59 Reggie Ragland ILB

Ragland lined up with the third-team defense Tuesday, the Bills' final practice before Thursday's preseason opener, Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News reports.

Ragland was initially expected to challenge Preston Brown for the starting middle linebacker job, but that opportunity is apparently out the window as Ragland has struggled after a year off the field, both in terms of getting up to speed from his injury and also in grasping his role in Sean McDermott's new defense.

Ragland, who was expected to battle veteran Preston Brown for the starting middle linebacker job, has not seen any first-team snaps to this point of training camp, Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News reports.

Perhaps even more worrisome is that Ragland hasn't seen significant action at the outside spots yet, as that was thought to be the fallback option for the loser of this battle. But the key IDP spot -- based on coach Sean McDermott's defenses of the past -- is the man in the middle and right now it looks like Brown has created some separation from the higher-upside but unpolished Ragland, who missed his entire rookie season due to ACL surgery.

Ragland worked with the second team during Thursday's opening night of training camp, Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com reports.

Ragland is expected to compete with Preston Brown for the starting middle linebacker job. However, Brown's the one with experience and a history of being a tackle monger, and while Ragland has more upside, he's yet to play an NFL regular-season down. That said, the new coaching staff seems to love him, so he'll be given a chance to win the job if he can clearly outperform Brown in the new defense, while it's worth noting the loser might still get a starting spot on the outside.

Ragland (knee) was a full participant during Thursday's OTA, Joe Buscaglia of WKBW.com reports.

Ragland had been limited to individual drills during OTAs up to this point, but the 2016 second-rounder is now back on the practice field in full. Whether it be on the outside or in the middle, Ragland will have a solid chance to start at linebacker despite missing all of last year due to an ACL injury.

New defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier thinks Ragland (knee) has the skills to play on the outside if he doesn't win the starting middle linebacker job in the team's new 3-4 defense, BuffaloBills.com reports. Said Frazier: "We think he could potentially play outside. We have a limited sample size based on his rookie season and that was just training camp so you have to look at his college tape and project. Based on our projections we think he could play the middle linebacker position and one of the outside positions."

The team seems to want to give Raglund a crack at the middle linebacker job, but Preston Brown has been as solid as they come there through three NFL seasons. Ragland hasn't played a down of pro football yet and is still not 100 percent as he works his way back from a knee injury that killed his 2016 season. Perhaps the better bet is to let Brown man the middle and give Ragland the starting strong-side spot, where the team doesn't have much talent. We'll see how it plays out this summer, but one way or another, the team has big plans for Ragland.