Joe Brady’s first NFL job came with the New Orleans Saints as an assistant to Sean Payton. Through 10 training camp practices, the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator appears to be taking cues from his old mentor.
Payton, now the head coach of the Denver Broncos, didn’t have a high-volume receiver until late in his run with the saints. And yet quarterback Drew Brees led the NFL in passing seven times from 2006 to 2016.
Without Stefon Diggs, the Bills are in a similar situation. But like those Saints teams, Buffalo has a bunch of pieces to mold together and collectively match Diggs’ production during his four years with the team.
It’s new territory for quarterback Josh Allen, who targeted Diggs on 27% of his attempts since 2020, but Brady’s motto of “everybody eats” hasn’t just been a catchy phrase. The Bills have mixed and matched personnel from drill to drill and day to day.
“It’s like basketball, making the extra pass,” Allen said. “Trying to find a way to get your teammate open. … Get a guy that’s blocking on the perimeter for a running back, or for another receiver, it’s going to make that other receiver feel appreciative of you going out there and doing something that’s your job, but taking pride in it. And I think having that type of energy and atmosphere, it’s going to be infectious for us.”
In the seven seasons the Saints led the NFL in passing with Brees, at least four players accumulated 500 yards receiving in each year. New Orleans never had a receiver make 100 catches in a season and only once did a player reach 1,200 yards, but 15 different players logged a 100-yard receiving game.
Nine Bills players have recorded a 100-yard game since Allen entered the NFL, but Diggs accounted for 21 of the 45 such games. Right now the Bills do not have a clear-cut No. 1 receiver, but the top-four has been consistent from the start.
Rookie Keon Coleman, Mack Hollins, Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir have cemented themselves in that group. Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Tyrell Shavers round out the six who consistently get first-team reps, while Chase Claypool was challenging for a spot in that group, but has been sidelined for most of camp with a toe injury.
Shavers has emerged as a contender for the 53-man roster after spending last season on the practice squad, but his inclusion depends on how many receivers the Bills want to keep and how much value they place on special teams.
Valdes-Scantling, who won two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, has been silent throughout most of minicamp and training camp. Early on, he didn’t even see many snaps at all, but he’s been with the first-team often the last few practices, despite some drops running patterns with no defenders Sunday.
“A guy that’s one of your older guys, he’s going out on the field with some of the rookies, but it has nothing to do with performance,” Brady said. “It’s more of like, `I want to make sure you get these plays and you’re getting enough time on task to be able to field and kind of roll.’”
The one player who does appear to be the front-runner as Allen’s top target is second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid. Allen has gone to Kincaid often during practices and the former first-round pick typically delivers.
Kincaid has moved around the formation during camp, lining up as a traditional tight end with Dawson Knox isn’t on the field, while also playing in the slot or split wide. Kincaid lined up wide on just 17.5% of his saps as a rookie, but he’s shown during camp that he can stretch the field when matched up with a safety.
A tight end hasn’t led the Bills in receiving yards since Paul Costa (726) in 1976, while the last tight end to lead them in receptions and targets was Charles Clay in 2016. But the one player who did top 1,200 yards in Brees’ peak? Tight end Jimmy Graham.
“I think with each rep you get with (Allen), each pass you catch from him just kind of builds on that,” Kincaid said. “I spent a lot of time with him this offseason so I think that helps build that chemistry that translates on the field.”
Race for defensive end depth
Like the receivers, the top four defensive ends seem set, but how many the Bills keep and who takes those spots are still to be determined.
A.J. Epenesa, Von Miller and Greg Rousseau are the three defensive ends at the top of the list, with veteran Dawuane Smoot sliding into the fourth spot, while also providing some punch as an interior pass rusher after seven seasons in Jacksonville.
If the Bills choose to keep five defensive ends — they rostered six last year — there are four players in the mix for that spot. If the Bills want experience, then it comes down to veteran Casey Toohill, who played 4 ½ seasons in Washington, or Kingsley Jonathan, who made the roster outright last season.
In terms of versatility, the choice may be Kameron Cline, who at 6-foot-5, 280 pounds, has been an edge rusher for the Bills since being claimed off waivers in May 2023. But he also played inside a bit for the Indianapolis Colts from 2020-2022.
The player with the most upside is rookie fifth-round pick Javon Solomon and he also has the edge in being a draft pick. At 6-foot-1, 246 pounds, Solomon is on the smaller side and his skills predominantly come as a pass rusher.
Should the Bills keep Solomon on the active roster, he’ll need to beef up against the run. But anyone who gets that fifth spot will have to play special teams often.
Safety still uncertain
Right now the safety spot isn’t actually all that murky. Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin are the first-team safeties.
The question is whether the Bills are comfortable going into the regular season with that tandem. Rapp will start regardless, but the job has fallen to Hamlin after his competitors, Cole Bishop and Mike Edwards, were sidelined with injuries.
Hamlin started 13 games in 2022 before suffering commotio cordis, but only appeared in five games last season, falling behind Cam Lewis on the depth chart. Hamlin looks more like he did when he made 91 tackles two years ago, but he was very much in a battle with Bishop and Edwards.
What the Bills do at safety depends on how long Bishop (shoulder) and Edwards (hamstring) are out after being listed as week-to-week. One edge Hamlin had coming in was that he knows the defense, whereas Bishop is a rookie, and even though Edwards has experience in similar defenses, he missed all the physical reps in minicamp and only last three practices in training camp.
What value the Bills see in veteran Kareem Jackson may also be unearthed in two practices and the preseason opener against the Chicago Bears Saturday. Entering his 15th season, Jackson signed July 31, but the Bills have brought him along slowly in order to learn the verbiage of the defense.
Jackson has been playing with the third-team defense in recent practices, with Kendall Williamson, who spent last year on Chicago’s practice squad, working as the third safety in dime packages Monday. If Jackson doesn’t move up the depth chart soon, his stint in Buffalo may not be a long one.
Elam pushing Benford for starting job
Cornerback wasn’t thought to be a significant battle coming into training camp with Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford returning. But coach Sean McDermott announced before the first practice that Kaiir Elam would get time with the No. 1 defense and he hasn’t faltered.
Elam is having the best camp of his career, which began with two inconsistent campaigns after being a first-round pick in 2022. He’s logged a pick-six and made some solid plays in one-on-ones and seven-on-seven drills.
Benford, meanwhile, hasn’t produced a bad camp, but hasn’t played well enough to put distance between himself and Elam. And, on Monday, the two split first-team reps in 11-on-11 work.
Both 2022 draft picks, Benford has beaten Elam for a starting job two years in a row, despite being a sixth-round pick. But the Bills have fended off ideas that Elam was a bust after starting eight games in two years and he’s starting to show his skills more consistently.
Benford didn’t win the starting job until late in training camp last season, so unless one takes control of the race soon, it may not be decided until the end of the preseason.
“(Elam) continues to work tirelessly to improve, so credit him for that,” McDermott said. “The addition of (cornerbacks coach) Jahmile Addae and starting with a clean slate and a belief in there with Bobby (Babich) and (safeties coach) Joe Danna and now that Jahmile has added, those two things combined at least early on is what’s helped him.”