5 questions emerging after the Buffalo Bills minicamp

ORCHARD PARK – The worst time of the calendar year is now upon football fanatics who can’t get enough of their favorite sport, and correspondingly, their favorite team which in these parts is, by an overwhelming margin, the Buffalo Bills.

Mandatory minicamps around the league wrapped up Thursday, including at One Bills Drive, and now it’s vacation time in the NFL. For the next six weeks there will be a big void in football news as the players, coaches and executives, plus the media, take time off before ramping up in late July for training camp.

The Bills underwent an interesting offseason as they licked their wounds following another gut-wrenching playoff elimination at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs. In addition to locking up several members of their young core with contract extensions, they took a long, hard and honest look at where they needed to improve – hint, it was the defense – and attacked the issue with ferocity, both in free agency and the draft.

They added 13 players on that side of the ball, all of whom have very good chances of making the final 53-man roster, and if the bulk of them wind up contributing and performing the way the Bills hope, and if the Josh Allen-led offense keeps humming, this could very well become the team that ends Buffalo’s forever quest for a Super Bowl championship.

Ah, but “if” is a tricky little word, and there are so many things that could derail the Bills on their way to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, site of Super Bowl 60, not the least of which is health, an AFC East that should prove to be more competitive, another first-place schedule to contend with, and of course the looming specter of the Chiefs in January.

Here are five questions about the roster that popped up in my head during the spring workouts.

1. Is Joey Bosa going to be worth $12 million?

Right now, that’s a tough call to make because I certainly have visions of Von Miller 2.0, a formerly great player in decline because of injury and age. The best thing I can say is that at least it’s just a one-year commitment at that price point as opposed to all the dead money the Bills have had to swallow on the now-released Miller’s original six-year, $120 million deal.

It was not a pleasant development that Bosa injured his calf during the OTAs and has been sidelined the bulk of the spring. He has been in the NFL nine seasons, all with the Chargers, and in only three did he play in 16 games. Bosa, who will be 31 when training camp begins, has missed 23 games over the previous three seasons, and it seems like his health problems have followed him to the other side of country.

If he recovers and is ready to go at camp, and then somehow avoids the injury bug, he can certainly be a boon to a Bills pass rush that has lacked explosiveness and finish. And with fellow free agent signee Michael Hoecht suspended for the first six games, the Bills really need Bosa to be on the field and making an impact.

2. Will youth be served on the defensive line?

This is where the Bills took their biggest swings in the offseason as they made wholesale changes up front, correctly recognizing that it needed to happen. No more retreads like Jordan Phillips, Dawuane Smoot, Quinton Jefferson, and Austin Johnson, all of whom were backup-level players in 2024.

The Bills need more havoc creators both in the pass rush, but also against the run so in free agency they signed Bosa to help the pass rush, Hoecht to become a do-everything chess piece, and Larry Ogunjobi to join the DT rotation. And then they dove headfirst into a deep defensive line draft pool by picking DTs TJ Sanders and Deone Walker, and edge rusher Landon Jackson.

However, with Bosa’s health always a concern and Hoecht and Ogunjobi both out the first six games on PED suspensions, the kids need to be get up to speed quickly, and that includes 2024 third-round pick DeWayne Carter who was underwhelming as a rookie.

My guess is that Sanders will be ready to be a key contributor sooner than Walker who is dealing with a back injury that affected most of his final college season at Kentucky. Jackson should also be able to jump right into the edge rotation and he could even leapfrog AJ Epenesa in snaps if he has a big training camp and preseason. And if Walker gets healthy and performs, his unusual athleticism for a man his size could make him the ideal player to give aging DaQuan Jones more snaps off.

McDermott made it clear when he spoke to reporters Tuesday that the guys who earn the right to play are the ones who will play, regardless of their experience. “Young guys play like anybody else,” he said. “It’s who earns the right to play. Bottom line.”

3. Can Cole Bishop win a starting safety job?

Like Bosa, Bishop missed the end of the spring with an undisclosed injury, and that was an even more disappointing development than Bosa, a proven veteran who didn’t need to be grinding in OTAs. Bishop needs all the time on task that he can get.

The Bills invested a 2024 second-round pick in Bishop and his rookie season was largely curtailed by a training camp shoulder injury that ended his chances of beating out Damar Hamlin for a starting job. He eventually worked his way into the lineup and after some early struggles, leveled out and actually had one of his best games of the year in the AFC title game loss.

The Bills’ belief in Bishop was clear when they did not sign a big-name free agent, or select a true safety in the draft, but now, he has to deliver on their expectations. The Bills have some veteran depth because Hamlin re-signed as a free agent, and they also brought in free agent Darrick Forrest, but that’s what they’re supposed to be, depth players. Bishop is the man the Bills are counting on to play next to Taylor Rapp in the back end, but questions about his ability to stay healthy are now on the table.

4. Is Keon Coleman capable of more in year two?

Coleman was the first of Buffalo’s two second-round picks in 2024, and like Bishop, he lost time due to an injury. The difference is that while Bishop was starting to ascend by the end of the season, Coleman was going the other way, enough to where both McDermott and Brandon Beane said so publicly.

Coleman heard those words and he said on a couple of occasions this spring that he worked hard to improve all aspects of his game – physical and mental. Coleman also noticed that the Bills brought in three veteran free agent wide receivers and drafted one to make that position one of the most interesting to watch come this summer.

Coleman struggled to get separation as a rookie, so he has to become a better route runner if he hopes to improve, and he knows it which is encouraging. “You got to be more efficient here (in the NFL),” he said. “You got to get out of this break, you got to stack your DB, you got to give Josh more room to throw the ball, you got to catch that, you got to make that block. Calling out everything that you’re doing wrong to make it right.”

If Coleman makes those improvements, he can really round out an intriguing group that also includes returning Khalil Shakir and Curtis Samuel, and newcomers Josh Palmer and Elijah Moore.

5. Will Mike White be Josh Allen’s backup?

The media only sees a few spring practices, usually one per week, so we have no idea what’s going on in those other sessions. But this week we had access to all three and I noticed that White was splitting the second-team reps with Mitchell Trubisky.

I’m not sure why the Bills felt compelled to bring back Trubisky last season, especially on a two-year deal that guaranteed him $3.7 million. There were less expensive options, particularly given the fact that Allen never misses a game.

When I watch the two players, I see virtually no difference between Trubisky and White. In fact, sometimes White looks better, so it would not surprise me at all if White wins the backup job and Trubisky is sent packing. White’s cap hit this year is $1.3 million less, though a $750,000 dead cap on Trubisky would cut into the savings, but it’s savings nonetheless.

I expect one of these guys will be gone, and that Shane Buechele would be retained as the practice squad QB.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.

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