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Bills third-year receiver David Nelson was an important part of the offense last season. Contributing 61 catches and five touchdowns Nelson established himself as a reliable target for Ryan Fitzpatrick. With Roscoe Parrish no longer on the roster Nelson is the chief inside option out of the slot and is eager to take another step with his game in Buffalo’s offense.

“My first OTA as the guy manning the slot and trying to be the guy is crucial for me,” Nelson told Buffalobills.com. “It’s something I’m taking seriously and I’m really excited about it. Fitz has done a great job. We get a chance to go against a great defense every day in practice and that’s something we have to take advantage of and get better every single day.”

Nelson, who was encouraged by the success of the passing game in working the middle of the field is trying to work in tandem with tight end Scott Chandler to be a challenging pairing for opposing defenses.

“There are some things that he does really well that complements what I can do and vice versa,” said Nelson of Chandler. “He’s a very physical player and he finds holes and does a great job of getting open. I try to watch what he does and mold my game off of him and what he can do. He knows what I’m going to do before I do it, and I know what he’s going to do. It’s really something we’re working on this offseason really stretch the middle of the field and see if we can try to exploit that.”

Bradham gets 1^st team reps
Bills fourth-round pick Nigel Bradham got some quality reps with the first team defense in the team setting on Thursday and Friday. With veterans Kirk Morrison and Nick Barnett both watching practice Bradham said he worked mainly in Barnett’s place.

“Most of my time at Will (weak side) linebacker,” said Bradham. “It feels good right now just to be in space and have the ability to cover guys and use my speed to cover guys and just make plays on the ball.”

Lined up next to Kelvin Sheppard, Bradham is keeping his ears open.

“I’m being pretty vocal with the younger guys because today they’re starting to get the young guy Nigel (Bradham) in there with us,” said Sheppard. “I’m trying to talk to him because I know how it is coming in as a rookie.”

To this point Bradham feels he’s keeping pace with most of the installation on the defensive side of the ball.

“There’s definitely progress,” he said. “I’m just trying to learn more and more each day. There’s a lot to absorb at once, but you’ve just got to keep pushing and you’ll come out here and make a mistake and go in the meeting room the next day and just continue to learn and try not to make that mistake again.”

Bradham played outside linebacker for most of his career at Florida State before playing middle linebacker as a senior last year.

Among some other players that got some first team reps were Arthur Moats, Alex Carrington and Shawne Merriman in place of some non-particpating players.

Highlights
For the highlights from Friday’s action just go to the Media Center tab at Buffalobills.com.

Schedule
There are four practices scheduled for the final week of Bills OTAs, taking place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Monday’s session is set for 12:35 pm.