Preseason football presents a perplexing dichotomy for Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott and all of his NFL brethren.

On the one hand, they hate the three exhibition games because football can be a dangerous game and injuries always occur, sometimes serious ones that can derail a player’s season, perhaps even a team’s season.

But they are also a necessary evil because the preseason games play such a critical role in determining position battles as well as who makes the back end of the roster.

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“It’s getting them ramped up and ready to go for the season,” said McDermott, whose team opens the preseason Saturday at Highmark Stadium against the Chicago Bears. “It’s an important step, hard to simulate the speed of the game and so getting that in preseason is important.”

McDermott confirmed on Thursday that the bulk of Buffalo’s starting units will play around a quarter or so, and naturally, as he’s evaluating every aspect of what’s happening, he’ll be holding his breath and hoping everyone makes it through injury-free.

Here are five things I’ll be watching for in the game:

1. Will linebacker Matt Milano and/or Von Miller see playing time?

McDermott acknowledged that among the starters who will play, superstar quarterback Josh Allen will be out there, but he did not say whether Milano or Miller would be on the field. My guess would be that neither will dress, and that would be the right call.

Milano is returning from a broken leg suffered 10 months ago in London, and after skipping all of the team drills in OTAs, he was back to work full time at Fisher with a couple of veteran rest days mixed in. But given his injury history, the Bills might decide to keep him in bubble wrap for the preseason.

“It reminds me of, you’re around injuries where it takes a year to really get themselves back,” McDermott said. “I’m not saying it’s going to take him a year, but I do think it’s him getting re-acclimated to moving at full speed, playing at full speed, and then trusting that he’s back, right? So there’s just more than a physical component that goes into it, and he’s working through that. I think every day he’s gotten a little bit better.”

Regarding Miller, he is much further along than Milano in his return from his torn ACL in November 2022 and he’s probably about as good as he’s going to be at age 35. There’s nothing to gain by playing Miller in the preseason, especially when the competition at edge rusher is so tight and McDermott needs to see the other players, especially Casey Toohill, Kingsley Jonathan and rookie fifth-round pick Javon Solomon.

2. Is Keon Coleman ready to shine?

The second-round pick came to Buffalo with all kinds of bluster and became an immediate social media darling and fan favorite. I don’t pay much attention to that stuff; what I care about is can the guy play? I don’t care where he bought his yellow winter coat from. Can the guy catch the ball and contribute, and in answer to that question, Coleman has shown in camp that he’s certainly capable. Now he needs to do it in live game situations.

“He’s making plays in camp, and we’re building that chemistry on the field right now,” Allen said. “And I think that off the field we’ve got a very good thing going, too.”

Coleman is not going to replace Stefon Diggs, at least not in his rookie season. Several players will have to pitch in to overcome Diggs’ departure, but Coleman needs to be heavily involved in that endeavor because there’s no more waiting around for draft picks to contribute, especially second-rounders.

3. Does Kaiir Elam have a chance to start at cornerback?

The 2022 first-round draft pick has endured two rough seasons due to inconsistency, injury, and the fact that 2022 sixth-round pick Christian Benford has been the better player and earned a starting job.

Benford has continued to look very good opposite the other starter, Rasul Douglas, and McDermott admitted that Elam is the third corner. However, Elam looks so much more confident and competent in his third Bills training camp and it wouldn’t be a shock that if he has a great preseason, he could get the nod in Week 1.

“Kaiir right now is in that third position and I think he’s done a real nice job,” McDermott said. “Last year alone, that was a challenging and trying year. And so there is an element of, or a degree of, reinstilling that belief and that confidence. Probably the biggest thing is he’s been consistent. I really appreciate how consistent he’s been really from the first day of training camp.”

4. Can Ray Davis grab hold of the No. 2 RB spot?

Because of Ty Johnson’s hamstring injury, the fourth-round rookie has been getting plenty of reps including some with the 1’s when James Cook needs a rest, and that has given him a chance to make an impression.

“You never want to get an opportunity when your brothers go down, so obviously that’s not something to be too proud of,” Davis said. “But this is an opportunity for me to just go out there and play my game.”

Davis’ all-around ability is what led the Bills to pick him. In college, he had 1,000-yard seasons at three schools - Temple, Vanderbilt and Kentucky - which is believed to be a first in college football. But he was also adept at catching the ball, and perhaps the one skill that pushed him over the top in Buffalo’s war room was his physicality in pass protection.

He’ll need to prove he can do that as a pro because that will be what gets him on the field, especially on third down, more than anything else.

5. How will the Bills handle the new kickoff setup?

Whatever their plans are for the regular season, we most likely won’t see that in the preseason because the Bills, and all teams, will be as vanilla as possible. Even referee Clay Martin, who was at Fisher last week and spoke at length about the new kickoff rules from an official’s perspective, admitted, “Come Week 1, there’s going to be things we haven’t seen. We understand that and we’d be foolish if we didn’t realize Week 1 ain’t gonna look like the (preseason).”

One thing you won’t see from the Bills, I would imagine, is Tyler Bass kicking the ball through the end zone. The Bills are going to want to see what happens with the ball in play, and they will want Bass to work on his placement, making sure he directs the ball into the landing zone.

And then on returns, special teams coordinator Matt Smiley needs to see how the play unfolds once the return man catches the ball or it hits the ground in the landing zone. The blocking assignments are vastly different now, so they’ll want as many live game reps as possible.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills vs Bears preseason game: Is Keon Coleman ready to shine?