The Joe Brady era is officially under way as the Bills hit the field for their first training camp practice of the 2026 season. While the weather was gloomy, several players were hot as they connected with quarterback Josh Allen or made their presence known on defense.
Read about the latest news and observations from the first practice of Bills Camp.
"It's got to be a tough camp" | How Joe Brady is putting his stamp on Bills camp
The Bills ran onto a rain-soaked field for their first day of training camp, and it didn't let up much throughout the hour-and-a-half practice. That's exactly how first-year head coach Joe Brady wanted it.
"I think this is perfect. It's the first day, 8:30 a.m. practice, it's raining, that's what I want," Brady said. "It's got to be a tough camp. And you get a pulse of the team and where you want it to be … This isn't supposed to be just fun … We want to push you … We want the guys to feel some type of way, and I am excited for us to figure that out, learn, and go through it all."
Brady's vision for a tougher training camp extends beyond practicing through bad weather.
While camp remains at St. John Fisher University, Brady has already begun putting his own stamp on the experience. For starters, the Bills are beginning practice at 8:30 a.m. — earlier than in previous years.
"Being able to just maximize the full day, right?" Brady said when asked about the change. "We get a certain amount of time constraints … But I want to be able to make sure we're getting as much meeting time. I think there is a mindset and a personality of like, 'Let's wake up and let's go.'"
The earlier start time is just one example of Brady putting his stamp on camp. Buffalo will also break camp earlier than in previous years, returning to Orchard Park ahead of the Return of the Blue & Red practice on Saturday, Aug. 8.
"As a new head coach for a team, I think that's a smart decision to make things different," quarterback Josh Allen said. "This isn't the same place, and you have to make it feel differently because doing the same thing obviously didn't work, so you have to change it up and find new ways to make it work."
Building a championship culture and the Bills buying in
Even with a shorter stay at St. John Fisher, both Brady and general manager Brandon Beane believe it remains important for the team to be together and build chemistry as training camp begins.
"I like coming away to camp because there is that focus where, there are a lot of things going on outside of football. But for the guys, we're in this, we're in this all together, and we focus on the football and the connection piece," Brady said.
"I love coming up here," Beane added. "I was glad that Joe (Brady) thought the same. I just think it's hard to build a bond. This is exciting for us. We're not up here as long, but there's a good plan of not going back and forth."
That message has already resonated with players, especially Allen, who said Brady's authenticity and passion for football have earned the respect of the locker room.
"I just think he relates so well to each and every guy in the locker room," Allen said. "He loves football. He loves learning defense. He loves learning new offense. He's adaptable. He communicates well. And I think, again, that is him…He just loves football. He works extremely hard."
Beane said Brady has backed up everything he laid out during the interview process with a deliberate approach throughout the offseason.
"I thought Joe was very real in his interview, very authentic and had a plan," Beane said. "It hasn't just been hollow words. He's been methodically doing that step by step in his own unique way. He's not coming in saying things didn't work, I'm going to blow it up.
"He's saying, 'There's a lot of things that we've done well, and I want to put my own tweak on it and make it the way I think is how we can go win a championship.'"
With Brady at the helm, the Bills are focused on winning the day rather than getting caught up in lofty expectations. Brady wants everyone in the building—including himself—to earn everything that comes their way.
"We can talk about what we want to do and the expectation of our football team, but we haven't done a damn thing. You know what I mean?" Brady said. "What I don't want is, well, 'We know we have a good offense.' We don't know anything, right? We haven't earned a damn thing.
"I want to make sure that everybody understands we'll be the football team we're going to be, but it's going to be based upon the way we practice, the way that our mindset is, how we approach every single day. We can say, 'Hey, we need to go win a Super Bowl this year.' But what does this practice look like today? What is our mentality today? Because it must be just as important. Our mindset can't change once we get to the playoffs because we're not given that."
Beane echoed that mindset, emphasizing the importance of taking things one day at a time. He understands there will be bumps along the way but is looking forward to seeing it all come together under Brady.
"It won't be perfect along the way, but that's exciting to kind of watch this group come together as a whole," Beane explained. "What does this new defense look like? How does Joe balance the head coach/play caller, all that stuff? He's got a great plan. He's worked really hard this offseason. I'm excited to see how he's leading our team."
Josh Allen working with his playmakers
Josh Allen's first practice of training camp was about re-establishing chemistry with his pass catchers after the offseason break.
"Thought we had a good, productive first day. Obviously, there's always things you want to clean up. But I loved how the guys were flying around today," Allen said.
Wednesday also gave fans their first in-person look at the offense's biggest offseason addition, wide receiver DJ Moore. Moore made arguably the catch of the day during 11-on-11 drills, dragging both feet near the sideline on a 20-yard completion from Allen.
"Still learning him, just trying to get on the same page," Allen said.
Allen admitted he sometimes tries to be too precise with his ball placement when throwing to Moore but said he's learning to trust his new receiver to make a play.
"I feel myself trying to be perfect when I'm throwing to [Moore] in some of the routes on air. And today I walked up to him and said, 'I'm just going to throw it. I'm going to pick a spot and let it go. I'm not trying to aim it anymore.' And I feel like once I said that, things kind of clicked for us. And each day that goes by, we are going to get more comfortable with each other," Allen said.
Despite a limited number of team periods, tight end Dalton Kincaid turned in a productive first day working with Allen. Kincaid has not faced any limitations since recovering from a knee injury suffered last season.
"In the conditioning test yesterday, Kincaid absolutely knocked it out of the park," Brady said. "We wanted to challenge the guys with it, but he's in a great place and I'm excited for him to go through training camp."
Allen emphasized the importance the fourth-year tight end has to the offense.
"I know there's some pretty good statistics that backed up when he was on the field and the success that we had as an offense. So yeah, we want him out there. He wants to be out there, and he looks really good right now," Allen added.
"Excited about this defense" | Crafting Buffalo's new 3-4 defense
Buffalo's defense is one of the many new things the Bills will unveil for the 2026 season as they make the switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 with defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard. The Bills started repping some of their new looks during offseason training but now get much more time to meticulously put it together.
General manager Brandon Beane has done the scouting, added the players during free agency and the NFL Draft, and now gets to watch it come together.
"I'm excited to watch Jim use the different packages and putting guys in different spots," Beane said. "We talk about positionless players, and as I said, we've got some safeties that have some good experience in this league. What are some different ways he can use them as we build this roster and decide who the best 53 players are."
Switching to a 3-4 defense will give Buffalo plenty of opportunities to put "positionless" players on the field. In addition to the safeties, there's talent, youth and potential across the board. One thing Leonhard is doing with that potential is moving players around to see where they fit best.
"I think some of the things is we've got some guys in slightly new positions," Beane said. "Whether it's guys that have always had their hand down, now they're standing up a little bit. Some guys that were maybe playing more outside, sliding into a different spot or vice versa."
Beane believes it starts with the defensive line, learning Leonhard's vision for each player and seeing it come together at practices.
"I'm excited about this defense and how Ed Oliver fits," Beane said. "How the rest of these D-linemen (fit), the Deone Walkers, the T.J. Sanders, Landon Jackson. Obviously, Bradley Chubb's new here. Greg Rousseau is more stand-up. I'm excited to see how all these pieces are being used, how they fit, what is their best fit? We like versatility. We want these guys to be able to play multiple spots."
Oliver was drafted by the Bills ninth overall in 2019 and is in his eighth NFL season. He's playing under a new head coach for the first time in his NFL career but is excited for how that could transform his game.
"Ed was one of the first names that Jim Leonard brought up. I know what this guy does well," Beane explained. "I've watched the film … Ed, as a one-on-one guy, is tough. If you watch the film, he faces a decent amount of doubles … that's where you love that Jim already has that in mind early on … I think you've seen plenty of Ed that he can do it, and obviously he's still learning this defense. But I'm excited for him. And I'm excited for Jim and how he's planning to use him."
As the defense comes together, one thing that's for sure is quarterback Josh Allen and his offense are going to get plenty of different looks over the next month. Allen shared he's already loving some of the exotic looks they've seen.
"I think this is a type of defense that we are going to see throughout the year a lot," Allen said. "So to have those repetitions in terms of the coverages, the fronts, the different pressures we are going to see from our team is going to help us come season time. I'm all for making it as exotic and complicated right now and allow things to be really fast-firing early on because things will eventually slow down once you see it all. Very happy with what our defense is doing. They make it really hard for an opposing quarterback. And I'm just happy that I get to go against it."
