5 key takeaways from Buffalo Bills first preseason game
By Brandon Ray
3.) The middle linebacker competition continues
When news broke that second-year linebacker Terrel Bernard suffered a hamstring injury at the end of training camp, this opened the opportunity door for Tyrel Dodson, who is reportedly competing for the starting middle linebacker job (per AJ Feldman), to seize the reps and earn the position.
Even though everything seemed to be a good setup for Dodson to get ahead in the linebacker competition, it was followed up with a disappointing performance against the Colts.
Dodson did not seem to take control of the defense and was even blown up on plays by the offense. There was no statement made by Dodson as to why he deserves to be the team’s new starting middle linebacker.
As of now, there is no timeframe as to when Bernard could be back in action per Sean McDermott according to Maddy Glab. With this news, the linebacker competition may still be open rather than closing. However, Dodson may get the nod as the starter if Bernard is not able to come back from the injury leading up to week one of the regular season.