ESPN

‘Steveson and Clayton were brought in for different reasons. The Bills initially looked into Steveson years prior but brought him in for a tryout this past spring as his athletic abilities meshing with the NFL intrigued them. They did not immediately sign him based on the roster at the time. Clayton, on the other hand, has extensive athletic potential — 6-foot-7, 301 pounds with the ability to run a 4.79 40-yard dash — to be developed and more flexibility with more time to do so, as IPP players grant teams an additional roster spot through camp.’

‘”It’s really, to me, it’s getting them ramped up and ready to go for the season,” McDermott said. “It’s an important step, hard to simulate the speed of the game and so getting that in preseason is important, going through warmups and the energy that comes with playing a game in front of fans, and being able to manage that. So, there’s a lot of reasons for it, like I said, it’s just another step.”‘

‘Jackson had a tumultuous 2023 season that included two suspensions (totaling six games), multiple fines ($89,670) and lost wages ($838,889 in salary) for repeated violations of unnecessary roughness rules. The suspensions came after Jackson, then with the Denver Broncos, was ejected from two games for hits on Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave and then-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs. He received four-game suspensions for both hits, but the punishment for the hit on Musgrave was reduced to two games after an appeal.’

‘As practice came to a wrap, the team transitioned into its typical stretching period, but moved to one end zone of the field, unlike the typical midfield stretch. Terry Pegula then guided his wife to the field where the team gathered around her. Quarterback Josh Allen stepped into the middle, next to coach Sean McDermott. Allen put his arm on Kim Pegula, and she raised her hand in the air as Allen said, “Bills on three.1, 2, 3, Bills!”‘

‘”That’s probably what should have happened, but I didn’t want that to happen,” Miller said. “I wanted to be out there and play. If I was 50%, like, nobody was going to stop me from going out there. [Bills general manager Brandon] Beane wasn’t, nobody was going to stop me from going out there. But the truth, just being honest with you guys, my knee wasn’t at a place where I could go, and I could move, and I could do the things that I wanted to do. I mean, I could play, but that was just about it.”‘

‘Trading Stefon Diggs — who had over 150 targets in his four seasons with Buffalo — inevitably comes with questions about where the majority of targets will now be focused and the impact that it has on quarterback Josh Allen. Brady’s motto this offseason is “everyone eats,” with the idea that if you do what you are supposed to do on the field, the ball will find its way to you.’

‘Perhaps no position group on the roster demonstrates the new faces better than the Bills receiver room, which has undergone an almost complete makeover since the end of the 2023 season. It also remains one of the biggest question marks heading into training camp — with practices commencing on July 24 at St. John Fisher University — and the regular season.’

‘”I wouldn’t call it a complete overhaul of my throwing motion, but definitely some things to work on and clean up,” Allen said. “Getting long with my arm and a little bit with my stride. So just trying to clean that up. And anytime you go through something like that, sometimes it’s going to feel really good, sometimes it’s not going to feel really good. It’s just like changing your swing in golf, as long as you’re trusting it and you keep working on it, each and every day results will come.”‘

‘”There was flashes of some Von Miller there at the end of the year,” Babich said. “Von’s working hard to get back. Von’s a terrific person. The expectation is that minute by minute, we’re just continuing to get better and continuing to hone back in on the skills and to train the skills that are needed for him to impact the game like we need him to.”‘

‘”When I left Minnesota, I was a good player. But I always felt more for myself. I felt like I was better than that. And that I could be better than that. And kind of up to that point, I was just like ‘S—, I’m going to roll the dice and bet on myself,'” Diggs said. “When I got to Buffalo, Josh was and still is my guy. People don’t really understand what it’s like to be out there. He really embraced me. We spent a lot of time together and I probably wouldn’t be right here if it wasn’t for him.”‘

‘”I have been fortunate to compete at the highest level of competition in my sport but am looking forward to the challenge of seeing how my wrestling skills may translate to football,” Steveson said. “I am grateful to Coach [Sean] McDermott, [GM] Brandon Beane and the Buffalo Bills organization for giving me this opportunity.”‘

‘”At the end of the day, this is Josh Allen’s offense,” Brady said Tuesday, just two sentences into his news conference. “You’re going to put together the offense around the guys that you’ve got. So, for us to just say, ‘Hey, we’re just going to scrap everything and everything was broken.’ That wasn’t the case. … There’ll be some elements of things that I believe in, but it’s more of like, tell me who we have on our football team and the guys and what they can do well and we’re going to do that.”‘

‘The lingering questions, however, remain on the field, most notably for the defense, a unit that saw depth added across the board in the draft. At the top level, McDermott still has not determined who will be calling the plays for the defense this year, whether it’s him, as it was last year, or first-time defensive coordinator Bobby Babich. McDermott said answers will come during camp, giving Babich the opportunity to practice calling plays with sessions early on that are largely scripted.’

‘”[Claypool’s] very focused, he’s working extremely hard day in and day out,” McDermott said. “… Very impressed with his day-to-day approach, true pro, high character, smart player, and he’s been a good addition to our team.”‘

‘The bracelets are in white, blue and red — with most of the supplies ordered online, but the colors carefully picked in person to match the Bills’ colors. The bracelets — one with “Let’s Go Bills” and the other “Bills” — were sent with a letter from Logan, who is 10, and a message to Coleman.’