Here's the Bills news of note for May 30th.
**1 - Early signs positive on Dareus
**He's had some bumps in the road in his career with the Bills, but under new head coach Sean McDermott, the structure and accountability seems to benefit Dareus as he works to recapture his Pro Bowl level play.
"I've been with other teams and I've had a chance to watch him at tape and sometimes I'd look at some of the plays he would make and I thought, 'Wow, this guy is pretty hard to block,'" said Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. "I could see how offenses were having a tough time with him. We want to get him to be that consistently great player that he's capable of being. That's the challenge for us."
Thus far Dareus has taken part in just about every offseason activity and followed much of the club's offseason program to the letter.
"The time that Marcell is putting in, you know, I couldn't be happier at this point in time," he said. "I really believe that. He's bought in to what we're doing and what Coach Waufle is doing on the defensive front. You know, that said, we have to continue to respect the process, and when you're a pro that's ongoing. You do it every day on a consistent basis over the course of time. So, that's true of our entire team, myself included, so consistency is the key at this point."
"Everything we've seen up to this point in the time that we've been on the field and what we've done in the meetings he's all in," said Frazier. "That's good for our defense and our team. If we can just maintain this and keep pushing and keep growing together he has a chance to be what we think he's capable of being. That's one of the most dominant interior defensive linemen in the National Football League."
**2 - Wood close to full strength and stamina
**Bills center Eric Wood has been at OTA practices as expected the past two weeks. He's still working back to full strength and stamina after he missed the last seven games in 2016 with a broken leg, but he's participating fully.
"Coming back slowly but surely," he said. "Out here getting comfortable after taking a little time off. I'm healed so there's not a lot of risk in playing. I just have to get back to my self-expected level of play. But it's coming along and I'm almost all the way back."
Wood said he's not going with a full rep count every single day, but when he is practicing he is taking part in every aspect of the practice session.
3 - Covering all the basesEach practice for the Bills has a situational period or two where head coach Sean McDermott presents the offense, defense or special teams unit with a game situation that could come up on a Sunday. It could be something commonly seen or very rare. Suffice to say that McDermott wants to spring as many possible scenarios on his players as he can.
"It helps not just the quarterbacks, but the team to be prepared for every situation that comes up," said Cardale Jones of the situational periods in practice. "We had a situation this week where guys fumble the ball in the back of the end zone by celebrating too early. He puts us in every situation he can think of that occurred just one time in the last 20 years. He says, 'You never know. This may happen.' Just making sure we're prepared."
"We believe in not beating ourselves," said McDermott. "I know that the margin of winning in the NFL is so small that you can't beat yourself, and that speaks to pre-snap penalties, post-snap penalties, discipline, accountability – all those things. We spend a lot of time emphasizing that through different avenues when we teach."
