Tempers Flare at Buffalo Bills OTAs between linemen

It wouldn’t be a training camp without a scuffle between the trenches. Tuesday’s session took it there for the Buffalo Bills.

Tempers reportedly flared at Buffalo Bills OTAs on Tuesday leading to punches being thrown between Bills’ second-year EDGE rusher A.J. Epenesa and veteran offensive lineman Jon Feliciano. The skirmish occurred during the portion of practice where reporters are not allowed to record video so all information coming out is coming from team reporters or the players themselves.

Disregarding the fight, this is a positive development for Epenesa, the Bills top draft choice from 2020 who failed to make a significant impact a year ago. Getting a pick-six against a QB against Josh Allen even in a setting as relaxed as OTA’s is a step in the right direction.

Like I said, Epenesa struggled a year ago so this could’ve been a case of him not “acting like he had been there before” after his big play, which would be fair because he has not been there before. But his handling of the play could’ve been what set off Feliciano and caused him to jump in and stand up for other members of the offense.

On the other side of the fight, we have Feliciano, one of the toughest and most vocal leaders on the Bills. This is nothing new for Feliciano as we all saw him in the center of a heated exchange in the waning seconds of the AFC championship game. If there was going to be a fight at Bills camp, you would’ve put good money on Feliciano being one of the ones involved.

On the other side of the fight, we have Feliciano, one of the toughest and most vocal leaders on the Bills. This is nothing new for Feliciano as we all saw him in the center of a heated exchange in the waning seconds of the AFC championship game. If there was going to be a fight at Bills camp, you would’ve put good money on Feliciano being one of the ones involved.

This is just another practice scuffle.

Overall, I don’t think there should be any cause for concern from Buffalo Bills fans, if there were truly problems in the locker room an incident like this would’ve escalated into an all-out brawl. This just seems like an incident of a young player who is eager to prove himself showing up as a veteran player at a practice that doesn’t matter.

Harrison Phillips shared this sentiment during his press conference after practice. “Tempers flare and there’s sometimes a boiling point. This guy is going a little harder than this guy and that’s just the things that come with the game, but that’s also what brings people together.”

Jon Feliciano himself joined the Pat McAfee show after practice and he didn’t seem too concerned with the incident either.

It doesn’t sound like there will be any long term ramifications and now that the beef has been squashed, the Buffalo Bills can begin preparing for mandatory minicamp which begins next week.

If you want to watch the full Feliciano interview you can find it here: (Feliciano joins at 2:41:12)