Buffalo Rumblings
Some things matter and some things don’t
Football is back.
Kind of.
Maybe.
Teams across the NFL have begun their spring voluntary Organized Team Activities (OTAs). Rookie minicamps are firmly in the rearview mirror. Mandatory minicamps are around the corner before the summer break.
Before you know it, training camp practice reports will be fast and furious, the hopium will be consumed en masse across the entire league, and your beloved Buffalo Bills will be featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
A lot of information comes out of the spring and summer practice sessions (and before too long, preseason games). Camp reports and media observations continue to drive meaningful traffic from fan bases eager to absorb any and all takeaways.
But what matters more, and what matters less?
Because of the seasonality of the sport, fans can be assured to learn a lesson one offseason and then immediately forget it, only to then have to re-learn it the following year. And so the cycle continues on.
So before we begin, let’s take stock in what we’ve already learned from the many years of Bills football (specifically in the McBeane era) we’ve observed. Here are some reminders of past lessons learned...
“When” and “with whom” you play is more predictive of your roster and depth chart placement than “how” you play.
Former Bills quarterback A.J. McCarron led an awesome 24-point comeback against the Chicago Bears during the 2018 preseason finale. The fact that he was playing late in the preseason finale alongside Malachi Dupre and Keith Trowbridge mattered far more than the fact that he led the comeback. McCarron was traded to the at-the-time Oakland Raiders two days later for a fifth-round pick.
Tight end O.J. Howard signed a contract with the Bills in 2022 that had $3.195 million fully guaranteed. The typical “follow the money” trope when it comes to team opinion of a player didn’t win out, and Howard was released anyway prior to ever playing a regular-season snap for Buffalo. The only signs this release was coming were some camp observations that he looked slow and the fact that Howard was playing in the second half of the final Bills preseason game.
Last year, Zach Davidson got buzz as a potential TE3 replacement for Quintin Morris. When the preseason games showed Davidson playing well into the fourth quarter and Morris taking reps in the absence of Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid with the starters, that book and narrative quickly closed.
If a player is consistently taking reps alongside players not likely to make the team, that carries more weight than the fact that they may look good taking reps alongside other players not likely to make the team. This can be in practice. It can come during the preseason. But “when” and “with whom” a player plays shows what the coaching staff thinks of a player far more than a highlight reel from camp, scrimmage, or preseason game.
It’ll...
