Sean McDermott wants the Bills to play ‘nasty, physical football’ as pads pop at training camp

The first padded practice of the 2025 season so some nice clean hits, just what head coach Sean McDermott wants.

Before Monday’s practice, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott met the media. While he was talking, the players walked out behind him in full pads and became an immediate talking point.

“I want to see nasty, physical football, but I don’t want to see disrespect for a man’s career and dirty football,” McDermott said. “That’s not how we play in Buffalo. So, we painted a pretty clear picture this morning of what that looks like for the new players in particular. So that nastiness has to be developed here, but it can’t be at the expense of someone’s career. So clean, but physical.”

That particular message comes one day after lineman Alec Anderson was sent to the locker room early for punching a teammate — and this was in a non-padded practice.

McDermott addressed the discipline in a follow-up comment.

“Fights are going to happen. When you cheap shot someone, I have no respect for that. I thought that was a cheap shot, so I sent him to the locker room. And I communicated clearly to him from a following up standpoint of why I did that. I believe in Alec, I love him. He’s one of our tone-setters, which I love. But there is a line there, especially against your own teammates,” McDermott said.

After practice, cornerback Taron Johnson met with reporters and said it felt good to be back in pads likening the spring work to flag football. He also said the competition and the competitiveness is good for the team, echoing his head coach.

“Get as close to the line as possible. I feel like iron sharpens iron. If you’ve got both guys competing at a very high level, there’s no place but to get better in it,” said Johnson. “That’s the identity you want in the defense. You want guys that are there to toe the line. You don’t want to get disrespectful but if you got guys that are close to that point, it helps. It’s a mindset to be physical.”

With temperatures near 90 by the end of practice and the first pad pops of the season, the heat really dialed up. Buffalo spent a large portion of practice doing run game install on both sides of the ball, which meant physicality at the point of attack.

Cornerback Christian Benford and receiver KJ Hamler had some very spirited post-rep conversations after 1-on-1 matchups, calling each other out and coming facemask to faskmask a few times.

Later, linebacker Matt Milano took Hamler to the ground in a fun rep for the defense.

After practice, cornerback Taron Johnson met with reporters and said it felt good to be back in pads likening the spring work to flag football.

The Bills may want to dial back the physicality in the short term as they deal with a bunch of injuries.

Buffalo has an intra-squad scrimmage on Friday night and their first preseason game isn’t until August 9th.