Scouting the Browns’ Preseason opponent: Buffalo Bills - Our Q&A with Buffalo Rumblings

On Friday, the Cleveland Browns play their second preseason game when they host the Buffalo Bills. To help preview a few topics from the Bills’ perspective, I reached out to Corey Giacovelli from Buffalo Rumblings and exchanged three questions with him. Enjoy!

Chris: “Corey Coleman was shipped to the Buffalo Bills for a bag of peanuts. Where is he expected to fall on the depth chart once the regular season begins?”

Corey: “It is tough to say where Coleman is going to fit on the depth chart because of the question marks the Bills have at the receiver position. The only clear answer we have so far is that Kelvin Benjamin will be the number one target , but after that it is tough to see where Coleman fits because he is competing with guys like Andre Holmes and Zay Jones. If Coleman proves to be effective, he can be a legit third receiver and possibly even second on this team, especially in the slot. The wild card in this situation is new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and how he moves around receivers in this new offense seeing that Benjamin has already been moved into the slot occasionally.”

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Chris: “The Bills have a bit of a quarterback competition going on. Who will start on Friday, and which of the quarterbacks are fans behind the most to start in the regular season?”

Corey: “The way things seem right now it appears that Nathan Peterman will be starting on Friday. He looked sharped and confident against the Panthers and fans want to see if this was a new and improved quarterback or if he will regress into the guy we saw against the Chargers last season. When it comes to fan support it is a battle against the mind and their heart. In their hearts, most fans want to see what Josh Allen can do right away but in their mind they know that he is still a raw young rookie with a lot of areas to improve in and would rather want him to start once he is fully ready to. Fans are hesitant to put all of their faith in Peterman or AJ McCarron because of their past performances in the case of Peterman and the fact that this would be the first time that McCarron would be ‘the guy’ in the NFL.”

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Chris: “Besides QB, what is Buffalo’s biggest position battle in camp right now?”

Corey: “The biggest battle in training camp right now is at the wide receiver position like I mentioned before. There are so many guys behind Benjamin that we stated above but there are also players like Jeremy Kerley, Bradon Reilly, Ray-Ray McCloud who are just trying to sneak into the rotation. Then there are another hand full of guys who are just trying to make the team. The problem is that in practice, it seems like a different receiver is stepping up each day which means these preseason games are the true test to see if these guys are going to make the final 53 man roster.”

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Chris: “Would you take Tyrod Taylor back if you could, or was it the right time to move on?”

Corey: “The Tyrod question is always a fun one to get asked because people can argue until their lungs give out but the answer can go both ways. Personally, I think it was time to move on because of the situation the team was facing. Having a new GM in Brandon Beane, and head coach Sean McDermott, it was time for them to get their guy at quarterback that they can center the franchise around. When you pair that with the draft picks they had in the draft, it was the right time to pick their guy who ended up being Josh Allen. I loved Tyrod but for some reason or another the team could not get over the hump with him. Yes, he played a part in the team breaking the drought but the offensive numbers were just not there this season and it was time to move on. I wish Tyrod nothing but the best in Cleveland.”

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Chris: “Tell us about one player on offense and one player on defense who have had a solid camp, but who Browns fans may not know about.”

Corey: “Under the radar players on the team were both members of this year’s draft class. On offense, the guy to keep an eye on is Ray-Ray McCloud. The sixth round pick is the smallest player on the team but has shown agility that can make him deadly in the receiving game and in the return game as well. He should receive a lot of action with the second and third team offense during the game on Friday, and do not be surprised if he makes a couple of long plays. On defense it has been Taron Johnson who has been seeing a lot of time with the ones at nickel corner. The fourth rounder had a tough time against the Panthers but is looking to bounce back against the Browns. The kid plays hard and he will not give up in this competition on defense.”

Thanks again to Corey for taking the time to answer our questions.