Orchard Park, NY (WGR 550) – Joe Brady is holding his first mandatory minicamp as head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Brady met with the media before taking the field on Tuesday and said all are in attendance.

Brady feels they’ve had great attendance through the whole off season, but remember it’s been optional until this week.

James Cook is one that hasn’t been here for much of the OTAs, but he knows Brady who has been his offensive coordinator. As far as the plan for the Bills runningback this year Brady said,

“You never go into a game with the mindset of this is how many carries he’s going to have, but it does pile up throughout the season and I give him a lot of credit, you go back to the offseason he had last year that he was able to withstand that and I know he was asked a lot last season and I would love to be able to get Ray (Davis), Ty (Johnson), and Frank (Gore) involved, but James was playing at such a high level last year, and he was in such a rhythm and routine, that I felt confident in him able to uphold that, but we’re looking at everything.”

The players won’t be wearing pads until training camp, so much of the things now will look different once the pads come on. Brady said, there’s still much to be gained this week,

“I don’t ever say that this time of the year isn’t important, yes I know they may be “In pajamas” right now and O-line/D-line game it is real like pads, but it’s not different from a receiver and a DB really, pads come on and different players play differently, but it’s important to see the technique and the communication, but it is hard to make some of the judgements, but as a receiver, it might be easier receiving the ball thrown, but I like the competion we’ve had, but there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for these guys and it’s up to them to go take it.”

Dorian Williams got hurt at the end of last season and is being counted on to be a big part of the Bills defense. Brady said progress is being made there,

“Dorian’s handling everything the right way and he’ll be ready to go and I’m excited for him.

“It’s been a great opportunity for him similar to some of the other guys and Dorian has been getting a lot of reps and a lot of mental reps.”

Brady is putting a lot of emphasis into this week because he likes the direction the team in going in. He said,

“What are these next two days going to look like? We have a six week break (before training camp), it’s a long break, but I’m not focused on that right now, so we’re going to go out and have two good practices and then training camp will take care of itself.”

There are three practices on the schedule for this week, so Brady may be canceling Thursday’s scheduled practice.

Many of the players know Brady as an assistant coach with the Bills, but of course there’s a learning curve now that they’re playing for him as the head coach,

“I think it’s important every day that you set a standard and you show examples of what the standard looks like, so I’m sure there’s an adjustment, but at this point next year, I’m going back to building the foundation and not skipping steps, but we have an eager group and really good leadership that helps me when my message is out there because if the guys don’t back it up and believe in it, and spread it, it’s only going to reach so far.”

In the past during this break, Josh Allen likes to get together with the wide receivers and not only throw, but have meals and bond. Brady loves the about QB1

“Some of it is just getting the guys together in the summer because you can only run so much and you know how I feel about connected football teams and I think those are great opportunities for guys to get together, yes they throw, but after that are they breaking break together? Are they hanging with each other? And I think that’s so valuable and that’s part of the reason we go away for training camp and that’s just another extension of it.”

The Bills have two fullbacks listed on their roster right now in Jackson Acker and Ben VanSumeren. VanSumeren has played 21 games with the Phildelphia Eagles while Acker was signed as a rookie free agent out of Wisconsin. Brady has some defniate thoughts on the position,

“It’s such a unique position because there’s alot else that comes with it, you don’t ever want to just have a fullback just to have a fullback. It’s can they contribute on special teams? Does their skillset give us an adavantege with the defense we’re playing? So we need to get some pads on and see what these guys can and can not do, but we’re no going to we’re going to have a fullback no matter what.”

Brady said Keon Coleman has had an outstanding offseason and is in a really good place