The Buffalo Bills will be on HBO’s HARD KNOCKS this summer, emanating from St. John Fisher in Rochester.
Heading into the last year at The Ralph, the NFL is once again spotlighting the Buffalo Bills in a big way. This time, Rochester will be the center of the NFL universe every Sunday night in August.
Last year, Hard Knocks followed the Chicago Bears as they navigated Caleb Williams’ first training camp.
This year’s version will see a Buffalo team in a different spot and bring an interesting dynamic we’ve rarely seen on Hard Knocks. Especially in recent years, it’s been difficult for the NFL to get teams to agree to be on the show.
This created a scenario in which the NFL tried new things. They moved to in-season and offseason models to try to entice more teams.
The training camp Hard Knocks remains the best. But they have rarely had a Super Bowl contender on the program, let alone a team that just lost in the Championship Game.
The offseason version will probably never happen again after the Giants became a laughingstock due to their handling of Saquon Barkley’s free agency.
The in-season version covers an entire division, which doesn’t allow for a deep dive any which way.
Put all of that together, and you have the makings of some incredibly compelling TV this summer. In recent years, we’ve seen what training camp can look like for a team on the rise or rebuilding.
What does it look like for a contender? What does it look like for a contender whose defensive depth chart will be decided in camp? What does getting an MVP QB on the same page with new WRs before the year look like?
This new dynamic to Hard Knocks gives it the potential to be special. The fact that it’s our Buffalo Bills? That’s icing on the cake.
We know the Bills have great vibes. Players talk up the culture, seem to have a ton of fun and genuinely enjoy playing together. If that energy shines through the TV screen, the Bills could truly become the darlings of American football fans heading into the most crucial season in the franchise’s history.
This is divisive among fans, though. Will Hard Knocks become a distraction during a crucial training camp? Is there such a thing as a Hard Knocks curse? Will the national media attention just be annoying? Maybe a little bit of all of it is true. Hard Knocks is such an incredible show, and it is now a pastime for the NFL.
To see Rochester, the Bills organization and most importantly, Bills Fans get the spotlight they will get for 4 weeks, as they continue to sell out St. John Fisher and make Training Camp into a must-see event.
As a wise man once said.