ORCHARD PARK — While most people wanted to flee Western New York for warmer weather during spring break, Cole Bishop wanted to come back.
Sure, he has a house and it makes more sense to stay there rather than spend money on a rental somewhere else. But Bishop also wanted to get back to work, so he returned a little earlier to work out locally ahead of the Buffalo Bills’ offseason workouts in April.
Bishop started four games at safety during his rookie campaign, making 40 tackles and a forced fumble. But the 2024 second-round draft pick is looking for more this season and that includes securing a starting job.
The Bills appear poised to give Bishop every opportunity to win a starting job this year and they need him to succeed in doing so. Not only did the Bills invest high draft capital in him, but safety is the premier position in coach Sean McDermott’s defense and the absence of experience was felt during the first year of the post-Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer era.
“Every snap I played, every game I played, I felt more comfortable,” Bishop told GNN Sports after practice Tuesday. “So when I got a few starts in a row under my belt, it felt like I was starting to flow a little bit. So I’m excited to see what comes of that.”
The start of Bishop’s NFL career was odd, even for a rookie. He played his final college game at Utah on Nov. 25, 2023, opting out of the team’s bowl game after declaring for the draft.
Bishop then spent the next five months preparing for the draft and his workouts were centered around 40-yard dash times and other drills done at the NFL scouting combine rather than actual football drills.
Aside from the Senior Bowl, Bishop didn’t play an actual football game until Week 2. Just days into training camp, Bishop leaped for a pass break-up and crashed to the turf. He suffered a shoulder injury that kept him out of practice for 21 days and he missed all three preseason games.
Although rookie safeties don’t typically start for McDermott, Bishop was supposed to be in the mix for a starting job. Bishop started training camp rotating with veterans Damar Hamlin and Mike Edwards with the first-team defense, but his injury came on the first day of his rotation.
Edwards also got hurt and was eventually released, while Hamlin never gave up the starting job. And even when Bishop got to play, it came in a less-than-ideal scenario.
Inactive in Week 1, Bishop saw garbage-time minutes in blowout wins over the Dolphins and Jaguars in consecutive weeks, but he was thrust into action against the Ravens in Week 4 after Taylor Rapp suffered a mid-game concussion. He started against the Texans in Week 5, but went back to the bench for another nine weeks.
“I started feeling pretty good when I got hurt so that sucked,” Bishop said. “I had a couple good practices in a row so that was disappointing. But it’s just learning from it. Everybody has adversity in their career with injuries and everything. So just being able to come back from that and stay healthy.”
When Hamlin and Rapp suffered injuries late in the season, Bishop got a chance to start three consecutive games and played extensively in the regular-season finale. He made 18 tackles in those games and he started improving every week.
There were moments during Bishop’s rookie season where he seemed to be thinking rather than reacting. It wasn’t that Bishop didn’t understand his assignment, but rather he would think, “This is where I’m supposed to go,” rather than just going there, which is common for a first-year player.
Once a player understands his job, along with the assignments of his teammates and what the offense is doing, it creates the ability to freelance a bit within the system and stay one step ahead.
Bishop learned the hard way during his first start when his eyes drifted in the wrong direction for just a blink and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud found a wide-open Nico Collins for a 67-yard touchdown.
The key is that Bishop learned. He got chewed out by cornerback Rasul Douglas immediately, but he listened. He spent a lot of time listening all season, especially when Hyde was signed to the practice squad in December.
And the improvement showed late in the season when Bishop saw a pick play coming against the Patriots in Week 16. He effectively communicated with linebacker Dorian Williams to switch their coverage assignments, forcing quarterback Drake Maye to move to a different progression and Cam Lewis recorded an interception.
“You want a young player to understand the system to a point where he can play fast and you can see his true skill set,” McDermott said. “… He’s showing that he’s getting more comfortable with this system. And then he’s finding ways where he can work his magic within the system, meaning where he can cheat and you learn that. The more you know the system, it’s how can you make the system work for you?”
Once Bishop learns the system in full, his physical traits could be what sets him apart. Typically the Bills have used thinkers at safety under McDermott, including Hyde and Poyer.
Neither player was a full-time safety when they were third-day picks and Hyde didn’t become a regular safety until he signed with the Bills in 2017. Bishop adds an athleticism and size they haven’t had at the position, as he would be the tallest starting safety McDermott’s had since becoming a defensive coordinator with the Eagles in 2009.
At 6-foot-2, 207 pounds, Bishop ran a 4.45-second 40 and produced a 39-inch vertical leap at the combine. He was an effective player around the line of scrimmage in college and he has the ability to be an enforcer for the Bills in the run game while still having range in coverage with his long stride.
Despite his size, Bishop noticed the difference between college and NFL strength. McDermott highlighted the weight room as an area for Bishop to improve and he received an offseason workout play from new strength coach Will Greenberg.
“My weight is pretty good where it’s at so it’s really just getting stronger,” Bishop said. “I don’t really care what I look like. It’s not necessarily our job to look good. I’m just trying to get as strong as possible, as fast as I can and as explosive as I can.”
