is going to be,” Ciarlo said when asked about the impending roster cutdown next week. “I just want to put my best foot forward and work as hard as I can. Whatever the end result may be, I’m just thankful to be wearing an NFL uniform for the preseason because rewinding back to a few months ago when I was at home, I would have done anything just to be in the locker room for a day.”
Jimmy Ciarlo’s path to the Buffalo Bills
On Aug. 4, Ciarlo was leaving the New York Giants’ practice facility and driving back to his home in North Jersey thinking that it might be time to inform the Army that he was ready to report for active duty as an infantryman.
He had already worked out for the Patriots and they opted against signing him, and now New York’s Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen decided to pass on the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder. One year removed from a preseason torn ACL that ended his rookie year with the New York Jets, where he had signed in 2024 as an undrafted free agent, his NFL future was not promising.
“During OTAs it was crickets, nothing really there,” he said of the time following his release from the Jets. “As the summer went on and then camps got started, I went up and worked out for the Patriots and didn’t end up signing there, and then I worked out for the Giants the Monday before we played them but they didn’t end up signing me.
“I drove home and as soon as I sat on the couch, my agent called me and said, ‘Hey the Bills want to fly you up tonight for a workout tomorrow.’ I said let’s do it, and I didn’t even unpack my bag. I came up here with two sets of clothes and here I am.”
At the time the Bills were dealing with injuries to linebackers Terrel Bernard, Dorian Williams and Shaq Thompson, and they had just waived oft-injured Baylon Spector, so when they played the Giants four days after Ciarlo signed, he got on the field for 14 defensive snaps and 10 on special teams and he made four tackles.
How Jimmy Ciarlo became a star on Hard Knocks
One of the tackles came on kickoff coverage where he blew up the Giants’ return man, Dante Miller, and the Hard Knocks broadcast used the film clip of McDermott lauding Ciarlo for his hustle.
“Whoever is on the field, it doesn’t matter,” McDermott said in a team meeting. “This is what we’re looking for: Physical, nasty, making plays, flying around, being a difference-maker. There’s going to be three guys that make this team solely on special teams because of plays like this.”
After McDermott told Ciarlo to raise his hand so he could see where he was, he said, “That’s a heck of a play, man. I know you just joined us a couple days ago, man, great job. That’s playoff-caliber work right there. So your reps are going to move up. You make plays like this in any capacity, in any phase, you earn more playing time. I don’t care what your name is, where you were drafted, what your status was last year. Don’t really care. You earn the right to play on this team.”
Last Sunday in Chicago, McDermott was true to his word as Ciarlo played 31 snaps on defense, 16 on special teams, and made four more tackles.
“Unbelievable. I really didn’t even know how to react,” Ciarlo said of McDermott singling him out. “It was a completely surreal moment for me, especially when five days before, I was at home thinking I wouldn’t be able to play football again. So going from that to being recognized in the team meeting, to me, one of the proudest moments of my football career.”
Naturally, his phone blew up the moment the episode aired last Tuesday.
“It was really cool to get texts from friends and family,” he said. “My little brother texted me and said that my family was at home watching and it was like the ball drop on New Years Eve, so that was pretty cool to hear. The support’s been amazing, but at the same time, I’m trying not to make it a distraction from the goals I’m trying to achieve here.”
Jimmy Ciarlo’s football career before the NFL
Ciarlo played high school ball St. Joseph Regional, an all-boys private school in Montvale, New Jersey where he had seven interceptions and more than 50 pass breakups as a cornerback. He didn’t draw much recruiting interest – Syracuse, Army and Navy were about it at the Division I level – so coming from a family that had a military past, Army was a natural choice.
“Growing up I had cousins, an uncle, great-grandfather in the military, so I idolized the military,” he said. “That’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t have a ton of offers, but as soon as (Army) offered me I pretty much committed right away, that’s something I always wanted to do.”
He attended the prep school at West Point for one year, then spent four years at the institute majoring in Systems and Decision Sciences and playing on the varsity, the last two as a starting linebacker. In his senior season of 2023 he was a team captain and made 58 tackles with three sacks, a forced fumble and a recovery. That was also the year he had to choose his ultimate branch of service and he chose infantry, meaning in this crazy world that we live in, he could eventually be on the front line somewhere.
“That’s the job you think of when you think of army stuff, military stuff,” he said. “It’s just one of those things, you get to learn from mentors while you’re there, and I just always latched on to those guys who were infantry and took that route. It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do. I always admired what they did and just kind of wanted to follow suit in their footsteps.”
First, though, there’s Saturday night against the Buccaneers, one last chance to show McDermott and his coaching staff that he’s a player they’ll want around, either on the 53-man roster or the practice squad.
“To be here for the preseason so far has been a blessing,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens, and I can live with that. This has been nothing but a positive experience for me.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: This Bills longshot no one took seriously is turning heads in Buffalo and on Hard Knocks
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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