Bills notebook
Making roster is another big step for Bell
Buffalo Bills coach Dick Jauron made it clear last week. Demetrius Bell isn’t quite ready for a regular role in the NFL. He was a seventh-round pick who played only 22 games on the offensive line for Northwestern State, where he earned a basketball scholarship. He has much to learn.
Bell has a little message for everyone else now that the backup left tackle made the team: Evaluate him after he gets comfortable with the Bills’ offense, when he receives the instruction and practice required to make the adjustment, when his head is no longer on a swivel.
“Being here is one thing, backing it up is another,” said Bell, who had his first regular-season practice with the Bills on Sunday. “Check back with me in a couple years. Hopefully, I’ll make a tremendous jump, not a step. That’s what I’m working on every day, working hard and trying to make that big jump.”
Bell, whose estranged father is former NBA star Karl Malone, has proven he’s an accelerated student. His high school in Louisiana didn’t have a football team. He was a basketball player in college who switched to football in 2005. He played defensive end for one game that season and started at left tackle the following year.
The Bills took a flier on him with the 219th pick overall after the 6- foot-5, 303-pounder was named to the All-Southland Conference team as a senior. They quickly made him their backup at left tackle behind Langston Walker, who will start the season while Pro Bowler Jason Peters sits out in a contract dispute.
It leaves Bell one snap from a regular role, but is he ready?
“I think that’s a stretch,” Jauron said last week. “Could he play? I think he’s athletic enough. But you’d like to get him more seasoned before he had to be out there.”
Bell gave up a sack in the preseason finale, which contributed to third-string quarterback Gibran Hamdan getting his bell rung. The Bills know he’s green, but they also believe he has the ability to become a solid offensive lineman. They’re hoping Walker can stay healthy, which would give them more time to groom Bell.
The first step in the process was making the roster.
“I don’t think I’ve even begun the path on what’s a long journey,” Bell said. “I’m basically starting it right now, getting on this team and learning my role. It’s confidence in yourself that you can play, but you still have to prove to the man beside you that you can play and that you belong here.”
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Linebacker John DiGiorgio (ribs), offensive lineman Matt Murphy (shoulder) and tight end Derek Fine (thumb) watched practiced Sunday. Tight end Derek Schouman returned to practice after overcoming a knee injury that sidelined him for more than two weeks.
Wide receiver Justin Jenkins missed practice while his wife, Anita, gave birth to their first child.
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Orchard Park native Jon Corto, on making the 53-man roster after switching from safety to linebacker: “To play for my hometown team is just amazing. The way it works is you know you made the team when you don’t get a call. Any time the phone rings, you’re like, ‘Oh, man.’ You’re sweating it out. Luckily, I didn’t get a phone call. The only phone call I got was from my agent confirming I made the team. The whole family went pretty crazy.”
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Offensive lineman Dustin Dickinson was among five players who were placed on the Bills practice squad Sunday. Dickinson worked out with the starting offense during a practice last week and could add depth behind Bell.
The others who will open the season on the practice squad included linebacker Marcus Buggs, running back Bruce Hall, wide receiver Felton Huggins and defensive lineman Corey Mace. The Bills have three open spots remaining on the practice squad.
