Bills training camp: Josh Allen-DJ Moore chemistry builds early

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — As the doors open on training camp for the 2026 season, it’s a brand new Buffalo Bills.

Well, sort of.

The Bills carry an unusual circumstance by NFL standards: a different head coach than the previous year, but one who had been in the building with the last one. The Bills made the controversial decision to fire longtime head coach Sean McDermott and, after a coaching search, landed on McDermott’s offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, to try to change their playoff fortunes.

Along with that massive change comes the added responsibility for Brady, who has to put his own spin on what is now his team.

There were tiny noticeable tweaks even before the Bills arrived at St. John Fisher University. The camp schedule in Pittsford, N.Y., spans only seven practices, and in prior years they easily hit double digits each summer.

On the first day of practice, the session started earlier, as Brady put it, to maximize the day with team meetings later on. Rather than McDermott’s ‘situational’ period that began every practice, the Brady Bills started things off with special teams. Heck, even the weather was different for Day 1. Usually sweltering, the Bills endured a steady stream of rain throughout practice Wednesday.

But that’s not all that’s changed.

“Just the vibe, the energy… you know, it’s different,” quarterback Josh Allen said. “I’m not saying it’s better [or] it’s worse. It’s different. As a new head coach for a team, I think that’s a smart decision to make things different.”

Bills center Connor McGovern mentioned it felt new but not all that new at the same time.

“It’s just I would say a little more energy around the building as really the only difference,” McGovern added.

Whether that energy, the new voice in charge and changes to the defense can help raise the Bills’ playoff ceiling remains to be seen. It’s also up to Brady to make sure that energy continues once the demands of the regular season arrive. But at the very least, to start, the players who were there in 2025 initially feel the contrast.

“This isn’t the same place, and you have to make it feel differently because, you know, doing the same thing, it obviously didn’t work,” Allen said. “So we’ve got to change it up and try to find new ways to make it work.”

Here’s what stood out on Day 1 of Bills camp.

The Allen-Moore chemistry building

In an attempt to solve what felt like a never-ending conundrum at wide receiver the last two seasons, the Bills made a massive splash by not only trading for veteran DJ Moore, but also extending his guaranteed money through the 2027 season. The Bills have viewed Moore as a No. 1 option in the NFL, and both of their offseason actions surrounding his acquisition point to that. That makes his on-field impact and rapport with Allen among the most important factors building up to the 2026 regular season.

That has been top of mind for Allen, but he admitted he felt a breakthrough on Wednesday.

“I feel myself trying to be perfect when I’m throwing him in some of the routes on air,” Allen said. “Today I walked up to him and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m just going to throw it. I’m going to pick a spot and let it go. And I’m not trying to aim it anymore.’ And I felt like once I said that, things kind of clicked for us.”

It bled through into reps against defenders, as the two combined for the best play of the day. Allen roped a pass through tight coverage and into Moore’s arms along the left sideline for a diving grab. Moore was out there constantly with the first-team offense, which could be an early sign of a departure from how the Bills handled their receiver room over the last two seasons.

In those years, the team flattened their playing time more than they ever had with Allen as their quarterback, which was likely a product of the room rather than a complete philosophical shift. While Khalil Shakir is an excellent player, he was a slot-only player over the last two seasons, which narrowed his usage. With Moore being a proven commodity that they paid for, it would not be stunning to see him near the 80 to 90 percent of snaps mark when he’s healthy.

Moore has camped out in that range throughout his NFL career. It’s early, and we have to see if it’ll hold, but given the investment level and Allen’s vested interest in making it work, we could see a Bills receiver get near that level of playing time for the first time since the team traded away Stefon Diggs.

Coleman’s make-or-break Year 3

As Moore settles in with the Bills, third-year receiver Keon Coleman tries to make the most of a clear make-or-break campaign. He’s said and done all the right things to handle the off-field side of this to date, which has helped the Bills generate some excitement about the 23-year-old. With how the Bills receiver room is built, Coleman could yet again find himself getting several opportunities at playing time. The 2024 second-round pick dropped one early pass from Allen in 7-on-7 before brushing it off and coming back to make a difficult back shoulder catch against cornerback Maxwell Hairston.

It was a good bounce-back, as the team needs to see signs of growth in every phase through the regular season. Bills general manager Brandon Beane again on Wednesday waxed poetic about how Coleman has matured, and that he can tell Coleman is growing while knowing he can’t do the same things he did over his first two seasons if he wants to have success in the NFL. The expectations on Coleman have certainly changed from when he was first drafted. Still, the Bills are hoping to get a player who can start and play meaningful snaps rather than potentially starting over next offseason.

Coleman even mixed in on punt return duty. However, what was most interesting about the punt return group was who wasn’t a part of it. The four who fielded punts were Coleman, Mecole Hardman, Max Tomczak and Mac Dalena. Rookie Skyler Bell was not part of the mix, which is interesting, as it could change the math for the final 53-man roster. If Coleman were to win the job, that would be one thing. However, he seems a bit less trustworthy and certainly less explosive than Hardman, potentially allowing for Hardman to take a sixth receiver spot.

Things can change as camp goes along, but it’s always interesting to see the team’s early perspective.

One rookie with a big opportunity to start camp

While it has nothing to do with the players they picked and more so with the positional depth charts they’re walking into, the expectations on the Bills’ 2026 rookie class are relatively low compared to other years.

The most likely outcome of their top two picks, edge rusher T.J. Parker and cornerback Davison Igbinosun, is that they’ll be backups to the starters. In Parker’s case, he’s got free-agent signing Bradley Chubb ahead of him, while Igbinosun has 2025 first-round pick Maxwell Hairston ahead of him. Igbinosun could certainly push the inexperienced Hairston for the job, but that hasn’t happened just yet. Wide receiver Skyler Bell is intriguing, but he’s got Moore, Shakir, Coleman and probably Joshua Palmer ahead of him right now.

However, of all the team’s rookies, the one with the clear best chance to try and work his way into a starting role is fourth-round pick and inside linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr. The Bills are going through a ramp-up period with starter Terrel Bernard, who got some time with the first unit in team drills but didn’t get the full complement of snaps. On top of that, Elarms-Orr’s main competition for a starting spot, Dorian Williams, didn’t take part in any team drill work as he’s working back from an injury. That allowed the rookie to take a full practice of first-team reps.

After practice, Beane admitted that Elarms-Orr had a great spring, but that they wanted to see what it would look like once the pads come on next week. Williams is a free agent after the season, so for the long term, having the rookie as a starter is an ideal outcome for the team if he shows he deserves it. The more Williams is out, the more runway Elarms-Orr has to impress and make it a legitimate possibility.

The punting competition has begun!

The Bills began their first 2026 training camp practice with a little #Puntapalooza session and mixed it in midway through the practice as well. The two entrants — rookie seventh-round pick Tommy Doman Jr. and the incumbent veteran Mitch Wishnowsky  — each had their fair share of work, with Doman getting the most opportunities. Doman had 21 documented attempts in the slippery, rainy weather to Wishnowsky’s 13, and the rookie punter was the clear winner on hangtime. Unofficially, Doman averaged in the 4.3-second range, whereas Wishnowsky was a bit below 4.1 seconds.