After three straight days of work to open up training camp, the Bills have reached their first day off of the summer. The team will take Saturday off to rest, and when they return for another three straight days, fully padded practices will likely begin during one of the sessions.
Many coaches and players have been eagerly anticipating the switch to what many have termed real football, where the physicality ramps up and players can make permanent impressions on key decision-makers for playing time and roster spots.
But the ramp-up period is always an excellent time for players to put themselves in good positions for more reps when the pads go on. What were the biggest takeaways from the start of camp?
Here are several things we learned as the Bills 2024 campaign is now in full swing.
Josh Allen had a strong start with a challenging third day
Each day of practice features a specific thing the offense is looking to work on. On the first day, it was a heavy red zone day. On the second day, it was a more generalized down-and-distance approach. Throughout those first two days, Josh Allen picked up right where he had left off at the end of last season. He was sharp with his reads and accuracy and he looked comfortable throwing in the pocket and on the move. Although those first two days lacked the deep highlight-reel TD catch in team drills, the Bills first-team offense was impressive in its overall consistency moving the ball through the air.But on Friday, Day 3, was the first real frustration for Allen and the offense. There were misfires, perhaps some crossed wires with receivers and a trio of interceptions over a four-play span to go along with it. Some early practice misfires can be explained by the team mainly focusing on third-down situations, where the defense knows a pass play was likely coming at them. The interception spree, though, occurred at the end of practice, with the Bills going through their real drives of camp. In total, Allen had three drives and completed only one pass, with all three ending in an interception. The first was a third down deep field arm punt caught by safety Taylor Rapp. The second likely wouldn’t have counted if there was a referee in the area, as cornerback Christian Benford pretty clearly committed defensive pass interference before bringing in the interception. The third was a low ball that landed in the arms of cornerback Kaiir Elam, and he returned it for a touchdown. Rather than trying a fourth drive, the Bills ended the practice for the first-team offense.
With a brand new group of receivers, days like Friday will happen — especially for how well the offense performed over the first two days. Allen has had a habit of coming back with a big practice after bad days like these in the past, especially with a day off in between to stew about it, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he re-asserts the offense on Sunday.
Bills Day 1-3 MVP: DE Greg Rousseau
Despite the offense playing well through the first two days, the one consistent truth on the defense has been how well fourth-year defensive end Greg Rousseau performed. Depending on his defensive end partner, Rousseau has spent some time at left defensive end, and some on the right — much like he did during last season. He has been effective from both, but he took that to a different level on Friday. Rousseau was consistently winning his battles to get into the backfield, coming up with run stuffs at the line, pressures of Allen and he even batted two passes at the line to force incompletions. In a one-on-one rep against Spencer Brown, he read the right tackle’s slight overset and cruised inside for an easy victory. Still only 24 years old, Rousseau is showing early signs of real growth once again. The ceiling for the team’s top pass rusher remains quite high.
Cole Bishop, right, (pictured with Ja’Marcus Ingram) had a big day on Friday taking reps with the first-team defense. (Shawn Dowd / USA Today)
A day-by-day rotation at safety
Friday was an underrated big day for rookie and second-round safety Cole Bishop. Through the first two days, the Bills employed a rotation at the first-team safety spot next to presumed starter Taylor Rapp. Damar Hamlin had the first day, with veteran Mike Edwards getting the second. The Bills used a similar kind of rotation at middle linebacker in 2023 to allow all of the potential answers get in the flow of a practice. For Bishop, if the rotation turned over and went back to Hamlin, that would have signaled the rookie is a fair bit behind to begin the year in the starting lineup.However, on Friday, that was not the case. Bishop took his place next to Rapp on the first-team defense for almost the entire practice during team drills. Near the end of some practice periods, the Bills generally like to mix and match defensive personnel. It was no different on Day 1 and Day 2. But when the first-team defense initially trotted on the field for Day 3, Bishop was among them. Eventually, in 2023, the middle linebacker rotation whittled down to two players near the end of training camp, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they followed a similar approach in 2024 at safety. For instance, last year, Day 3 of camp yielded Baylon Spector with the top unit at middle linebacker, which wound up being his only day getting that opportunity. At least for now, Bishop is firmly in the discussion to start — it just took a couple of days to see what the Bills were thinking.
In the battle for the final WR spot, keep an eye on Tyrell Shavers
As the Bills went through their first few days, eight different wide receivers took snaps with Allen and the first-team offense during team drills. Seven of them are who you’d expect — Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Curtis Samuel, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Mack Hollins, along with veteran players Chase Claypool and K.J. Hamler. But the one name that has persisted in several ways, and could have a real chance of making the team this season is 2023 undrafted free agent Tyrell Shavers. The Bills kept the 6-foot-4, 211-pound Shavers on their practice squad all last season and the patience has paid off in the early going.Shavers has earned opportunities with Allen, but more impressively, he has lined up at all three receiver positions at different times, along with potentially being a real contributor to several special teams units, which gives him an edge over many others in the competition. No one else in the competition for the sixth receiver spot can boast that versatility. Shavers has also handily outplayed 2023 fifth-round pick Justin Shorter, who has only worked with the second and third units. Shavers was somewhat of an interesting name coming into camp, but mostly for a second year on the practice squad. He’ll need to keep it going when the pads go on, which can sometimes gobble up early standouts at receiver. But to his credit, these first few days have been eye-opening, and he has earned early consideration for the 53-man roster.
Rookie offensive lineman is making some headway
Bills rookie sixth-round pick Tylan Grable had some notable usage during Day 2, working at both left and right tackle with the second unit. And the early promising signs have continued for Grable, who even kicked inside to guard at one point during Friday’s practice. Most importantly, the early stages of camp have not seemed too large for the athletically gifted 6-foot-6, 305-pound Grable. He has held up well during team drills, and in two opportunities during one-on-ones, he stood out. On his first rep, working at right tackle against Von Miller, Grable shut down the future Hall of Fame pass rusher for a win on the rep. Then on his next at left tackle, he quickly gobbled up the attempt by fifth-round rookie pass rusher Javon Solomon. The usual caveat is to hold all firm opinions until the pads go on. But the early indicators are promising on Grable, and the Bills are likely eager to see through the rest of the summer if this holds for their late-round pick.Punter battle off to a pretty even start
You don’t think I’d leave you without a #Puntapalooza2024 update, did you? Through the first two days, the Bills did not run any team drill punting. Though on Day 3, they opened up their competition between veteran Sam Martin and undrafted rookie Jack Browning. Each punter received seven consecutive opportunities in the same situations. Martin, who is the favorite to uphold the job, was the first to kick. Martin’s punts were up and down, booting the longest punt of both players for 60 yards, but also having the shortest of 35 yards. Browning started off slowly, averaging only 41 yards over his first four punts, but he boomed his final three punts for all over 50 yards. At the end of it, by my unofficial stats and not including return yards, both Martin and Browning averaged exactly 46.9 yards per punt. However, Browning won the hangtime battle, averaging 4.54 seconds — including the top two individual punts of 5.06 and 4.94 seconds — with Martin only averaging 4.31 seconds.Despite Browning having a slightly better day by the hangtime numbers, two things are working against him. First, Martin has $2.3 million of dead cap that the Bills will have to pay out on their cap unless they can trade the veteran. Second, Martin, not Browning, was the only punter to hold for Tyler Bass’s field goal attempts on Friday. If the Bills can find a solution for the first issue, and Browning shows he can be a dependable holder, he could have a chance. Regardless, it was a good start for the undrafted punter sporting jersey No. 30.