**Closing strong

**At mandatory minicamp came to a close for the Bills on Thursday, the players were encouraged by the progress that was made on the field through the course of the spring. One player who finished strong was Leonard Hankerson. The receiver, who was slowed by a hamstring injury at the start of OTAs, returned and made a handful of plays to cap a solid spring for him.

"We're all just coming out here to work hard," said Hankerson. "These past 10 weeks have been fun. We enjoyed them. We took pride in coming out here and getting the job done."

Hankerson only spent a brief amount of time with the club late last season before re-signing this offseason. But seeing everyone on the field so eager to compete he believes that collective approach will help push the team's level of consistency forward.

"I think it's everybody getting their head right to compete with each other," said Hankerson. "It's been a long offseason so what are you going to do? Come out here and BS around? You can't do that so you've got to come out and make plays and get on the same page and strive to greatness."

Hankerson was in sync with Tyrod Taylor during 11-on-11 work Thursday as Taylor found him a couple of times on comeback routes to the sideline. Hankerson also had a key first down reception during a two minute drill.

RELATED: Bills minicamp notes - Day 2

Rex: we won the offseasonBills head coach Rex Ryan felt there was good commitment from the players last offseason, but comparing spring preparations from the 2015 season to the work put in this spring the difference is night and day as Ryan sees it.

"I think the weight room where we get points for how you perform, it wasn't even close from last year to this year," Ryan said. "I thought we had a good offseason last year, but not like this. We competed so well against each other like with the challenges that we have. I just feel great about it. I look at where this team is now compared to this time last year and I said it was a zillion miles. It's so much further along than they were. Individually you can see it. This guy is getting better. It goes without saying you've got a year under your belt and you should be better, but wow it looks good to me."

So good that Ryan thinks the 31 other NFL clubs would be hard pressed to have accomplished as much or prepared as effectively as Buffalo has for training camp.

"We've won the offseason. I will challenge any team. I think we won the offrseason, but we need to win July," he said. "That's when everybody is off on their own, so they have to do the things to be in great shape when we get to camp so we can avoid some of the injuries we had last year. The soft tissue injuries and let's take off and see what can happen with this team. "I've been blown away by this group. I really have.

"This time of year I usually can't wait to go on vacation, but I can't wait to get the season started. Forget the vacation. I wish it was shorter and I mean it. I'm excited about this team."

Reserves playing rolesWith a number of veteran players sitting out or excused on Thursday some of the players who have not gotten as many reps as some of the projected starters saw a lot of time on the field Thursday.

Chief among them on defense were veteran OLB Lorenzo Alexander, DT Corbin Bryant, DL Jerel Worthy and OLB IK Enemkpali. The Duke Williams and Jonathan Meeks safety tandem moved up a unit to work with the starters. Meanwhile on offense Cyrus Kouandjio continued to man the left tackle spot in place of Cordy Glenn and rookie Jonathan Williams and Mike Gillislee handled carries out of the backfield for the first unit.  

Minor nicks not a worry for training campWhile there were a handful of players who sat out the final day of minicamp with minor injuries there no cause for concern with respect to availability for training camp. Marcell Dareus (thumb) and Aaron Williams (hamstring) did not participate on Thursday.

LeSean McCoy was again limited to individual position drill work due to his ankle. Cordy Glenn (undisclosed) missed the entire week of minicamp, but Buffalo's head coach expects all of them to be ready to roll come late July.

Lottery winnerswere two lucky absentees on Thursday. Corey Graham and offensive coordinator Greg Roman had their names drawn from a hat at the close of Wednesday's practice and got the final day of minicamp off.