1 - National attention shines on WhiteHe danced his way into the minds and hearts of Bills fans last season using his athleticism and energy to become one of the hottest young cornerbacks in the NFL. Now, entering his sophomore season, Tre'Davious White continues to pick up a lot of mainstream attention. This time, Bleacher Report has the 23-year-old on two of their lists for players to keep an eye on.
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First, looking at the most prominent building block, Bleacher Report chose White after he stole the show alongside Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer in the Bills defensive backfield.
Along with free-agent safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, White helped completely revamp the Bills' secondary in 2017. Buffalo's defense had a defensive passing efficiency of 78.8, the fifth-best mark in the league.
Per Bleacher Report's NFL 1000 rankings, White was the 13th-best cornerback in the NFL last season, slotted between former Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman and Atlanta Falcon Desmond Trufant.
The other list Bleacher Report feature White on had to do with players who deserve more hype. White has battled a lack of hype since last season, being given no recognition at multiple honors including as a Pro Bowler, or as recently as being left off the list of the top-10 second year players put together by Nate Burleson.
Marshon Lattimore of the New Orleans Saints was the NFL's most talked-about rookie cornerback in 2017, with good reason—the Ohio State alum picked off five passes and played at a lockdown level nearly all year. However, there's an argument to be made that the Buffalo Bills' Tre'Davious White, taken in the first round out of LSU, had an even better season. Certainly, White has as much potential as any cornerback who's come into the league in recent years…
Whether he's playing deep coverage to the boundary or matching up with a bigger receiver in the red zone, White has the raw speed and movement skills, as well as the schematic versatility, to be one of the game's best pass defenders over the next few years.
2 - Edmunds adjusting to a new playbook at a new levelWhen the Bills traded from pick 22 to pick 16 in the 2018 NFL Draft, it was for the hulking linebacker out of Virginia Tech that fell farther down the board the Brandon Beane ever thought possible. The Bills are about to finish up their first week of minicamp, and Tremaine Edmunds is already meshing well on the defensive roster while taking first team reps.
When Edmunds joined One Bills Live, he mentioned that although the transition from college to the NFL isn't easy, he's been taking it in stride.
"It's a big step for everybody that's out there," said Edmunds. "Just that transition from college to the NFL, I mean you're going to make mistakes out there. I think one thing is just admitting that you're not going to be perfect out there, and you've got to learn from each mistake and move forward from there."
Part of the reason Edmunds has been doing as well as he has in transitioning into the new system has been the film sessions and studying he has done. Whether it's the coaches or the vets, Edmunds said rookies get to hear from the guys with experience before hitting the field.
"I think it helps out a lot because some of the veteran guys, they're doing a whole lot of communication in there and talking about what they see out there on the field," said Edmunds. "It's good for us young guys to hear that, so we can hear it before we actually display out there on the field, we can already have a feel for it. And just asking all our questions in there, and getting it corrected so we could take it to the field."
For the 6-5, rookie LB, the most important thing is making sure he handles his business, so he can make an impact come the start of the season.
"I'm just trying every day to just study my material, and just control the things that I can," said Edmunds. "That's just me locking in that playbook, and making sure I'm doing my assignment."
3 - Groy believes in the chemistry growing among offensive linemenThree prominent members of last season's offensive line are no longer members of the Buffalo Bills roster, which gives players like Ryan Groy the opportunity to step in bigger role in the team's offense. When asked about if it's difficult not having those players around anymore, Groy had this to say.
"I wouldn't say it's hard," said Groy. "Yeah, we lost three guys, but we also only brought in two more as far as free agents. So, we've got a lot of guys in the room that are familiar with each other, and a lot of continuity, and we've spent a lot of the time on that side of the football."
With the opportunity to jump into the starting lineup open to multiple offensive lineman on the Bills 90-man roster, it makes it difficult to build chemistry with only a few specific players. According to Groy, players need to be able to be flexible while on the field for OTAs.
"It's something you kind of get used to," said Groy. "You know, my first couple of years I wasn't starting so, you're play left guard, right guard, right tackle, center. Kind of bouncing all over. You know the twos and threes are playing with different people ever day so it's kind of how it is."
Groy has been taking snaps exclusively at center all spring and has split first team reps with Russell Bodine.
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