1 - Peterman proving he belongs
More than ever, it's no longer a long shot to place your bets on the horse in lane 2. Ever since Sean McDermott announced that the QB position would be decided in an open competition, almost everyone has forgotten that Nathan Peterman is a part of that group.
Peterman had a notable rough outing last season, which made him an afterthought this offseason for a lot of people. But he seems to not care who knows his name or not, because he had a solid OTAs, and minicamp. ESPN agrees.
_The 2017 fifth-round pick was an afterthought at best and a laughingstock at worst after his five-interception performance against the Chargers last season, but Peterman should be considered a serious contender for the starting job in Buffalo. He has rotated daily with AJ McCarron to lead the first-team offense, with rookie Josh Allen starting in minicamp to see periodic time with that group. Peterman has looked sharp, including Tuesday at minicamp, when he completed 10 of 13 passes in 11-on-11 drills and ended practice with a touchdown. _
The second-year quarterback will be looking to win the job, and prove nay-sayers wrong. But for now, it still is very much in the air on who will be kicking off the season for the Bills under center.
2 - Brandon Beane discusses the Bills wide receivers
"You look for names," said Brandon Beane.
And to Beane, he understands that when looking for a name in the Bills wide receiver room, the only one that may stick out is Kelvin Benjamin, but on One Bills Live, he said he believes there are a lot of players who shouldn't be forgotten.
"You got a lot of guys," said Beane. "We drafted a couple guys, and then Andre Holmes is a returner, Malachi Dupre was here for a year, Brandon Reilly. There's so many guys in there and they all have different skill sets, they're all competing, it's a really good room."
When Beane signed as the new general manager last offseason, he took on the challenge of building an offense that hasn't had a strong passing game in years. With the wide receiver room needing a touch up, he had the task of finding players that fit, and this is how he looked at the challenge.
"You want diversity. You don't want all big guys, you don't want all fast guys," said Beane. "You want different things because this is a matchup league, and you want to give teams a variety of things that they have to game plan for. If you have no speed, then they're going to stack the box on Shady and those guys they aren't going to worry about. If you don't have any size, you're going to get hurt when you get down to the red zone."
Along with the hiring of Brian Daboll to lead the new offense and the group of receivers, the Bills also hired a new wide receiver coach. With him comes decades of experience in the NFL, including having worked with some of the game's top receivers.
"We added Terry Robiskie on staff this year," said Beane. "I think Terry has brought a really good father, leadership, mentor feel. He was just an OC, you know. So, he's taking a step down. There's a lot of veteran experience that he brings. He's been around. He's coached Julio Jones and others that are talented receivers."
3 - McDermott meets with WNY college coaches
It's not just a slogan, a wordmark or whatever else you may want to call it. Terry and Kim Pegula may have started the phrase "One Buffalo," but Sean McDermott is continuing the tradition.
During this past week, McDermott invited coaches Reggie Witherspoon, Carlin Hartman, Bryan Hodgson and Jamie Quarles to take in practice and talk for a little while.
This is what Witherspoon, the head coach of the Canisius Golden Griffs' men's basketball told the Buffalo News afterwards.
"I absolutely did pick up some tips," Witherspoon said afterward. "The pace of it, the rhythm of it, the tempo of how fast it moved and how guys got from place to place.… I want to get with Sean and find out how he's able to get guys to retain information with getting them to move in and out so fast," Witherspoon said.
The Buffalo Bulls assistant coaches, Hodgson and Quarles were happy to talk with McDermott as well, but were surprised by how much attention the second-year head coach was paying to the two.
"Coach, asked me 'What did you guys do this year that caused you to have so much success?' " Hodgson wrote in a Twitter direct message. "I started to respond and the guy starts taking notes. Meanwhile I'm thinking, I should be asking the questions here."
Hartman, the former Grand Island high school star who is now an assistant at Oklahoma, had this to say while talking to the Buffalo News.
"As a coach myself, I respect what it is they're doing with the franchise. Getting guys that are going to be accountable and earn their playing time through practice, week in and week out. It's headed in the right direction."
