ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The last thing cornerback Tre’Davious White wanted was to leave Buffalo in the first place.
And the first thing White did after his 2024 season ended with Baltimore losing in the divisional playoff round — and against the Bills, of all teams — was begin charting a path for his return.
“I told my agent, if you can’t get Buffalo on the line, don’t call me,” White said Tuesday, a day after reporting for the start of the Bills' offseason workouts and to sign his one-year, $6.8 million contract.
“Walking through the door yesterday, it just seemed like I never left. So many familiar faces. Some new faces, too. But I just feel in place,” the 30-year-old added. “I feel like home.”
Buffalo is where White got his start as a 2017 first-round draft pick out of LSU. It’s where he spent seven NFL seasons building tight bonds and becoming such a hockey fan that he filmed several spoofs for the NHL's Buffalo Sabres to promote his fictional goalie academy.
And it was with the Bills where White enjoyed his biggest successes as a 2019 All-Pro selection and helping transform the team into a winner.
Buffalo is also where he endured various lows. White sustained two debilitating injuries, including a 2023 season-ending torn right Achilles tendon that, coupled with his high-priced contract, led to him being cut in a salary cap-saving move in March 2024.
Though he didn’t hold a grudge against the Bills, White took being cut hard because the injuries and the Bills' payroll were things outside of his control.
“That was the thing that hurt me the most because I felt like I’d still be a Buffalo Bill going into Year 9 with one hat under my name. And that’s something I always wanted,” White said. “But moving forward, I got a bigger appreciation, man. Like this place is so, so special.”
White rejoins the Bills after splitting last season with two teams. He initially signed with the Los Angeles Rams before being traded to Baltimore in November.
The time away from Buffalo was eye-opening, because he was more accustomed to the culture he helped establish after being the first player drafted under Bills coach Sean McDermott. Upon his return, White is driven to help finish what he started — the goal remains winning a Super Bowl — while seeking to reclaim his former job, with Buffalo having a vacancy to fill after failing to re-sign Rasul Douglas.
“Mentally and physically, I’m great,” said White, who acknowledged battling bouts of depression while spending time alone rehabbing his first injury, a torn left knee ligament in 2021.
“My therapist told me to leave the past in the past, and that’s what I’m going to do,” he added. "The only thing that I can come and just do the best that I can and showcase my talents to the best of my ability.”
General manager Brandon Beane saw growth in White’s play over the course of last season, and noted the player also has a leg up on the competition by being familiar with Buffalo’s defensive system.
“I think he definitely can compete for a starting job,” Beane said. “And how can you not root for him?”
Before the setbacks, White had established himself as one of the NFL’s top shutdown cornerbacks.
As a rookie, he was one of only two NFL players to force five takeaways in the fourth quarter, including two game-sealing interceptions. In 2019, he finished tied for the NFL lead with six interceptions. Since 2017, White ranks third among NFL players with 20 second-half takeaways.
Last season, White was relegated to mostly a reduced role, appearing in 11 games, including four starts in LA, with no interceptions.
It felt foreign to White, who found himself following and rooting for the Bills from afar, while staying in touch with former teammates, including defensive back Taron Johnson.
“I was telling Taron, 'Y’all win a Super Bowl without me, like, I’m getting an honorary ring ... because I feel like I played a part in it,’” White said with a laugh.
The Bills fell short. After beating Baltimore, Buffalo was eliminated by Kansas City for the fourth time in five years, and the second time in the AFC championship game.
Now, White gets an opportunity to play a hands-on role again, while fully appreciating the familiar surroundings.
“Just sit back and just take it in and not try to think about the future or the past, just be in the moment because you never know,” White said. "Being back here where it all started is full circle. And this is how it’s supposed to be for me.”
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FILE - Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White stands on the field during the team's NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 21, 2021, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeff Lewis, File)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes pounded northern and southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 60 people, including almost two dozen children, according to local hospitals and health officials, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was “no way” he would halt Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory before Hamas is defeated.
At least 50 people, including 22 children, were killed in the strikes around Jabaliya in northern Gaza, according to local hospitals and Gaza's Health Ministry. At least ten other people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, the European Hospital reported.
The strikes came a day after Hamas released an Israeli-American hostage, a gesture that some thought could lay the groundwork for a ceasefire.
But Netanyahu said Tuesday he would not halt Israel's war in Gaza — even if Hamas releases its hostages — dimming hopes for a truce.
The Israeli military refused to comment on the strikes, but had warned residents of Jabaliya to evacuate late Tuesday night due to militant infrastructure in the area, including rocket launchers.
In Jabaliya, rescue workers smashed through collapsed concrete slabs using hand tools, lit only by the light of cellphone cameras, to remove bodies of some of the children who were killed.
In comments released by Netanyahu’s office Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission. ... It means destroying Hamas.”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in a 2023 intrusion into southern Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.
Israel’s offensive has obliterated vast swathes of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
The strikes came amid hopes that Trump's visit to the Middle East could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
International food security experts issued a stern warning earlier this week that the Gaza Strip will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
French President Emmanuel Macron strongly denounced Netanyahu’s decision to block aid from entering Gaza as “a disgrace” that has caused a major humanitarian crisis.
“I say it forcefully, what Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is doing today is unacceptable,” Macron said Tuesday evening on TF1 national television. “There’s no medicine. We can’t get the wounded out. Doctors can’t get in. What he’s doing is a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.”
Macron, who visited injured Palestinians in El Arish hospital in Egypt last month, called for the reopening of the Gaza border to humanitarian convoys. “Then, yes, we must fight to demilitarize Hamas, free the hostages and build a political solution,” he said.
Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation, living at “catastrophic” levels of hunger, while 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.
Israel has banned all food, shelter, medicine and any other goods from entering the Palestinian territory for the past 10 weeks, even as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations.
Gaza’s population of around 2.3 million people relies almost entirely on outside aid to survive, because Israel’s 19-month-old military campaign has wiped away most capacity to produce food inside the territory.
Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled contributed from Cairo and Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris.
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in an Israeli airstrikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. According to local hospitals, 48 people were killed in the strikes, including 22 children. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in an Israeli airstrikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. According to local hospitals, 48 people were killed in the strikes, including 22 children. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn children from their families who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. According to local hospitals, the strikes killed 48 people, including 22 children. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. According to local hospitals, 48 people were killed in the strikes, including 22 children. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn children from their families who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. According to local hospitals, the strikes killed 48 people, including 22 children. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians evacuate patients from the European hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, after it was hit by an Israeli army airstrike, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike targeting what it said was a Hamas "command and control center" located beneath the hospital. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)
