With each year, Buffalo Bills public practices at their St. John Fisher College training camp keep dwindling.
In 2018, there were 11. This year, per the team's release of the camp schedule Friday, there will be only eight.
That's the fewest since 2000, the year the Bills moved their summer address from SUNY Fredonia to St. John Fisher's Pittsford campus.
The Bills' 2019 training camp is scheduled to begin on Thursday, July 25. Camp there is scheduled to end on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
The @BuffaloBills 2019 training camp schedule: pic.twitter.com/poKcriZTkK
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Counting two player days off and a night practice at New Era Field, the Bills are planning to hold 10 practices at St. John Fisher, although two are closed to the public and none will be held at night.
A major reason for the shorter stay this year, General Manager Brandon Beane told reporters, is the logistics involved with holding joint practices with the Carolina Panthers Aug. 13 and 14 in Spartanburg, S.C., in advance of the Aug. 16 preseason game at Carolina.
"For us to go back up there for a couple days before we go to Carolina just doesn’t logistically make sense to wear our guys out up and back," Beane said. "The positive to this is, I think you know there’s a ton of fans in the Carolina region that we’re going to be able to connect and reach, a lot of fans who don’t get to see the Buffalo Bills in preseason live. So we’re still going to get our Rochester look, but we’re also going to take our show on the road a little bit. It’s good for us to practice against some people we have some trust in and get some heated practices, but I think that region probably has as many Bills fans as any outside of Western New York."
Another factor in fewer public sessions is, when rotating fields to give the main grass turf a rest, the team ends up working on fields behind the St. John Fisher fieldhouse that has minimal spectator seating. That angered some fans, especially during the first training camp under coach Sean McDermott in 2017.
"We would love to make everything public, quite honestly," McDermott told reporters. "We’re just not able to do that necessarily sometimes with the physical location and trying to rotate fields."
The Bills' training camp agreement with St. John Fisher runs through 2021, and McDermott stressed that the team is extremely pleased with the relationship.
"We love going to Fisher," McDermott said. "I think it’s a great venue for NFL training camp. I think the people and staff up there, including our fan base, are first class. I’ve been around before when you go to a campus where you’re wanted contractually but not wanted maybe once you’re there. They open up their homes basically to us. So we love going up there."
Nevertheless, McDermott did say that the decision to hold camp away from the team's facility in Orchard Park is "an ongoing decision." It would seem that the thinking might now be influenced by the fact the Bills are close to completing the construction of an $18-million, 41,000-square-foot addition to their training facility. The upgrades have given the Bills state-of-the-art resources for players that can't be transported, meaning that they would end up with a less sophisticated experience at St. John Fisher.
“If it weren’t (an ongoing decision), we wouldn’t be doing our collective jobs because of what we now have here," McDermott said. "The needs of the modern athlete change every day. We have to make sure we are giving them every chance to become the best versions of themselves.”
All but one of the workouts at St. John Fisher are scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. The Sunday, Aug. 4 practice is due to begin at 2:45 p.m., and is one of four that require fans to have tickets to attend. The others requiring fans to have tickets are morning workouts on Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28, as well as the 6:15 p.m., session at New Era Field on Friday, Aug. 2.
The Bills are scheduled to open their preseason schedule against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m., at New Era Field.
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The Bills announced they have signed tight end Dawson Knox, the second of their two third-round draft picks, to a four-year contract Friday. With the former Ole Miss standout in the fold, the Bills now have all eight of their draft choices under contract.
The team also announced it claimed tight end Keith Towbridge off waivers from the Tennessee Titans and released tight end Mik'Quan Deane. Towbridge was on the Bills' practice squad last year.
Story topics: Bills Training Camp / Brandon Beane / Sean McDermott / St. John Fisher
