ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Cornerback Dane Jackson is back in Buffalo, and the Bills also added positional depth at receiver by signing Laviska Shenault and interior offensive lineman Kendrick Green on Friday.
The additions close a busy 10-day stretch for general manager Brandon Beane in filling roster holes in free agency while also locking in key players to long-term contracts. Beane said the team is now close to the salary cap limit, though he didn't rule out the potential of freeing up more space if it means improving the five-time defending AFC East champions' roster.
Buffalo's more high-profile free agent additions included edge rusher Joey Bosa and receiver Joshua Palmer. Just as important, the Bills signed quarterback Josh Allen, edge rusher Greg Rousseau and middle linebacker Terrel Bernard to long-term extensions.
The 28-year-old Jackson returns to Buffalo after spending last season with the Carolina Panthers. He was the Bills’ seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft and proved to be a valuable backup with 28 starts in 52 games with Buffalo.
Last season, Jackson was limited to three starts in nine games and cut by the Panthers last month.
He brings familiarity with Buffalo’s defensive approach and shores up a secondary that lacks a starter opposite Christian Benford, with Rasul Douglas entering free agency. The Bills also traded backup Kaiir Elam to Dallas on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Shenault is joining his fifth team since being selected by Jacksonville in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Colorado. Shenault lasted just two seasons with the Jaguars before being traded to Carolina. He then split last season starting in Seattle, before being waived in December and closing the year with the Los Angeles Chargers.
After catching 121 passes for 1,219 yards and five touchdowns in 30 games with Jacksonville, Shenault has combined for 42 catches, 368 yards and one TD in 33 games over the past three years. In Buffalo, he will compete for a backup spot on an offense behind Palmer and returning starters Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman.
Green has four seasons of NFL experience after being selected by the Steelers in the third round of the 2021 draft out of Illinois. After starting 15 games at center as a rookie for Pittsburgh, he didn’t play a down the following season in struggling to make the switch to guard.
The 26-year-old Green was traded to Houston in August 2023, and spent the past two seasons with four starts in 21 games for the Texans.
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FILE - Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. stands on the sideline before an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
FILE - Houston Texans guard Kendrick Green (53) during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers cornerback Dane Jackson (23) follows the action during an NFL football game against the New York Giants at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Luciano, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. applications for jobless benefits held steady last week as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty over how President Donald Trump’s tariffs will impact the economy.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid was unchanged at 229,000 for the week ending May 10, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s in line with the 230,000 new applications analysts forecast.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are seen as representative of U.S. layoffs and have mostly bounced around a healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 since COVID-19 ravaged the economy and wiped out millions of jobs five years ago.
Even though Trump has paused or rolled back many of his tariff threats, concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could upend the U.S. labor market, which has been a pillar of the American economy for years.
Last week, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate at 4.3% for the third straight meeting after cutting it three straight times at the end of last year.
Fed chair Jerome Powell said the risks of both higher unemployment and inflation have risen, an unusual combination that complicates the central bank’s dual mandate of controlling prices and keeping unemployment low.
Powell said that tariffs have dampened consumer and business sentiment but that data has not yet shown significant harm to the economy.
Also on Thursday, the government reported that inflation at the wholesale level fell unexpectedly in April for the first time in more than a year. However, new retail sales data showed that Americans pulled back their spending in April after stocking up on goods the month before to get ahead of expected price increases due to tariffs.
On Monday, the U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day pause in their trade war, giving financial markets a boost and at least temporarily relieving some of the anxiety over the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy.
Trump is attempting to reshape the global economy by dramatically increasing import taxes to rejuvenate the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Contraction has already begun in the U.S., where the economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace from January through March as Trump’s trade wars disrupted business. First-quarter growth was slowed by a surge in imports as companies in the U.S. tried to bring in foreign goods before Trump’s massive tariffs went into effect.
Trump has also promised to drastically downsize the federal government workforce, which occupied much of the initial weeks of his second term.
It’s not clear when the job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency — or “DOGE,” spearheaded by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk — will surface in the weekly layoffs data. Many of the cuts are being challenged in the courts, though the federal government staff reductions are already being felt, even outside of the Washington, D.C. area.
Despite showing some signs of weakening during the past year, the labor market remains robust, with plentiful jobs and relatively few layoffs.
Earlier this month, the government reported that U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate held at a historically healthy 4.2%.
Many economists still anticipate that a negative impact from trade wars will materialize this year for American workers.
On Tuesday, Microsoft began laying off about 6,000 workers, nearly 3% of its workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years as the company spends heavily on artificial intelligence.
Other companies that have announced job cuts this year include Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines and Facebook parent company Meta.
The Labor Department's report Thursday said that the four-week average of claims, which softens some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose by 3,250 to 230,500.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of May 3 rose by 9,000 to 1.88 million.
FILE - A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Northbrook, Ill., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
