Buffalo’s rookies along with first and second-year players got things going on the practice field Friday morning on the team’s grass field. The players had to dodge some raindrops later on during the morning session, but were able to finish the hour-plus workout before the field got too slick.
“It’s always good to get on the field,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “You can only talk football so much. You need to be on the grass or on the field and be able to go see who can do what on the field.”
Lineups
On the whole there weren’t many lineup surprises. Second-round pick Torell Troup lined up at nose tackle with the first group here at this minicamp with third-round pick
Sixth-round pick
Safety was where there was a noticeable change as
On the offensive side of the ball the receiver rotation had
On the offensive line
The second group had fifth-round pick
At quarterback
“It’s fun to be back out there on the field and just getting back into football, playing against a defense, seeing how the offense would unfold,” said Brohm. “We’ve been doing a lot of work in the classroom with coach Gailey and coach Cortez and to finally get out here and see it all in action was a lot of fun.”
In the offensive backfield top pick
Performers
UB product Naaman Roosevelt had a good morning practice and made a nice over the shoulder catch on a well thrown pass from Brohm during individual position drills as he beat tight coverage down the near sideline.
Roosevelt made a handful of other receptions during the course of the practice during 7-on-7.
Fellow receiver Donald Jones dove to make a good grab in the flat.
Marcus Easley ran down a nice looking deep ball from fellow rookie Levi Brown.
C.J. Spiller looked quick on handoffs making sharp cuts and dodging traffic.
“It was great,” said Spiller of his first day of action.“I was just really anxious to get back going. I haven’t played since the end of December. I was really excited to started back up and be out there with the guys running around and learning the playbook.”
At quarterback Brohm was accurate for the most part and threw mostly short to intermediate range passes. Brown tried to stretch the field more and throws a nice looking long ball. His arm looked lively in the first practice session.
On the defensive side of the ball
Rashaad Duncan had a batted pass.
McKelvin the afternoon headliner
Cornerback Leodis McKelvin was more exuberant than perhaps he’s ever been on the practice field Friday. In the morning session he was talking trash and making plays on the ball in the form of pass breakups. In the afternoon practice those PBUs turned into interceptions.
McKelvin had two off Brian Brohm. The first was a short pass near the middle of the field, but McKelvin reached around and underneath Marcus Easley to come up with the INT. Later in practice McKelvin made his second interception as the timing appeared off between Brohm and Felton Huggins on a pass play down the near sideline.
“It was very nice to get a couple of picks,” said McKelvin. “I was telling Levi (Brown) I was going to get one from him, but he never was out there when I was playing corner. So I got them off Brohm, but it was pretty good to get my hands on a lot of balls.”
McKelvin and Brown are both alums of Troy University.
Other plays turned in on defense were made by LB
LB
Speaking of Nelson he had a quality reception reaching high on his way to the sideline early in 7-on-7.
College free agent WR David Nelson had a nice catch over the middle on a well-timed play with Brohm.
And Easley snared a short pass from Brown.
The Bills have a pair of practice sessions Saturday with the first scheduled for 10:55 am and the second for 3:45 pm. Stay close to Buffalobills.com for full coverage of both workouts including exclusive highlights in our media lounge in Bills Roundup at the end of the day.