“You’ve got to make tough decisions, sometimes unpopular ones.” That’s how Josh Allen & team’s HC Sean McDermott framed his mindset earlier this summer, reflecting on a year that ended in heartbreak and a roster in transition. “Whatever it is, if it’s the right move at the right time, you’ve got to be also willing to make mistakes,” he said. Now, barely a week into camp, those words have a different significance, not hypothetical, but actual. Buffalo’s injury report is already full. Starters are limping off the field. Decisions on key fights are being made by those who can still put on the uniform in the first game. For a coach attempting to find a new identity after Stefon Diggs and London collapse, this camp was supposed to be about progress. Instead, it’s turned into a survival exercise.

And then there’s Josh Allen, the $258 million franchise face, working around this mess with a makeshift offense. “Every year brings something new,” Allen said to NFL Network. “We’ve got a lot of new faces and not a lot of time to get it right.” For both quarterback and coach, this camp was supposed to be about redefinition. Instead, it’s already about survival.

Buffalo entered camp in Pittsford with renewed optimism. The front office retooled the roster with McDermott’s fingerprints all over it, defensive depth, leadership traits, and schematic fits. But in that initial string of padded practices, a number of contributors have fallen out. Even stud Keon Coleman, the future WR1 everyone expects, has been held out with a nagging issue. Although none of the injuries look devastating, they’ve struck positions already under pressure and shuffled up important rotations.

Continuity is important, particularly in camp. That continuity is being tested on both sides of the ball. The offensive line has experienced unexpected mixing and matching, and the defensive backfield, a long-time McDermott staple, has appeared thin. In some units, the Bills are already going through second-stringers just to make it through reps.

More alarming, though, is the long-term picture if the attrition persists. The AFC East is not a soft landing anymore. Miami is rich. The Jets, for all their deficiencies, are stacked on defense. And New England, in the hands of Jerod Mayo, is no longer a cakewalk. The Bills can’t have another season of last year’s injury issues. When Allen played with a sick shoulder and the secondary collapsed down the stretch. McDermott’s stoic public demeanor conceals the urgency. He understands this team can’t waste another year playing catch-up, both on and off the field.

Josh Allen finds rhythm with unlikely target

As McDermott deals with medical issues of the players, Josh Allen is also quietly developing chemistry with a name that few fans had penciled in at the start of camp: Tyrell Shavers. The 6-foot-4  has become a red zone target in practice in recent days, especially with the absence of Khalil Shakir. Shavers caught consecutive touchdowns in Saturday’s red zone session and was then spotted catching one-on-one passes with Allen after practice.

Shavers’ emergence arrives at an opportune moment. With Shakir likely to be absent for much of the preseason, the slot receiver spot is in limbo for now. Veterans such as Curtis Samuel, Elijah Moore, and Josh Palmer bring things to the table in terms of versatility, but it’s Shavers who has made the largest early strides, especially in contested catch opportunities. The Bills have already tested two-tight end sets with Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox, but Allen has obviously gravitated to Shavers’ size-speed combination as a vertical mismatch, particularly in situational downs.

Nevertheless, Buffalo is not panicking about Shakir’s absence. McDermott informed reporters that the injury was “week-to-week,” and internally, the hope is that he’ll be available for the regular-season opener in Baltimore. But until then, the offense is receiving an education in being flexible. And for Shavers, the reps could be his best bet at hanging onto the active roster or even creating an actual role.