Josh Allen embraces change as Buffalo Bills open training camp under new coach Joe Brady

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — As Josh Allen launched into a defense of the Buffalo Bills’ new alternate “Nickel City” uniforms on Wednesday, the quarterback segued into making a bigger-picture case of embracing change.

It’s a concept the 30-year-old Allen has had to accept personally in becoming a new father this spring, and professionally this offseason. The ninth-year player enters his first NFL campaign under a new coach in Joe Brady, and with the team preparing to move into its new $2.1 billion stadium.

And the same approach, he said, should apply to those who have spent the past few days on social media criticizing the gray uniforms with blue helmets Buffalo debuted this week.

“Stop hating on the jerseys, guys,” Allen said after the Bills opened training camp.

“It’s a new look. I understand that. But we’ve got to be new. And I think these jerseys are kind of symbolic of that,” he added. “I understand people want the old jerseys and the old helmets and all that. But at some point, too, we are moving forward. We have to move forward and do something new.”

The Bills opened camp with familiar high expectations but with an altogether fresh approach. It’s now on Brady, who at 36 enters this season as the NFL’s youngest head coach, to oversee a talented team that's perennially fallen short of a Super Bowl berth in the previous nine years under Sean McDermott.

The coaching change came in January, mere days after Buffalo’s latest collapse in a 33-30 overtime loss to Denver in the AFC divisional round. The defeat, and Allen’s teary-eyed post-game news conference, were the last straws for owner Terry Pegula in believing the Bills had hit " the proverbial playoff wall.”

Though Brady represents change for a franchise that’s reached the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons, he also reflects a semblance of continuity in having spent the previous two-plus years as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator.

Brady put familiarity and the past aside in stressing this being a new start.

“This is Year 1 for everybody. Like I told the team, we’ve never been here before, right?” Brady said. “This training camp is going to be different than we’ve ever had. And that’s not to say anything that we’ve ever done was wrong. It’s just I need guys to understand that approach, and we can’t assume anything.”

And that includes any initial expectations of the team being a playoff contender: “We haven’t earned a damned thing," he said.

Allen and an offense that finished fourth overall in yards and led the NFL in rushing last year returns mostly intact.

It’s on defense where the Bills have undergone the most significant changes. The unit is now overseen by first-time NFL coordinator Jim Leonhard, who is seeking to establish more of an attacking identity and making the switch to a 3-4 system.

Buffalo returns only six of 11 defensive starters from last season.

Among the newcomers are veteran hard-hitting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

“I think that the standard here right now is winning. Championship and winning,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Everybody understand what’s going on. We’re too good of a team to fall short. It’s as simple as that.”

Among Brady’s initial tweaks to training camp include an earlier practice time, with sessions opening at 8:30 a.m. as opposed to 9:45 a.m. under McDermott. The Bills also worked at a faster pace, finishing their first practice in 90 minutes.

“It’s the first time in my four years here that we're under time, so that’s nice,” center Connor McGovern said. “It’s nice getting out here so early. It’s 10 o’clock and you’re already done with the hardest physical part of the day.”

Brady refused to let a persistent drizzle dampen his day by actually welcoming the rain.

“Who says it’s a crappy day? It’s football,” Brady said. “This is perfect. It’s the first day, 8:30 practice, raining. That’s what I want. It’s got to be a tough camp. ... You want it to be hard. This isn’t supposed to be just fun.”

Receiver Tyrell Shavers opened on the physically unable to perform list, six months removed from tearing his ACL. GM Brandon Beane expects Shavers to miss the start of the season. ... OLB Michael Hoecht is being eased in and could be ready for the start of the season after tearing his right Achilles tendon in November.

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Buffalo Bills tackle Dion Dawkins (73) hugs Katie Rubert, of Rochester, N.Y., after practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady, left, watches quarterback Josh Allen throw during practice at the team's NFL football training camp Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady speaks to the media before practice at the team's NFL football training camp Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, center, talks with quarterbacks Kyle Allen, left, and Shane Buechele, right, before practice at the team's NFL football training camp Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A U.S. extradition process against Guyana’s main opposition leader and his father wanted on gold smuggling and money laundering charges can resume after they had legally challenged the request, a Caribbean regional court ruled on Wednesday.

The Caribbean Court of Justice ruled against Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed who were indicted in Florida last year in a case that has underscored persistent government corruption in the oil-rich South American nation.

Azruddin Mohamed, who leads the second-largest party in Guyana’s Parliament, was elected the country’s opposition leader in January, just six months after founding the We Invest in Nationhood Party.

The two have denied the accusations and fought the extradition proceedings before the Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad, which serves as the final court of appeal for several countries in the region.

It was not immediately clear when the proceedings would resume.

“This is, of course, a complicated matter,” Justice Winston Anderson said during the hearing, which was livestreamed.

Attorneys for the Mohameds did not speak during the hearing and did not return messages seeking comment later. The defense had argued that some of the charges the duo face are not extraditable offenses.

Azruddin Mohamed was seen sitting outdoors during the proceedings, smiling occasionally. After the hearing, he posted a video on social media saying that “the work of the people must continue.”

“The fight is still on,” he said. “The CCJ did not rule in our favor, but we respect the court’s decision.”

Meanwhile, Nazar Mohamed told The Associated Press that while it is too early to react comprehensively, their attorneys would advise on the way forward.

“It is a 256-page judgement,” he said. “Our lawyers are checking it through. Based on what lawyers say, all is not lost as yet. ... We will be fighting all the way.”

Azruddin Mohamed is one of Guyana’s wealthiest citizens. He and his father have been out on bond since their arrest last year following the U.S. extradition request.

The U.S. Treasury Department also has sanctioned the duo for allegedly smuggling more than 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of gold to the United States from Guyana, and evading more than $50 million in taxes.

The Mohameds had been among Guyana’s largest gold buyers and exporters, selling gold to buyers in Miami and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, according to the U.S. Justice Department. They also ran one of the most successful foreign exchange outlets and possess extensive real estate holdings.

While the U.S. government has targeted the two, it remains on friendly terms with the administration of Guyana's President Irfaan Ali as the country experiences an economic boom thanks to massive offshore oil deposits that Venezuela has long claimed as theirs.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

FILE - Presidential candidate Azruddin Mohamed, of the We Invest in Nationhood party, displays his ink-stained finger after voting in general elections in Georgetown, Guyana, on Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)