NFL Films exec reacts to Bills' strong feelings about being featured 'Hard Knocks: Training Camp' team

Individuals within the Buffalo Bills, such as quarterback Josh Allen, haven't hidden that they feel Buffalo being the featured "Hard Knocks: Training Camp" team this summer could serve as an unwanted distraction for a club looking to make its first Super Bowl appearance since January 1994. 

During a recent chat with Tim Graham of The Athletic, NFL Films vice president and executive producer Ken Rodgers addressed the Bills' feelings about being part of a show they clearly want nothing to do with ahead of the upcoming season. 

"I understand it," Rodgers acknowledged. "Even as a filmmaker, I believe in under-promising and over-delivering in our work. I want to be under the radar and surprise people and not have people thinking about us until we air and realize what a great show it is. Almost every coach wants to stay under the radar, but 'Hard Knocks,' to its credit, is so popular that it really raises the profile of the team we feature. It’s antithetical to an organization’s goals sometimes. ...The National Football League is, in the end, an entertainment business and a licensing business and a fan engagement business. Once you’re chosen to play in Europe, once you’re playing on Thursday night out on the West Coast, you accept it, you move on, you manage it and you try to maximize that experience."

The Bills are undeniably a fascinating team this July. Allen is the league's reigning regular-season Most Valuable Player but is 0-4 against fellow signal-caller Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in postseason play. While Mahomes is a three-time Super Bowl MVP, Allen has yet to guide Buffalo past the conference championship round of a postseason tournament. 

As of Monday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Bills and Baltimore Ravens tied as the top betting favorites at +600 odds to win Super Bowl LX in February 2026. Rodgers suggested that casual football fans "not knowing enough about the Bills" was one reason NFL Films picked the AFC East club for the "Hard Knocks" assignment. 

"They’ve gotten their national appearances," Rodgers said about the Bills. "They’ve gotten their playoff runs. They’ve gotten their awards, including last year’s MVP. But I don’t think enough people know about them and what their philosophy is and what mindset created this current run of success. That’s a shame, and it makes me feel like they’re the perfect team to expose outside their own fandom."

For a piece published back in May, Graham wrote that Bills head coach Sean McDermott, general manager Brandon Beane and other people associated with the franchise "loathe the idea of 'Hard Knocks.'" More recently, Rodgers indicated McDermott and his players will become "very comfortable" with "Hard Knocks" being part of the Bills' training-camp process. 

"They’re not going to be rattled by a couple cameras," Rodgers added about the Bills. "They’ve been under a microscope for years and years now — on a positive side. If anyone is worried, then the worry should disappear pretty quickly because of the culture that’s already present."

Perhaps McDermott will successfully use having to be part of "Hard Knocks" as a way to motivate his players ahead of Buffalo's Week 1 "Sunday Night Football" matchup versus Baltimore on Sept. 7.