Rookie Minicamp Day Two Notes

[The Spaz]

Day two of minicamp played out in much the same fashion as day one in terms of drill work and fundamentals. It began with special teams again with coordinator Bobby April running the majority of the roster through punt protection sets in a walk-through format.

A lot of the rookies have proven to be very willing during the special teams segments knowing how seriously the Bills franchise takes that third of the game. Seventh-round pick Kennard Cox is already buying into the importance of special teams.

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=6060

[jmb1099]

tight end Derek Fine made the catch of the day. The fourth-round pick snared a pass behind his body with one hand and pulled it while running across the middle.

hmmm

[ddaryl]

tight end Derek Fine made the catch of the day. The fourth-round pick snared a pass behind his body with one hand and pulled it while running across the middle.

hmmm

his pre-draft profiles pretty much says he has soft hands.. he just isn't going to stretch the field from the TE position...

[YardRat]

We can stretch the field with our receivers now, hopefully. If this kid can be a reliable target over the middle, in the soft bellies of the zones, it's going to be huge.

[PECKERWOOD]

We can stretch the field with our receivers now, hopefully. If this kid can be a reliable target over the middle, in the soft bellies of the zones, it's going to be huge.

I agree, hell if the guy can even catch the football he will be an upgrade over anything we got at TE.

[LABillsFan]

We can stretch the field with our receivers now, hopefully. If this kid can be a reliable target over the middle, in the soft bellies of the zones, it's going to be huge.

I agree, a TE like Gonzalez is a luxury, but by no means a necessity. Reliable and consistant is what I think the Bills are looking for, plus blocking down field, let's see how he does when its a full camp. Hopefully he can contribute.

[Romes]

It be nice to have a TE that can remember to keep both feet inbounds :mad:

[Jan Reimers]

I hope Huggins and Hewitt have really good excuses for not being there, like they've died or are very close.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Derek Fine is going to be pretty much what Michael Gaines was for the Bills last season: a short area target for Trent Edwards to drop the ball off to.

I saw a couple of Fine's games at Kansas the last two years and that is exactly the role that he played in their offense.

Fine is not the kind of guy who will stand out--he's not Antonio Gates or Jason Whitten, who can rip through the heart of a defense. But, he's a guy who will get open and make the catch when the QB is feeling the rush or gets flushed from the pocket. They didn't throw him the ball much, but I do remember him converting a couple of key first downs against top teams.

My concern about Fine on the NFL level is that he isn't the biggest guy out there and I wonder if he has enough size to hold up as an in-line blocker. As I recall, he isn't a great blocker--because he needs to work on his technique--but he is a willing blocker--a guy who will throw his body in there, even if doing so means that he is going to take a beating. That tells me that he can get better as a blocker as he works on his technique, but, on the NFL level, technique can only take you so far when the guys you are going up against are as big and as athletic as defensive players are on the NFL level.

Still, I can see Derek Fine developing into at least a reasonable replacement for Michael Gaines (who was not considered much of a blocker despite his size--the reason that Carolina let him go) with better hands in the short area.

He's never going to be Vernon Davis or Kellen Winslow, because he's not that kind of athlete--but he can be a Bo Scaife, Erron Kinney type of short range TE if he improves his blocking techniques.

[Oaf]

It be nice to have a TE that can remember to keep both feet inbounds :mad:
Oh. my. :mad:

[Night Train]

Steve Johnson probably made two of the more difficult grabs pulling one in around his ankles while in stride. Johnson was again praised for running routes sharply at times, which is a good sign for a player still young at the position.

:bf1:

[coastal]

I have this feeling that Steve Johnson is going to be one of the biggest steals of this draft.

[TedMock]

I love the Steve Johnson pick and I really hope he proves to be a steal. As for Fine, I don't care if he stretches the field. I care that he's reliable for 7 yards when we need 6 on 2nd or 3rd down.

[Mitchy moo]

Everything is going to be just fine.

[HHURRICANE]

I think Fine was a stupid pick. We could have kept Gaines and drafted another positon, like another WR.

As LTBF just said he's not going to be great. We had that with Gaines.

[HHURRICANE]

A lot of the rookies have proven to be very willing during the special teams segments knowing how seriously the Bills franchise takes that third of the game.

Well considering almost our entire draft was special teams we really only needed Bobby April out there.

Considering 80% of the game is played on O and D I'm not very impressed with an organization that devotes a third of it's roster to it.

[FlyingDutchman]

Well considering almost our entire draft was special teams we really only needed Bobby April out there.

Considering 80% of the game is played on O and D I'm not very impressed with an organization that devotes a third of it's roster to it.

ST is huge. If you ignore it, it will come back to bite you. We lost so many quality players on ST, what were we supposed to do? As far as devoting 1/3 or the roster to it, what team doesnt? These guys are used as depth at other positions as well....

[Night Train]

Well considering almost our entire draft was special teams we really only needed Bobby April out there.

Considering 80% of the game is played on O and D I'm not very impressed with an organization that devotes a third of it's roster to it.

Only a "road scholar" would post this tripe.

[venis2k1]

The bills were 30th in offense and 31st in defense last year. Yet they remained in the playoff hunt in the tough afc into december... Maybe ST had a little something to do with that.

[Philagape]

The bills were 30th in offense and 31st in defense last year. Yet they remained in the playoff hunt in the tough afc into december... Maybe ST had a little something to do with that.

The main reason for that is red zone defense, where Buffalo was fourth in the league. Buffalo's D was 31st in yards but 15th in points allowed.

[justasportsfan]

Well considering almost our entire draft was special teams we really only needed Bobby April out there.

Considering 80% of the game is played on O and D I'm not very impressed with an organization that devotes a third of it's roster to it.


Uh- We lost our sb because of ST. :rolleyes:

The cowboys lost their playoff game in 06 because of ST.

The Pats won sb's because of ST.

IN other words, you can win or lose a sb because of ST.

It's a game of inches . Seriously HH, you come up with the weirdest posts sometimes.

[Romes]

Uh- We lost our sb because of ST. :rolleyes:

The cowboys lost their playoff game in 06 because of ST.

The Pats won sb's because of ST.

IN other words, you can win or lose a sb because of ST.

It's game of inches . Seriously HH, you come up with the weirdest posts sometimes.

As a Bills fan you can never deny the importance of ST...beside the Super Bowl...there was this game in Tennessee a few years back...