Pittsford, N.Y. — Whatever grace period may have been left after minicamp and OTAs is slowly slipping away.

The Buffalo Bills' rookie class has now had a week of training camp to get acclimated to life in the NFL. Coach Doug Marrone has put a handful of first-year players in a position to compete for significant playing time, and the results have been mixed.

Of course, Sammy Watkins has hardly looked like a rookie at any point during camp, but the rest of the class has been going through the struggles one might expect from first-year players.

On Monday night at 9:30 p.m., I'll be joining Buffalo Rumblings for a Google Hangout in which we'll discuss the Bills' rookie class. Until then, here's a look at how the rookies are performing in the order in which they were drafted.

Drafted players

1. Sammy Watkins, wide receiver

Plenty of digital ink has been spilled on how impressive Sammy Watkins has been in his first NFL training camp. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett put it best on Monday when he said the rookie receiver is affecting the entire energy of the offense.

"There's a lot of excitement for Sammy," Hackett said. "The good thing about Sammy is he's very humble. He's brought a great level of competition to everybody. He gets us all excited. What he's done is he's amped up the competition across the whole board."

2. Cyrus Kouadnjio, offensive tackle

The buzz around Cyrus Kouandjio, the Bills' second-round pick, hasn't been quite as positive. He's struggled at times, especially when blocking Manny Lawson during team drills. At this point, Kounadjio hasn't gotten time with the first team and is still behind Erik Pears on the depth chart.

3. Preston Brown, linebacker

Coming into training camp, Preston Brown looked like a candidate to replace Kiko Alonso at weak-side linebacker. While Brown has taken some reps in the Bills' nickel package, he has spent most of his time at inside linebacker with the second team. Nigel Bradham has been seeing the most action with the first team on the weak side.

4. Ross Cockrell, cornerback

The Bills added even more depth at cornerback by drafting Ross Cockrell, and thus far he's shown the same competitive fire that made him a star at Duke. Cockrell is aggressive despite having a bit of a lean build. He competes hard when the football is in the air and doesn't shy away from anyone at the line of scrimmage. He's certainly making an impression early in camp.

5. Cyril Richardson, guard

Of the Bills' draft picks, Cyril Richardson might be having the quietest camp thus far. He's mostly been stuck getting reps with the second and third teams. Richardson flashed serious talent at Baylor, but conditioning has been an issue in his career and will be worth monitoring going forward.

7. Randell Johnson, linebacker

Randell Johnson just recently returned to the practice field after starting training camp on the physically unable to perform list. Physically, Johnson is an impressive player. He has good length for a linebacker and could even contribute as a situational pass rusher if he continues to develop.

7. Seantrel Henderson, offensive tackle

Cordy Glenn's absence has created a big opportunity for rookie offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson. Once the top high school player in the country, Henderson ran into trouble on and off the field during his career at Miami and almost squandered his shot at getting drafted. The Bills took a chance on him in the seventh round and have been giving him reps at left tackle with the first-team offense throughout training camp.

So far, Henderson is responding by showing improvement on a day-to-day basis. He shut down Mario Williams when lined up against him in team drills on Saturday and got the best of Jerry Hughes in a one-on-one pass rushing drill on Sunday. If Henderson's head is right, the Bills may have gotten a nice value.

Undrafted free agents making noise

Jimmy Gaines, linebacker

With an open competition at weak-side linebacker, Jimmy Gaines got some reps with the first-team defense during the first week of practice. Gaines really stood out in the brief portion of practice in which the Bills did live hitting. He reads the play very well when defending the run and could have a shot at making the final roster.

Kenny Ladler, safety

Kenny Ladler came into camp with an outside shot to make the final roster. He still has that chance, but he's going to need to overcome his hamstring injury in order to do it. Ladler is battling for snaps in a deep defensive backfield, so every rep is crucial.

Macky MacPherson, center

Former Syracuse center Macky MacPherson is getting a shot at Bills camp, and so far he has done fairly well with it. At times, MacPherson has been mixing in with the second-team offense, and his familiarity Marrone and the playbook has certainly been a help.

Derek Brim, safety

Derek Brim is another local product who the Bills brought in for camp. Brim, who played for the University of Buffalo, is a big player with decent movement skills. He's gone through some ups and downs early in training camp, particularly during one-on-one drills.