What would a Buffalo Bills event be this summer without bad weather?
After dealing with rain for multiple practices, be it at St. John Fisher University, in their sessions at One Bills Drive, and in their annual return of the blue and red practice at Highmark Stadium, the worst weather the Bills have endured occurred Saturday on the other side of Lake Erie in Cleveland.
After four plays from scrimmage in the first quarter, a downpour that included lightning in the area forced officials to suspend play and both teams ran to their respective locker rooms at Huntington Bank Field.
The game resumed after an hour-long delay and the weather actually turned sunny and pleasant, especially for the Bills who cruised to a 31-7 victory in a battle of backups
and future practice squad players.
“I was so proud of the guys,” coach Joe Brady said. “We’ve had rain since the first day of training camp and we knew we were going to play in these types of conditions, and boom, a weather delay, they come in and tell us ‘hey boys we’re going to start at 2:15’ and we were like cool, let’s put the ball down and go. Is there stuff for us to clean up, absolutely, but I was more proud of the mindset and the mentality of how they took it on.”
As expected, only a couple players on each side who could end up starting once the regular season begins were on the field, but what was nice for the Bills is this performance showed the depth they have in so many areas which is going to make trimming this roster to 53 very difficult.
Here are some of my observations:
Kyle Allen has locked up the backup QB job
After what felt like a shaky start to training camp, Allen almost certainly secured the No. 2 role behind Josh Allen with a second straight impressive preseason performance.
Kyle completed 10 of 12 passes for 128 yards and he directed two touchdown drives in his first half of action, the first ending on a Ray Davis TD run, the second capping an efficient two-minute drive when he hit Mecole Hardman for a nine-yard TD.
Shane Buechele, who has been on Buffalo’s practice squad the last three seasons, was making a push early on, but Allen has separated himself because in the first two exhibitions, he has completed 24 of 28 for 236 yards and led three scoring drives which would have been four if not for a Tyler Bass missed field goal against Carolina.
Allen’s favorite target was Trent Sherfield who caught four of his passes for 54 yards.It was a big performance for Sherfield because he’s fighting for a spot as Buffalo’s fifth or six wide receiver in what is a very crowded competition. Already a valuable special teamer, if Sherfield can play offense like that, he’ll have a great chance to make the team.
“He’s been making plays,” Brady said. “I think he has a comfort level understanding his role in the league and you see him make plays like that in the receiver game and then making tackles on special teams. I love Trent, his personality, the way he goes about, he’s a leader in that room. He wanted to be a part of Buffalo and he’s doing all he cam to be a part of the Buffalo Bills.”
Buechele has looked good, too. He was 6 of 9 for 50 yards last week, and 5 of 10 for 111 yards against the Browns including a 71-yard touchdown to pass Ja’Mori Maclin late in the third quarter which extended the Bills’ lead to 24-7.
Left guard competition still undecided
As he did in the preseason opener, Alec Anderson started at left guard against the Browns and played the first two series while his primary competition, Austin Corbett, entered for the third series. Brady said last week that neither player had taken control and it seems likely that both will play Thursday in the preseason finale at home against the Steelers, and a decision will be made thereafter.
With all other offensive starters sitting out, the offensive line in front of backup quarterback Kyle Allen was, left to right, Tylan Grable, Anderson, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, Ar'maj Reed-Adams and Jude Bowry.
While the Anderson-Corbett battle is on the front burner, the other thing to watch is backup center. Ever since starter Connor McGovern got hurt in the blue and red practice Aug. 8, veteran Lloyd Cushenberry has been with the starters exclusively while Van Pran-Granger continues on with the backups.
Cushenberry was signed as a free agent in the offseason and he has 80 career starts in the NFL with the Broncos and Titans. He was also on the 2019 LSU national championship team when Brady was the passing game coordinator. It has been clear that he is in line to be backup and Van Pran-Granger, a 2024 fifth-round pick who has been in that role since then, is clearly in danger of being released and perhaps moved to the practice squad.
Ray Davis securing punt return duties would be huge
Roster spots for the Bills are hard to come by because so much of the 53-man regular season group has already been decided. However, there might be one extra spot available to someone if Ray Davis wins the competition to be the primary punt returner.
Davis is in his third season as James Cook’s backup at running back, but last year he increased his value to the team when he became the top kickoff return man. With that opportunity, Davis became an NFL All-Pro as he led the league in average per return (30.4) which included one for a touchdown in Houston.
Davis will reprise that role this year, but now he’s trying to lock down the punt return gig in a competition with, among others, bubble wide receivers Hardman and Dante Pettis.
If he wins it, the Bills could probably stick with keeping six wide receivers and open a spot at another position. DJ Moore, Joshua Palmer, Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman are locks, and if they don’t need to keep Hardman and Pettis, the Bills could keep Sherfield who is a strong blocker and core special teamer, and rookie fourth-round pick Skyler Bell.
“Ray obviously wants that role and I want to make sure if a guy wants it, let him go take it and go get it,” Brady said. “It’s something that’s important to him and you guys saw what he did with the kick return role last year and if he feels he can take advantage of that this year and can make the most of these punt return opportunities then so be it, so he’s firmly in the mix of it.”
Last week against Carolina, Hardman was deep on punts and he returned one for 12 yards. Saturday in Cleveland, Davis was back for Cleveland’s first punt but it went out of bounds so he couldn’t field it. On his second try late in the second quarter, Davis managed a 12-yard return up the middle where he made the first man miss.
In the second half, Hardman was back on punts and he ripped off a 17-yard return and he also had a 30-yard kickoff return so he’s not going to go quietly.
DeWayne Carter makes a statement
The Bills may have tipped their hand on how they feel about the 2024 third-round pick when they signed eighth-year defensive tackle Greg Gaines early in the week. With so much youth up front, the Bills decided to bring in Gaines who has 108 NFL games on his resume with the Rams and Buccaneers and has a Super Bowl ring with Los Angeles.
Carter missed part of his rookie season with an injury and then all of 2025 with a torn Achilles. With the Bills switching defenses, he put on approximately 25 pounds in order to hold up better in the middle of the line as a nose tackle behind starter Deone Walker, and he was excited because he thought the position was better suited for his skill set.
Carter hadn’t really done much in training camp or the Carolina game, but Gaines’ arrival may have stirred him because against Cleveland he was one of Buffalo’s best defenders. He was credited with three tackles including one for lost yardage and he tipped a Deshaun Watson pass on a fourth down in the fourth quarter that created a turnover on downs.
The 312-pound Gaines has played much of his career in an odd-man front defense and part of why he was still available this late was because he was biding his time until the right opportunity emerged.
"I've been waiting on the couch for a little while and I was ready to get to work," Gaines said following the joint practice Thursday. "This is a good, winning program, and I thought I fit in well with this defensive scheme."
Part of the decision to bring in Gaines is that Carter’s main competition for the backup role, Phidarian Mathis, will be suspended for the first three games due to a substance abuse policy violation.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills' other Allen makes a statement in a laugher vs. Browns
