New personalities, jerseys and rules

Let’s get to the mailbag.

Lazytown716 asks: Based on your brief interaction with the new faces so far, who – besides Keon (Coleman) of course – do you see being a breakout personality/fan fav at camp?

Katherine: Let’s start with this, because I love this question! My favorite part of reporting is getting to know the players as people and sharing their stories with readers.

Two newcomers I’m especially excited about are rookie defensive tackle DeWayne Carter and veteran wide receiver Mack Hollins. Carter minored in theater studies, reportedly in part to prepare him for media obligations, but I can’t wait to ask him more about that. He was a three-time captain at Duke and just seems like an excellent character.

Hollins, who I interviewed once during college at the University of North Carolina, is a delight. If you’re not following his daily habits on Instagram now (which take a different theme each month), I highly recommend doing so. On top of that, Hollins is always very vocal in hyping up his teammates during practice, and I think fans will latch on to that energy quickly.

Lazytown716 also asks: Knowing the coaching staff like you do and with the new rules, how much experimentation with the kickoff return could we get to see at camp and the preseason? Personally I’d like to see McD let his freak flag fly a little bit here because why not? YOLO!

Katherine: Lazytown716, when you’re right, you’re right! You DO only live once. We should all embrace that in general and experiment with the new kickoff to our hearts’ contents.

That said, knowing this coaching staff, I think what we see at camp will be very limited.

During the OTA practices that were open to the media, we did not see much kickoff return practice. The NFL policy is that one day of each set of three OTAs is open to the media, so the Bills very well could have had a practice packed with kickoff returns away from our eyes the other days, but who is to say?

Of course, time until the new season is ticking, and the team will need to practice at some point. There’s only training camp practice in Rochester that is closed to fans. Still, I think even through the three preseason games, the Bills – like many teams around the league – won’t show a ton when it comes to kickoff strategies.

I’m excited for the new kickoff rules, so I hope I’m wrong here and that we see plenty of fun practices during camp. I’m particularly interested in seeing how the types of players that get utilized will ultimately shape roster decisions.

Ed Helinski asks: Please explain the recent NFL changes to the Injured Reserve Rule. Reading about it, it seems very team friendly and ripe for abusive creativity. Might it become a way where teams stash some players with non-serious and questionable injuries?

Katherine: The June 12 letter on the recent changes states that teams will now get two additional designations in the postseason. The previous rule was a team had eight designations in the regular season. Now, adding the two for the postseason, the total is up to 10.

It could be a way for teams to stash some players, but I doubt it will be abused. If a player can make that much of a difference in the postseason, a team would likely have wanted him back sooner. Players still must miss four games on IR before returning, so putting a player on IR won’t come lightly.

Fingerlakes Red asks: What’s your opinion on the Bills having a Week 12 bye this season? Is it too soon, too late or will it be a welcome time of the season?

Katherine: Last year, the Bills’ bye was in Week 13. That felt very late at the time, though perhaps especially on a personal level. I was ready for the bye when it came.

I’m maybe a little surprised it didn’t come a bit earlier given the tough road stretch the Bills have at the start of their season – five of their first seven games are away from home.

I think while it’s a little late in the season, it will come at a very welcome time, sandwiched between games against Kansas City and San Francisco. It’s a nice time for a little rest.

Jeff Miller asks: I suppose this is blasphemous, but I don’t quite understand why last season Damar Hamlin was an inactive more games than not, and this season his being on the team, and even a main player, seems to be a given. Now, I absolutely understand the sentiment, but the harsh reality is that the NFL is a business and has no room for sentiment. And I’m sure you’ll put me in my place. And yes, we did lose our vaunted duo, Hyde and Poyer. Were we just flush at that position last year? Are we in a secure safety position this year?

Katherine: We’ll go somewhat backward here – the team was fairly flush at the position last year, and one factor of Hamlin being the odd inactive out is that defensive back Cam Lewis can back up both the safety and nickel cornerback, giving Lewis an edge when he came to the game-day roster.

I think there was a lot more to Hamlin’s recovery as well. I was impressed with Hamlin’s spring football showing, and he had a strong training camp last year. Safety Mike Edwards missed some time during OTAs with an injury, giving Hamlin additional reps. Based on numbers, I wouldn’t say it’s a given that he’s a main player, but I think he’s taking all the right steps to make an impact.

I also think there will still be some growing pains at the position, just as would be anywhere when you’re dropping off from a safety tandem that spent so much time on the field together. Still, Poyer and Hyde were losing a step, and it was time to move on, even if that could lead to some communication stumbles early on in the season.

So, consider the group a little less secure than last year to start, but with a decent ceiling. I think the Bills will work up to rookie Cole Bishop starting alongside Edwards, but they may rotate for a while.

Brenda Alesii asks: After returning from his torn ACL, Von Miller was hardly noticeable on the field last season and didn’t record a sack in the 12 games he played. Now he is publicly saying he should not have played at all last season. Do you think he’s putting even more pressure on himself by raising expectations that he’s ready to return to form and was the team at fault for putting Miller in the lineup?

Katherine: I think we start by sometimes taking what Miller says with a grain of salt. You can look at his track record for predicting free agents; Miller is not always spot on in his proclamations. Ask DeAndre Hopkins or Odell Beckham Jr.

Miller wants to speak things into existence, and sometimes only the first half of that plan comes to fruition. That’s OK – I won’t knock a guy for being optimistic; I even think some players need to have a mindset like that when coming back from an injury. And hindsight is twenty-twenty of course, when it comes to him seeing how his sackless season played out.

Still, the switch from him saying he would be ready to play Week 1 of last season to then saying he should not have played at all is notable. There’s a difference between being medically cleared and fully ready to take the field again. I don’t fault the team for medically clearing him, but there’s a difference between can play and should play. I believe from that perspective, Miller came back a little early.

He could be putting a bit more pressure on himself, but I think the pressure is already there. It comes from his resume, his contract, and the opportunity that the Bills have.

Cody Marmon asks: What’s upside and floor with James Cook and Dalton Kincaid seemingly getting larger roles in 2024?

Katherine: For Cook, I think a deeper involvement could be more creative uses of the third-year running back. Last year, he had 237 carries and another 44 catches. The Bills don’t want to run him into the ground, but I can see offensive coordinator Joe Brady using him in some fun ways. The floor for Cook is that he continues to drop balls, it could cost the Bills in big moments. I think he’s rebounded well from those moments, and I don’t expect it to be a consistent plague.

For Kincaid, I see a bump to some amount of catches in the 80s-range. Kincaid had 73 catches as a rookie, and coach Sean McDermott doesn’t want expectations for the tight end to get over the top in Year 2. The flipside is that if Kincaid’s role swells too much, that could mean the Bills aren’t spreading the ball around as much as they possibly should. I’m not too worried about that, but I do think they should be getting a healthy mix of guys involved all throughout games.

Cody also asks: What do you do?Ink Buffalo needs to do to reach NOLA in February?

Katherine: I think the biggest thing is for the defense to finally play to its full potential in the playoffs. That’s been the missing piece the last few seasons, and it has cost them. Josh Allen will need to be nearly perfect in the playoffs as well, but there’s more pressure on the defense based off the last stretch of showings, in my opinion.

BullCityBills asks: With all these longtime Bills players leaving, it begs a question for me around jersey investment. Of the non-Allen Bills, which current Bill do you think is the most worthy of an investment jersey-wise this year? Sentimentality/loyalty/potential/funniest are all fair reasons in my opinion.

Katherine: I feel like this is going to sound made up, but I genuinely was sitting on the wooden benches one Sunday at the downtown Fattey Beer Co. when I heard guys at the table behind me talking about how they were going to get the No. 60 jersey.

When undrafted rookie Keaton first signed with the Bills, I thought it was a funny bit, and I love what he’s done to lean into it. The homage to the Bills’ first season of 1960 shows excellent awareness – even if it is also simply a normal number for an offensive lineman. Keaton Bills is a practice squad candidate, but a No. 60 jersey is still delightful and evergreen.

Some other fun options: Dion Dawkins (loyalty), Keon Coleman (potential) or any player who does community work in an area you support. I love, for example, what Ray Davis is doing with his platform for kids in the foster system, and in turn supporting him with your jersey choice is an excellent nod.

The Real Radman asks: Do you think Joe Brady will utilize his personnel in more varied formations than last year? For example: TEs as H-backs, WRs in the backfield (looking at you, Curtis Samuel!), etc.?

Katherine: I think so, and for two reasons: time and personnel. Brady has had more time to install his own tweaks on the offense than when he simply came in midseason last year. Plus, like your mention of Curtis Samuel, he’s got some exciting personnel to mix it up a little more.

We can’t report formations we see during OTAs, but I think the public practices at training camp will have a little spice to them. Brady’s rapport with Samuel from Carolina also adds to this, and the pair got creative when they overlapped with the Panthers.

The Bills don’t need to get over-the-top cute in their formations, but definitely looking forward to some fun on the field under Brady this season.

Thanks for your questions, and for reading! Mark Gaughan will have his mailbag next week.