Cole Bishop feeling good about first NFL minicamp
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (ABC4 Sports) – Former Utes safety Cole Bishop was ecstatic to be back on a football field again.
“Good to be out here knocking off a little bit of rust,” Bishop said after the Buffalo Bills rookie minicamp this past weekend. “Obviously it’s been a long time since a lot of us played football, but getting back out there with the guys has been awesome.”
Bishop was the first local college player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft after being picked in the second round by the Bills with the 60th overall pick.
Cole Bishop drafted in second round by Buffalo
Bishop joined former Utes teammate, and the appropriately named Keaton Bills at Buffalo rookie minicamp. He’ll soon play with another Utes teammate, tight end Dalton Kincaid, who was drafted in the first round by Buffalo last year. But the focus right now is learning a new system.
“Our spring camp in college was obviously more padded, and it’s like a month long,” Bishop said. “So it’s a little bit different. This is obviously getting in a new system. I’ve been in the same system at Utah for three years. So switching to this, I’m obviously trying to get off that learning curve, but it’s good. I’m kind of starting from scratch, but just getting smarter in the game of football.”
Bishop was one of the top playmakers in the country at Utah. Over his three-year career, Bishop had 197 tackles, 21 for lost yardage, 7.5 sacks, three interceptions and 14 pass breakups in 35 career games.
He could step in as a starter right away as the Bills lost their top two safeties from a year ago, Pro-Bowl players Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, to free agency.
“Every play you’re trying to learn, you’re watching on film,” Bishop said. [Poyer and Hyde] are great players. Obviously, they did a ton of good things here for a really long time, so I’m excited to watch them. Once I have a little bit more of the playbook down, to be able to actually study these guys and their techniques, how they did things and how they move.”
Bishop continues Utes secondary pipeline to the NFL
Obviously training camp this July will be tougher, but Bishop says just to get his feet wet at this level is beneficial.
“It’s not a super intense practice or anything,” Bishop said. “But this is different than the stuff you’ve been training for the past few months. So doing that and then just learning the playbook. It’s been pretty base stuff this weekend, so I’m just trying to get it sharp so it’s pretty much second nature.”
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