Bills OTA observations: Maxwell Hairston’s potential, opportunity for Joe Andreessen and more
Plus, Joshua Palmer's undisclosed injury and Mitchell Trubisky's increased workload.
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With one full week of Organized Team Activities already complete, the Bills returned for the start of their second and final week of those voluntary practices. At this point in the spring, most of the players are settling into the cadences of the new year of work, and the coaching staff can teach both scheme and technique in a non-padded setting.
And with the second week of work, there were a couple of big-name absences.
The first should come as no surprise, as franchise quarterback Josh Allen was away from the team during Tuesday’s session for good reason. Allen married actress Hailee Steinfeld over the weekend, a ceremony several of his Bills teammates attended. During the first week of OTAs, Allen was with the team leading up to his wedding day.
The other notable absence, starting running back James Cook, was a continuation of the first week. Cook, who has been public with what he’d like to receive for a contract extension, has yet to come to an agreement with the Bills. Cook’s absence from the voluntary workouts is presumably related to not having that new deal in place. It remains to be seen if Cook will return for the three-day mandatory minicamp next week, though there are no indications to this point that the absence would extend into those practices.
As for the rest of the team, we saw some interesting performance-related pieces and some opportunities that arose due to injury sitouts. Here’s what stood out from Week 2 of Bills OTAs.
Maxwell Hairston is learning on the go, but teases potential
The Bills have taken things slow with 2025 first-round pick and cornerback Maxwell Hairston. During the first week of OTAs, they limited his reps and focused on technique. It seemed to be an intentional crawl-before-you-walk build-up for Hairston while setting him up with a chance to succeed. And taking a vested interest in that technique, you can easily see the first-round pick’s natural ability. During positional drills, Hairston’s ability to stop and start to break on a ball looks effortless. Along the same lines, some backpedal drills force defensive backs to work on flipping their hips, which leads to some tighter athletes struggling. But for Hairston, his hip fluidity looks extremely smooth the vast majority of the time without sacrificing speed, which is an attribute that will serve him well in a game setting when he needs to turn and run coming out of a backpedal. His technique wasn’t perfect on every rep of every drill, but for only his second week of NFL practices, it went pretty well for the most part.To begin the second week of practices, the Bills decided to put a bit more on his plate during team drills. There were several times throughout the day during 11-on-11s when Hairston lined up against a receiver who will likely be a core contributor to the offense in 2025. His most noteworthy reps came against Keon Coleman, the team’s top pick in 2024. Hairston served up his highlight of the day, where both quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and Coleman tried to get Hairston to bite on a double move. Hairston stuck to his keys, got himself turned around and stuck with Coleman in his hip pocket, and then got his hand up to get a piece of the pass for a breakup. A few reps later, Coleman got the better of Hairston and had a step on the rookie as Coleman dragged across the field to complete the catch. Hairston had a day of positives and negatives, but there is talent there.
All throughout the day, it was noticeable how much attention the Bills’ coaching staff gave Hairston, varying from praise to constructive criticism depending on the previous play. There was one point in the session when Hairston made a mistake. The coaches made him aware of the mistake, and the rookie was hard on himself for making the error. Just a few seconds later, veteran cornerback Tre’Davious White came up to Hairston, likely giving him a bit of encouragement in helping him get through the error. Regardless of that brief moment, all of the attention the Bills are giving to him likely isn’t by accident, and naturally tends to go to players people believe can become an important player down the line. Mixed with his natural talents, if Hairston gets things ironed out from a scheme and technique standpoint, he is a potential long-term starter with speed the Bills have never had at cornerback under Sean McDermott. Some of his teammates think it’s a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ for Hairston, which also bodes well for his future.
Mitchell Trubisky gets plenty of reps without Allen there
With Allen not only being the team’s star quarterback but also having been available to practice and play almost every week during his NFL career, it isn’t often that we get an enhanced look at the team’s backup quarterback. Allen’s status as a newlywed provided an opportunity for backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to get work with the top receivers on the roster. And while he had some good moments with some intermediate throws, it was a reminder of what the Bills would lose without Allen in the lineup. On one rep during team drills, wide receiver Jalen Virgil burned past White without any help over the top, a clear-as-day opportunity for a big play and potential touchdown. Trubisky correctly spotted Virgil popping open to the deep area of the field and let the throw fly.The throw hung up in the air a bit too long, and the trajectory of the pass not only forced Virgil to slow down to try and get to it, but the ball was well underthrown enough for another cornerback, Christian Benford, to read the play and run under the pass, nearly intercepting it. Most of the time, if it’s Allen hurling the ball down the field, the pass being underthrown usually isn’t the result. If he doesn’t put the throw on target, Allen usually misses it long to not invite a potential turnover. Deep field throwing and accuracy really haven’t been much of a strong point in Trubisky’s game since entering the league, so it isn’t necessarily a surprise that he would struggle on a throw like that one. However, it’s just a reminder of the advantage Allen gives them, and perhaps a preview of how the offense might look — focusing on more short to intermediate passing — should Allen ever miss time.
Joshua Palmer leaves practice with an undisclosed injury
Although he didn’t make a dramatic impact on team drills last week, Bills free agent signing and wide receiver Joshua Palmer definitely showed the route running and separation talent that helped the team identify him as a priority target this offseason. But early into his second week of practices with the team, Palmer was forced to miss most of the session. Palmer was going through the paces of individual drills and had to head to the locker room prematurely. Palmer later returned to the practice field in full gear, with his helmet in hand, but did not take any reps during 11-on-11s the rest of the way. Most times in these situations, specifically with it being so early in voluntary practices during the spring, the Bills will usually be cautious with any injury — especially if it’s to someone who they’re depending on to play a fairly significant role that season. It remains to be seen what the injury is, or the severity of it, but it was a good sign that Palmer returned to the practice with helmet in hand, even if he did not take another rep.Another Baylon Spector sit-out provides an opportunity for Joe Andreessen
The Bills are well-settled with their starting middle linebacker both in 2025 and into the future, as that will be Terrel Bernard’s spot for the long term. After him, however, there are questions. Last year’s primary backup to Bernard was Baylon Spector, who has done well throughout his Bills career to learn the team’s defense and slowly work his way up the depth chart. However, throughout 2024 when Bernard was injured, it forced Spector into the starting lineup, and there was quite a large drop-off in play from starter to backup. On top of that, Spector has struggled with minor injuries throughout his career, many of which wind up costing him valuable practice time or even multiple game absences. It’s been the story of Spector’s three-year career to this point, and on Tuesday, he was once again a spectator during practice.The Bills haven’t offered any reason for why Spector didn’t participate, but assuming it’s injury-related, it created quite a chance early into 2025 for Buffalo native and linebacker Joe Andreessen. After storming onto the scene last summer to steal a 53-man roster spot, Andreessen became one of the team’s more trusted special teams assets by the end of the year. He also showed some promise during the preseason on defense, too. Should Spector continue to be a non-participant through next week’s mandatory minicamp, it could open up the possibility of Andreessen pushing for the backup job to Bernard at training camp this July and August.
Bills not in attendance: QB Josh Allen, RB James Cook, DB Cam Lewis
Bills in attendance but not practicing: RT Spencer Brown, DE Joey Bosa, LB Baylon Spector, S Damar Hamlin