ORCHARD PARK – First-round draft pick Dalton Kincaid put on his Buffalo Bills practice jersey for the first time Friday afternoon and, well, he ran routes and caught some passes which is what you’d expect from a tight end.
The difference between the Bills’ rookie minicamp which wraps Saturday, and the OTAs which will start May 22, is that Kincaid was catching those passes not from Josh Allen, but from two guys named Quinten Dormandy and Jalen McLendon whose Bills careers will most likely be over sometime later this weekend.
“I think it’s really important in terms of learning the plays and getting your feet under yourself,” Kincaid said following his first Bills workout. “Being a rookie is not going to be easy in terms of getting out there and hitting the ground running. This gives you some preparation for that.”
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He’s right about that. Rookie minicamp does two things: It gives the 2023 draft picks and undrafted rookie free agents their first taste of the Bills’ playbook, and it’s an avenue for other players whom the Bills have invited there a chance to try out and perhaps do something, anything , that would warrant an invitation to stick around.
“The main thing is to teach them some things and see what they can learn, process, all that stuff, especially some of the tryout guys we have serious interest in,” general manager Brandon Beane said.
Beane pointed out that last year the team signed two minicamp invitees – cornerback JaMarcus Ingram and defensive lineman Kingsley Jonathan – after the two minicamp workouts and both players were on the team most of 2022, primarily on the practice squad.
“We’re definitely evaluating some of these other guys and part of that is how they are mentally fitting,” Beane said. “Is this gonna be a big adjustment, or are they picking it up pretty quickly?”
Beane and coach Sean McDermott won’t have to worry about Kincaid. He’ll be on the team, and if all goes well he might even be in the starting lineup as the slot receiver when the Bills open the season Sept. 11 against the Jets.
“I thought he did a good job,” Beane said when asked for a general impression. “It’s been a while for him because he had the back deal which eliminated a lot of his spring work, but I thought he did a good job, caught the ball, moved well. Like anything, there’s some things that are rusty and it’s the first time he’s applying things he’s been taught just in a couple of days here. He’ll be a sponge and it’ll look easier and easier for him once he gets in with the vets starting next week.”
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Beane pointed out that some of the rust was due to the fact that Kincaid hasn’t done this for a while because the back injury he dealt with at the end of 2022 limited his offseason workouts.
“It’s really just stacking good days, not just having one good day but multiple days,” Kincaid said. “And getting the playbook down. Just playing football again. You can’t really practice football – how a normal practice is – you can’t really work that out when you’re training.”
Here are a couple other topics that came up following practice with Beane:
Poona Ford was a nice under-the-radar signing
The former Seahawk defensive tackle, who played five years in Seattle, drew some interest on the free agent market, but things worked out very nicely for Buffalo in that he was still available after May 1, meaning his signing did not impact the compensatory draft pick formula for 2024.
“We couldn’t get them to agree to my deal that we were working with some others on,” Beane said of the negotiations with Ford’s agent. “And so we just stayed in contact and once we didn’t get (a defensive tackle) from the draft, we stayed connected and said, ‘Alright, let’s talk next week.’
“I know he had some interest and according to the agent, I believe he turned down a little bit more money to come here (his Bills deal is one year, $2.25 million). Ultimately he’s a pro, he’s started a lot of games. He’s a really good run player, I think he can help in the rush; at a minimum he’s pushing that pocket to keep that quarterback from stepping up.”
Former first-round pick Shane Ray was trying out
Outside of the Bills’ six draft picks, the most interesting player on the field was Ray, an edge rusher who in 2015 was the No. 23 overall pick in the draft by the Broncos.
Ray, who turns 30 next week, never came close to living up to that billing and he was out of the NFL after four uninspiring seasons in Denver. He was in 2019 training camp with the Ravens but was cut, then wound up playing two years for the Toronto Argos in the CFL.
“We’re always looking at guys and sometimes there’s guys, in his case, that you just bring out, you work out a player, whatever,” Beane said. “We were excited to get the kid Kameron Kline last week that we claimed from Indy. We at some point may look to add a D-end between now and the start of camp, and so instead of doing a workout, here’s a guy out there, let’s bring him in for a couple of days, test his knowledge, test the skill set, see where he’s at. We call it kicking the tires.”
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Beane pleased about a late bye week
The Bills could have asked the NFL to give them a bye week after the game in London, but they didn’t want to do that because it’s too early in the season. What they did ask is for a home game after, and the league did them one better – it gave Buffalo a home game before against Miami in Week 4, and another in Week 6 against the Giants.
“If the London game was midseason or later we probably would have taken it there, but being Week 5, we decided, hey, if you can give us a home game on one side of it, which we got home on both, we would rather do that and get that break later in the season,” Beane explained.
Beane said besides the bye, the first thing he looked at when he saw the schedule was who the Week 1 opponent was, and when the AFC East games were, particularly the road game at Miami. “I looked to see when we played the Dolphins this year to see if we had to go in the scorching heat or not,” Beane said with a smile. “And I was excited to see that was a little bit later in the year.”
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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills rookie minicamp: Dalton Kincaid makes debut on field for Buffalo