1. Cole Beasley on track to return for training camp
The Bills signed Cole Beasley to a four-year deal this offseason. Beasley spent the first seven years of his career in Dallas, developing into one of the top slot receivers in the NFL. Beasley can't wait to compete but has been sitting out OTAs following core muscle surgery.
"It's very frustrating, Beasley said. "When you get to a new place you don't want to be the guy sitting on the sideline. It's hard to say a lot of things. Like if I was in there, I would have done this or anything like that, you know, it's just tough because everybody wants to see what you can do, what you bring to the table, but you can't show them anything right now."
Beasley has never missed time like this before. He's only missed one game in his career due to injury and he underwent his first-ever surgery.
Beasley's injury stems from last season. He was able to mitigate the pain throughout 2018 but he no longer wanted to just manage it and opted toward surgery this offseason. Beasley is currently on track to play in training camp.
"The hardest part for me is just the patience of every day in the monotony of doing the same things over and over," Beasley said. "But now we're finally getting to where I can run some routes and sort of getting out there and running and moving. So I feel like I've made it through the hard part and now it's more downhill from here."
Beasley's concerns don't just remain with rehabbing his injury. Beasley is focused on developing solid chemistry with Josh Allen and picking up a completely new offense.
"I'll probably annoy the heck out of him," Beasley said.
Beasley has always been heavily engaged with the quarterbacks on his team and understands how crucial it is for him to be on the same page with them while in the slot.
"He's got all the tools, man," Beasley said of Allen. "I'm just excited to really get in there and play with him. I haven't really been in the huddle. You know, I love to see how quarterback is in the huddle. But dude is a heck of an athlete, maybe the best athlete I've ever played with at quarterback."
Even though Beasley is stuck with doing drills on his own, he'll certainly be relied upon once training camp and the regular season begins.
2. Lorenzo Alexander is turning Tremaine Edmunds into a leader
Lorenzo Alexander is entering his 13th NFL season in 2019. The elder statesman of the defense wants to leave a legacy for the future of the Buffalo Bills in the locker room. A large part of that legacy will be seeing how mature and how much of a leader Tremaine Edmunds becomes, Alexander says.
"I'm trying to help that process along as fast as possible," Alexander said. "If that's putting him in positions that he's not naturally comfortable with, I want to be able do that."
Alexander sees how much Edmunds has grown just by breaking the huddle or saying a few words and Alexander doesn't want to be the guy who it's coming from. By being around Edmunds' family, Alexander is not surprised by the poise that he's already seen from him.
"He walked into this, like a breath of fresh air," Alexander said. "Because a lot of young guys come in entitled and he really came in with a worker, blue-collar mentality as far as, 'Okay, I want to learn how to play this position. How can I get better, because I want to live up to the investment that the Bills have invested in me and I don't want to let my teammates down.'"
Alexander is confident that Edmunds will be one of the top linebackers in the NFL in the next year.
3. Jim Kelly to Josh Allen: Embrace Buffalo
Jim Kelly is not coming on as a coach of the Buffalo Bills. But, he has been involved in meetings with Josh Allen, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey to go over film and talk about the game.
Allen and head coach Sean McDermott each view the relationship as beneficial and see how valuable it is to hear and learn from Kelly since he is a Hall of Fame quarterback. Kelly has tried to impress upon Allen the importance of seeing what's in front of you.
"I mean, embracing Buffalo, especially outside of football," Allen said. "That and he liked to take what the defense gave him. So he's been trying to preach that with me."
McDermott elaborated more on the relationship they have with Kelly.
"Jim is a Hall of Famer, and to me it would be ignorant to us not to have a relationship with Jim," McDermott said. "Sometimes we ask him what he thinks since we have a young quarterback. That's healthy, all that's good. At the end of the day Brian [Daboll] will be the one calling the plays and we'll move forward with that."
