Well, one day into Bills training camp, there are two notable takes.
First, Buffalo is one of only six of the 32 National Football League teams that still holds at least some of training camp off-site; the others opt for their own training facilities. The Bills, after a two-year Covid-related absence, are back at St. John Fisher University, and four other teams also opt for camp at a college: Pittsburgh (St. Vincent, Latrobe, Pa.), Carolina (Wofford, Spartanburg, S.C.), Kansas City (Missouri Western State, St. Joseph’s, Mo.) and the Rams (UC Irvine).
Dallas utilizes a site in Oxnard, Calif.
It’s worth noting, though, it’s likely that Buffalo coach Sean McDermott’s friendship with the Chiefs’ Andy Reid, for whom he worked 10 years in Philadelphia, and the six seasons he spent with the Panthers, influenced his perception of the value of getting away for at least some of training camp.
Sunday’s other news was that Rodger Saffold, the free agent from Tennessee being counted on to start at left guard, would begin the season on the non-football related injury list due to cracked ribs sustained in a recent car accident.
Three other members of the Bills’ 89-player training camp roster were also non-participants as they are on the physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list: cornerback Tre’Davious White (knee), guard Ike Boettger (Achilles) and defensive end Eli Ankou (calf).
WHEN ASKED about Buffalo’s remote training camp, McDermott explained, “I love going to St. John Fisher. I love going to Rochester and that area. I really think it’s a cool place to be at that time of year, in particular. You have those warmer, hotter days at times which we need to get us in shape and then the cooler nights.
“I think it’s a great place for our team to come together, I really do. Some people don’t like going to training camp. I don’t think anybody really loves sleeping in college dorms. At 48 years old, I can tell you I don’t, but I’m willing to do it. That’s what we do and that’s how a team comes together through those shared experiences and we look forward to that. That’s what we do and that’s how a team comes together through those shared experiences.”
WITH SAFFOLD’S injury, Cody Ford, the Bills’ disappointing second-round draft pick from 2019, started in his spot and got an early chance to prove he belongs on Buffalo’s 53-man roster.
The most intense battle, though, will be for the corner opposite White as Levi Wallace has signed with the Steelers.
This year’s first-round pick, Kaiir Elam and returnee Dane Jackson, a seventh-rounder from 2020, will battle for that spot, and with White still recovering from the knee injury he suffered Thanksgiving night in New Orleans, both saw first-team action in the opening practice.
Of course, the other challenge for a starting job is at punter where holdover Matt Haack is squared off with this year’s sixth-round selection, Matt Arazia.
THE BILLS will practice today, tomorrow and Wednesday at 9:45 a.m. then get Thursday off. All 11 practices at St. John Fisher are “sold out” of the 3,500 free tickets for each as they were claimed nearly two weeks ago.
In fact, there are only a limited number of free tickets remaining for the Blue and Red Scrimmage on Friday night, Aug. 5 at Highmark Stadium as 60,000 have already been distributed.
(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
