Bills Begin Offseason Workouts
Nick Mendola
nick@wgr550.com
The Buffalo Bills voluntary offseason conditioning program is underway. Select players were made available to the Buffalo media during two workout sessions.
Nick Mendola will have updates throughout the sessions.
Notes from the afternoon session:
-- Head coach Chan Gailey thinks Tim Tebow will be a good NFL quarterback and was impressed by the time he spent talking football and life with the draft prospect during Tebow's visit to Buffalo. Gailey thinks Tebow's further along in the football smarts department than most quarterback prospects and that Tebow has "drastically improved" his throwing motion since the college season ended.
Gailey would not rule out trading for a quarterback or drafting one, only saying the team will have a fourth quarterback by camp. He said any team not evaluating every option out there isn't doing its job.
-- It's fitting that Bills guard Eric Wood met with the media. The 2009 first round pick is recovering from a horrendous broken leg injury, and said he's "more than 80 percent sure" he'll be ready for training camp in July. Wood admitted he feared the worst when he first suffered the injury, but is very confident. Gailey said he's impressed at how far Wood has come even in the last month.
Wood spoke candidly and honestly. He remains one of the best interviews on the team.
-- Gailey had all 12 televisions in the weight room removed from the facility. He said he wants the team to know they are at work when they walk through the doors.
-- Gailey stopped short of criticizing Marshawn Lynch for being absent from the work outs, but did say he wants everyone "on the boat." The coach admitted that there are always extenuating circumstances but stopped short of saying that's the case for Lynch.
-- Dwan Edwards admitted he's already become a go-to guy for questions on the 3-4 because of his experience on the Ravens defensive unit.
-- Fred Jackson hasn't spoken to Lynch in a while, but knows their friendly competition for game reps is back on. With a new coaching staff, Jackson is repeating the process of proving himself, though he certainly isn't nearly the underdog he's been in years past.
-- The team's two strength coaches are divided into units. One works with the skill players, while another works with the brutes. Wood said he loves this change, and said based on their success other teams will either copy the idea or laugh at them.
-- George Wilson talked in great detail about his starring role opposite Mary J. Blige in her new music video, "We Got Hood Love." Wilson was "discovered" after doing a photo shoot for Essence Magazine that appeared around the time of the Super Bowl.
Attendees:
Brian Moorman
Rian Lindell
Roscoe Parrish
Steve Johnson
Felton Huggins
Donte Whitner
Jackson
Terrence McGee
Leodis McKelvin
Drayton Florence
Wilson
Bryan Scott
Nic Harris (not participating)
Keith Ellison
Wood
Nick Hennessey
Chris Ellis
D. Edwards
Joe Klopfenstein
Jonathan Stupar
Derek Schouman
Missing, injured or absent:
Marshawn Lynch
Cornell Green
Shawn Nelson
Demetrius Bell
Notes from the morning session:
-- Four players spoke with the media: Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Kyle Williams and Aaron Maybin.
-- Eric Wood will be in the afternoon group. He was seen talking with Donte Whitner and did not have crutches or a visible limp.
-- Kyle Williams will be playing a lot of nose tackle, but has been told to learn every position on the defensive line. He isn't planning on gaining a ton of weight because he doesn't expect the Bills 3-4 to involve too much lining up directly over center. With the way linebackers shift in a 3-4, he doesn't expect his position to change all that much.
Williams also mentioned how many different 3-4s are played in the league, from New England with Vince Wilfork's massive middle to Dallas and Arizona's more mobile DTs. He expects to be around his playing weight of 304, but will gain weight if he doesn't feel he's losing quickness.
-- Aaron Maybin also expects to gain weight, but not too much. Thing is, it appears he already has. Maybin has always looked "cut," but appears to be even more chiseled. It literally looks like he has a "Rick Vaive/Kent Hull" neckbrace of muscle on his shoulders. He looks forward to the 3-4 as a chance to capitalize on his athleticism. In the offseason, he crosstrained by doing mixed martial arts and kickboxing.
-- Ryan Fitzpatrick and Trent Edwards both met with the media and each had different stances. Fitzpatrick seemed laid back and looked forward to working with new head coach Chan Gailey. The former Bengal and Ram also stressed an excitement at starting anew.
Edwards was pretty defensive, but assumed the blame heaped on him for 2009's failures. He mentioned how the media views the team multiple times and cracked a couple jokes, even name-dropping a media member as "someone who will always doubt me."
Edwards also talked about how he felt strongly about starting the year with Gailey as his head coach and main playcaller. Edwards was frustrated with the preseason changes in personnel and ideology on offense, and didn't like being told he was doing one thing right by one coach, and then the same thing wrong by another coach. He glossed over the idea of this year being a "fresh start" for him, preferring to say that it's a fresh start for the entire team.
-- Jairus Byrd and Kirk Chambers both worked out on their own. Byrd had surgery on a sports hernia at the end of his rookie season. It was an injury that limited his speed and jumping severely for most of the campaign.
-- Chan Gailey will speak with the media at the end of the second session.
Attendees at practice No. 1:
Brian Brohm
T. Edwards
Fitzpatrick
Ellis Lankster
Reggie Corner
Jairus Byrd
Corey McIntyre
Lydell Sargeant
Cary Harris
Paul Posluszny
Kawika Mitchell
Jon Corto
Maybin
Geoff Hangartner
Garrison Sanborn
Jason Watkins
Andy Levitre
Jamon Meredith
Rashaad Duncan
Kirk Chambers
Andre Ramsay
Lee Evans
Chris Kelsay
Spencer Johnson
Williams
Ryan Manalac
John McCargo
Marcus Stroud
Andrew Davis
Marlon Favorite
Christian Gaddis
