Bills minicamp observations: Christian Benford dazzles, Joe Andreessen shows improvement, and more

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With two full weeks of Organized Team Activities complete, the Bills shook off the rust to prepare them for their final big rehearsal before training camp begins in late July. Tuesday marked the beginning of the Bills’ annual mandatory minicamp, a scheduled three-day practice window before the team adjourns for over a month before training camp.

Freshly back from marrying actress Hailee Steinfeld in late May, franchise quarterback Josh Allen returned to the team for the beginning of the minicamp after missing the final week of OTAs for obvious reasons. Allen, sporting his new wedding ring for the first time during a practice, was tight-lipped about most wedding-related things but was excited to return to work.

“We’re back to football, got some hardware now,” Allen stated, raising his left hand briefly to show the ring. “So, good to go.”

Allen and his 90 teammates — including running back James Cook — were all in attendance for the first day of the mandatory session. What stood out about the team’s first required practice of the 2025 campaign?

Here are several observations from Day 1 of Bills minicamp.

Christian Benford shines

One of the biggest investments the Bills made in the offseason was in cornerback Christian Benford, signing him to a long-term extension that runs through the 2029 season and committing to him as their clear-as-day top cornerback through the next several seasons. Although it’s a spring workout, and you can’t read too much into things this time of the year, Benford’s poise and confidence, in both reading the play in front of him and in his still-improving ability to turn and run with a receiver, were completely apparent.

On the first rep of team drills, Benford kicked things off with a sprawling interception of Allen, which elicited a humongous reaction from his defensive teammates and set the tone for a practice that was, for the most part, dictated by the defense against the Allen-led offensive attack.

Benford followed up that strong start with another big playmaking rep, as he turned and ran with receiver Tyrell Shavers. With Benford’s back turned to Allen, he watched as Shavers waited until the last second to put his hands up and try to corral the pass along the sideline. The instant that Benford saw Shavers’ arms go up, Benford reacted and punched the ball out of the receiver’s hands before Shavers could try to tuck the ball into his body.

Those two reps indicate a simple fact around Orchard Park: Benford is one of the team’s best defenders and still has some room to grow to make his ceiling even higher than last year. If something was missing from his defensive profile in the previous two years of starting, it was an overall lack of interceptions. He had four over those two regular seasons, which is respectable.

However, if the already instinctive and still improving Benford can help create more turnovers in 2025 and beyond, he can easily become known as one of the top players at his position in the NFL. On top of it all, Benford doesn’t even turn 25 until September, which means once he hits his prime, the Bills have him locked in for its entirety. He could easily be one of the most important players on the team in 2025.

Joe Andreessen showing definitive signs of progress

In workout settings like the mandatory minicamp, you can always tell who put a lot of time on task during the offseason. And based on what he did with more opportunities on Tuesday, second-year player Joe Andreessen was undoubtedly one of them.

It’s really difficult to stand out in an offseason practice setting as a linebacker because so much physicality goes into playing the role. Still, Andreessen showed improvement in an area he struggled with as a rookie — pass coverage. During 7-on-7s, he read the quarterback and the route to jump it to break up a pass attempt.

Later, in 11-on-11 work, Andreessen trusted his coverage instincts to drift where the quarterback’s eyes took him, and he was able to run down a throw and break up a pass near the sidelines that the receiver would have caught had Andreessen not read the play. It’s those types of signs the Bills love to see this time of year and something that can bring on more opportunities at training camp.

After moving around a bit last year, Andreessen settled into a reserve middle linebacker role during his rookie season, and that’s likely to be his best position in the short term. Even though the starting spot is not up for discussion, with Terrel Bernard being the clear starter, the opportunity to steal the backup job from Baylon Spector is there. Given Andreessen’s importance on special teams and developing defensive skills, it’s looking increasingly like he’s closer to 53-man-roster-lock status rather than being on the bubble as he was last year.

Shaq Thompson rejoins Sean McDermott, but where does he fit?

It’s been a bit since the Bills reached into their Carolina pipeline for players who general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott worked with while they were there, but a big name from their old Panthers program joined the Bills Tuesday. Linebacker Shaq Thompson, Carolina’s first-round pick in 2015, signed a one-year deal with the Bills, making him the team’s first semi-significant acquisition at linebacker this offseason.

Thompson tore his Achilles early on during the 2024 season and has been rehabbing it since. Even with the injury, his institutional knowledge of how McDermott operated for years in Carolina will help him as he gets comfortable in Buffalo. On his first day on the job, Thompson went through some positional drills at the beginning of practice.

He has a big name and has started 112 games over his 10-year career. So what’s fair to expect of him? At this point, Thompson would likely be battling for no better than the fourth spot on the linebacker depth chart. Bernard, Matt Milano and Dorian Williams all seem relatively entrenched in their spots among the top three.

Thompson, who was primarily an outside linebacker for McDermott in Carolina, could have some crossover to also work as a middle linebacker at this stage of his career. If Thompson pushes to make the team, players like Spector, Edefuan Ulofoshio, or both, could be at risk of getting cut.

Spector has dealt with injuries throughout his Bills career, leaving the door open to someone taking his job. A lot will be determined by the guaranteed money on Thompson’s contract, along with how he looks at training camp. If Thompson doesn’t earn a roster spot, he’d also be a candidate for a veteran stash on their practice squad.

Some injured Bills players getting some slight work in

Although 91 players were in attendance on Tuesday, not all of them were able to participate in the practice fully. McDermott gave out a fairly lengthy list, which included defensive end Joey Bosa, nickel Taron Johnson, center Connor McGovern, safety Cole Bishop, defensive back Cam Lewis, safety Damar Hamlin and wide receiver K.J. Hamler.

That group also extended to running back Ty Johnson and center Alec Anderson, as the offensive lineman did not take any 11-on-11 snaps near the end of the practice. But even though most were limited throughout the session, almost all of them had varying levels of on-field work on Tuesday.

Johnson was in a non-contact jersey, but he participated in most of the day, which included 11-on-11 snaps. None of the others were able to do as much as Johnson. Still, encouragingly, some potential starting players were able to take some low-stress reps during the offensive and defensive installation portion — essentially a walkthrough.

That group included Bosa, who suffered a calf injury just days ahead of the team’s first practice for OTAs. His appearance is a good sign for his involvement when camp arrives in late July.

McGovern, Bishop, Spector and Hamlin also took some installation reps despite not taking any team drill snaps. It all shows that those injuries are relatively minor, which could make them all ready for the start of training camp.

A tough day for Tyrell Shavers

This time last year, the Bills’ receiver room was wide open to a potential younger player pushing for a spot on the 53-man roster, and Shavers showed a great deal of promise. He followed it up with a good training camp and was likely one of the last cuts the Bills had to make for their 53-man roster in 2024. But they kept him in-house all season on the practice squad.

To begin this year’s minicamp, Shavers struggled with the rudimentary part of the job — catching the ball. He let one get away without a defender on him in routes vs. air, and in one of the first team drill reps, he dropped another short pass. That, along with getting the ball raked out of his hands by Benford during team drills, contributed to a frustrating day for Shavers.

The receiver is likely facing an uphill climb to make the team in 2025 despite being a solid special teams player, and days like this hurt his chances, but there is a lot of time between now and cutdown day in late August. Regardless, he remains a potential practice squad asset for yet another season in Buffalo.

Jake Camarda has a strong day as the #Puntapalooza heats up

If there’s one thing that punters will need to be prepared for while playing in Buffalo, it’s the whipping winds of Orchard Park throughout the fall and winter months. However, the two competitors in this year’s punting competition — Brad Robbins and Jake Camarda — had unusually high winds in June to deal with during the beginning of practice. Robbins was given six punting attempts to Camarda’s three, which is an interesting nod toward Robbins. But it’s important to note that the Bills structured Robbins’ first three reps and all of Camarda’s reps to have the same situation.

Camarda was the clear winner through the winds in that specialized situation, besting both the hang time and average yardage categories. Camarda’s attempts had an average hang time of 4.06 to Robbins’ 4.01, and Camarda averaged 64 yards per punt to Robbins’ 54.7.

Robbins did improve in a different situation further down the field for his final three chances, averaging 4.2 seconds of hang time and 58.3 yards per punt, but Camarda was clearly the winner. Robbins had been the better punter in the two days of OTAs that the media was allowed to watch, so Camarda’s win will likely make this into a full-blown close competition to track at training camp.

Up Next: Day 2 of Bills minicamp begins at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

(Photo of Christian Benford: Mark Konezny / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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