The Buffalo Bills are a few short weeks away from arriving for training camp in Western New York. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the preseason festivities will be diminished; the team will not hold their sessions at St. John Fisher College, their training camp location since 2000.
Nevertheless, the aim of the training camp remains the same. The organization must prepare players for the preseason, which depth players will compete in their final battle for a roster spot.
Training camp could hold greater importance this year, as the trimmed down preseason slate leaves fewer opportunities for players to impress the coaching staff.
The Bills Wire will complete a position-by-position analysis of each group on the Bills roster. This edition will focus on the special teams unit:
Players (age)
- Stephen Hauschka (35: 13th season)
- Tyler Bass (23: Rookie)
- Corey Bojorquez (23: 3rd season)
- Kaare Vedvik (26: 2nd season)
- Reid Ferguson (26: 4th season)
2019 recap
The Bills special teams unit underwent a bit of a reconfiguration entering the 2019 season, as coordinator Danny Crossman was jettisoned and Heath Farwell was brought in to guide the unit. The team improved upon their performance last year, as they seemed to commit fewer egregious errors on coverage than previous seasons.
The Bills improved to sixth in average yards kick return and 14th in average yards per punt return. Bringing in 2018 All-Pro Andre Roberts helped the cause, and the veteran was named to the Pro Bowl last year for the second consecutive year. Roberts dropped off from his career-year in 2018, when he led the league in punt and kick return average. Nevertheless, he finished fourth in the league in kick return average and helped give the Bills some consistency in the return game.
Stephen Hauschka hit 22 of 28 field goals last year, which was the same stat line that he had in 2018. He went through a lull mid-year, highlighted by struggles against the Browns. However, the veteran rebounded to have a decent year. He made only one of five kicks from beyond 50 yards last year, though. Hauschka, at one point, set the NFL record for most 50-plus yard kicks in a row, only to now struggle in that department.
The Bills love Corey Bojorquez‘s big leg, but issues of consistency plagued the 23-year-old in his first full season in the league. He averaged 41.9 yards per punt, good for 30th out of 31 qualified punters. In total, 10 punters had a net average that was better than Bojorquez’s gross average.
Now here’s a rundown of storylines to follow in this position group:
Can Stephen Hauschka stave off a challenge from rookie Tyler Bass?
The big question right here. Hauschka was 21st in field goal percentage last year. He was 20th in the number of touchbacks on kickoffs. He made only one of five kicks from beyond 50 yards. Hauschka had a rough game against the Browns, missing both of his kicks in a game decided by three points. However, he rebounded to make 14 of his final 15 field goals on the year.
While often defending Hauschka’s misses the Bills decided to surprise us. Buffalo, in drafting a kicker, could be a sign that there are some concerns regarding Hauschka. Rookie Tyler Bass could be a kickoff specialist in the short term, but if he can show some greater accuracy, it could make the competition during training camp very interesting. Bass and his big leg certainly shows the Bills don’t want to worry from around 50 yards anymore.