Most rookies sign, Bobby Babich talks defense

ORCHARD PARK — One of the ongoing storylines surrounding the Buffalo Bills’ 2024 season is whether new defensive coordinator Bobby Babich will call the defensive signals rather than head coach Sean McDermott.

As the OTA sessions wrap up at One Bills Drive, there is still no clarity according to Babich himself, who on Tuesday was made available to the media for the first time since McDermott promoted him to his new position.

For now, he’s preparing for that eventuality because during practice, he communicates through the headset with the players who have the speakers in their helmets, not with McDermott. If that happens, he will be ready; otherwise, that’s good too.

“Someone walked by me the other day, someone in the building said, ‘Hey, you’re ready for this,'” Babich said. “And that’s my point of view. You’re never ready until you do it. So, to answer your question…you’re constantly trying to prepare for when you’re in this position, but until you do something, you’re never ready. So I don’t have the ego to sit here and say I’m ready for this, that and the other.

“I am vulnerable enough to say that I am as prepared as possible and that I will continue to learn every day, every step of this process. I will continue to learn. I will make mistakes in everything this job entails. I have a great mentor (McDermott) who I’ve worked with for many years, who I can lean on, and I’m really, really, really excited about this opportunity.

Leslie Frazier called the Bills’ defense from 2017-2022 and after his departure, McDermott took on that responsibility last season and admitted to enjoying it, although it was certainly taxing on game day because he had the impression of not having the same attention to detail on offense and special teams.

Best Bills players of all time:We Rank Buffalo’s Top 100

Here are some of the other topics Babich covered:

His father always gives him advice

Bob and Bobby Babich were both part of McDermott’s original staff in Buffalo since 2017, and for Bob Sr., his five years here were part of a nearly 20-year NFL career, which followed at about 20 years old at the university level. , paving the way for his son.

He retired at the end of the 2021 season and Bobby – who coached the defensive backs – was named his father’s replacement as linebackers coach.

Bob Sr. is no longer in the business, but he was in the facility recently and the former coach couldn’t help himself.

“He was at practice and we were literally driving somewhere and he pulled out a note card,” Bobby said. “He says, ‘Hey, I have three notes for you after practice.’ It’s a great support system. I think it’s pretty cool for him and my mom to see that they’ve had this journey. Now they’re watching me go through this. If I have any questions, he’s ready, but he’ll never be bossy towards me or anything like that.

Other teams were interested in his services

Babich confirmed he interviewed with two other teams — multiple reports said they were the Giants and Dolphins, but he wouldn’t comment on that. But ultimately, once McDermott delivered the promotion to Buffalo, the decision to stay put was easy.

“It’s still quite surreal,” he says. “It was obviously pretty hectic there at the end of the season before the offseason. My family and I love this place. Obviously the success, everything we’ve accomplished and the relationships that are built here in this community and in this building mean a lot to me and my family, so we are where we should be. I probably ended up where I thought it would if you asked me, and I couldn’t be happier.

DaQuan Jones was a priority free agent

As the organization developed its offseason plan, Babich was able to give his thoughts on which players he thought would best fit the defense and he didn’t hesitate to make it known that bringing back the defensive tackle would be extremely helpful .

“We all know what type of player he is, but for me it’s the consistency of leadership in that room,” Babich said. “You want consistent players, right? You don’t want guys who are riding a roller coaster and you don’t know what you’re getting each day.

“He’s the same every day, same work ethic, same attention to detail, all that kind of stuff. He provides us with leadership and he’s constantly – we talk about, you know, you either grow or you die a little bit. You never stay the same and he is constantly working towards that growth. It’s fun to watch, I love DQ.

Kaiir Elam has a new opportunity

The 2022 first-round pick has been a lightning rod as he has failed to establish himself as a starting cornerback. But this season he’s being trained by new cornerbacks coach Jahmile Addae, and in many ways it’s a fresh start for the 23-year-old.

“Clean slate for Kaiir,” Babich said. “Like all of our players, there are a lot of moments of growth, and there are moments of adversity in what you do, or in executing plans where you have to get better at certain things. And that’s everyone in our defense.

“But he works extremely hard. I think his mindset is where it needs to be. And Coach Addae does a great job with him, focusing on the little things where we know he needs to improve literally minute by minute, drill by drill. We’re not trying to go big. We try to focus on certain things.

Bills recruit most of their recruits

Second-round pick Keon Coleman was the only member of the Bills’ 2024 draft class not to sign his first four-year rookie contract on Tuesday. Still, that doesn’t seem like anything to worry about in an era where all picks are essentially distributed via the rookie salary scale and there’s very little wiggle room financially.

The Bills did not release financial details although they are available through the sports contracts site spotrac.com. The team just had $10 million in salary cap space because it designated the release of cornerback Tre’Davious White as a post-June 1 transaction. This money covered all the contracts they finalized.

Second-round pick Cole Bishop’s deal is worth $6.5 million, third-round pick DeWayne Carter is worth $5.58 million, fourth-round pick Ray Davis is worth $4.73 million dollars, fifth-round picks Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, Javon Solomon and Edefuan Ulofoshio are doing well. about $4.3 million, and sixth-rounders Daequan Hardy and Tylan Grable cost about $4.15 million. A few days earlier, seventh-round pick Travis Clayton signed a $4.14 million contract.

The Tommy Doyle experiment appears to be over

The oft-injured offensive lineman was injured Tuesday to make room for the signing of undrafted free agent linebacker Shayne Simon.

Simon began his college career at Notre Dame where he played in 32 games, and he finished it with Pittsburgh playing 25 games over the last two years. Last season, he had 48 tackles and five sacks.

Related Posts

Water begins flowing again in downtown Atlanta after an outage that began Friday – NewsNation

Third guilty plea in 2020 arson that killed members of the Diol family

Wake Forest University