Bills lineman savours punching rookie after cheap shot at practice

Some people love training camp mayhem, others like former Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott did not, and we’re not sure what Joe Brady’s stance is on practice fights because he didn’t speak to reporters after Tuesday’s physical session.

On Day 5 of training camp at St. John Fisher University, the sun was finally out, the heat was up and with the Bills wearing their pads for the entire practice for the first time, not surprisingly all of those factor led to some spirited altercations during the two-hour workout.

“That’s football for you, that’s what it is,” said rookie linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr who delivered a late hit on tight end Dalton Kincaid which sparked a mini-brawl late in the session.

Kincaid caught a pass from Josh Allen and ran a few steps before the whistle blew to end the play, but Elarms-Orr played through the echo as they say and leveled Kincaid and tempers erupted.

“I was just running to the ball, people said he already went down but I didn’t see him go down,” Elarms-Orr said. “I was in my drop and I saw him spin and I thought he was still up and I just hit him.”

Well, it was not a smart play by the rookie in a training camp practice and Brady pulled him aside once everyone sort of went back to their neutral corners and gave him a stern talking to.

The hit prompted a heated response from several offensive players and first on the scene was tight end Dawson Knox, followed by offensive lineman Alec Anderson who lives for this kind of stuff.

“I was in on that last one when Dalton got hit,” the always feisty Anderson said. “We had nice little scuffle standing up and then we went to the ground. Shout out to the rookie linebacker Kaleb. I didn’t enjoy him hitting our guy after the whistle, but I enjoyed punching him in the face a couple times and choking him out. So that’s always enjoyable.”

Fights were the theme of the day at #Bills camp:

“Shoutout to the rookie linebacker Kaleb [Elarms-Orr].”

“I don’t mind seeing a little piss & vinegar coming out of the rookies.”

“You’d rather say ‘chill’ than ‘sic ’em’… that’s a good thing.”#BillsMafia@BuffaloPluspic.twitter.com/kDBm4ABKyf

— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) August 4, 2026

Earlier in the practice, rookie outside linebacker TJ Parker got a little too aggressive with running back Frank Gore Jr. after a run down the sideline and took him to the ground. One of Gore’s offensive teammates – couldn’t tell who it was in the maze of players – came over and shoved Parker and Parker responded with a swing before other players intervened.

Also, rookie offensive lineman Jude Bowry got into a scuffle with veteran linebacker Michael Hoecht and Hoecht’s helmet got ripped off in the process.

“It was great. I love it, it gets my testosterone up these days,” Anderson said. “Really gets the blood pumping, everything flowing. I just like going out there and being able to hear the pads thud, and every now and then a fight happens. It kind of builds the resiliency and the grittiness of the team and I think that we need that.”

Here are some of my other observations from Day 5:

The best play of camp so far:

Josh Allen airing it to DJ Moore in triple coverage.

This is neat. https://t.co/l38hm6BunB

— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) August 4, 2026

The highlight of the day, and maybe the entire five days of camp, was the bomb Allen threw which Moore hauled in despite three starting defensive backs – Christian Benford, Maxwell Hairston and Cole Bishop – all in close proximity.

Maybe throwing into that coverage isn’t the smartest idea in the regular season, but the Bills’ offense needs to take a few more risks this season because that’s the kind of explosive play the offense has sorely lacked the last few years.

“Their connection has been unreal,” wide receiver Khalil Shakir said. “Like when you watch stuff like that, it feels fake, like how beautiful that play was. DJ’s just gliding, all three DBs looked like they were straining to get there and DJ is just chilling, and the ball, absolutely unreal, dropped it right in the bread basket. It’s a beautiful thing to see, the connection there every single day. The growth that has come within that, it’s going to help us win games for sure.”

Last season, Davis took over the Bills’ primary kickoff return duties and thanks to a touchdown return against the Texans, he wound up leading the NFL with a 30.8-yard average and that earned him All-Pro recognition.

The third-year player shares the backup running back duties behind James Cook with Ty Johnson, but when it comes to kickoff return, Davis is the man.

“The kickoff return game, you need two, but the chances of Ray being back there the first time we return a kick, pretty good,” special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers said Tuesday.

Rodgers added that the Bills need to find a second returner because he will probably deploy two men deep, and that player is an unknown at this point, same for the punt return job which is wide open as well.

Rodgers reeled off the names of four receivers – Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir, Mecole Hardman and newly-signed Dante Pettis – as players in the mix, but there are others who are getting looks. In fact, Davis has even caught a few punts.

Before the new kickoff rules were implemented, the kickoff return job was greatly diminished because kickers routinely blasted the ball into the end zone for a touchback. Now with the ball in play so much more, you need good and reliable kickoff returners.

But now punt return has lessened in value because punters have become so good at hang time and directional kicking, and returns have decreased. Now, the main skill for a punt returner is being able to catch the ball, and then making sound decisions once they do that.

“Ball security and decision making have a lot to do with the guy’s success as a punt returner,” Rodgers said. “The skill set athletically is what kind of makes a guy ascend, but if you can’t catch it or you make bad decisions, you’re probably not going to be out there getting a whole lot of chances.”

The 2026 second-round pick is battling 2025 first-round pick Maxwell Hairston for a starting cornerback job, but right now Hairston is getting all the reps with the starting unit.

Igbinosun is trying to indoctrinate himself into the NFL while also learning a new defense and getting used to new teammates, a combination that always makes things difficult for rookies.

“I think I’ve been doing well, definitely room to improve, but it’s my first NFL training camp, I’m learning a lot, going with the punches,” he said. “Just trying to keep competing.”

Regarding his competition with Hairston, he said, “I think the saying is iron sharpens iron and another is man sharpens man. We’re trying to learn as much from each other because he’s good at things and I’m also good at some things. So we’re just trying to share, be the best version of ourselves.”

One of the reasons the Bills traded up into the second round to take Igbinosun was for his man coverage skills which are going to be more necessary in Jim Leonhard’s defense, and Igbinosun likes to think that’s a strength of his that will pay off.

“Definitely,” he said. “I would say I’m a press man corner, I’m a man coverage corner. I think that’s what I want to do. You’ve got to have good eyes (in terms of seeing the quarterback but also in route recognition) when you’re playing man because you want to get a good read with the quarterback and then transition your eyes to the receiver.”

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist 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: Bills lineman savours punching rookie after cheap shot at practice