Buffalo Bills notes: Dorian Williams' strong debut, practice fights, Brandon Shell retires
Like so many football players, or any pro athletes for that matter, Buffalo Bills rookie linebacker Dorian Williams was thinking more about the plays he missed rather than the plays he made during last Saturday’s preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts.
Williams finished with a team-high seven tackles in Buffalo’s 23-19 victory, all of those coming in the first half, an impressive NFL debut for the third-round pick out of Tulane.
One of those tackles was a terrific read at the 1-yard line as he sliced through the Colts offensive line to stop running back Jake Funk for no gain, momentarily delaying Indianapolis’ completion of an 88-yard touchdown march.
But two plays before that, Williams was in man coverage against tight end Pharaoh Brown who was lined up in the left slot on a second-and-4 from the 12. At the snap, Brown made a little stutter step that allowed him to gain inside leverage and quarterback Gardner Minshew fired a quick pass that moved the ball to the 2.
“Just learning leverage,” Williams said. “I should have made a play on the tight end and break up that pass. You know, I’m just always trying to get better.”
When the Bills picked Williams in April, there were some eyebrows raised because at 230 pounds, he was another somewhat undersized linebacker and the Bills already have a few of those in Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard, a 2022 third-round pick.
Training camp: In battle at middle linebacker, Tyrel Dodson may have the edge over Terrell Bernard
The third round seemed like a bit of a reach, especially for a player who played at Tulane in the American Athletic Conference, not exactly a football hot spot. But some of what we saw Saturday against the Colts is what the Bills liked about Williams in college. He showed an instinct for the ball, the willingness to get physical, and the athleticism that allowed him to get to where he needed to be.
Of course the whole Tulane thing, plus the fact that he grew up in a tiny dot of a town on the border of North and South Carolina, as you might expect, helps fuel Williams’ desire to play well.
“I feel like I’ve always had that small town chip on my shoulder from Indian Land (S.C.) as well, so that’s something I’ve always liked to do - go out and compete and show people a guy from little Indian Land and from little Tulane can go out and play ball with the best of them,” Williams said. “Go out here and prove everybody wrong, or, right, you know, that’s my goal.”
NFL analyst Greg Cosell recalled looking at Williams’ tape ahead of the 2023 draft, and during an appearance on One Bills Live Monday he was asked about Williams and he gave him a glowing review.
“I really liked Dorian Williams coming out of college,” Cosell said. “He’s a bit undersized in an ideal world, weighed less than 230, but he fit the profile of that scrape and flow, run and hit ‘backer. He has good play speed, inside outside sideline to sideline range, he plays fast, and I thought he did that in this game.
“I thought he looked like how he looked in college. He’s an energy player, I would say he plays physically but he’s not necessarily strong. He’ll take on blocks in the run game but he’s not necessarily going to stack and shed.”
Williams was given a brief look at the middle linebacker spot when he first arrived in Buffalo, but the decision was made fairly early in OTA’s to have him concentrate on the outside spot manned by Milano.
“College football is a lot different. There’s a lot of different protocols and things like that,” linebacker coach Bobby Babich said, referring in part to things like going to class, and a limit on the hours an athlete can practice and train. “So a lot of times what you find is that game is a little bit more simple.
“So, what Dorian’s biggest hurdle has been is the complexities and the details that we ask and we ask at a high level. He’s made tremendous strides and what I talked about in the spring was obviously his physical tools are there. It’s how can we get him to play the fastest he can possibly play to affect the game in a positive way for the Bills.”
Williams will likely remain on the outside as Milano’s backup and then contribute on special teams, but down the road, it’s possible he could develop into the signal caller in the middle of the defense.
“I feel like being ultra physical is my biggest thing, playing with my hands and using the shoulder pads is the biggest thing for me,” he said. “I’ll play wherever they see fit; I’m ready to do it no matter whether it’s special teams, inside, outside, DB, whatever it is, I just want to play football.”
Big skirmish breaks out at practice
▶ Tuesday’s practice, perhaps the most spirited of training camp, was interrupted by some pretty notable hostilities, enough that coach Sean McDermott stopped the session at one point to warn the players to knock it off.
Offensive tackle Spencer Brown, who has been chippy on several occasions, got into it with linebacker Tyrel Dodson, and Josh Allen got involved yelling at Dodson. And Stefon Diggs traded some back and forth with safety Siran Neal. Diggs also drilled cornerback Taron Johnson with a big block which you don’t usually see in practice. Johnson was not happy and the two jawed at each other.
▶ Offensive tackle Brandon Shell, who was signed as a free agent in the offseason, has reportedly told the team he plans to retire. The 31-year-old made 72 career starts for the Jets, Seahawks and Broncos and was thought to be someone who would give the Bills some viable experience as the swing tackle.
Now, it appears that job will go to Tommy Doyle, David Quessenberry or perhaps Ryan Van Demark who saw some early action against the Colts, actually ahead of Quessenberry.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during training camp, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills news: Fights break out at practice, Dorian Williams impressive
