Position battles at Bills Training Camp

Position battles to look forward to at Bills Training Camp

After two years away from Rochester, the Bills Training Camp returns to St. John Fisher College in 2022. The Bills have many position battles this summer, as there’s no guarantee for FA signings and top draft picks to find playing time on a loaded Bills roster. It will be in Rochester where roster spots are secured and starting spots are earned. Below, I’ll highlight some of the position battles that Bills fans will see this summer.

Cornerback battle  

The Bills recently drafted CB Kaiir Elam with their first pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. The best-case scenario for Elam is to go in and immediately become the number one corner, filling in for a recovering Tre’Davious White. But, when White returns from his ACL injury, he’ll reclaim his role and leave the cornerback room fighting for playing time in the spot across from him.

Kaiir Elam will have to faceoff with Dane Jackson this offseason, laying the ground work for the cornerback two battle. Jackson is not going to let Elam come in and take the corner two spot just because he was the Bills’ first round pick. Jackson had a good season and held his own out on the field when he was forced to play CB2 behind Levi Wallace. Jackson recorded 41 total tackles and 6 passes defended in 17 games played in the 2021-22 season.

At Florida, Elam had 29 total tackles, 5 passes defended, and 1 interception in the 2021-22 college football season. He looks more than poised enough for a rookie to be ready to play right away and learn on the fly:

Sixth round pick Christian Benford out of Villanova will also be trying to make an impression during this season’s training camp. Benford will add much needed depth to the Bills cornerback room.  

Linebacker battles 

The Bills had some trouble in the 2021 season controlling the opposing offense’s running game, in large part due to the linebackers at the second level. The Bills have their three starting linebackers in place: Matt Milano WLB, Tremaine Edmunds MLB, and Von Miller SLB. But, behind them is a lot of unproven guys trying to solidify their spot on the team.

Third-round rookie LB Terrel Bernard had 103 total tackles, 4 passes defended, and 7.5 sacks in the 2021-22 college football season. He’s in a battle to earn a 53-man roster spot, competing against Andre Smith to serve as weak side linebacker depth behind Milano. Smith recorded 10 tackles last year for the Bills. Bernard could separate himself from not just Smith, but the rest of the depth linebackers as well, with a solid camp. Tyrel Dodson and Marquel Lee will be fighting for a spot behind Edmunds at middle linebacker. Lee came over from the Raiders after seeing limited action and Dodson recorded 15 tackles last year in limited snaps with the Bills.

Behind Von Miller at strong side linebacker, rookie LB Baylon Spector will be putting up a fight to Tyler Matakevich. Matakevich is a key part to the Bills’ special teams, but if Spector can come in, compete in special teams and provide a fresh look for the linebacking depth, then Matakevich could be pushed off the roster.

Wide receiver battle  

The Bills’ top five wide receivers are a virtual lock to make the team: Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, Jamison Crowder, Isaiah McKenzie, and fifth-round rookie Khalil Shakir.

Behind them, that leaves one or two WR spots on the roster depending on if the Bills carry 6 or 7 wide receivers. At the bottom of the depth chart, you’ll find a handful of guys looking to prove they belong on the roster and have assets to provide to the WR group. This group is made up of Marquez Stevenson, Isaiah Hodgins, Jake Kumerow and Tanner Gentry.

The battle for the last remaining WR spot(s) on the roster will be intriguing because it can go any different way depending on not just camp performance, but also what the Bills need. It would be nice to see the young guys Stevenson and Hodgins take the next step and be ready to play a role in the offense when called upon.

Tight end battle 

The Bills have picked up O.J. Howard this offseason in free agency to help the Bills run more two tight end sets on offense. The Bills were very slim last season at TE, only having Dawson Knox (TE 1) and Tommy Sweeney (TE 2). Sweeney will be the tight end three this season behind Howard, but he will have some competition. Sweeney, who has dealt with health concerns in the past, will have to win the spot over Quintin Morris and Jalen Wydermyer (UDFA). The Bills have a lot more to choose from when it comes to the tight end position compared to last season.  

D-line battles  

There are many battles going on with the d-line this offseason. Although there won’t be much fighting for roster positions, it will get very interesting in terms of fighting for snaps. The Bills loaded the d-line this offseason with some big investments and some returning faces.

One battle will be for DT reps behind Ed Oliver. It will most likely be Tim Settle starting alongside Oliver, but Settle will compete with DaQuan Jones for reps. Also, Jordan Phillips will need to see his share of snaps as well, so it will be interesting to see who he takes off the field.

The left and right defensive end positions hold a lot of great talent as we see Greg Rousseau (going into second season), AJ Epenesa (going into third season), Shaq Lawson, and Boogie Basham (going into second season) ready to compete and work this offseason. Once again, it is likely all of the aforementioned players make the roster, but the snap rotation is going to be both fun to watch this season and fun to track snap percentages.

Punter battle

The Bills drafted ‘Punt God’ Matt Araiza from San Diego State in this year’s NFL Draft, but the Bills also just re-signed punter Matt Haack to a one-year deal. Haack had a horrible few games last season, putting opposing offenses in good starting field position at the worst of times. It will be the battle of the Matts this summer, as Haack and Araiza will face off this training camp and preseason to see who will be the team’s punter.