The moment has finally come!
The Buffalo Bills will take the field for the first time in the 2025 NFL season against the New Jersey Football Giants.
The struggling padawan GM in Joe Schein comes back to his master, this time equipped with the first QB of his own choosing in Jaxon Dart and a roster ready to turn a new leaf. Will his hand crafted team begin their Buffalo Bills-like arc and begin ascending with the new rookie at the helm, or does something need to change in New Jersey?
But enough about the Giants. Other than some fantasy interests, this game is all about the Buffalo Bills. Here’s what I’ll be watching for.
Injury Statuses
So far, camp has been a challenge from an injury perspective. Expected starters in position groups that need to gel this off-season like safety, corner, and wide receiver have all missed time.
Spencer Brown missed time with a back flare up, but is back taking full reps and looks eager to reassert himself in the lineup. Alex Anderson, Sedrick Van Pran Granger, and Tylan Grable have all missed time with injury in camp, so what will the second team O-line look like?
Cole Bishop has missed important snaps as he looks to maintain his spot atop the leader board, but a nagging quad injury is taking away valuable time for he and Taylor Rapp to be on the same page as they roam the third level of the defense.
Taylor Rapp has also missed time with a minor knee injury. With the top two starters missing time who asserts themselves at safety? At the beginning of the offseason, I was very much expecting Darrick Forrest to challenge Cole Bishop for the Jordan Poyer role, but it appears that the Sean McDermott/Bobby Babich system has been a challenge for him to pick up, as almost all camp commentators have reported Darrick to have looked slow and blending into the background in camp drills. Instead it’s been a combination of system guys like Damar Hamlin and Cam Lewis and rookies Jordan Hancock who have been taking the helm and making bigger splashes with more reps available due to the injuries to the starters.
I’ll be looking for who starts at safety and which of these safeties can make plays in live action, but more importantly who can be in the right position, make the right adjustments and be in better communication on the back end.
Three WRs have been bitten by the injury bug in Khalil Shakir (ankle), Curtis Samuel (hamstring), and Kaden Prather (hamstring) all expected to miss the only preseason game in front of the home crowd. Will Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer get significant reps, or will they give more starting time to the second team guys like Elijah Moore, Tyrell Shavers and Jalen Virgil get more chances given the chemistry they should have with Mitchell Trubisky who throws to the 2s.
For that matter, has Elijah Moore taken Curtis Samuel’s role with the starters upping Curtis Samuel for the time being?
Other guys who have been dinged up, but might play in Saturday’s game include Terrel Bernard, Dane Jackson, Shaq Thompson, Deone Walker.
The Goliaths
The Bills seem to have placed an emphasis on size this offseason.
Deone Walker at 6’7 and 345 lbs playing weight and Mike Edwards at 6’5 and 360 lbs add to the arsenal of size players like O’Cyrus Torrence at 6’5 346, and Dion Dawkins at 6’4 320.
I want to see if D-1 and Edwards can translate their size into power and use technique to maximize the impact of their size. Please please don’t let me see them both just attempt to bull rush, get eaten up and smothered or beaten.
The Suspended Players
With Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi being the highest profile defensive free agents, and both receiving suspensions for PEDs, we have kind of sidelined them in our heads in that we won’t see them until October, but suspended players are allowed to play in the preseason, allowing us a sneak peek into what Bills mid-season and playoff form could look like.
I want to see, first off, do they play in the preseason for significant reps or does Bills brass want to see the younger, roster-bubble type guys instead.
Second, what role with a Hoecht play? Does he jump up into the 1-tech role behind DaQuan Jones, stick to his more natural spot at 3-tech, flex him out to defensive end, or even linebacker. His positional flexibility was calling card in free agency, so I want to see how McDermott and Babich plan to deploy him.
The Youth Movement
I really want to see the young men show out in this preseason game.
The Bills fall pretty much smack dab in the middle of the league with an average age of 25.64, where the Packers are the youngest at 24.8 years old, and the oldest are the Commanders at 27.14.
The youngest players on the team are surprisingly Jordan Hancock and Deone Walker both at 21 years old Jordan Hancock will turn 22 on August 12 and D-1 will be 21 for the entire 2025 season with his birthday not being until March.
The Bills currently have 15 players age 23 or younger. Sme of these are high profile draft picks or second year players who we already know will have a role this year.
I want to see if some of these less heralded energetic young guys can make a splash or even just bring some youthful energy as they push to make the 53 man roster . I’ll be looking for players like:
- C Jacob Bayer
- TE Keleki Latu
- RB Frank Gore Jr.
- WR Kaden Prather
- WR Stephen Gostnell
- LB Keonta Jenkins
- DT Zion Logue
- CB Dorian Strong
What I Don’t Really Care About
Mitchell Trubisky v. Mike White. The lead back up QB is likely irrelevant as both are likely to make the team or practice squad and neither could win the Super Bowl without Josh Allen starting.
Ray Davis kicking field goals. It’s a side show fun stunt that should be relegated to preseason fun and fantasy trivia, but Ray Davis’ path to a significant NFL season lies in whether he could replace James Cook in 2026 or in the event of a trade.
The Score. While it would be fun to see the last pre-season game at the Ralph be a landslide victory, this game does not matter. In the 4 Super Bowl years, the Bills lost every game but one, because they knew preseason is for development and evaluation, not for wins and losses.
What will you be watching for? Drop a comment below or find me on social media at any of my channels below.
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