Apart from team health, what does “success” look like in the coming weeks?
The Hall of Fame Game is upon us, and while the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions may be kicking off the 2025 NFL preseason schedule, the Buffalo Bills will be following soon after on August 9 at 1 p.m. EDT. This year, Buffalo only plays one home preseason game — coming against the New York Giants to open the final season at Highmark Stadium before moving to their new digs in 2026.
Outlining what an optimal preseason for the Bills would look like, the most obvious answer is “no injuries.” This priority becomes even more salient when the most recent practices come into the conversation, where they’ve seen player after player miss practice or leave the session earlier with some ailment. But apart from avoiding a continuation of that trend, what else makes the preseason successful for the team?
Here are a few considerations…
Keon Coleman locks down an outside WR role
Football fans want their team’s highly drafted players to be key contributors at some point early in their rookie contract. After a good start to his rookie season, wide receiver Keon Coleman suffered a wrist injury in Week 9 on a hit from then-Miami Dolphins and former Bills safety Jordan Poyer. Coleman had amassed 22 catches, 417 receiving yards, and three touchdowns up to that point, but puttered his way to seven more catches the rest of the regular season after missing multiple games.
Fast-forward to this spring, when Buffalo invested in the wide receiver position early during free agency, signing Joshua Palmer to a three year, $29 million contract. A Bills overabundance of better-in-the-slot receivers was a common talking point last year, and Palmer immediately steps in as an outside receiver for the team.
With Khalil Shakir racking up 100 targets in 2024, Coleman has a spot open for him to seize as the second outside receiver in 11 personnel sets and potentially the second wide receiver in 12 personnel.
Seeing whether Coleman is consistently running with the starters only in 11 and 12 personnel groupings will be a key in projecting Coleman’s role for the Bills early in the regular season. If he’s on the field consistently with quarterbacks named Mike White and Mitchell Trubisky, it may point more to an early season timeshare for Coleman coming into his second season.
Either Maxwell Hairston is ready or Tre’Davious White is back
Some rookies step off the bus as starters. The first draft pick of Sean McDermott’s tenure as Bills head coach was one such rookie. In 2017, Tre’Davious White stepped in as the 27th overall pick out of LSU and became a starter for the team right away.
Maxwell Hairston has had an up-and-down first training camp with the team while White (returning to Buffalo after a brief absence) is getting positive reviews after suffering through multiple lower body injuries in the last few years.
Hairston represents the future for the Bills. Right now the future is key, after learning that Hairston suffered an apparent LCL sprain that will sideline him for at least a few weeks. Despite that, the best-case scenario for the Bills is that Hairston is ready to contribute right away as a starter when he’s healthy, or that White has mostly returned to form and can hold down the CB2 spot opposite newly extended star cornerback Christian Benford.
Cole Bishop becomes a starting safety
Not wanting to repeat everything said above about young players and meaningful contributions early in their career, safety Cole Bishop is even more of a second-year projection than Keon Coleman, having played only 358 snaps on defense and starting four games. Even with 2024 starter Damar Hamlin returning to the team in free agency, reports out of camp have had Bishop taking the bulk of the snaps with the first team defense.
The Bills got adequate safety play out of Hamlin in 2024, and Bishop ascending past him in 2025 is good news for the ceiling at that position. As always, when and with whom the former Utah Ute Bishop plays in the preseason will help us know what his trajectory looks like towards being a starter in his second season.
Deone Walker looks healthy
This isn’t about preventing future injuries, so it counts. Rookie defensive tackle Deone Walker’s back injury suffered in college at Kentucky was an immediate topic of conversation after the Bills drafted him in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
General manager Brandon Beane noted immediately after the draft that the team didn’t intend to rush things with the massive 6’7”, 345 pound defensive tackle. Walker isn’t projected as a starting player for the team, but he could have the opportunity to log meaningful snaps as a rotational player this preseason.
Sometimes, a player getting fewer snaps is a good thing, meaning the team likely has them high on the depth chart and doesn’t need to see as much of them. In Walker’s case, playing more snaps may indicate positive trajectory as the team might feel his back is healthy and he’s ready to begin his development.
…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!