By CHUCK POLLOCK , Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
When the Super Bowl ends on the second Sunday of February, it seems there’s a long wait until the National Football League re-enters our mental awareness.
Not so.
This year Indianapolis’ NFL Combine ran from Feb. 27 to March 2. Then came the Draft in Green Bay from April 24-26.
Suddenly the Bills’ rookie minicamp for draftees and undrafted signees comes up this Friday with voluntary Organized Team Activities (OTAs) booked for consecutive Tuesdays (May 27 and June 3) followed by mandatory minicamp, June 10-13.
Finally, in late July, Buffalo will commence training camp at Pittsford’s St. John Fisher University though the exact dates have yet to be announced.
AT THIS point in the NFL year teams are permitted a 90-player roster right through the first cutdown in late August. Currently, the Bills are one light of that figure with 68 veterans, 12 undrafted players and nine draftees.
That 90 figure exists until teams must cut to the regular-season limit of 53 on Aug. 27.
THIS COMING season, the Buffalo News will be without Bills beat writer Mark Gaughan who retired following the draft after 43 years on the job.
When I met him, I’d been covering the Bills since 1973 and he wasn’t far from graduation at Buffalo State. But from the first meeting, it was clear to me that was Mark was a genuine quality human being.
When I started at the Times Herald, the Buffalo Courier-Express and Buffalo Evening News were fierce rivals, one claiming the morning, the other afternoons. But when the C-E folded that competitiveness did too. I was never part of it as, sequestered 65 miles away at a medium-market paper, I was no threat to them.
But Jay Skurski, the current lead Bills writer for the News who wrote a glowing tribute to Mark, called him a “mentor,” and that resonated with me. When I started, my mentor was Larry Felser, one of the most respected NFL writers in the country. He taught me the business, took me to classy road restaurants where he always seemed to know the owner and introduced me to the likes of Raiders legend Al Davis and fiery Colts general manager Joe Thomas.
Mark eventually served as president of the Pro Football Writer’s Association and, as a Hall-of-Fame voter, was instrumental in the selection of Joe DeLamielleure, James Lofton and Andre Reed.
He was transfixed by statistics even before analytics and was so pleasant and approachable it never bothered me to ask him, “Do you have anything on this?” And he invariably did.
I’ve always been proud to call Mark a friend and, like everybody else in that media room, we’ll miss him.
YOU CAN expect the Bills preseason schedule probably within the next week or so as the league will release the entire league schedule on May 14 on the NFL Network.
This year the Bills, who have nine regular-season home games, have only one preseason (don’t call it an exhibition) meeting at home and two on the road.
In case you’ve forgotten, Buffalo’s home games are division foes Miami, New England and the Jets, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and New Orleans. Hardly a soft schedule.
The Bills road games are the three AFC East foes plus Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Houston.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
Read more from Chuck:
• A look at the late rounds of the draft and NFL sleepers
• Beane kept his promise during the draft for the Buffalo Bills
• Bills stay true to their needs in Round 2 and 3
• A look at the Bills’ first pick in the 2025 draft
• Bills need a cornerback, but they don’t need to pick one in the first round
• Part 1, a look at the 2025 NFL draft for the Bills
• The Bills have plenty of holes to fill in draft
• Catching up with Hornell’s Gene Mastin and the years before three-straight state football titles
• A look at Terry Pegula’s beginnings in Olean and his competitive drive to win
• Bill Walton was must-see basketball when he played in Buffalo for the Braves
• Mark Schmidt and St. Bonaventure Bonnies men’s basketball team looking at a rebuild
• Good news, bad news on high school hoops; thoughts on George Foreman
• Why the Bona NIT loss took place
• An embarrassing week for Beane who was perfect in free agency
• An interesting look at St. Bonaventure’s A-10 matchups
• St. Bonaventure joins $2.8 million settlement to get past and current student-athletes paid• St. Joe’s is looming as a big test for the Bonnies
• Part II: McDermott is building a team to win the Super Bowl, not beat the Chiefs
• It was a different McDermott this season
• A look back at the ‘Super’ Bowl
• Pollock prediction on the Super Bowl and his annual quiz
• Part 2: What does Brandon Beane have to do to make the Buffalo Bills better?
• Part 1: Buffalo Bills’ GM Brandon Beane discusses 2024 season
Don Scholla, the passing of an Icon
• The Chiefs still have the Bills’ number
• Pollock Prediction: Chiefs 28, Bills 25 (actual score 32-29)
• Allen and the Bills heading to the AFC Championship game
• Josh Allen wants to hear Mr. Brightside against the Ravens
• Win over Richmond gets St. Bonaventure Bonnies ready for A-10 matchup with Duquesne
• Offensive line of the Buffalo Bills knocked out the Broncos
• Pollock Prediction: Broncos loom as a threat but the Bills will win
• Where the St. Bonaventure victory over VCU ranks in program history
• Josh Allen showed why he should be the NFL MVP
• Pollock Prediction: Bills will beat Jets in a must-win game for playoff seeding
• What happened during those six lost days
• Bills didn’t play with a sense of urgency against the Patriots
• Bills passed a big test against the Lions
• The media missed the point with questions of McDermott
• We did not expect the Rams-Bills results as Josh Allen sets major records
• Will the Bills be motivated against the Rams?
• Schmidt doesn’t want the Bonnies to get caught up in 12-1 talk
• A look at the rise under Sean McDermott
• The snow and the Buffalo Bills were too much for the 49ers
• St. Bonaventure Bonnies put unbeaten hoops record on the line in ESPN Tournament
• Pollock Prediction on San Fran at Buffalo Sunday night game
• A look at McDermott’s smart play-calling and why aren’t we talking more about James Cook?
• Can the Bills do this to the Chiefs in the playoffs? Josh Allen touchdown run seals victory
• Pollock predicts a one-point Kansas City victory
• What happened to this being a rebuilding season for the Buffalo Bills?
• A dominating performance by the Bills
• Pollock predicts a Bills victory over the Colts on the road
• Thoughts on the 61-yard Bass field goal and where the Bills sit
• Solid win to open the season for the Bonnies
• Bass vindicated by 61-yard field goal to beat the Dolphins
• Bills don’t own the Dolphins but have an option to buy; prediction 27-20 (final was 30-27)
• The season is here for St. Bonaventure basketball
• St. Bonaventure speaks out, “We got Woj”
• Mark Schmidt on the NIL deals and the Bona NIT mess
• Pollock on the passing of St. Bonaventure legend Paul Hoffman
• Pollock on listening to the radio and the days of Willie Mays
• Houghton’s Phil Stockin gets Cazzie Russell to the Castle in Olean and then a title for the Knicks?
• The right hire for St. Bonaventure to lead the athletic department
• The inside story on why WPIG left the Bonnies after 74 years and a Gary Nease update
