Bills player support

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https://buffalonews.com/eedition/page-a1/page_75c5f927-3893-5ecf-a0b8-15b81c8e23c7.html

 

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I had wondered if the Buffalo Bills helped new players, and current players, acclimate to the area and it turns out: Yes!

 

Our home region has a rep, deserved or not. And I could see some players getting pretty down about coming here. But to have a group like the Bills do really goes a long way. And apparently it's fairly unique in the NFL.

 

I always felt like Buffalo was an "insiders" city, where some of it's best features are almost a secret among the locals. If you want your players to be their best, you have to ease their minds about where to live, where to shop, who to trust, and even how to deal with snow. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by PromoTheRobot

[Saxum]

96 page PDF file? Or was this a mistake with their software for i got it without bypassing the pay gate,

 

 

Article is on Page 1 and Page 4.

[Saxum]

Good deal on vodka at Premier if you have a card.  Shows people do look at ads if they are relevant but best to put some codes in ad so to prove to advertisers. 

 

[PromoTheRobot]

34 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

96 page PDF file? Or was this a mistake with their software for i got it without bypassing the pay gate,

 

 

Article is on Page 1 and Page 4.

 

After Damar Hamlin suffered sudden cardiac arrest in Cincinnati in January and after his teammates witnessed in horror, Buffalo coach Sean McDermott fielded a number of questions about how the Bills would provide support to players in the following days. McDermott knew exactly whom to point to.

 

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“Our player development staff, who all have different roles here, help,” McDermott said at the time.

 

In the hours and days after Hamlin collapsed, the Bills’ player development staff was critical in caring for the players and the organization. Their success came from the daily work they put in behind the scenes year-round, so that players already know whom to turn to when they need help.

 

A group of four people with different specialties, the Bills’ group is one of the largest of its kind in the NFL, and players say the holistic approach helps make sure they are supported in their professional and personal lives.

 

“What gets lost in the bright lights,” Vanden Bos said, “and all the fanfare of an NFL player and how big and strong and fast they are, is that – what gets lost sometimes or not noticed – is that they’re just people, and they’re young people. ... And they have a lot of pressure on them.”

 

A comprehensive approach

The offices for the four are near each other at the team’s headquarters and near the players’ meeting rooms. It makes it easy for players to pop by. The group also will often grab a table together in the Bills cafeteria, with players rotating in and out, just to come talk and eat.

 

Defensive end Shaq Lawson is a regular at the lunch table. Not only does the group help him take care of everything he needs so he can focus on the game each week, Lawson also raves about the group dynamics.

 

“I always got them guys laughing. Kelsey’s got me laughing. So, it’s just our little family,” Lawson said. “Our little lunch family.”

 

Everyone in the family brings something a little different.

 

Festa – “Dr. Dez” to the players – got her master’s in sports psychology and her doctorate in counseling psychology. She works in a hybrid role with the performance science staff and the player engagement team.

 

“Really, my goal is to help a whole continuum of players’ mental wellbeing – whether it comes from performing on the field to off field,” she said.

 

Carrier is a former player, having spent 12 years as a wide receiver with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers. His experience allows him to relate to players at all stages of their NFL career. He’s worked on the team side of things since 2011, working his way up through the Panthers’ front office before joining the Bills in 2021.

 

 

Len Vanden Bos, director of player development and team chaplain, walks on the field during practice on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News)

 

Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News

Vanden Bos is also the team’s chaplain, but that doesn’t stop him from helping out with drills during practice. A former college coach, he aims to connect with players, no matter their beliefs, to help them grow spiritually. Of the group, he has been with the Bills the longest, coming to Buffalo in McDermott’s first season.

 

And Harkins, who is also a certified athletic trainer, has tasks ranging from helping a player find a dogsitter to finding housing to looking for schools for players’ children. Now a liaison for any needs that pop up, she began her time with the Bills as an athletic training intern, giving her a jump-start on building trust with the players.

 

No one has a typical day, and everyone collaborates. They understand that different players may come to different members of the staff. Or, in some cases, the same player will go to different members based off different needs.

 

“By us having a group of different people with our own specific skill set, I think it just makes it easier for the guys to say, ‘You know what? It’s a la carte. Who do I want to speak to? Who do I want to talk to today?’ And it helps them,” Carrier said.

 

If one member of the group thinks a player would be better suited getting advice from another, they are humble enough to point the player down the hall to another office. The only objective is providing the best support, they said.

 

“If it was just one of us, where if we all felt like we had to be the one that had to do everything, they wouldn’t get the best help that they deserve,” Harkins said. “We want to help them become better versions of themselves.”

 

Wide receiver Trent Sherfield Sr. has spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and now the Bills. His multiteam journey gives him perspective on how advanced the Bills’ setup is.

 

“It’s phenomenal,” Sherfield said. “I’ve been blessed to be able to be a part of some different teams. And I’m not saying that one is lacking in one area, whatever it may be.

 

“But this one is the best, the best, by far, when it comes to that.”

 

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‘A spot that can be transformational’

The player development staff works with Bills players at every stage of their career. The biggest intake, naturally, is for rookies, who take part in what Festa calls a “robust rookie program.” It is critical to help smooth the huge jump from college to the NFL. The transition continues into Years 2 and 3, and so does the support behind the scenes.

 

Second-year middle linebacker Terrel Bernard said he has learned about everything from financial security to, as a Texas native, winter weather preparedness.

 

“We know that not every team around the league has somebody like that, or some program like that,” Bernard said. “So, especially early, you know, just you come in, and you don’t really know anybody, those are the first people that you get to make a real connection with.”

 

Bills rookies are required to meet with Festa at some of the key benchmarks of their season: organized team activities in the spring, training camp, midseason. There’s no agenda once they walk in, Festa says. It is all player driven, and sets the stage for later years.

 

“One of the intentions behind that is if you do need to meet with me in the future, it has made them ready to meet with me one-on-one and be more comfortable,” Festa said. “They’re more ready to come when they do need (help). It doesn’t feel so foreign.”

 

Festa has seen a healthy growth in the way players feel empowered to ask for help over the last few years. Many players may have had a team psychologist in college, she says. In the NFL, though, it varies.

 

“We’re one of the only teams with a full-time sport psychologist or a full-time mental health provider,” Festa said. “I think there’s about, maybe, six that have someone full time. So, this idea of mental health, and even player development, is forward thinking in the league, to have it full time.

 

“We are more proactive in that sense.”

 

Four of the 32 NFL teams list a team psychologist on their staff directory: the Bills, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars, which lists two. The Washington Commanders list a director of wellness and clinical services, Dr. Barbara Roberts, who is a licensed clinical psychologist. The Cardinals have Dr. William Schultz, who is the team’s neuro-psychologist.

 

It doesn’t mean the remaining teams do not have other ways or staff to help players with the psychological side of the game – a handful of teams do not list their medical staff – but Festa points out how having a full-time staff member can make a huge difference. She credits the organizational push from the Bills’ management to invest in supporting players.

 

“That starts with (general manager) Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott wanting this to be a space where players can become the best version of themselves – as a player on the field, but then also them as a human being,” Festa said. “That’s why they put a lot of resources in place – so that this can be a spot that can be transformational for them.”

 

Carrier agrees, having once been “a one-man show” as director of player development. But one person was even more than he had.

 

“I know when I played, we didn’t have this position,” Carrier said. “So, just being able to add this position to the league itself was a major step. Because I would have loved to have someone when I played that I can go in and talk to and just kind of get a feel for where their thoughts are.”

 

The Bills aren’t opposed to evolving their player development group, either, if that suits the needs of their players. The group has grown since Beane and McDermott arrived, with Beane crediting the Pegulas, as well.

 

“There may be something else that comes up that we go, ‘Man, this could really help this person, whoever it is,’” Beane said. “If we think it can help our guys be better and (be) better people and work through their normal lives that happen, then we wouldn’t hesitate to add them. And you’ve got to give Terry and Kim a lot of credit for giving us the resources to do that, and they back it, 100%.”

 

In sickness and in health

For the player development staff to be most effective, they are not just involved with players when a crisis comes along. The group is there to celebrate birthdays, baby announcements, weddings, engagements and all the smaller moments along the way.

 

“I think most of our job, specifically, is it humanizes them,” Harkins said. “We actually build relationships with them.”

 

Vanden Bos adds that the group is there for “all the stuff that nobody really sees, but you want to help them grow, develop, support them, so that they can maximize this opportunity.”

 

The approach endears the group to players.

 

“This is such a long and hard season, mentally,” veteran safety Micah Hyde said. “So, having somebody to be able to talk to and hey, like somebody to steer in the right direction, what conversations to have is always good – especially for young guys, like people that have never really navigated the NFL. It can tear you apart. It’s brutal.

 

“So having people to assist us, not just physically, obviously, with the strength staff and all that stuff, but mentally, is always important. ... I think the league has come a long way, with not just mental health but just surrounding players with assistance and being able to talk them through situations they’ve got going on.”

 

Last season, even before Hamlin’s emergency, the Bills were up against a number of events that impacted players. Festa said there was some uptick in players seeking help, but not a huge amount, since players “feel like this is a trusted space” for meeting needs in any season.

 

“I would say some, but they utilize us a lot, in general,” Festa said of last year. “Yes, it went up, but it just seems like players are people, and lives happen outside of here as well. And so, they utilize us when they have life stuff happen.”

 

The group can be there for the hardest moments for a player. When Vanden Bos meets with a player who has lost someone, he is honest about how much he – or any person – can do for their grief.

 

“I’m willing to walk with you – not to try to fix what’s broken,” Vanden Bos said. “We all want to fix, especially in this environment – you know, male driven, type A – we want to fix it. And a lot of times, I tell people that I’ve walked through with grief is that, you know, there is no fixing this.”

 

It can run counterintuitive to the superhuman mindset players sometimes adopt.

 

“That’s hard because, I think, players, coaches, they are so much about, ‘Alright, just fix this. Get healthy. Do this. Get this surgery. Change this, and I’ll be good,’” Vanden Bos said. “And the reality is, life takes us on a different path. And now you’re on that path, and there’s no going back. And what they need most is the love and support of people that care for them, beyond just as a player.”

 

And in Orchard Park, the Bills know where to go for that support.

 

“I’m so grateful that they’re here to be able to help us,” Sherfield said. “It’s the best, from top down, to me, in my opinion. This organization is, by far, hands down, a class act.”

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by PromoTheRobot

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