PITTSFORD — The Bills are part of a dying breed, but Sean McDermott isn’t ready to pull the trigger.
When Buffalo opened training camp Wednesday at St. John Fisher University, it was one of eight teams who still go away for a few weeks leading into the season. As teams build new, modern stadiums, they also invest in practice facilities that can handle training camp.
The NFL has also changed.
From 1970-1977, the league played six exhibition games, before shortening it to four in 1978 and it was trimmed to three in 2021. When the NFL was a part-time job for players, teams went to an out-of-town location for training camp so players could get into shape for the season, but it’s not as necessary with year-round training.
The Bills have held training camp at St. John Fisher since 2000 — with a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 — after a 19-year stretch at SUNY Fredonia. The Bills signed a five-year contract with Fisher in 2016, but have been on one-year deals the last two years.
McDermott still sees value in having training camp in Rochester rather than at the team facility because it allows the players to stay in the dorms together, eat meals together and create a team bond they might not get sleeping in their own beds.
“I think that that goes a long way in terms of building a football team or any team for that matter,” McDermott said. “That chemistry is important, that bond is important. If you don’t have that, it’s hard to get it once the season happens because it’s go, go, go during the season.”
Quarterback Josh Allen also echoed McDermott’s sentiments about staying with the team during training camp. And it’s also a chance to play in front of a soldout crowd from the beginning of camp to the end, as tickets remain for any of the last 11 practices, including a practice Aug. 4 at Highmark Stadium.
“I mean, you’re breaking bread with different people,” Allen said. “You’re walking right across the cafeteria and going to hang out in the halls and playing cards, playing video games, getting stretched out, getting therapy. Everything that we need is right here in this vicinity. So it’s just you’re around everybody at all times, every waking moment you’re around your teammates, which I freaking love.”
The Bills practice at 9:45 a.m. Thursday at St. John Fisher.
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General manager Brandon Beane thought Tyrel Dodson would get the first crack at winning the middle linebacker job and that’s who started with the No. 1 defense Wednesday.
Dodson played alongside Matt Milano during the team portions of the first practice, which makes sense because he has three years in Buffalo’s system and started three games last season when Tremaine Edmunds was injured. Terrel Bernard and Baylon Spector were the next two linebackers to see action.
McDermott did not want to put a timetable on naming a starter, while Beane thought it would be necessary to see players play in pads before getting a legitimate answer as to who will win the job.
“There is value to making that sooner than later,” McDermott said. “We’ll know when we know. So we’ve got to let that play out a little bit here at camp and get into the pads and see who leads the defense the right way because that’s also a big piece of that position. So I’m excited about the players we have at that position and I look forward to watching them develop here.”
There also may be some competition for the No. 2 cornerback spot. Dane Jackson, who started 20 games the last two seasons, played opposite Tre’Davious White with the No. 1 unit.
But just like last season Christian Benford snuck his way into the lineup to work with the first team during the red zone portion of practice, intercepting Allen in the end zone on one play. Benford won the No. 2 job as a rookie last year and started five games before his season ended with an oblique injury.
“(Benford) might be the most quiet guy in our building, staff included,” Beane said. “… You don’t even know he’s working. The game comes really easy to him from a natural standpoint. As coaches are teaching things, some guys have to rep it, some things just naturally fall in place for certain players at certain positions. What I would say about Christian, his instincts are one of his best traits. You can’t teach that. You either got it or you don’t, so that helps him.”
Buffalo’s 2022 first-round pick Kaiir Elam was relegated to the second unit, but Beane says he still learning the defense. Elam had six starts as a rookie and was in and out of the lineup in 13 games, but he was used to playing a defense drastically different than the one he played at Florida, while Benford played in a system similar to the Bills at Villanova.
“We’ve seen players in this league, maybe they didn’t thrive year one but (Elam) is still an ascending guy, he is still competing, and you know us, we don’t just hand a spot out because we paid you or where we drafted you,” Beane said. “And that wouldn’t be good for Kaiir either. So he has every chance to come out and win a starting job and we’re going to support it, just like Christian does, just like Dane.”