Offense 

Obviously this teams success really starts and ends with Josh Allen. When he’s on the  field the Bills tend to have success more often than not. There’s really not a whole lot else in this QB room that stands out but it’s also not horrific or something I view as a real problem for this team. While I’m not saying Mitchell Trubisky, Shane Buechele, or Mike White could step in for Allen and do what he does I don’t think their offense would be absolutely terrible or inoperable either. White and Trubiksy both have had solid careers in the league and guys that can at the very least operate your offense on a basic level if Allen were to go down. And while this team would more than likely

fall apart without Allen it’s not such a slight to those guys as much as it is a praise of how special Allen is and the impact he has on the field every single game.

What stands out to me along this offense is the WR and TE room. They clearly felt they needed a guy to step up and be a little more than what they were last either considering they went and got Amari Cooper at the trade deadline. Last season they could count on Khalil Shakir to step up and make plays with him becoming one of the best short to intermediate targets, especially over the middle of the field, in the league but the problem being guys like Dalton Kincaid, Keon Coleman, Dalton Knox, and Curtis Samuel while solid players just weren’t taking a step for them as far as being a go to guy. When you’re able to key in on Shakir, especially with his style of play, you can game-plan around him and take his go to routes away leaving those aforementioned guys single covered on a regular basis without any real threat of them consistently winning. That’s where additions like Joshua Palmer and in a perfect world Elijah Moore come into play. Palmer is the for sure thing that will provide them with an effective outside WR that cannot only win one on one at a solid rate but also gives this team an element of speed and overall field stretching ability that they didn’t have last year, even with the addition of Amari Cooper. Elijah Moore on the other hand  is this question mark still. He flashes real talent that’s hard to give up on but the consistency just hasn’t been there. While some will just point to him being that type of player others (like myself) see those flashes and look at the QBs he’s been put with year after year and see that as a huge reason why things haven’t worked. He’s been at two of the worst run organizations over the past decade plus in the Jets and Browns and while I like Stefanski being the play caller for the Browns while he was there he had a combination of 39 year old Joe Flacco, Browns version of Deshaun Watson, and Jameis Winston throwing him the ball. While I’m not saying he’ll be a for sure star now that he’s with Allen and the Bills what I am saying is this is his best chance to do so yet. There’s a world he’s a really solid option for them in the passing game and turns into what they had with Curtis Samuel last year with more refined route running. I feel like they did a great job at finding guys to fit and fill roles perfectly for what this WR room needed along with taking an upside shot on Elijah Moore and the talent he’s flashed throughout his career.

The TE room while being largely the same as last year aside from a 5th round pick in Jackson Hawes (Georgia Tech) there’s still a world Kincaid puts it all together and becomes something really special for them. While I wouldn’t bet on it at this point I think it’s still in play and I really feel he has the talent to be something really special in the league as a big slot/TE option for you that gives other teams real fits when it comes to matching up bodies with him. In an ideal world he’s too big and physical at the catch point to put a slot CBs on and too shifty and too refined of a route runner to match LBs on so you’re forced to have a S come down into the box to matchup  with this guy and that’s just assuming you have a S that’s talented enough to do so and most teams just don’t have those guys. Look at guys like Bowers, Kelce, and Mark Andrews have done and are doing for their teams.. in a perfect world Kincaid is having impact like those guys have but he just hasn’t been consistent enough in that respect. So while I really like the TE room between Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid, in my opinion there’s another level I believe that’s possible for them to achieve and I would like to see it ascend to.

This James Cook situation with his contract and the unwillingness to play on said contract definitely presents some problems for the Bills but I don’t know that it’s as serious and some people think it will be. I really like James Cook and he was absolutely awesome for this team last year but if we’re being objective about who they have behind him I don’t know that there’s that big of a drop off between what they’ll get out of him and a guy like Ray Davis or Ty Johnson. Now don’t get me wrong Cook is the better player and would/will have a bigger impact when or if he’s back on the team this year but Davis and Johnson can give you a decent chunk of what Cook will for a fraction of the price of what you’d have to pay Cook. While some really special RBs switched teams last year (Derrick Henry for the Ravens, Josh Jacobs on the Packers, and of course Saquon Barkley on the Eagles) and showed the impact they can have on said team’s season I don’t know that Cook is on that level. I’m all for every player going and getting their money so this is in no way a shot at Cook but I don’t know that he has the leverage to do what he’s doing right now. With the talent the Bills have behind him right now I don’t know that I’d be betting on them failing without Cook so this idea that him not being there will kill their offense and force their hand to pay him just isn’t going to work in my opinion. Their running game will be serviceable at the very least with the guys they have in that room and even more so because of the guys they have on the OL room so if I were Cook’s agent I’d be saying to him “Go play it out this year, be great like you were last season, and we’ll test FA to get our money somewhere else this upcoming offseason if need be.”

Defense 

Now the conversation as far as this defense goes has to start with what they did this offseason along the DL. This team had a solid group last season and I thought if they had just one more guy they could count on in the IDL they could have been a really special unit. Well this offseason you go and add not only Larry Ogunjobi (suspended for PEDs 6 games) but more importantly TJ Sanders (South Carolina)in the draft. Sanders was an absolute freak in the middle of the Gamecock’s defense and I expect him to do the same at the next level for the Bills. And while I was also hoping for more of CJ West (Indiana)type guy they drafted Deone Walker (Kentucky) as well who might be able to fill that role in a slightly different way, by just being a giant human (6’8 328) quite honestly. You pair the additions of Ogunjobi, Walker, and more than anyone else Sanders with Ed Oliver, in passing situations especially, they will be absolutely terrifying for OL rooms and OCs across the league. Both Sanders and Oliver are freak athletes with really fluid movement for their size. These guys will absolutely wreck plays when they are right but that also comes with a little concern because both of them despite how talented they are can get pushed around in the run game at times but if they get a healthy year out of Daquon Jones or Deone Walker steps up and can count on one of them to be a legitimate run stuffer they will have it all in their IDL group. 

You pair that with the edge additions of Joey Bosa and Michael Hoecht (suspended for PEDs 6 games) in FA and then add on Landon Jackson in the draft and you could have a really special group, especially when you add on the guys they already have on roster like Greg Rousseau, AJ Epenesa, and Javon Solomon. Now there are some concerns with the additions they made though. Bosa is fairly important addition for them as far as how much they’re counting on him to give some pop opposite of Rousseau and while Bosa is a really solid player still he hasn’t played a full season since 2021 and only played 2 out of 5 full seasons before that. He has to be healthy down the stretch if they want to have a for sure real deal pass rush in the playoffs and he just hasn’t shown the ability to stay on the field enough for me to fully trust that. That’s where the Landon Jackson (Arkansas) pick comes in as well. If he can at least be an effective pass rusher when left one on one early on in his career that can be a major help in keeping Bosa healthy. The reason being is because you can then count on a combination of Hoecht when he comes back from suspension, Epenesa, Solomon, and now Jackson to play early downs and limit Bosa’s snap count so he can stay healthy for later in the year.

• While I understand some people will point to the loss of Von Miller I just don’t view him as ghat type of player anymore. Von is an all time great and first ballot HOF so I’m not slighting him in anyway but he’s just not on the field enough anymore to truly impact the game like he once did. He could possibly find a role as a rotational pass rusher but even that has been up and down for him the past two years.

This secondary is certainly interesting because they have a solid amount of talent and some guys that are very overlooked when it comes to national media but I don’t know how much I trust the depth. The good news is Sean McDermott seemingly always keeps this secondary together no matter how many injuries and/or issues with play they’re having, truly top end defensive coach in the league despite the hate he gets at times. Maxwell Hairston (Kentucky) I think will be the biggest part in determining if this group is a fine middle of the pack secondary or a really special group. You have a solid S room that I don’t think necessarily has any stars in it but isn’t lacking talent either. Taylor Rapp and and Damar Hamlin are both solid players that will give you a floor that you’re happy with in that room and Cole Bishop is a guy that I think long term will be an answer for them. Then you look at the CB room and you have a stud in Christian Benford that may not be true lockdown guy but will hold his own vs almost anyone in the league and a good amount of the time will come out on top plus you pair that with one of the best Slot CBs in the league in Taron Johnson and you have a really great pairing there. Now this is where it comes down to Hairston.. he’s a flashy CB that has unreal athletic traits and if he can learn to harness that talent and be a little more conservative and refined in his technique (in press especially) you’ll have a truly special trio there. If Hairston isn’t able to figure it out early on and you have to start counting on the Dane Jackson or Tre White type guys to step in I worry that you might see some spots teams can attack real quick with them on the field consistently. I also wouldn’t count out Dorian Strong (Virginia Tech) to have an impact at some point here either though. While not an elite athlete I thought he looked really clean on tape and could absolutely step in for an injury if need be even in his rookie year. In my opinion he should not have been a 6th round pick, that was the absolute floor for his stock to me.

Overview 

• Ultimately this Bills team will, in my opinion, be right back where they were last year and it all comes down to will the additions of guys like Bosa, Palmer, Hairston, and Sanders be enough to round out this team and get them over the top to finally get to that Super Bowl that has eluded them for years now. I think they’re in a better position than ever to do so, they just have to stay healthy. While it’s not end all be all for this organization this year I also think there is a realistic world where they move on from some pieces, including possibly HC Sean McDermott, if they don’t get to where we all and they believe they can get to. In opinion they’ll be fine and to be quite honest with you they’re my favorite to come out of the AFC this year.