This update has Bills fans concerned...

This update is very concerning as Bill's defensive coordinator Jim Leonard revealed a major weakness about this Buffalo Bills team. That's right we're talking defense today as Jim Leonard spoke to the media about his squad heading into the 2026 season and he revealed a lot about how he feels about his defense. So we're going to break down Jim Leonard's press conference everything you need to know about what Jim Leonard said but first welcome in everybody to Bill's Digest. I'm Ben Volker and football is almost here which means that we will be covering everything Buffalo Bills leading up to the 2026 season and throughout the 2026 season so make sure to hit subscribe so you do not miss a thing. So the Bills were back at practice again today and let's start by just breaking down the injury report of who was not practicing. Not too much shocking here. Most people that we already knew about Connor McGovern, Ty Johnson, Khalil Shakir, Ed Oliver all of this is not new. The one name that did pop up that was a bit shocking was Cedric Van Prangranger. People are speculating because he played all of the Cleveland game or played in the Cleveland game excuse me that this might mean that he is out the door at this point but the one name on this list that is a little bit concerning to me is Khalil Shakir because we haven't really heard much about it and it's another missed practice for Shakir so hopefully this is just precautionary and it's not something that's actually worth monitoring too much. Now let's get to the main topic for today of course that is Jim Leonard who spoke at a press conference this afternoon talked all things his defense and the main thing the main takeaway from this press conference was that Jim Leonard is concerned his words about the secondary. This is what was said Jim Leonard says that the Bills cornerback position is concerning in fact he said the whole secondary is and this is what Jim Leonard said because it's been limited snaps with everybody it's how they communicate and continue to build up reps it's always concerning when you aren't banking those reps and I agree with Alex not too great to hear and so what Jim Leonard is trying to say here it's not that he's concerned about the talent on his secondary I think it's more so about the injuries and about players not getting the chance to play with each other we've talked about how Cole Bishop and Maxwell Harrison have been dealing with injuries all preseason they didn't play in the first preseason game with all the starters they didn't play in the second preseason game even though they were back at practice and let's just take a look at the Bills secondary depth here as you can see those top guys highlighted in bold Cole Bishop Gino Stone Maxwell Harrison CJ Garner Johnson they haven't really had that chance to play meaningful reps together at all in the preseason so I think that's more so where Jim Leonard's head is at when talking about this this secondary it's more so that they just haven't had the time to connect rather than a talent thing but I do think it might also be a talent thing because here's a Harrison update from today's practice and it is a little bit concerning I cannot lie I'll just go ahead and read this Josh Palmer beat Max Harrison on a deep play that looks like it might go for a where's it 11 on 11 there we go at Bill's practice and Harrison pushed Palmer from behind a blatant API Palmer came up in pain holding his wrist this isn't about Palmer but it looks like Palmer avoided injury here and then Allen goes right back to Palmer for a touchdown D offered in coverage Harrison was beat for a touchdown earlier by Nicole Hardman in the red so it sounds like Harrison was having a rough practice today beat by Nicole Hardman for a touchdown beat by Josh Palmer on what should have been a touchdown committed a DPI almost could have seriously hurt Josh Palmer so not a great practice for Maxwell Harrison and this is a guy that the bills are putting a lot of faith and a lot of trust into so the bills can't really be happy about that they don't we don't want another situation on our hands this is supposed to be a redo of Kyrie Earlam and not a repeat but this this cornerback secondary situation is a little bit concerning if you ask me but I want to know what you guys think is this what the bills biggest weakness is this year or is do you agree kind of with Leonard is it do they just need more reps I think that Leonard is right in the fact that this is concerning and but I do think it is maybe more of a talent issue I hope that I'm wrong but the first five weeks the bills will get a major test against opposing wide receivers they've got Nico Collins on deck Amon Ross St. Brown Vladimir Conkey AJ Brown Puka Nakua and Devante Adams so there will be plenty of time for this receiver room to prove whether they have it or not and I would not be surprised if in those first five weeks if the bills lose any of those games that some of those losses have a big receiver line number next to the reason why they lost maybe a Puka Nakua 150 yard two touchdown game is in the future for that so if you agree do you think if you think that this secondary is the bills biggest weakness let me know like this video or if not let me know in the comments what the other weakness on this bills team is now I'm going to go back to this depth chart here because there is one player on this list that has been turning heads at preseason though and we didn't talk about him after the Cleveland game probably should have but that is Jordan Hancock now Jordan Hancock is a second year player didn't make much of an impact last year here's his his season stats from last year as you can see there wasn't much of an impact but he has been turning heads at this preseason especially with his defensive coordinator who had a lot of praise to say for Jordan Hancock today here I'll pull up Leonard's quote Leonard said about Jordan Hancock he's a very confident player he's going to make quick decisions and play fast he's going to impact the game and fly around he has to be a Swiss army knife right now and that's because the bills are trying to still trying to figure out what Jordan Hancock's role is on this team if he's more of a nickel or more of a safety it seems like Jim Leonard's still trying to figure that out himself but the talent is most definitely there for Jordan Hancock and it looks like it's being reciprocated between defensive coordinator and player as this is what Jordan Hancock had to say today about Jim Leonard he's helped me a lot this whole offseason he never really gave up on me that's referring to a previous injury that Hancock had earlier this offseason he always gave me great coaching points when I wasn't out there I'm happy he's here that's what Jordan Hancock said so maybe we've got a happy little marriage between Jim Leonard and Jordan Hancock I hope so maybe Jordan Hancock can be that hidden gem in the secondary that anchors that secondary especially through these first five weeks when they have some tough tough tough receiver matchups okay now that we got that entire secondary issue out of the way let's talk about what what not Jordan Hancock what Jim Leonard really praised at this press conference and that was the run defense now if you watched either of the Browns game or the Panthers game you know that the run defense looked really good the Bills really stuffed the the opposing running backs in both games and that is something that Jim Leonard has been focusing on the biggest thing over the two games is what he said the biggest thing over the two games that I'm pleased with how we stopped the run so far over these two games it's been pretty primitive game planning at this point we've been able to stop the run and that allows us to do a lot of different things from a coverage perspective and he went on to talk about how allows them to be more aggressive and a lot more flexible on defense especially compared to last year and if you watched any any second of Bills football last year you know that stopping the run was probably their biggest flaw it seems like they were giving up chunk plays every every other snap it felt like I mean there was it looked like a defender would have a guy wrapped up and then he would escape for an extra 10 yards it seemed like every other play so if they can really establish this run defense and even if it's like a top 15 defense that is plenty enough to really really change this Bills team especially when you have a guy like Dion Walker who I think is primed to have a phenomenal season this year all reports are that he has been looking great in preseason and in training camp he's 330 pounds and he does not move like it that is what the word on the street is so hopefully Dion Walker is in store for a big big year this year and is really going to anchor this defense now one more thing that Jim Leonard did touch on was the probably the biggest position going into the final week of preseason and that is between the rookie Caleb Elam's or alarms or and Dorian Williams this has kind of been a back and forth battle for that linebacker position and it seems like a decision has not been made yet Jim Leonard said I think it's close they're both at playing at a high level if you had to pick a winner right now I don't think we'd be able to which maybe that means that it will be kind of a rotational thing that they'll be cycling through who's this starting linebacker but Caleb alarms or is another guy that has really been impressive during preseason he's a rookie trying to really make a name for himself against a veteran like Dorian Williams I think I think that I think the starting job is going to go to alarms allure that's kind of how I feel like the tides are turning but again let me know what you guys think about that also in the comments are you on the alarms allure train or alarms or train or are you on the Dorian Williams train I am interested to see what you guys think about that but those are really the biggest highlights from Jim Leonard's press conference today a lot was said a lot was revealed and really it's getting me fired up for NFL football the secondary is concerning but hopefully that is something that they have time to figure out but if you like this breakdown if you want more breakdowns like this go ahead hit subscribe because like I said at the top we are going to have plenty more bills coverage for you coming up leading up to both the Steelers game on Thursday night and leading up to week one against the Texans but thank you guys so much for watching and as always of course go bills