The rookies got their first NFL taste, but now it’s time to see what they can do against the big boys.
The Buffalo Bills are scheduled to hold their first voluntary minicamp Tuesday and it will be the first glimpse at how their new draft class will integrate with a team that has won five consecutive AFC East championships and ended the season on the doorstep of the Super Bowl.
Buffalo will hold voluntary minicamps the next two weeks and a mandatory minicamp from June 10-12.
It’s also going to be the start of an intriguing offseason that should feature a few key roster battles. The Bills addressed their defensive needs during free agency and the draft, adding six new players in free agency and six in the draft.
Some perceived weaknesses have suddenly turned into major competitions that will unfold throughout training camp.
Cornerback
This was perhaps the biggest need, especially heading into the draft. After taking two outside cornerbacks in the draft, the Bills now have a logjam at the position and not everyone is going to stay.
First-round pick Maxwell Hairston and sixth-round pick Dorian Strong will battle veterans Tre’Davious White, Dane Jackson and Ja’Marcus Ingram not only for a starting job, but for three or four roster spots. Whether he starts is to be determined, but Hairston is the only lock to make the opening-day roster.
The Bills clearly feel that White still has something to offer and can contend for a starting spot. After a torn ACL in 2021 and a torn Achilles in 2023, White didn’t look like a player who had much left after splitting the season between the Rams and Ravens.
But White obviously understands the defense and there’s an outside chance another offseason away from his injuries could help him get a little closer to his old form, although his All-Pro days are likely finished.
“You want guys like that on the field because they can overcome wherever they are athletically in their career,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. “They can overcome that with smarts, instincts, feel, communication, knowing what’s coming. Tre’s going to have a lot of value from that standpoint.”
But let’s say Hairston beats White for the starting position opposite Christian Benford, which is something the Bills want to happen. White has never played a single snap on kick or punt coverage during his career, and as we learned with Kaiir Elam last year, the Bills don’t want to activate three cornerbacks without special teams value on gameday.
The Bills have traditionally kept three outside cornerbacks active the last two seasons and they likely have too much respect to keep White as a healthy scratch. White has a $2.2 million dead cap hit they can absorb in the event Hairston wins the job in training camp.
The other three players present another conundrum. It’s possible they keep an extra cornerback this year instead of a special teams-oriented wide receiver, so they could keep Ingram, Jackson and Strong. Or they could keep White, activate him and use him as an insurance policy.
Normally ties go to draft picks, but Strong is a sixth rounder and those players are never safe on Buffalo’s roster. Plus Ingram (three years) and Jackson (four) have a lot of experience in coach Sean McDermott’s defense.
Safety
There is another rookie, fifth-round pick Jordan Hancock, who along with Cam Lewis, can shake up both the safety and cornerback complexion. The Bills plan to try Hancock at slot cornerback behind Taron Johnson and safety, something they did during rookie camp.
Lewis has been that hybrid player the last two seasons and conventional thinking says the two are competing for the same job. But it’s possible, depending on how they view Hancock by training camp, they could keep both players and ax one of their outside cornerbacks.
At safety, last year’s second-round pick Cole Bishop and Taylor Rapp are the preferred starters. They brought back Damar Hamlin after starting 14 games last year, but he only signed a one-year, $2 million deal.
Buffalo also signed veteran Darrick Forrest, but he is set to make $1.337 million and holds a dead cap hit of $167,500. If the Bills are satisfied with keeping Hancock or Lewis as a safety, that makes Forrest expendable and potentially Hamlin, although the former enters camp on more uneven ground.
Defensive end
The other big battle comes along the defensive line and that is a little more murky. Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi were signed in free agency, but both are facing six-game bans for performance-enhancing drugs.
So the defensive line might look much different from Week 1 to Week 7. The Bills have kept anywhere from 10-12 defensive linemen over the last few years to feed the rotational desires.
The Bills also signed five-time Pro Bowler Joey Bosa to play on the edge. Bosa, A.J. Epenesa, Hoecht, rookie Landon Jackson and Greg Rousseau are the top-five defensive ends heading into training camp.
Javon Solomon showed flashes in mop-up duty last year as a rookie, but he made the roster outright and played in 14 games, serving as a healthy scratch just once. But Solomon didn’t show the Bills enough to get more snaps in the rotation, not even when Von Miller was suspended for four games and Dawuane Smoot missed six to injury.
Solomon likely makes the roster out of training camp, but it will be interesting to see if he sticks once Hoecht returns from his suspension. The Bills carried six ends coming out of training camp last year and finished with six in 2023.
Defensive tackle
Defensive tackle, which rivaled cornerback as the biggest need entering the offseason, also now congested. DeWayne Carter, DaQuan Jones and Ed Oliver are the incumbents, while they signed Ogunjobi and drafted T.J. Sanders and Deone Walker.
Carter had four tackles for a loss in four games before a wrist injury sidelined him for five games and he never regained his form again, relegating him to being inactive during the playoffs. But as a third-round pick, it’s unlikely the Bills will give up on him after one season.
While the Bills knew about Hoecht’s looming suspension when they signed him, Ogunjobi didn’t notify the Bills until he showed up to sign, although both parties claim he didn’t know when they agreed to terms.
Beane admitted he wouldn’t have pursued both Hoecht and Ogunjobi if he knew both had suspensions coming. Ogunjobi reportedly agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal, but it was reduced to $4.106 million with a dead cap hit of $3.426 million.
Ogunjobi is 31, wasn’t as productive in three seasons with the Steelers as he was earlier in his career. He also played 52% of Pittsburgh’s snaps last year, the lowest number since his rookie season in Cleveland.
Walker’s health may play a big factor into whether Ogunjobi actually plays in a game. The fourth-round pick dropped in the draft due to a back injury and the 6-foot-7, 330-pounder didn’t participate in some drills during rookie minicamp.
“If we were playing a game, (Walker’s) healthy enough to go play a game,” Beane said. “We do want to get that stronger to another level. … Our No. 1 goal is going to be making sure we have him as strong and back hopefully to what he was in 2023. I don’t think that’s far off.”
The Bills finished the last two seasons with six defensive tackles, so it’s plausible they all last after Week 7. But both defensive line positions won’t fully be fleshed out until training camp when they are allowed to put pads on.
“I think that’s going to be a fun battle when we get to St. John Fisher and put the pads on.,” Beane said. “… That’s only a position you can evaluate so much until the helmets and pads are on. But I think there’s going to be a lot of competition in there.”