Bills join NFL to honor Charlie Kirk during Thursday Night Football

The Buffalo Bills paid tribute to Charlie Kirk on Thursday night before their Week 2 matchup with the Miami Dolphins, televising a video memorial on the jumbotron at Highmark Stadium. Buffalo became the 10th NFL team to honor Kirk this week.

Earlier in the night, teams across the league observed Kirk in various forms. The Green Bay Packers, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals had each honored Kirk during Week 2, in a coordinated but largely team-directed wave of tributes. The NFL had directed the Packers to hold a moment of silence before their game against the Washington Commanders last Thursday, but left the remainder of the league to decide on their own whether to observe Kirk in the days that followed.

Other clubs did not mark Kirk's remembrance ahead of their games. The Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders did not participate in tributes in Week 2.

The broader tributes and the surrounding discourse arrived amid a separate controversy within the league. The Carolina Panthers fired Charlie Rock, a member of the team’s communications staff, after social media posts linked to Rock appeared to show him questioning why people were sad that Kirk had been shot and killed. The Panthers said, "The views expressed by our employees are their own and do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers. We do not condone violence of any kind. We are taking this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with the individual."

Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University. Utah man Tyler Robinson was charged in Kirk’s killing. The late Charlie Kirk image is shown in coverage of the incident. In a related development, the U.S. Senate on Sept. 16 passed a resolution designating Oct. 14, 2025, Kirk’s birthday, as a National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., announced the designation, calling Kirk a “magnetic leader, a loving father and husband and a friend and inspiration to so many.” The resolution noted that “Charlie loved our nation and its founding principles and believed deeply in his faith, in his family and in the beauty of ideas and discussion.”

As the season moves forward, the league and teams continue to balance tributes with ongoing conversations sparked by Kirk’s death and the broader dialogue surrounding memory, sports and public discourse. The Bills' Thursday night moment added another chapter to a week of emotional and ceremonial gestures that stretched across the NFL landscape.