5 position battles on defense to watch during Buffalo Bills training camp
Joe Giles-Harris vs. Marquel Lee vs. Baylon Spector
Similar to cornerback, there is an interesting training camp battle at the end of the depth chart at linebacker. This might not have been much of a battle if Andre Smith would be available to start the year but he is serving a six-game suspension due to violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
He has been a big contributor on special teams and the winner of this training camp battle might be decided by the player who plays the best in this part of the game. The Bills have three players that are the most likely to compete for that spot with Joe Giles-Harris, Marquel Lee, and Baylon Spector.
Joe Giles-Harris started with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent and played in 14 games, with two starts, in his first two years in the league. He was waived and signed to the Bills’ practice squad prior to the 2021 season and has played significant snaps on special teams.
As for Marquel Lee, he was a player the Buffalo Bills signed last offseason but was released prior to the season. He would join the Raiders and appear in 11 games, primarily playing on special teams with 240 snaps last year.
The final player is Baylon Spector, who the Buffalo Bills drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Clemson. He was a starting linebacker for Clemson the past two years and probably is more of a practice squad candidate this year.
However, the two veterans he is competing with are far from locks and with a strong training camp certainly could win this spot.