The Buffalo Bills have begun preparations for their Sept. 14 opener against the Houston Texans and Joe Brady’s first season as head coach.After the roster was set, general manager Brandon Beane met with reporters Tuesday to discuss his decisions and several bigger-picture questions.Hairston, Igbinosun and the No. 2 CB conversationWhen training camp began, the starting cornerback job was rightfully wide open.After all, the Bills’ realistic depth chart consisted of their locked-in top cornerback, Christian Benford, and then some young players with high variability: second-year defender Maxwell Hairston and rookie second-round pick Davison Igbinosun.Hairston came back on the fly as a rookie from a multi-month injury at training camp and immediately filtered in for defensive reps. While there were flashy moments, the consistency of the performances was altogether uneven. Fast forward to 2026, Hairston has always been viewed as the odds-on favorite to be the starter, though the inconsistencies in camp followed, along with another camp injury — this time a groin ailment.That, combined with Igbinosun’s steady progress once the pads went on in August, and being a direct improvement over Hairston in dealing with physical receivers and in run support, is presenting extremely logical questions that the Bills have to be pondering inside the building, too. To Hairston’s credit, his ability to turn and run gives him a higher ceiling than Igbinosun.After the Bills’ preseason finale, Brady said succinctly that Hairston is the starter. Regardless, there is some wiggle room there, as Hairston’s struggles and Igbinosun’s progress bring up the conversation of whether a timeshare is possible in Week 1 — with Hairston being the technical starter.“We have a lot of confidence in (Hairston),” Beane said. “I think IGB has done a really good job. If we didn’t have confidence in him, we’d just sit him down and throw IGB in. He’s a young player that’s gonna continue to push his way, and Max knows that he’ll have to play at a certain level, or there’s a young man here that’s ready to showcase kind of what he can do.”Beane also commented on how good of a spring Hairston had, so it appears they want to give him every opportunity to be the guy they hoped for when they used their top pick on him. Still, it’s hard to ignore what has been going on since Hairston returned from the groin injury, which leads back to the possibility of a non-full-time role.“I don’t really know at this point what we’d do,” Beane said. “I think we’re just kind of taking it one day, one week at a time. I wouldn’t want to put us in a box of saying we would or wouldn’t do. I think anything would be on the table. Whatever we think can help us win. If it’s a platoon, we’ll do it. If it’s just one guy, we will do that.”It wasn’t a flat-out “no” on the idea, and it’s even more interesting that the Bills aren’t shying away from Hairston needing to prove his spot.His performance and how the Bills handle that position will be one of the most intriguing parts of their Week 1 showdown in Houston.Week 1 gamesmanship? Several key starters returnWhen Beane met with the media on Tuesday, he did so more than an hour before practice began, and it was the first real chance to get injury clarification since the team’s preseason ended. The Bills had a handful of starters and key role players sitting out during last week’s practices, including a pair of key starting defenders — safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and inside linebacker Terrel Bernard.Gardner-Johnson has been going through “something different” of an injury than what he did when he injured his calf early in camp. Meanwhile, Bernard’s undisclosed injury kept him out of on-field work last week. In both cases, Beane didn’t give absolute certainty of their Week 1 availability. On Gardner-Johnson, Beane said, “We’ll know more next week,” and on Bernard, they want to get him back to full health. “Hopefully before game one. We’ll see,” Beane said.The update on both players seemed slightly concerning for Week 1, though when the Bills opened up their doors to practice, Gardner-Johnson and Bernard were going through all individual reps — and they weren’t alone. The Bills also saw the return of defensive lineman Ed Oliver, center Connor McGovern and wide receiver Keon Coleman. In all five cases, returning to practice more than a week before the season opener is an extremely promising sign.The Bills were without six players from their 53-man roster. Of that group, the biggest name is wide receiver Khalil Shakir, who hasn’t practiced since Aug. 18. Shakir was able to do some jogging around the practice fields while positional work was going on, so there were at least some signs of progress. The other notable absence was backup running back Ty Johnson, who hasn’t practiced since suffering an injury on Aug. 8.Similarly, Johnson was doing some work along the sideline. It remains to be seen whether either will be available for Week 1, though given Shakir’s usual workload, it may be a case of the team giving him all the rest it can until the first regular-season week arrives.The other group of non-participants included offensive tackle Jude Bowry, outside linebacker Javon Solomon, nickel cornerback Jordan Hancock and safety Jalon Kilgore.The Latu surpriseOne of the bigger surprises when the Bills unveiled their final roster was that it included a fourth tight end, that being second-year player Keleki Latu, and excluded a fullback. Latu came to the Bills as an undrafted rookie in 2025 and put together an excellent training camp and summer, to the point that they didn’t want to find out if they’d lose him to waivers.The why is, at the very least, interesting: how the offense will look in 2026 without a fullback. The Bills run a lot of looks with 13 and 12 personnel, so keeping an additional player at the position makes a good degree of sense if he has the right blend of skills, and Latu passed that test in the Bills’ mind.“He’s come a long way from 12 months ago,” Beane said. “I think the thing that I saw — the passing game was there last year — I think this guy really focused on his play strength and his run blocking, being a more complete tight end. He’s a longer-levered guy, so it’s easier for guys to get up under his pads, but him just getting his leverage, getting his hands, his angles.”Latu could very well be involved on game days if special teams calls for it, but not having a fullback opens up a lot of possibilities to line up tight ends in places the Bills didn’t traditionally use in 2025. Although it would only be a handful of snaps each game, Jackson Hawes and Dawson Knox likely give them the most versatility in doing just that.Quarterback Josh Allen said on Tuesday that it could be a way to change some of the defensive rules their opponents have to abide by based on where they’re lined up. The Bills have made a concerted effort to be more unpredictable across the board in 2026, and this is likely another step in that direction.3 women of interest in our 'NFL 50 under 40' listJourdan RodrigueWhat’s going on at punt returner?With the 53-man roster being set for the time being, the Bills really didn’t keep a punt return specialist on their active roster. They unsurprisingly moved on from Mecole Hardman, hoping Ray Davis could take the job and run with it. Still, Davis missing a catch and fumbling a ball to the opponents should rightfully give the team pause heading into the regular season.Beane mentioned four names for what they could do, and admitted they still haven’t finalized which player will have the role to begin the year. The names consisted of Davis, nickel cornerback Dee Alford, Shakir and newly signed practice squad wide receiver Greg Dortch.The Bills have been hesitant to use Shakir as a punt returner this summer, suggesting he may be their emergency option. If so, the decision could be between Davis, Alford and Dortch. Alford returned 20 punts in 2023, so he at least has some experience.Though if the Bills really wanted some pop and real experience, Dortch has returned 92 punts over the last four seasons. The only problem would be finding a gameday spot for him, which could come in the form of someone such as rookie wide receiver Skyler Bell. It might ultimately depend on how much Dortch can learn the offense by the time the Houston game arrives.Either way, the Bills have to choose between using a major starter in Shakir or Alford, an inconsistent returner in Davis or finding a game-day spot for Dortch, without an easy answer.Zane Durant injury updateThe Bills made one move on injured reserve for fifth-round rookie defensive lineman Zane Durant, who suffered an injury late in the team’s preseason finale. Beane updated the reason behind that decision and said it was a “stinger” type of issue that would take “a little time to resolve itself.” Durant will be out a minimum of four games, but Beane did not rule out a Week 5 return for the rookie.