ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five thoughts on the Buffalo Bills as they go through offseason workouts:
1. Jordan Poyer isn’t participating in voluntary drills at One Bills Drive, but that shouldn’t sound any major alarms about his future with the team.
OTAs are voluntary. It’s fairly standard in the NFL for a player in pursuit of a pay raise, as Poyer is, to view them as an opportunity to stage what amounts to a passive job action.
Coaches generally don’t hold the action against the player. Teammates generally don’t see him as any sort of outcast or selfish, knowing they, too, could easily end up doing the same – if they haven’t already.
Poyer is far too important to the Bills’ hopes of getting to and winning a Super Bowl for the matter to drag to the point of the All-Pro safety entering the regular season as a malcontent whose unhappiness over his contract could become a problem, on and off the field. He matters every bit as much as Von Miller, the edge rusher in whom they made a massive free-agent investment. He matters every bit as much as Stefon Diggs, whose contract was reworked to put his pay in line with other wide receivers who benefitted from an exploding market at the position.
The Bills know that, which is why they’ll likely find a way to work out a deal that makes Poyer happy while still fitting him under their salary cap, probably at some point in training camp. Also, expect him to be in attendance for the June 14-16 mandatory minicamp because failure to do so would result in a fine.
Though he might not be at OTAs, Poyer has been in Western New York to give back to the community. During a charity event Wednesday night benefitting the 5/14 Survivors Fund on behalf of the victims of the mass shooting at Tops on Jefferson Avenue, he kept the majority of focus on where it belonged.
However, Poyer did offer the following on his contract: "I’m ready to go. I’m just staying optimistic. Things will work itself out… I’m ready to play football. Everybody knows I’m ready to play football."
2. A few years ago, while I was doing a story for the Buffalo News, Josh Allen told me about when he was a boy and his father would drive him to school, his dad would conduct a pretend media-style interview with him along the way.
Allen shared the same story with reporters earlier this week at OTAs, using it as an example of the kind of family support and guidance he has received for most of his life. His father’s intent was to give Allen a lesson on how to conduct himself, to understand what it meant to be a leader and be accountable, to understand that it was important to remember to speak in terms of “we” rather than “I.”
It is that foundation that has done plenty to allow Allen to make the remarkable growth he has shown as a quarterback and a person the past two seasons to become one of the top players in the league while helping the Bills emerge as a leading Super Bowl contender.
Allen’s greatest progress has been his accuracy. He’s one of the rare quarterbacks who has from being a less-than-accurate passer in college to highly accurate as a pro. To get there, Allen has had to put in considerable time and effort, especially on his own during the offseason. That takes a special level of commitment and maturity to achieve.
"Shifting it back to us is that was part of the evaluation where getting a job is one thing, but being willing to put the work in to become really good at things is hard to find these days," coach Sean McDermott said. "I think Josh has matured, and then he’s also used and drawn from that support system and those core values that he was taught years ago."
3. Von Miller wasted no time making a strong impression on his new teammates, and that was a big deal – even during a non-contact, OTA workout.
When a team signs a free agent to a six-year, $120-million contract (with nearly $52 million guaranteed), its incumbent players are naturally curious as to what the massive investment is all about. Of course, the real proof won’t come until the Bills are playing for keeps.
However, Miller has shown at least some of the qualities that have gone a long way toward making him one of the NFL’s most effective pass-rushers and best defensive players overall.
One of them is incredible leverage, the ability to get as low as possible while maintaining his balance.
"The No. 1 thing that impresses me is his sense of gravity, like how low he can get to the ground and still keep his strength," offensive tackle Dion Dawkins said. "That’s the most impressive thing because just watching him stretch, he’s like an Olympian or like a gymnastics person. He’s just like real fluid, almost like water. That’s the most impressive thing that he can move his body in certain ways that I for sure can’t."
4. Jordan Phillips was a good player when he left the Bills two years ago to sign with the Arizona Cardinals, but he could become even better in his return.
For one, the defensive tackle has more experience, which should prove helpful to his younger teammates. For another, Phillips expects to benefit from working with his new defensive line coach, Eric Washington.
More than anything, Phillips appreciates Washington’s consistent approach.
"You get a lot of coaches who will say one thing and then once you see it, they’ll say something else," Phillips said. "But he sticks to what he says and he’s 10 toes down on what he says. It’s not his way or the highway, but he wants it that way."
5. There have been some obvious questions about team chemistry within the Bills since their divisional-round playoff loss at Kansas City in January.
Those ultra-controversial 13 seconds, during which the Bills allowed a sure victory to become a tie that became a loss in overtime, are lingering. They’ll probably continue to linger into the regular season.
The way the events unfolded, with special teams and defense undoing all that the offense did to put the Bills in position for victory, it’s easy to see how there could have been some divisiveness.
McDermott’s job is to make certain it doesn’t grow into anything larger. It’s no coincidence, then, the coach places a high degree of importance bonding opportunities, such as OTAs.
"I think the chemistry is big," McDermott said. "Chemistry, just getting to know one another, building that trust that needs to be there because there are new pieces to it as well as the coach-player relationship amongst the new pieces we have in the coaching staff as well."