Buffalo Bills: Things we know during this holiday week

The Buffalo Bills still have some time in-between spring practice and training camp, but roster-build speculation is in full-force.

Some personal thoughts on the Bills I shared were torn to pieces by the “Negative One” at the chiropractor’s office emulous waiting room. Shocking.  When the man named Stan is not my fan, ’tis a clear indicator my thoughts are not a horrible plan. My rhyming will certainly not be mistaken for that of Dr. Seuss. Not Adam Sandler. Certainly not Eminem. Never.

I discern training camp is just under one month away, so many things can change. I was making some predictions on some roster spots. Nothing more and nothing less.

If Josh Allen and Matt Barkley are flourishing and relatively healthy, Tyree Jackson will be a roster spot casualty being released. He most likely is a project quarterback of which a roster spot is unlikely to be occupied for. If he is not on another teams radar, he should settle in nicely on the practice squad.

This all said, arguments attacks reminding one of the Bills total lack of preparedness to handle any quandary at the quarterback position last season. The suggestions were in heavy doses that they possibly carry three at all times. Not a bad argument at all. Just not the way I envision Brandon Beane operating based on history. That said: past performance does not predict future behavior.

John Brown, Zay Jones, Robert Foster, Cole Beasley, and Andre Roberts will occupy the top five receiver spots. I would gather they will keep a sixth receiver for this season. Victor Bolden got quite a few reps with the first teams during the spring workouts, and Duke Williams will challenge for that role when the pads and hitting begin.

Stephen Hauschka will remain the kicker with Chase McLaughlin coming in to create standard competition–as well as giving special teams more than one place-kicker to run drills with.

LeSean McCoy, Frank Gore, Devin Singletary, Senorise Perry, and Patrick DiMarco could hold down the back positions. Perry, a surprise, gets the part because of his abilities on special teams. Stanley and company were argumentative about T.J. Yeldon being M.I.A on the RB roster I predicted. I took into consideration him being banged up, which puts him behind others off the get-go.

Also, Yeldon is too talented to stay on a team if that much talent is on the roster taking snaps. I would picture him being cut or traded, allowing him to sign on elsewhere that needs experience at the position.

Tyler Kroft, Dawson Knox, Jason Croom, Lee Smith, and Tommy Sweeney should secure the blocking and receiving roles at tight-end. Nate Becker and Keith Towbridge should be the obvious cuts. If everyone remains healthy, one more of the crew could be cut depending on how many they decide to keep at that position. Keep in mind of special teams play at certain positions being a deciding factor on some of the depth players.

As for the offensive line, getting into proclamations this early is dangerous. They rotate players around quite often, unknown injuries impact performance, and gelling in chemistry with teammates are key factors. Too many players have been brought in and so many details that the non-offensive line coach performance reviewer (me?) does not look for, look at, focus on, or even realize is impactful.

In simple terms, I believe the untrained eye, not involved in every aspect, can rarely ever clearly know who missed what assignment. There are the obviously blown blocks that stand out, but many of the dozens of other missed assignments are not glaring as to who missed what. The play may have been something different than the average fan sees, resulting in the wrong player having fingers pointed in his direction.

End story: I’ll leave the offensive line alone until the final number are still standing and are in more of permanent roles. When the roster spots are somewhat decided, injuries accounted for, salary cap casualties addressed, then and only then do I start to sort through where the missed blocks or the lack of holes created for runners occur, and who was responsible.

Things we know about the Buffalo Bills this week:

• Tremaine Edmunds acquired the defensive play-calling duties beginning at his very first practice with the Bills. As covered in previous articles, he had the opportunity to run his own player-only defense meetings; obtaining the role from Kyle Williams late last year. Edmunds currently has full reign of the defense heading into his second NFL season. Big things can happen with his talent, athleticism, and the Bills’ solid coaching on the defensive side of the ball.

• Bills training camp finishes in Pittsford Tuesday, August 6. The Bills will travel to South Carolina the following week and practice with the Carolina Panthers. This will be a new addition to the team’s pre-season preparation. The obvious connections of the Bills head coach and GM to the Panthers need no explanation. Keep the starters healthy before a meaningful snap takes place, please.