BLEAV in Bills: Wrapping up the St. John Fisher portion of training camp
Sal Maiorana and Adam Benigni discuss some of the things that took place during the seven practice the Bills held at St. John Fisher University.
The 2026 edition of Buffalo Bills training camp, quick and rainy as it was, is in the books.
Outside of right guard O’Cyrus Torrence, there weren’t a whole lot of highlights across the seven practices that were open to the public at St. John Fisher University.
It proved to be a memorable camp for Torrence because on Friday, his agents and the Bills’ front office staff came to agreement on a four-year contract extension that could be worth as much as $78.4 million, so chances are he’s never going to forget his visit to Pittsford this year.
“Second best day of my career,” offensive tackle Spencer Brown posted on his Instagram account when news of the new deal broke. “Congrats to an absolute king and my left hand man, you deserve it! Here’s to another four in the trenches you beauty.”
Outside of that exciting development, it was a pretty low-key camp, and that was by design.
A team source that I spoke to Friday said that last year in particular, there had been some disagreements between the team’s previous coaching staff led by Sean McDermott and the sports science and medical departments regarding the nature of how training camp operated. If you remember, the Bills suffered a bunch of injuries while they were at Fisher.
Now, that could have been randomness or bad luck; it’s football, players are going to get hurt. But this year, new coach Joe Brady wasn’t taking any chances and he apparently worked closer with the training staff to structure the ramp-up portion of camp.
That’s the thing about camp at Fisher: It’s only the very start of the season preparation and there’s still another month-plus of camp still to go back at the team facility in Orchard Park.
Brandon Beane was asked if he felt a difference in the level of competitiveness and physicality in this camp compared to the past.
“You ramp guys up in different ways as you go along,” Beane said. “The rules have changed how you ramp players up from when we first got here in ’17, and at that time, you’re taking over a team that had 17 seasons of not (making playoffs), like you’re trying to totally, just borderline blow it up. Not completely but close.
“I think this is a different place that Joe Brady’s taken over, and I think, as we’ve mentioned before, it’s trying to find what, not throw out everything, take some things that have gone well and keep those things going, but some things you want to tweak. I think Joe’s pressing these guys about pads and being physical. The other day, one of his lines was, ‘We’re putting pads on, set your jaw.’ We’re still working, but, I don’t think there’s anything that stands out to me of a difference in level of competitiveness or physicality.”
Here are a few observations I had from Friday:
Offense had its struggles at camp
Rainy weather had something to do with it, but also, Josh Allen and company having to go against a new defense for the first time since Allen came to Buffalo in 2018 was also part of why the Bills’ defense seemed to get the better of the offense across the seven practices at Fisher.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a lot different than the past, and they switch things up a lot,” wide receiver Khalil Shakir said of the looks Leonhard was giving the offense. “You get a new look every single play, and it helps us just to be able to see different looks every single day. (It) only helps me as an offensive player be ready to go into game week and be ready for going against different defenses and stuff like that, so he definitely switches up a lot, and it’s great.”
Obviously there were nice moments for the offense – how could there not be with Allen, Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, DJ Moore and James Cook? – but over the next few weeks there’s certainly some fine-tuning that has to take place if they hope to have any success in Week 1 against the ferocious defense of the Houston Texans.
“It’s definitely not easy,” Allen said. “The pressure looks that they can show you, and the actual pressures that come with those looks are two different pictures. And when you’re looking at the pre-snap look compared to when I get to my back foot, the amount of change in that defense is pretty crazy, and you really have to understand what type of coverages that they’re playing. Are they matching? Are they dropping off? Are they playing man?
“Like all these decisions happen within a couple seconds, you’ve gotta get the ball out because now we’ve got Bradley Chubb, Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, in some one-on-one looks that, you know, I think it’s going to make it really hard for opposing offenses to handle that. We’ve got some studs up front, so you’ve got to let your guys be guys, and they’re having a really good camp right now.”
Landon Jackson looking comfortable on line
Landon Jackson has made great progress with position switch
Joe Brady likes what he has seen from 2025 third-round pick Landon Jackson who has added weight in order to move into the interior of the defensive line.
The 2025 third-round pick had a disappointing rookie season, one that began with him looking a little lost in Sean McDermott’s defense, and then ending abruptly in November when he ripped up his knee against the Dolphins.
Jackson attacked his rehab, and he also piled on about 20 pounds – all of which looks like muscle – in order to better handle his new role as a 4i defensive lineman in Jim Leonhard’s odd-man front defense.
“I feel like it’ll be really great for me,” Jackson said. “My lower half is as strong as it’s ever been. I feel like finally getting an offseason to be a football player, train like a football player (as opposed to training last year for the scouting combine), really allowed me to put on the weight that I needed and be the way that I need to be to help this team. I’m happy with where I am now and I’m excited for this season.”
Jackson did a little bit of everything during his time at Arkansas including the position he’s now in which has helped ease his transition.
“He’s doing a great job,” Leonhard said. “It’s not a role that he was unfamiliar with, it was something that he did a significant amount in college. And the more he learned about what his role was going to be, I think he was like, ‘this could be really good for me.’
“He’s so big and powerful, I mean he is a powerful guy. Offensive linemen, they don’t like it if he’s long. He’s a little bit different body type than certain guys like him and Deone (Walker). All of a sudden you put them in different positions with the length that they have, they present some different problems, so I like where he’s at. He’s gaining confidence and you see the physicality come out.”
Jude Bowry could win swing tackle job
Sal Maiorana’s Day 7 wrapup of Bills training camp
Sal Maiorana puts a wrap on Bills training camp at St. John Fisher, with Friday’s big news being the O’Cyrus Torrence contract extension.
The rookie fourth-round pick stood out the other day when he got into a scuffle with veteran linebacker Michael Hoecht, but beyond that, he has looked solid on offense and while it’s way too early to know, he may have the inside track to the No. 3 offensive tackle spot as the backup to Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown.
That role has been a revolving door with Tylan Grable and Ryan Van Demark taking turns the past couple seasons. Van Demark is gone, and Grable is a 2024 sixth-round pick who has been unable to stay healthy and has appeared in just five games.
“Jude is strong, he’s powerful,” Brady said. “We’re putting a lot on his plate as well. We obviously have two of the top tackles in football so a little different than (guard O’Cyrus Torrence’s situation as a rookie in 2023) where he’s not coming in day one and he started and he’s rolling, but he’s handling it the right way with everybody. And it was good to see the pads come on and him not do anything differently.”
There’s still a ways to go and the preseason games will tell a lot, but Bowry has a real chance to win the swing job and players like Grable and 2025 sixth-round pick Chase Lundt are going to need to pick it up if they want to stay in the competition.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist 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 [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
