LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Mitch Trubisky was all smiles on Friday when he returned to Halas Hall, where he spent the first four seasons of his NFL career before leaving to join the Buffalo Bills — the first time — in 2021.
Trubisky said the memories came flooding back to him when the Bills’ team bus pulled onto the campus in the suburb north of Chicago, and he also enjoyed touching base with a few of the Bears from that time who are still here.
“Nice catching up with some old friends and it was good to be back,” he said. “I thought we had a good day and it was very productive.”
Trubisky is locked in a battle with Mike White to be Josh Allen’s primary backup, and while neither he nor White stood out against the Bears, at first glance it seemed like Trubisky had the better day.
Who will start at QB for the Bills Sunday night?
Sean McDermott would not divulge who will get the start Sunday night when the teams meet in preseason game No. 2 at Soldier Field. If it’s a true competition, one should expect White to get the nod and play with the first-string for perhaps a quarter. If Trubisky starts, that would be a clear indication that Trubisky has already won the job.
Trubisky got the start last week against the Giants, but it’s not a guarantee that the starters are going to play in this game. Again, McDermott did not share his plan Friday morning when he spoke to reporters, but given how fragile the team has been since camp began, he may err on the side of caution.
There is still a little mystery regarding Allen’s status for the game.
McDermott did not rule out the possibility that he could play, though it seems unlikely, especially after he got plenty of reps against the Bears’ defense. “Yeah, I would love to if you could put him in a bubble that would guarantee me that he wasn’t gonna get hurt,” McDermott said. “Josh has been in a good spot, it’s just his continual development this preseason with making sure he feels good about where he’s at and with his receivers in particular, I think that’s going to be big for him.”
Here are the position groups that I’ll be watching closely:
Wide receiver: Still a wide open race
Injuries have really taken their toll on this group and it cost Allen valuable reps with the frontline players, specifically Khalil Shakir, Joshua Palmer and Curtis Samuel. And Elijah Moore and Tyrell Shavers have also missed a handful of days, so the Bills need these guys to get healthy and stay on the field. Only Keon Coleman has been healthy throughout.
Shakir, Palmer, and Coleman are the presumptive starters, but the next two or three spots are far from decided. Moore seems like he has an inside track and after a rather quiet game against the Giants, he has really picked it up in the past week and he made a few plays in the Bears practice.
As for Samuel, he will probably stick around because cutting him would force the Bills to eat an ugly dead salary cap hit, though with a post-June 1 release, the bulk of that would be pushed to 2026. Still, any dead cap money, whether it’s now or later, is not ideal, especially when it’s a player the Bills truly believed would help them which is why they signed him in the first place last year. Their patience is wearing thin because he has vastly underperformed since he arrived.
“We need to see how he fits into our offense this year, and availability is important, as well as special teams,” McDermott said.
What does that mean for Shavers, who has had a nice summer, or Laviska Shenault and KJ Hamler, who are both being considered for a special teams role, primarily return men?9 The Bills already moved on from Jalen Virgil on Thursday, a player who got into seven regular-season games in 2024, but still in the mix are veterans Kristian Wilkerson and Deon Cain, though both seem like longshots who could end up on the practice squad along with seventh-round rookie Kaden Prather.
Without question, wide receiver is the most interesting position on the team.
Defensive tackle: Rookies making waves
During the practice Friday, second-round pick TJ Sanders got reps alongside Ed Oliver with the first-string unit and he continues to look like a player who will be an immediate contributor in the tackle rotation.
Last week against the Giants, Sanders played 15 snaps and he had two QB pressures and one QB hit that came when he got immediate pressure on Jaxson Dart but was a split second late and Dart was able to throw a touchdown pass. And though a bit undersized at 297 pounds, he has not looked out of place against the run.
And fourth-round pick Deone Walker, who also played 15 snaps against the Giants, had a tackle, a QB hurry and a batted down pass, showing that his 6-foot-7 size in the middle of the line could be a real factor. He is firmly in the mix to get a jersey on game day, especially with veteran Larry Ogunjobi having to serve a six-game suspension.
The Bills will probably dress four tackles in the games, and Sanders and Walker are battling second-year man DeWayne Carter for those final two spots behind Oliver and DaQuan Jones.
“You see the ability, now it’s really looking for them to continue with their ability to develop the techniques,” McDermott said of Sanders and Walker. “But then also now to back that up with consistency, a consistent approach, consistent attitude, effort, those things, but also consistent performance.”
Walker, who was slowed in the offseason program by a back ailment, said he feels good about the progress he’s making, but understands he has a long way to go.
“Still got some stuff to clean up, but all in all, I feel like I played fast, ran to the ball,” he said of his performance against the Giants. “That’s the number one thing in our defense, run to the ball, have effort. There were some plays I did good, but some where I could have been better. Some plays where I probably made a mistake.”
As with all rookies, Walker’s primary challenge is learning the scheme and understanding how he fits into it.
“Coach (Bobby) Babich, sometimes I call him a mastermind because he’s got so many pressures, so many different things to get different looks and to manipulate the line of scrimmage against the offensive line,” Walker said. “I feel like I’m getting it down, but we still got a lot to learn.”
Cornerback: The Bills need someone to step up
I know it’s not the popular take, but I haven’t been enamored with Tre’Davious White.
His return to Buffalo was a feel-good story, and he had a starring role in the first episode of Hard Knocks showing off the personality fans have always loved while also showcasing his hard work and dedication to his craft. But he will need to start playing better because in all likelihood, he’s going to start in Week 1 against the Ravens.
Obviously, the two serious injuries he suffered, which short-circuited his original stint with the Bills after the 2023 season, have slowed him down and he’s not the same All-Pro player he once was. He says he’s feeling great, and McDermott said last week that he has been pleased, but that comment was made before the Giants game.
“He looks healthier even now than he did (last January when he played for the Ravens against the Bills in the postseason),” McDermott said. “Every day he’s out here working. He works extremely hard, he’s a pro, he’s extremely competitive. It means a lot to him.”
The Giants went right at White last week and Pro Football Focus charted him five receptions allowed on five targets for 37 yards on just 11 coverage snaps, and on one of those he missed an open-field tackle. It was a clear intent to go his way as opposed to testing Christian Benford who is the team’s no-doubt No. 1 corner and wasn’t targeted once on 12 coverage snaps.
It’s highly unlikely that rookie Maxwell Hairston will surpass White even if he returns soon from his knee injury. He has missed too much time to be a factor so the job is White’s by default to start the year. And that’s because the Bills haven’t really gotten much from veterans Dane Jackson or Ja’Marcus Ingram, or rookie sixth-round pick Dorian Strong, in camp.
— Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: QBs battle to back up Josh Allen. Here’s what to pay attention to in Bills vs Bears game
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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