4 things Bills fans need to closely watch for in first preseason game vs Bears

No. 4: Position Battles and an issue with a starter

Cornerback:

While it’s not necessarily a competition as Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas are the top guys, Kaiir Elam has been great this training camp. The team has not yet given up on the former first-rounder who’s entering his third season. Elam has struggled to transition to the Bills system and has also been a victim of Benford turning out to be a gem; he was even the highest-graded cornerback in zone coverage last season. Elam has been given reps and looks great, he’s been rotating in with the first unit. He’s making a push for actual playing time and can force Babich and McDermott’s hand to roll with a rotation at corner during the season, which we’ve seen before. Elam has reportedly put in tremendous work this offseason, according to Matt Parrino.

Tight End Three:

Dalton Kincaid is the top dog in the tight end room and is expected to be one of the league's best and Dawson Knox is one of the better tight end two’s in the league. For the past two seasons, Quintin Morris has shown up at training camp and made the team, even beating out O.J. Howard along the way. Morris has even made some clutch plays during the season, while also being a big special teams contributor. However, Zack Davidson is gunning for that tight end three spot. He’s been turning heads at camp and has even been getting reps with the first team. The 6’7” fifth-round pick in 2021 of the Vikings has the chance to ascend from the Bills practice squad and unseat Morris with a good preseason.

Center Connor McGovern's Snaps:

The Bills will be without bookend center Mitch Morse for the first time in years as they chose to move on from him, mainly due to salary cap reasons. Morse, who’s been one of the league's best, will be replaced by last year’s left guard, Connor McGovern. He’s naturally a center, but played everywhere for the Cowboys before the Bills inked him to a nice contract last offseason to play guard. Now he’s Allen’s center and has reportedly had some miscues snapping the ball. That’s what preseason is all about, getting those kinks out of the way now. However, fans should keep an eye on how his snaps to Josh Allen look in his first live game action as the Buffalo Bills center. Allen says he is not concerned about it.