Sal Capaccio | Buffalo Bills Sideline Reporter

Don't buy Bird Dog's khaki shorts. While they may appear very similar to Lululemon, they are not. Bird Dog's tailored fit is overly sexual.

You don't want that. You want a big baggy fit like the shorts you get from those other guys. Gym shorts should swallow your legs. Don't even bother going to BirdDogs.com. Their website is riddled with typos. And definitely don't bother seeing how good your legs will look in Bird Dogs. You don't need that unwanted female attention. Again, do not visit BirdDogs.com and enter code radio to get the free tumbler they're offering with your Bird Dogs shorts.

That's BirdDogs.com code radio. Life comes with a lot of decisions and it can be hard to know the right path sometimes. A therapist can help you map out what you really want so you trust yourself to make great choices and feel excited about the future. BetterHelp offers convenient professional online therapy on your schedule however you want it by phone, chat, or video call. Let therapy be your map with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com positive today to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHelpHELP.com positive. Sal Cappaccio who is the bill's beat and sideline reporter part of our Buffalo affiliate WGR. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio and Sal, this is an injury that we'll have to talk about and and we'll kind of look at the impacts for the bills but I know you're getting set to cover training camp. Bills are all congregating in the next 48 hours and the media will have a chance to see them.

What's your attitude and your outlook as as you get ready for camp? Well look I still think the Bills are one of the top teams in the NFL. I mean even Vegas odds say so right they are one of the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl. Now they're not the favorite like they were last year and I think that's kind of the difference here Amy where they're not really as much the hunted as much as they become a little bit of the hunter but a lot of people are counting them out.

I'm reading preview after preview of they're taking a step they've taken a step back and the window is closed. That's not true as long as they've Josh Allen the window's open and Josh Allen's still young he's just entering his second contract. They still have a fantastic roster.

They have a very hard schedule and the division is improved there's no doubt but I expect this team to be right back in the same situation they were last year and the year before which is contending for an AMC championship. We find out about the Naim Heinz injury gosh that just stinks and going to be out for the season. How does this impact the team?

First of all Naim Heinz great guy you know really good locker room presence. One of the reasons they traded for him last year is because I think they really you know they knew how much he brought how much juice he brought to the locker room the energy he has and he really does and obviously it didn't work out as far as putting on offense as much as they wanted last year but they really found a really good return man and he was going to be that's that's his role this year he was going to be their main punt and return man punt and kick return man. So that's what they're going to lose they're going to lose that main guy they're going to replace him. It doesn't really impact the offense that much now he might have been sprinkled in here or there for you know some sort of gadget play or a game plan situation but he wasn't going to be taking care he's really away from James Cook or Damian Harris and they also have Latavius Varee on the roster. This is really all about the return game what he gave them we all saw the week after Damar Hamlin went down and that opening kickoff against the New England Patriots I mean literally I'm on the field and there's tears flowing people are crying right because of how special that was then he has another one later. They're going to lose that but you know there's there's also new rules with the kickoffs this year and I don't think as far as the kickoffs are concerned it's as big of a deal but punt returns it is but they have in-house candidates in fact Amy they signed Deontay Hardy this year to play wide receiver but the guy was a first team all-pro punt returner just in 2019 so I mean they can do that Khalil Shakir can do it Micah Hyde can do it if they want him to because you know he's more of a guy that makes sure he's really secure back there and everything but it's a it's a blow anytime you lose a good player that can help your roster especially when you're a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

Thinking about their running back core they've done some shuffling there's been so much talk about not wanting Josh Allen to be running the ball as much not that they want to take it out of his playbook but they would prefer he would prefer to not be taking quite as many hits so what do you think of their running back room as currently constituted? It doesn't really I'm not going to say it doesn't matter I should say I'm going to stop myself not to say it doesn't matter who the bills have a running back of course it matters but they're not a team that's going to funnel their offense through the running back we know that they're going to do it with Josh Allen they're going to throw the ball a lot they're going to be a very heavy pass heavy team and Josh is going to factor into the running game but yes the point you make is right which is every year we hear this and Sean McDermott even said at the owner's meetings he said hey as long as Josh Allen's the quarterback and I'm the coach I'm always going to be telling you how we don't want him to take those unnecessary hits this is just going to happen every year but we all know also that that's just in Josh's DNA that he's going to go out there and he's going to fight for every yard he's going to run over a linebacker and run all round and you know jump over one or something like that but in the meantime they have James Cook and Damien Harris who I think are clearly one two and there is a debate here on who will be number one I don't think it's much to debate I think James this is James Cook's backfield I think that Damien Harris is a backup to him but a fine player who will get his carries will be a nice compliment I look at it this way Amy last year it was Devin Singletary James Cook and but the Bills even though Devin Singletary was the number one back he still only carried the ball like 165-170 times right 30th in the NFL I think that's James Cook's role this year he'll be the number one back on the Bills but the number one back on the Bills isn't like a number one back everywhere else number one back of the Bills is a guy that really only gets maybe the 30th most carries in the NFL like last year and then Damien Harris comes in as the second guy and then they have Latavius Murray they signed with a nice year last year and I think that's the guy that probably benefits the most here unfortunately from 99's injury that he probably has a secure roster spot now to be that you know that back and short yard yardage situations but now they have a spot for him. We're always excited to have Sal Capaccio on the show covers the Bills their sideline reporter has always game day in Buffalo which is such a cool name for the podcast it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio the infusion for the defense in the form of Von Miller how much does that matter to get this guy back into the flow of their defense? It matters immensely when he went out last year on Thanksgiving the pass rush simply was like I say non-existent but there was a steep steep drop-off and the difference he made being on the field was immense for a few reasons number one guys like Ed Oliver and Greg Russo were really having good years because teams couldn't focus on them they had to focus on Von Miller and number two the Bills didn't have to blitz that much because Von Miller was so good at getting the passer and other people then benefited from that they could get home with four once he went out they had to start blitzing a lot more you saw Matt Milano blitz you saw Jermaine Edmonds blitz guys coming off out of the secondary and the Bills don't want to do that they don't want to be blitzing like that they want to get home with four so that's immense but we don't know if Von Miller is going to be ready week one or week two I think the signing of Leonard Floyd is a real good indication that they're protecting themselves against having to play Von Miller early even if Von is healthy enough to play I think the Bills have to protect him protect him from himself and say this is a marathon not a sprint and I think that Leonard Floyd signing is really big I mean this is a guy I think he's had the fourth most sacks over the last three years in the NFL he's had like 29 sacks I think in the last three years which is a really good number I think that's a really interesting signing because he can at least help you bridge the gap to when Von Miller is actually playing whole time again and when Von comes back now you had Von Miller Leonard Floyd and Gregory Russo off the edge and I think that's just going to be a huge huge deal for the Bills to get back to that kind of pass rush one of the things that stands out at me as I look at the defensive names and think about their D is the number of veteran guys who are also strong voices in the locker room and great leaders like Micah Hyde like Jordan Poyer of course Von Miller as well they've got some guys who can really drive this team forward along with the members of the offense that also have been there for a long time yeah for sure and they had a lot of injuries last year you know this is one of the healthiest teams in the NFL for like three straight years that wasn't the case last year Tredavious White was out pretty much most of the year because of the previous year's injury the ACL and him recovering Von Miller then gets hit or gets hurt on Thanksgiving just like Tredavious did the year before he's out Micah Hyde got hurt in week two he was out for the year Jordan Poyer was in and out of the lineup the rest of the year he missed like three four games Gabe Davis hurts his ankle in week two before the game during practice he's not the same the whole year clearly he was bothered the whole year never got back 200 same thing with Ed Oliver but you know now you're going to see hopefully a much healthier Buffalo Bills team at least to start the year and getting Micah Hyde back is just a huge huge you know difference for this team for what it was last year and Jordan Poyer I mean we were all surprised when he resigned with the Bills he went to free agency he didn't get the kind of offers he wanted he knew that he'd come back to Buffalo still be a really big player an important player have a chance for a Super Bowl he's going to play with Micah Hyde again so getting those two guys back I mean what a difference and then they go out and sign Taylor Rapp a third safety I think Taylor Rapp's gonna have a real big role on this team we'll see what he does I think the big storyline really on the defense this year though Amy is Sean McDermott is a play caller now no longer Leslie Frazier what kind of wrinkles does he have does he start going more to a three safety look does he take the nickel corner off the field once in a while do they play three linebackers I think it's gonna be really interesting to see how that looks this year. Sal Cappaggio is with us getting set for Bills training camp it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio just seeing Damar Hamlin thinking about him back on a football field at training camp with his guys after everything that happened it gives me joy it inspires me what is the role for him what are the expectations for him in returning to the Bills and and actually being cleared to play football? Well he is cleared he's been cleared by the Buffalo Bills and their doctors and every specialist he's seen he's on the active roster he's expected to walk out in training camp and practice like everybody else on Wednesday when they started St. John Fisher University he did not do everything during OTAs mini camp but he was on the field by the end and pretty much doing everything over the last couple of days taking team reps then that's when they told us basically yep he's cleared he can do all this stuff so there's no list for him to be on like he's not going to be on NFI or PUP or anything like that he is playing he is on the 90-man roster and he has a to me he's he's not a lock to make the 53 but he's pretty certain to make it because I just talked about Jordan Poyer Mike Hyde Taylor rep those are your top three safeties they're Jordan and Micah their numbers one and two and then there's a gap Taylor rep number three then there's a gap that's going to be Damar Hamlin number four then there's another gap I think Damar Hamlin has that fourth safety spot I think would be real big upset if he didn't win it this year short of injury or anything else happening hopefully he stays as healthy as he has been and being cleared and all that the next guys on the list are Dean Marlo Jared Maiden and Zane Anderson I don't see any of them beating him out and here's the other point of this Amy if let's just say it comes down to boy his 50-50 do we keep Damar who's a really good special teams player by the way and he'll you know play that role that's what his role is going to be in being a backup safety but if it comes down to boy do we keep tomorrow do we keep you know Dean Marlo it's real close keep them our keep a guy from another position I just can't see this organization not keeping Damar Hamlin what he means to the inspiration of that locker room what he means to those players I think it would be the Bills think about stuff like that I think they know that hey if it's close and we move on from Damar Hamlin that's not going to go over well in our locker room for how much these guys appreciate everything that he's gone through and what he's done to be here so I think that even helps him in his case to be on this team you remember vividly I'm sure what happened on January 2nd in Cincinnati what does it mean to you that he's back out there playing football again well it means a lot to me as a person not only who covers this game professionally but I played high school football growing up I was I've been a broadcaster in this game I've coached the game at the high school level I love this game I love the grassroots part of this game and I understand a lot of the risks that go along with the game of course nobody expects anything like that to happen but for many many years you know we've been hearing more and more about all the different kinds of things in football by why people shouldn't play and for someone like Damar Hamlin to go through what he did to play because of how great the game is to him what the game has given him in life that speaks to someone like me I'm a guy that believes that at the grassroots level this is the greatest game it's the only it's the only game where you can really throw that many people into one locker room from all these different socioeconomic backgrounds and religious backgrounds and everything and learn to play as a team and understand what it's like to be with your brothers in that locker room from all different places and races and things like that and I think you know that's a big reason why Damar Hamlin is still playing to advance this game people like me anybody else we need to recognize the risks of this game and things that can happen but it's also incumbent upon us to make the game as safe as possible and I think that number one is truly you know something that speaks to me about Damar Hamlin but the other thing is aside from football Amy I love the fact that he has become an agent of change this is a man that has spent the last six months essentially especially the last two going around the country and promoting AEDs and CPR training for people especially for youth sports because they are so underfunded and so under available around the country and Damar has been at the forefront of doing that he's at the hope weeks for all these baseball games he's in Pittsburgh throughout the first pitch at the Yankee Stadium throwing out the first pitch he's at all these American Cancer Society events this is a guy that truly not only in his words but also in his actions is being an agent for change in the forefront facing person for this that's saying let's go do this and make this happen look what it did for me in my life truly an inspiration in so many ways seeing him at the SPs on stage with the Buffalo Bills athletic training staff and the medical staff because it's clear that a bond has formed there not only does he get their encouragement but he is an example of what their profession can do and and why they work so hard at it Sal Capaccio is with us here after hours CBS Sports Radio all right so I've saved the fun stuff for last Josh Allen what is the standard for him going into 2023 Sal well look he has already been an MVP candidate finished what second and then third and you know I mean that's a high bar to clear I heard someone say earlier this off season well maybe Josh Allen has hit his ceiling and I'm like well that's okay because that ceiling's pretty damn high I mean I mean what what I don't know how much higher you want him to go right I mean it'd be great if he could be even better than that but he's as good as you can be in this league basically he's one of the best quarterbacks at this point statistically who's ever played the game he statistically I believe Amy actually is like one of the greatest playoff quarterbacks ever for how he how well he's played once he's got to the postseason he's only been in the league five years but you know that said there are some things that he can approve improve on there always are and the turnover has been an issue we know that but you also don't want to take away letting Josh be Josh like we talked about running he's going to be a guy that's going to sometimes take risks and sometimes those risks are in a backfire on you but I'd rather see him do that because a lot of times those risks turn into touchdowns and turn into wild plays the standard is for Josh Allen to lead this team back to where they were last year and then even beyond that's the standard that's the standard he puts on himself that's the standard this entire city's putting on him there's a lot of pressure but you know Josh has handled it so perfectly every step of the way I expect nothing less from him this year than to go out there and do what he's done the last few years and you know one thing about Josh people talk about the way he plays and you know can he stay healthy he started 71 straight games that is the longest active streak of any quarterback in the national football league currently like this guy is a gamer he's a baller and he's going to be there for his football team all right I'm sheepishly asking this but I feel like I wouldn't be doing my job if I at least didn't bring it up anything at all at all that we should be concerned about with Stefan Diggs well it's a good question because until we hear from Stefan Diggs we don't fully know the answer to that so don't worry about it you can ask it all you want because we're asking that here in Buffalo because you know when we get to training camp on Wednesday what typically happens is we hear from Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean on day one and then usually Josh Allen after practice day one or before practice day two or after practice day two it's within the first two days and we usually hear from Stefan Diggs whoever the big names are like that's that usually happens and we have not heard from Stefan Diggs at all during minicamp or OTAs and that's fine he doesn't have to talk but he needs to talk for the simple fact of what you just said once he does we don't ask those questions anymore once he does it's over it's not a distraction we just need to hear him say everything's okay but until he does that we really kind of don't know now he's going to be there there's no there's no reason to believe he won't be at you know training camp and doing what he's expected to do and being on the field the question is when does he talk to the media if he does he's got to at some point what does he say because i think just for the benefit of everyone fans media the football team Stefan Diggs Josh Allen just talk get it out of the way and let's move on ah so much fun i can't believe that it's actually training camps even though it's still july but yes the dog days of summer mean football as well and sal capaccio is about to get busy you can find him on twitter at sal sports he's the bill's beat and sideline reporter you can hear him on our buffalo affiliate wgr am 550 doing the extra point show and then he always game day in buffalo podcast do you ever do you ever take an hour off during the season not even in the off season man you can never do that right i mean it's uh you got that's what keeps us busy i always say like and not to obviously compare our professions to the people in the medical field but i always say like in the off season it's like being a doctor on call like today i mean i am hinds injury right bam you got to go to work you gotta figure it out you gotta find out what's happening at least during the season as busy as we are amy it's routine i know exactly what to expect every monday and tuesday and wednesday and thursday well we're always glad to have you i'm sure we'll catch up with you again during the season thanks sal it's good to talk to you anytime amy thank you being a baseball play-by-play broadcaster demands a blend of learned mechanics intense preparation and a calm sense of entertainment how hard is it to do this job let's talk to the ones who do it this is matt spiegel my new podcast the pvp voices of baseball will bring those conversations to you as the best working and former broadcasters tell you why and how they do it new episodes come every thursday all summer long follow the pvp voices of baseball on the odyssey app or wherever you find your podcast you