Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin shines in practice

On a windy day of practice at Orchard Park on Tuesday, the secondary didn’t allow many throws to the front of the field by the Bills offense.

Safety Damar Hamlin made the defensive play of the day, jumping to intercept a pass from Josh Allen to running back Ty Johnson on an 11-on-11 job. seam and Hamlin made a good jump over it to cut in front of Johnson.

The Bills quarterbacks did quite a bit of scrambling out of the pocket during practice, but they were forced to tuck it and run or throw it incompletely downfield, while running backs corner and the safeties were sticking to receivers across the field.

Christian Benford covered rookie Keon Coleman well on a deep throw from Allen in a 7-on-7 job. Rookie safety Cole Bishop, Utah’s second-round pick, had good coverage on a deeper throw for receiver KJ Hamler. Cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram, the University at Buffalo product, covered Marquez Valdes-Scantling well on a deep incompletion by Mitch Trubisky.

Buffalo allowed the seventh fewest passes of 20-plus passes last season with 44. That counts passes that traveled 20 air yards downfield and catches and runs that went for gains of 20 or more. The Bills allowed the fewest passes of 40 yards or more last season – just one. It was a 48-yard screen pass in the home win over New England.

The Bills ranked No. 1 in the NFL in fewest passes of 20 yards or more allowed in 2018, 2019 and 2021. They were middle of the pack in 2022 (tied for 14th).

Tyler Bass kicked a 70-yard field goal late in practice, with the benefit of a wind gusting 15 to 20 mph on the grass field outside the ADPRO Sports practice facility. He cleared the crossbar with a few meters to spare. Bass said it was the longest field goal he’s ever made on the Bills’ practice field.

Bass’ career rushing time in a game is 58 yards, achieved in the loss to Arizona in 2020. Steve Christie still holds the team record of 59 yards, set in 1993.

Owner Terry Pegula watched virtually the entire practice, chatting most of the time on the field with general manager Brandon Beane.

Watching the first half of the practice from the sidelines was Snyder native Jeffrey Gundlach, the billionaire investor whose $65 million contributions fueled the expansion of the Buffalo Albright Knox Gundlach Art Museum. Gundlach is co-founder and CEO of DoubleLine Capital, a mutual fund company. His value is estimated at $2.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

The museum was scheduled to host a big event, “Rockin’ at the Buffalo AKG,” Tuesday evening.

Pegula announced in April that he was exploring the potential sale of a non-controlling minority stake in the Bills. Gundlach is reportedly on a speculative list of potential candidates for such a role.

Tight end Dalton Kincaid can be counted on to make some catches from Allen almost every practice. Kincaid had a 15-yard net catch with Taron Johnson in coverage on a pass from Allen. This happened just after a short completion period from Allen to Kincaid.

Kincaid says he’s benefiting from a lot more strength training this offseason. Kincaid suffered a back injury late in his college season with Utah in November 2022 and was limited in offseason strength training last year.

“Last offseason, I didn’t really get a chance to practice much before I got here for OTAs because I was injured,” Kincaid said. “I don’t want to say it’s been more fun, but just being able to participate in workouts and stuff, you know, February, March, as opposed to last year where I’m just sitting there watching everything everyone training and I’m doing my rehab. I feel a lot better, especially being back here with (Eric) Ciano and the weight team. It’s fun. We’re competing in the weight room. we compete here and as a competitive person, it’s fun to be around people who are striving to improve.

Coleman, the 33rd pick in the draft, made a few plays. He showed good hands on an Allen grab and then caught a quick strike as Allen beat a blitz. …Andy Isabella opened wide with a good juke on a crossover route and caught an 18-yard pass from Trubisky. … Defensive tackle DaQuan Jones was there and blew up a Ray Davis first run. … Jones’ replacement, free agent Austin Johnson, diagnosed a screen pass that would have gone nowhere if there had been tackles. …Bob Babich, Bills linebackers coach from 2017-2021 and father of the Bills defensive coordinator, was in attendance. … Those not present at the voluntary session were: James Cook, Zach Davidson, Von Miller, AJ Epenesa, Ed Oliver, Rasul Douglas and Cam Lewis. Matt Milano was not in uniform but was watching. … Right tackle Spencer Brown, recovering from shoulder surgery, was held out of 11-on-11 work but completed all individual drills with his helmet on. … Safety Mike Edwards (shoulder) participated in some of the walkthrough work. … The Bills have practices scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday (which are not open to the media). Organized team activity practices continue on June 3, 4 and 6.