Buffalo Rumblings
Before the Buffalo Bills took the practice field on Tuesday, head coach Sean McDermott fielded questions about the team in preparation for their Week 2 preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. McDermott always begins scheduled media sessions by providing an injury update, often leading to key follow-up questions. Tuesday’s update and comments by McDermott proved to be a little more interesting than typical.
Second-year safety Cole Bishop, who’s currently dealing with a quadriceps injury, returned to practice on a limited basis. That’s good news, considering he’s missed a significant chunk of time on the practice field this spring and summer. He missed all of Buffalo’s mandatory minicamp, and half (six total) of the on-field training camp sessions at St. John Fisher University.
In collegiate action with Utah, Bishop proved durable and started 29 out of 35 games played with the Utes. But injuries and Bishop have gone hand in hand since the Bills selected him at 60 overall in Round 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Bishop’s rookie-season development was stunted due to a shoulder injury (scapular fracture) he suffered early in training camp. That allowed safety Damar Hamlin to leave Bishop in the distance en route to a starting role for the 2024 NFL season. In total, Bishop started only four regular-season games as a rookie, making 40 tackles (25 solo), two pass defenses, and one forced fumble. Encouragingly from an injury standpoint, Bishop played every defensive snap during the Bills’ AFC Championship loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
That seemed to pave the way for Bishop to claim a starting role in 2025, especially with Hamlin entering free agency. Hamlin would eventually return to One Bills Drive on a one-year contract, and Bishop once again found himself in a very similar competition — but he proved up for the task. Prior to injuring his quad last month in training camp, Bishop had taken the majority of snaps at starting strong safety, alongside free safety Taylor Rapp.
But here we are, once again with Bishop missing a ton of time, having climb back up that same mountain just to get on the field. McDermott admitted to the struggle, both for Bishop and team planning, when asked about the second-year safety’s prospects in 2025 alongside Taylor Rapp:
“To be a good defense, you’ve gotta have that component of good safety play — and not anything against the guys who’ve been out there. You know, I think they’ve been playing well, quite honestly, Damar and the other guys that’ve been back there. And let’s not forget Damar, you know, played quite extensively last year for us. So, we have a lot of confidence in him.
That said, you know, when we’re just focusing in on Taylor and Cole… you know, that continuity together, is important. Cole’s been out there — excuse me, TRapp’s been out there quite a bit, just over the last week he hasn’t, or so. But Cole’s the one who’s missed quite a bit of...
