Buffalo Bills: Top takeaways from first week of padded practice

Kicking specialists being pushed in position battle

Another intriguing position battle is taking place on special teams as the returning starters Stephen Hauschka and Corey Bojorquez are facing real competition for the first time in their tenure with the Buffalo Bills.

Stephen Hauschka knew coming into training camp that he would need to beat out the Bills’ sixth round draft pick Tyler Bass. The veteran struggled last year with kicks over 50+ yards while one of the strengths for Bass is his leg strength.

This has been on display so far during training camp as Sal Capaccio of WGR550 provides an update:

"Thursday’s kicking battle has been widely written and talked about, but just to recap: Stephen Hauschka was short on multiple 52 yard kicks, but did make one later in the practice, and went 5-for-8 overall. Rookie Tyler Bass was wide on a 44-yarder, but that was only miss in eight attempts (7-for-8).  He also drilled multiple kicks from 50-plus yards, including one from 56 which cleared the crossbar pretty well."

As for the punting competition, the Buffalo Bills actually made a switch when they released Kaare Vedvik and signed free agent Lachlan Edwards, who previously spent the past four years with the New York Jets.

Edwards has 64 career games and this past season led the league in punt yards with 3,991 yards. The addition now gives Bojorquez some veteran competition that he hasn’t had to face the past few seasons.

The interesting thing worth watching over the next few weeks is how the Buffalo Bills try to replicate live game action to evaluate the players and determine who ends up winning the starting job.