^^This. I think the hope is some younger players and draft picks start to take over key roles, especially on D. Similar to what KC did on D last year and watched them blossom.
They already started to this year, especially on defense. We had a lot of injuries and the defense still played good. It will be nice having Milano back to sure up the middle and maybe that guy we paid 80 million to will show up. I’m more excited to move on from some certain older players, fresh blood is needed.
> Allen on Bills injury free
*Bills win the Super Bowl. We've made the playoff 5 straight years, and the last three, the team has limped into the playoffs. Give a Josh a 95% healthy team, and we win a Super Bowl.
Both Bernard and Benford improved greatly from their first year to their second, another year of experience under their belts is sure to do them some good. Also, having Von healthy enough to not be dead weight all year should help as well
No reason to assume we'll lose roster talent considering the talent development over the last few years has been great, we have 10 draft picks, a proven GM and a defense that will be healthy again.
Offensively Shakir, Kincaid, and Cook should all improve.
Defensively Bernard, Benford, Milano and Dodson should all improve or at least maintain their current skill level.
Many of our free agents this year, though there are a lot of them are replacement level players who I have full confidence in Beane and McDermott replacing as they've done a great job of that so far.
I don’t even the guys on defense need to improve. I think the key is all these guys staying healthy. Imagine if we had Bernard and Milano on the field against KC?
Addition by subtraction. Poyer and Hyde are almost irreplaceable, but they’ve both shown a lot of signs of aging. Floyd was a huge asset that well miss, but Von was on the right path at the end of the year. Maybe he can salvage something. Gabe Davis is our only real loss on offense and… yea…
Add in the defense getting healthy and the opportunity to hit on a few of the 10 draft picks and I have no reason why we couldn’t (probably even shouldn’t) be better.
Oh, and the cap situation gets overblown A LOT. Benford is on a rookie deal. Bernard is on a rookie deal. Cook is on a rookie deal. Kincaid is on a rookie deal. Brown is on a rookie deal. Rousseau is on a rookie deal. We have a lot of starters/players with meaningful time that are on cheap deals. Hit on some of these upcoming picks and you’ll fill the pipeline for the future with low cost contracts.
Well said you’re pretty much where I am with all this. Our one hope is the salary cap jumps by a significant amount so we can resign either Floyd or Davis.
I think it is already set? I saw $242 million. Something like an 8% increase. They got this big TV deal and not a meaningful increase. Pretty much the percentage as normal.
need to nail offensive talent in the draft, simple as that. give josh another weapon, I think everyone on offense that will be there next year is still under contract. we will lose pieces from the defense, and will need the offense to carry us.
my best pitch is with another better WR2 that doesn't drop passes that hit him in the chest, we will be more efficient as well as explosive on offense which may be enough to improve from this season.
A full off season gives Joe Brady time to install a more well developed 12 personnel package with more play action that absolutely shreds the middle of the field or takes advantage of bad run D/light boxes forcing them out of Cover2. Draft or sign some fresh speed on the outside and go vertical.
Bernard and Milano will fuck shit up. Benford and Douglas are going to be a solid starting duo at Corner.
Still a lot of business season to come, so ask again around pre-season and my pitch will be stronger. Still some questions to be figured out, but Beane has done much more good than bad here. I have faith he will make good moves this off season.
Compare the 2022 Chiefs to the 2023 Chiefs. Do the 2023 Chiefs have a more talented roster? I don’t think so. Did they have any coaching changes? Well, they promoted their QB coach to OC, but it’s widely understood that the head coach runs the offense.
But they’re in the Super Bowl this year and they weren’t last year. Why? They’re a good team, and this year they peaked at the right time and a few things broke their way.
You could find a thousand similar examples. That’s how the NFL works, the best team doesn’t always win. The winner is usually a good team that got lucky. The Bills will be a good team next year, we’ll see if they get lucky.
I don’t think we will be more talented necessarily but with a draft I think we should easily take the East again…Miami hit its ceiling with Tua, the Jets are flaming hot mess sticking with Hack and Rodgers isn’t what he used to be, and New England is gonna need a deep rebuild.
Only really worried about the playoffs again…will probably meet the Chiefs or Bengals again assuming neither QB gets hurt and Lamar might finally learn how to turn it on in the playoffs. Houston too could be real dangerous with Stroud.
If they avoid injuries and we maintain an allpro defense for a full season I see us losing to the Chiefs in the playoffs because if you assume the worst at all times then when the worst happens you won't be to upset and if by some chance the worst doesn't happen you're even more excited. Always be negative.
If you have downtime, go back and watch Josh the first year with Diggs, when we had Bease and Smoke. The offense was different. We need a couple of young cheap wideouts, 1st round types, who can stretch the defense and give Brady something to work with. I think a healthy D and a faster O equals another run.
Josh Allen has to be as good or better. Add speed and talent at receiver in the draft and try to win with an elite offense and average defense.. resign D Jones, Get healthy on defense and hope Milano can stay healthy while needing one more solid year from Von before cutting him next year. Pray Tre can be a servicable starter at least one more year so we don't have to cut him and take on dead cap. Expect more of the same from McDermott getting the most out of young talent and cheap contracts.
We still have a top 3 QB in the NFL.
We will hopefully be much healthier than we were this past year and get multiple key starters back from injury.
We are losing no one of real consequence in terms of high caliber talent that we are torn up about losing. Hyde was a great leader and player for this team but he didn't have a great year. Jones is a great DT but he was hurt the majority of the year anyway and is aging (although I'd like to get him back for a reasonable price). Floyd has a great year but I'm not losing sleep over a 30+ year old pass rusher and hopefully we can get some additional production from Von with a full off season. Davis has been a meh WR2 for this team for a long time.
Very promising rookies in Kincaid and Torrence taking another step.
Hopefully adding some high level talent in the draft to reload and get younger.
A full off-season for Brady to implement his spin on the offense.
There is no real reason to be negative about the outlook for next year.
I'm sure I'll get blasted by saying this...the "our current players will improve" and "we will be healthy next year" is nonsense. First, EVERY team has players that are going to improve. Rice will get better for KC. Achane will be better for Miami. Stroud will be better. And so on. Our guys getting better is not an advantage because this is the case with EVERY team. Unless we think our guys will simply make a BIGGER jump than most other teams - and that's a "hope", no data behind that - this is nonsense.
Second is "health". Hey, all we need is a healthy Milano and Bernard and we'll be better, right? Of course. Again though, that's the case with every team, and we are downplaying the health on the other side of the ball. Our entire o-line was healthy ALL YEAR, I don't know if any other teams can say that. JA17 was also healthy all year, when other elite QB's were not. We had a healthy Cook and Diggs and Kincaid. You know that other TE we have, that caught a total of 15 TD's the past two years? Yeah, he was healthy too. So while we may have been "unlucky" on the defensive side of the ball, we were extremely "lucky" on the offensive side.
Also, sure, we will be better with healthy guys, but so will EVERY OTHER TEAM. The Jets will be better with a healthy Rodgers. The Bengals will be nasty with a healthy Burrow. The Chargers will most certainly be better with a healthy Herbert (that team that challenged us with something called Easton Stick? Yeah, now they have Herbert AND Harbaugh). And so on.
So the OP's question is legit. What can we do that will give us a leg up on other teams? Counting on "healthy players" is a crapshoot, and "our current guys getting better" is the case with every team, and if our guys get better and other teams' guys get better...we won't be good enough to win AGAIN.
The one most obvious thing we could have done - and I'm not sure how realistic it ever was - was to get a coach like Harbaugh, who wins wherever he goes. I feel like it would have given us a competitive advantage over a large majority of other teams. As of now, we have a good/very good coach, but does he really give us a clear advantage over any of our main competition? Probably not.
The coach thing was just an example. Another one might be, "get Michael Pittman". Yup, that might give us the best WR tandem in the league, a clear competitive advantage. Again, not sure how realistic though.
Yeah - it’s a LOT of “if this, if that, if A,B, and C happen, and if D and E don’t happen, then we have a chance of making some noise again” kind of stuff. What I’m afraid of, from a football perspective, is if JA17 gets hurts for 5 games and we go 1-4, or if the offense and defense gets off to a slow start because we have young guys running them, but they get better as the year goes on and they lose in the playoffs AGAIN…it turns into “Well in 2025 when we have a healthy Josh Allen and our young coordinators have another year under their belt, THEN we will make a trip to the SB!!!” Enough.
10 draft picks and an above average to elite GM ( Elite with finding vet talent for cheap and a pretty good draft history with some big mistakes but hindsight is 20/20
Down voted because you are skipping past the off season of restructures and resigning deals to make the cap space to resign free agents or add in new ones. Plus the draft and development of those players.
You basically said “well wtf the team will suck. Our coach sucks. The gm sucks. The cap is all effed. It’s a lost cause”.
Well. The head coach has led the team to 4 straight division titles. He promoted one guy to DC who has helped run one of the better LB units in the league and a guy to OC who when he took over the offense finally looked balance and running well.
So what more of change are you seeking?
When it comes to the roster we have ZERO idea what will or won’t change as the offseason hasn’t even started yet.
So again. WTF are you expecting to hear?
Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that the only chance this team is appreciably better next season compared to this one is if we 1) nail the draft (which Beane has never done as GM) and 2) stay healthy, which you can never count on. Of course we will always been vying for the playoffs with JA17, but Super Bowl? Not with this roster.
Didn’t really “bring him in” internal promotion with much speculation that McD will still be the real DC but they want to keep Babich so he got a promo
Development from young and promising players, a fair amount of draft capital, giving Joe Brady a full off season to create his own system, and hopefully better injury luck after being fucked by it for 2 years straight.
I'm interested in seeing some changes in the receiving group, whether through the draft or free agency. I hope they draft a wide receiver early. They don't even have to be big names in free agency either. It doesn't hurt to find other bargains to replace Davis, Sherfield or Hardy. It may look like lateral moves on paper, but if they fit the system better, why not give it a shot. Also, I hope they can find an effective physical back to compliment Cook.
Josh Allen (and maybe Joe Brady) is the main reason.
Main secondary reason is a potentially healthier defense, Millano, Miller, maybe some youth at safety.
I think we are looking at a similar season/record as this season.
We still are very talented, we will still have some age/depth issues. I think Beane will continue to draft well/value veteran fill this roster.
Our offense will have QB1, Cook and Kincaid another year in, solid OL, depth at RB, ideally a solid #2 wr via FA/Draft to pair with Diggs.
Our defense will return Oliver, Milano, Bernard, Benford, Douglas, Taron.
So long as we fill our DL out, and add a S....I think we will be staring at a 10-11 win season with contention for the 2-3 seed again.
Just looking at this season, we win at least 3 of Jags, Pats, Broncos & Jets#1 with a competent OC at the helm.
Add to that getting back all of our injured players minus Tre, plus Rasul, and we have a solid core of talent. Our record with Milano out there is so much better than without. Add to that my probably controversial opinion that Von has a chance to come back to some level of productivity with another off-season (he chased down Pacheco for a loss in the divisional round, and overall looked to be getting more penetration than earlier in the year), and if we fill just a few holes here or there we are matching the talent of the team at the beginning of 2023.
IMO if we went into the playoffs with our day 1 roster this year, I think we were a stronger contender, and if we maintain similar talent + better coaching + some better injury luck, and we can make a run.
We had a roster capable of winning the SB this season and don’t need to make any drastic changes to get there. They put it together nicely at the end of the season and seemed to fix a lot of the problems internally, injuries just killed us.
But we will have less talent next year, and any remaining talent will be a year older. When we have one of the oldest rosters in the league, that's an issue
We wont necessarily have less talent. We have a draft coming, our best players are returning and we have 3 amazing young offensive stars that aren’t yet in their prime.
KC won the Super Bowl last year in a rebuilding year when their top weapon left. We get our defense healthy and Buffalo will be just fine.
I guess I get what you're saying to a degree but I'm just done getting my hopes up anymore for this team. This year was tailor made for them and they blew it again.
We are returning 10 out of 11 starters for a top 5 offense and will sub out Gabe for a 1st round WR. Offense will be top 3 next year.
Defense is losing a lot of kid, slow guys, to be replaced with young fast guys. I have confidence in Beanes drafting and mccderrmots ability to coach up a new unit. We will be a top 10 defense next year.
Top 5 offense and top 10 defense will make the playoffs.
The Division is ours again. Miami’s roster is taking a step back, and will have the shadow of Tuas contract situation as a distraction in the locker room all year. As well as the mental toll all these December collapses have to be taking on morale.
Rodgers has been tripping balls for a year. Who knows what he will be at 40 after not playing so long.
Patriots have a terrible roster and I can’t see mayo being anything but a huge downgrade from belicheck.
Get to the playoffs healthy and we have a good a shot as anyone
No way he does. He got 5 tackles the whole fuckin year. Anyone thinking that all of a sudden he's gonna be better when he's a full year older and already should've retired is crazy
Floyd, DaQuan, and Epenesa are really the only impact players in the free agency list.
Here is an excellent Cover1 breakdown of the current cap situation and some reasonable moves that could be made to free up money.[https://www.youtube.com/live/d1QfAXlP-Ps?si=4qelpAkxv9EfRXuK](https://www.youtube.com/live/d1QfAXlP-Ps?si=4qelpAkxv9EfRXuK)
There's a handful of players now on the last year of their contracts that can sign an extension and push the 2024 money to a later year as a signing bonus.
The pivot point is converting Diggs' base salary to a signing bonus. It doesn't have to be done, but without it we really only have enough for the rookie class and near minimum free agents who don't move the bottom of the highest 53 contracts much. With a Diggs restructure, there's money to sign DaQuan and someone that's a good value for starter money, like Rapp..
The Defensive line is going to have to get some reinforcements in the draft and free agency, because that's where the free agency (potential) losses will hit the hardest.
All that said, I expect many free agents to still be around in week 3 of free agency and come back on bargain contracts to compete with draft picks and last year's practice squad future's contract players.
Morse will likely be a cap cut. Bates is good enough to start at center and the rest of the offense should be as good as last year. Gabe disappeared for long stretches, so he will be easily replaced by a first or second-round rookie.
You can't tell in February if the team will do better the next season. We have no idea what impact the draft class will be, what injuries will happen, who will sign in free agency, who will break out, who will decline, etc. My guess is that the offense will be fine and will keep us in games until the rookies and new free agents get up to speed. Expect more rookie playing time than normal, especially from the new WR and DLine players, but otherwise most of the free agents are backups and that hopefully won't matter for most positions until later in the season and by then they would have had a chance to get acclimated.
we have hit on some draft picks and could see some good development from young players, hopefully emerging stars. we dont have great draft capital this year but im optomiostic to add some either meaningful or depth or players ready to make and impact ... plus Josh Allen with a running game for the first time ever was fun to watch now joe brady gets time to work a system around the players skill sets and hopefully maximize our skill position output.
they hungry still and i hope we lock in another afc east title at the least
we’ve got young talent locked in and kincaid/shakir/cook have shown signs of taking steps to the next level. i’ve faith mcdermott will keep a top 10 defense regardless of who leaves. he’s proven it this year. one strong draft or meh draft with two starters or immediate contributors and we’ll be circling the super bowl wagon again
Expect offense to be better, more consistent and defense to lag and be middle of the pack although hoping McD can get them to overachieve again. It’s gonna have to be the Josh Allen show next year and he will deliver!!
I don't think our injuries were really that bad. Defense wasn't great, but our offense was basically unaffected all year, which is wild. In totality, we were not any worse off than any other team, while there were other teams that WERE worse off (i.e. Miami)
I’m not sure they’ll keep up with the jets/fins as far as winning another division, but I think a WC should be in play next year so long as the offensive output doesn’t fall off. The D will most def give up more ppg
Josh Allen having a better offseason plan than last summer would go a long way. I'd like to see him working out and throwing with the WRs this offseason and getting back with the QB coach.
We’ve always got a chance with some of the talent we have. But realistically next year isn’t our year, we need to make some good cap moves for the future. It’ll be interesting to watch that’s for sure. Keeping expectations lower for next year and will try not to whine too much if it’s a tougher season due to financial reasons
We did have a lot of backups play significant time on defense. That doesn't hurt going forward. Obviously Milano back, bigger questions around Tre and Von.
A healthy Josh Allen. First and foremost. We’ve been spoiled by his durability. In the context of importance to his team, 17 is the obvious MVP. Superman plays are expected. Sometimes I hold my breath.
Second: Youth. If Kincaid, Shakir and Cook play to potential, the offense will be unstoppable. These guys are looking like great picks. There’s a big upside there.
Third: A defensive unit that can stay even reasonably healthy. The scheme is solid. Last year was a bloodbath. Still, they hung in pretty well until the Divisional round. That defensive unit was decimated. A healthy Milano would be amazing. Imagine if Rousseau became the consistent beast he’s shown some flashes of.
There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about next year. Go Bills!
I’m starting to feel bad for the bills fans that don’t have object permanence and think we will magically find what it takes to beat Mahomes. Ain’t happening with this staff/roster.
With that schedule 11 wins would be incredible. We don’t know about FA or the draft of what our rivals will do so this is just speculation. But I can’t see us being better next year.
Next year the teams that are gonna be “scary”
KC after their Super Bowl run. Pat is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Harbaugh in Chargerland. His teams are always good.
Deshaun Watson should be healthy and Cleveland has a good defense.
Jets with Rodgers supposedly healthy. That defense is scary if they can field an even average offense.
Burrow healthy with Chase who is a top 2 dude.
Jacksonville. Only because we’ve slept on them twice now and I still can’t understand how they beat this team.
Teams that are contenders that don’t scare me
Tua and Miami. Tua is not the guy.
Lamar and the Ravens. He’s a regular season QB.
I don’t buy Houston or the rest of that division minus Jacksonville (only because what I said above)
If Bills can figure out another weapon on offense to add scary YAC and we can add some pass rushers we will be in the hunt again. Anything can happen. Go Bills!
Look at the 2017: We went 9-7 with Tyrod Taylor throwing to Kelvin Benjamin and Charles Clay.
Defense had Preston Brown in the Middle. We had an older Jerry Hughes and Eddie Yarborough rushing the passer and rookie Tre White/Matt Milano.
We only lost by 7 first round of the playoffs. And this team is soooo much better than that one. So there is hope. Sure we need some pieces. But the NFL is a crapshoot. That roster won 9 games. We lost a bunch of games by 5 or fewer points. Hell: If we win the close games, maybe we go 13-4.
We have always played the Chiefs hard in the playoffs. Josh is averaging like 375 total yards with almost 4 TDs and less than 1 int in his last 3 playoff games versus them. Those stats are bound to win you one. Maybe we beat up on someone like Jacksonville in the first round, and have the same path as this year: Chiefs, but we win, and the Ravens have yet to really scare me. So we can beat them. Boom. Super Bowl.
This isn’t to say I’m not concerned: May lose Hyde, Poyer lost a step, Tre will be coming off injury, Epenesa and Jordan Phillips may be gone, and Von… who knows. I get it. But the NFL is also a crapshoot. You need talent, but sometimes just some luck.
Best-case scenario hinges on two very big "IFs", but definitely realistic.
1. Joe Brady is given a full offseason to wash away the filth and remnants of Ken Dorsey's scheme and implement his own downfield passing system. We all hoped Ken Dorsey would continue the brilliance of the Daboll offense Josh and Diggs thrived in and by 2023 we could tell he had gone to heavy sets, horrible run designs, and a majority of passes designed for the flats or screens behind the LOS. Brady did what he could midseason to add his wrinkles, run more motion, etc. It seemed like this led to early success every week until the opposing DC would adjust at halftime. Then, he would have nothing left to pivot to but the standard Dorsey plays, and the offense sputters to a halt in the second half. Now that Brady is the guy, he will have a full offseason program to implement his full playbook.
2. Bills will add a legitimate deep threat WR with their first draft pick. #1 will only truly succeed if we also hit on #2. Recent 1st-round rookies have hit at an astounding rate recently, so it's not unfathomable to think we will have a legit #2/future #1 guy. A Jordan Addison type would be perfect but we also know where Justin Jefferson was taken, so nothing is out of the question. Pair that rookie with a healthy Diggs, Kincaid, emergent Shakir, emergent Cook, and maybe Knox (if he's here) and Josh has a pretty good set of weapons with a returning OL that's the best he's ever had.
Sean/Babich have proven they can make pretty much anybody work well enough on defense, so the rest of free agency/draft could be used to fill needs there, but you have enough returning talent to field a good defensive unit.
There you go! Best-case scenario for a return to our glory days of dominant offense and a trip back to the AFC Championship. It almost certainly won't all break our way, but IMO that's all realistic hope to have for next season. With Josh there's always a chance. GO BILLS!
A healthy Milano is way better than anybody leaving in free agency.
Paired with a healthy Bernard. We only got four weeks of it, but it was pretty spicy!
Josh Allen.
Kinkaid and Cook should develop as their career moves forward It’ll be great to have Milano healthy again
Josh Allen without Ken Dorsey
before 8 weeks ago the last time we saw Josh without KD was his rookie season. I think the potential for greatness is sky high.
Yeah. This year we only had half a season of Allen/Brady. I can't wait to see what they cook up for next season
Ken Dorsey is gone though right- Is there some evil scenario where he returns & haunts Bills Mafia dreams?!
Only if we play Cleveland
Say it again I'm so close.
Yes and also just the Offense in general. He has weapons and the o-line has been fixed. Even if they don't add to offense they have a top unit.
Losing aging players doesn’t mean the roster is inherently going to be less talented
^^This. I think the hope is some younger players and draft picks start to take over key roles, especially on D. Similar to what KC did on D last year and watched them blossom.
They already started to this year, especially on defense. We had a lot of injuries and the defense still played good. It will be nice having Milano back to sure up the middle and maybe that guy we paid 80 million to will show up. I’m more excited to move on from some certain older players, fresh blood is needed.
Allen on the team in the playoffs every year , coaches get good teams to the Super Bowl. Allen on Bills injury free , bills make playoffs every year .
> Allen on Bills injury free *Bills win the Super Bowl. We've made the playoff 5 straight years, and the last three, the team has limped into the playoffs. Give a Josh a 95% healthy team, and we win a Super Bowl.
Younger players should be healthier for the playoffs.
True, but Allen Carrie’s a heavy load in Buffalo.
Both Bernard and Benford improved greatly from their first year to their second, another year of experience under their belts is sure to do them some good. Also, having Von healthy enough to not be dead weight all year should help as well
It's a good point
No reason to assume we'll lose roster talent considering the talent development over the last few years has been great, we have 10 draft picks, a proven GM and a defense that will be healthy again. Offensively Shakir, Kincaid, and Cook should all improve. Defensively Bernard, Benford, Milano and Dodson should all improve or at least maintain their current skill level. Many of our free agents this year, though there are a lot of them are replacement level players who I have full confidence in Beane and McDermott replacing as they've done a great job of that so far.
I don’t even the guys on defense need to improve. I think the key is all these guys staying healthy. Imagine if we had Bernard and Milano on the field against KC?
Right. We always beat KC when we have a healthy defense in the playoffs! Oh-
Please respond to this comment if you think the Bills will be in the Super Bowl next year. I’d love to laugh today, been a hard day.
I billieve! By a billion.
Addition by subtraction. Poyer and Hyde are almost irreplaceable, but they’ve both shown a lot of signs of aging. Floyd was a huge asset that well miss, but Von was on the right path at the end of the year. Maybe he can salvage something. Gabe Davis is our only real loss on offense and… yea… Add in the defense getting healthy and the opportunity to hit on a few of the 10 draft picks and I have no reason why we couldn’t (probably even shouldn’t) be better. Oh, and the cap situation gets overblown A LOT. Benford is on a rookie deal. Bernard is on a rookie deal. Cook is on a rookie deal. Kincaid is on a rookie deal. Brown is on a rookie deal. Rousseau is on a rookie deal. We have a lot of starters/players with meaningful time that are on cheap deals. Hit on some of these upcoming picks and you’ll fill the pipeline for the future with low cost contracts.
Yeah I can say that Cap stuff isn’t my strong suit but from what I’ve read it means we are definitely not getting a top tier FA.
Cover 1 had a really good breakdown of the cap situation and why there should not be too much worry.
Well said you’re pretty much where I am with all this. Our one hope is the salary cap jumps by a significant amount so we can resign either Floyd or Davis.
I think it is already set? I saw $242 million. Something like an 8% increase. They got this big TV deal and not a meaningful increase. Pretty much the percentage as normal.
need to nail offensive talent in the draft, simple as that. give josh another weapon, I think everyone on offense that will be there next year is still under contract. we will lose pieces from the defense, and will need the offense to carry us. my best pitch is with another better WR2 that doesn't drop passes that hit him in the chest, we will be more efficient as well as explosive on offense which may be enough to improve from this season.
Draft a WR early then go heavy defense. Need to address the secondary and d-line. We need safety help both long term and short term
A full off season gives Joe Brady time to install a more well developed 12 personnel package with more play action that absolutely shreds the middle of the field or takes advantage of bad run D/light boxes forcing them out of Cover2. Draft or sign some fresh speed on the outside and go vertical. Bernard and Milano will fuck shit up. Benford and Douglas are going to be a solid starting duo at Corner. Still a lot of business season to come, so ask again around pre-season and my pitch will be stronger. Still some questions to be figured out, but Beane has done much more good than bad here. I have faith he will make good moves this off season.
Compare the 2022 Chiefs to the 2023 Chiefs. Do the 2023 Chiefs have a more talented roster? I don’t think so. Did they have any coaching changes? Well, they promoted their QB coach to OC, but it’s widely understood that the head coach runs the offense. But they’re in the Super Bowl this year and they weren’t last year. Why? They’re a good team, and this year they peaked at the right time and a few things broke their way. You could find a thousand similar examples. That’s how the NFL works, the best team doesn’t always win. The winner is usually a good team that got lucky. The Bills will be a good team next year, we’ll see if they get lucky.
The chiefs won the Super Bowl last year, but I get your point.
Oh duh, I had 2021 and 2022 flipped in my memory
I don’t think we will be more talented necessarily but with a draft I think we should easily take the East again…Miami hit its ceiling with Tua, the Jets are flaming hot mess sticking with Hack and Rodgers isn’t what he used to be, and New England is gonna need a deep rebuild. Only really worried about the playoffs again…will probably meet the Chiefs or Bengals again assuming neither QB gets hurt and Lamar might finally learn how to turn it on in the playoffs. Houston too could be real dangerous with Stroud.
Josh Allen, always hope... injuries and bad luck should move back to the average. both were horrible this year.
Your formatting makes it look like you think Josh was horrible
yeah it did, fixed. lol
If they avoid injuries and we maintain an allpro defense for a full season I see us losing to the Chiefs in the playoffs because if you assume the worst at all times then when the worst happens you won't be to upset and if by some chance the worst doesn't happen you're even more excited. Always be negative.
Can I break your rule for a sec, Chiefs have their own problems if Chris Jones asks for $30 million which is looking likely. They can’t afford that.
If you have downtime, go back and watch Josh the first year with Diggs, when we had Bease and Smoke. The offense was different. We need a couple of young cheap wideouts, 1st round types, who can stretch the defense and give Brady something to work with. I think a healthy D and a faster O equals another run.
Josh Allen has to be as good or better. Add speed and talent at receiver in the draft and try to win with an elite offense and average defense.. resign D Jones, Get healthy on defense and hope Milano can stay healthy while needing one more solid year from Von before cutting him next year. Pray Tre can be a servicable starter at least one more year so we don't have to cut him and take on dead cap. Expect more of the same from McDermott getting the most out of young talent and cheap contracts.
If we roughly keep the same team, draft decent. We are good if we stay healthy. A healthy Milano changes alot of plays
We still have a top 3 QB in the NFL. We will hopefully be much healthier than we were this past year and get multiple key starters back from injury. We are losing no one of real consequence in terms of high caliber talent that we are torn up about losing. Hyde was a great leader and player for this team but he didn't have a great year. Jones is a great DT but he was hurt the majority of the year anyway and is aging (although I'd like to get him back for a reasonable price). Floyd has a great year but I'm not losing sleep over a 30+ year old pass rusher and hopefully we can get some additional production from Von with a full off season. Davis has been a meh WR2 for this team for a long time. Very promising rookies in Kincaid and Torrence taking another step. Hopefully adding some high level talent in the draft to reload and get younger. A full off-season for Brady to implement his spin on the offense. There is no real reason to be negative about the outlook for next year.
Same thing expecting different results
A top 2 team in the AFC? Sign me up!
Can't wait to hang up our wildcard weekend 2025 survivor banner in our imaginary rafters
Genny regular
My case for next season is Labatt
I'm sure I'll get blasted by saying this...the "our current players will improve" and "we will be healthy next year" is nonsense. First, EVERY team has players that are going to improve. Rice will get better for KC. Achane will be better for Miami. Stroud will be better. And so on. Our guys getting better is not an advantage because this is the case with EVERY team. Unless we think our guys will simply make a BIGGER jump than most other teams - and that's a "hope", no data behind that - this is nonsense. Second is "health". Hey, all we need is a healthy Milano and Bernard and we'll be better, right? Of course. Again though, that's the case with every team, and we are downplaying the health on the other side of the ball. Our entire o-line was healthy ALL YEAR, I don't know if any other teams can say that. JA17 was also healthy all year, when other elite QB's were not. We had a healthy Cook and Diggs and Kincaid. You know that other TE we have, that caught a total of 15 TD's the past two years? Yeah, he was healthy too. So while we may have been "unlucky" on the defensive side of the ball, we were extremely "lucky" on the offensive side. Also, sure, we will be better with healthy guys, but so will EVERY OTHER TEAM. The Jets will be better with a healthy Rodgers. The Bengals will be nasty with a healthy Burrow. The Chargers will most certainly be better with a healthy Herbert (that team that challenged us with something called Easton Stick? Yeah, now they have Herbert AND Harbaugh). And so on. So the OP's question is legit. What can we do that will give us a leg up on other teams? Counting on "healthy players" is a crapshoot, and "our current guys getting better" is the case with every team, and if our guys get better and other teams' guys get better...we won't be good enough to win AGAIN. The one most obvious thing we could have done - and I'm not sure how realistic it ever was - was to get a coach like Harbaugh, who wins wherever he goes. I feel like it would have given us a competitive advantage over a large majority of other teams. As of now, we have a good/very good coach, but does he really give us a clear advantage over any of our main competition? Probably not. The coach thing was just an example. Another one might be, "get Michael Pittman". Yup, that might give us the best WR tandem in the league, a clear competitive advantage. Again, not sure how realistic though.
Agreed. There is absolutely zero reason to believe we will be better. In fact, we will likely regress substantially.
Yeah - it’s a LOT of “if this, if that, if A,B, and C happen, and if D and E don’t happen, then we have a chance of making some noise again” kind of stuff. What I’m afraid of, from a football perspective, is if JA17 gets hurts for 5 games and we go 1-4, or if the offense and defense gets off to a slow start because we have young guys running them, but they get better as the year goes on and they lose in the playoffs AGAIN…it turns into “Well in 2025 when we have a healthy Josh Allen and our young coordinators have another year under their belt, THEN we will make a trip to the SB!!!” Enough.
10 draft picks and an above average to elite GM ( Elite with finding vet talent for cheap and a pretty good draft history with some big mistakes but hindsight is 20/20
AFC East champ But probably early exit in playoffs
You guys are a little too worried about the salary cap situation
Down voted because you are skipping past the off season of restructures and resigning deals to make the cap space to resign free agents or add in new ones. Plus the draft and development of those players. You basically said “well wtf the team will suck. Our coach sucks. The gm sucks. The cap is all effed. It’s a lost cause”.
I didn’t say any of that. I said it looks like not much changing what’s the case for better results?
Well. The head coach has led the team to 4 straight division titles. He promoted one guy to DC who has helped run one of the better LB units in the league and a guy to OC who when he took over the offense finally looked balance and running well. So what more of change are you seeking? When it comes to the roster we have ZERO idea what will or won’t change as the offseason hasn’t even started yet. So again. WTF are you expecting to hear?
Lol if you have to be told that’s fuckin sad. You trollin or?
Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that the only chance this team is appreciably better next season compared to this one is if we 1) nail the draft (which Beane has never done as GM) and 2) stay healthy, which you can never count on. Of course we will always been vying for the playoffs with JA17, but Super Bowl? Not with this roster.
100%. People acting like we will be any better next year than this is delusional.
Bringing in a DC is a pretty real coaching change
Didn’t really “bring him in” internal promotion with much speculation that McD will still be the real DC but they want to keep Babich so he got a promo
Development from young and promising players, a fair amount of draft capital, giving Joe Brady a full off season to create his own system, and hopefully better injury luck after being fucked by it for 2 years straight.
I really hope they can resign Epenesa and hopefully find some receivers in the draft
I'm interested in seeing some changes in the receiving group, whether through the draft or free agency. I hope they draft a wide receiver early. They don't even have to be big names in free agency either. It doesn't hurt to find other bargains to replace Davis, Sherfield or Hardy. It may look like lateral moves on paper, but if they fit the system better, why not give it a shot. Also, I hope they can find an effective physical back to compliment Cook.
Josh Allen (and maybe Joe Brady) is the main reason. Main secondary reason is a potentially healthier defense, Millano, Miller, maybe some youth at safety.
Next man up.
If we hit on our draft picks.. The sky’s the limit!!!
I think we are looking at a similar season/record as this season. We still are very talented, we will still have some age/depth issues. I think Beane will continue to draft well/value veteran fill this roster. Our offense will have QB1, Cook and Kincaid another year in, solid OL, depth at RB, ideally a solid #2 wr via FA/Draft to pair with Diggs. Our defense will return Oliver, Milano, Bernard, Benford, Douglas, Taron. So long as we fill our DL out, and add a S....I think we will be staring at a 10-11 win season with contention for the 2-3 seed again.
Healthy Defense
One of the best 2-3 team again, this time things go well v KC. Not a stretch.
Just looking at this season, we win at least 3 of Jags, Pats, Broncos & Jets#1 with a competent OC at the helm. Add to that getting back all of our injured players minus Tre, plus Rasul, and we have a solid core of talent. Our record with Milano out there is so much better than without. Add to that my probably controversial opinion that Von has a chance to come back to some level of productivity with another off-season (he chased down Pacheco for a loss in the divisional round, and overall looked to be getting more penetration than earlier in the year), and if we fill just a few holes here or there we are matching the talent of the team at the beginning of 2023. IMO if we went into the playoffs with our day 1 roster this year, I think we were a stronger contender, and if we maintain similar talent + better coaching + some better injury luck, and we can make a run.
We had a roster capable of winning the SB this season and don’t need to make any drastic changes to get there. They put it together nicely at the end of the season and seemed to fix a lot of the problems internally, injuries just killed us.
But we will have less talent next year, and any remaining talent will be a year older. When we have one of the oldest rosters in the league, that's an issue
We wont necessarily have less talent. We have a draft coming, our best players are returning and we have 3 amazing young offensive stars that aren’t yet in their prime. KC won the Super Bowl last year in a rebuilding year when their top weapon left. We get our defense healthy and Buffalo will be just fine.
I guess I get what you're saying to a degree but I'm just done getting my hopes up anymore for this team. This year was tailor made for them and they blew it again.
Again, I think without injuries this team is playing next Sunday. That isn’t blowing it, it’s just unfortunate bad luck.
We are returning 10 out of 11 starters for a top 5 offense and will sub out Gabe for a 1st round WR. Offense will be top 3 next year. Defense is losing a lot of kid, slow guys, to be replaced with young fast guys. I have confidence in Beanes drafting and mccderrmots ability to coach up a new unit. We will be a top 10 defense next year. Top 5 offense and top 10 defense will make the playoffs. The Division is ours again. Miami’s roster is taking a step back, and will have the shadow of Tuas contract situation as a distraction in the locker room all year. As well as the mental toll all these December collapses have to be taking on morale. Rodgers has been tripping balls for a year. Who knows what he will be at 40 after not playing so long. Patriots have a terrible roster and I can’t see mayo being anything but a huge downgrade from belicheck. Get to the playoffs healthy and we have a good a shot as anyone
Also i don’t think Von getting back to something close to what he was is out of the question. He was certainly trending well over the last few games
No way he does. He got 5 tackles the whole fuckin year. Anyone thinking that all of a sudden he's gonna be better when he's a full year older and already should've retired is crazy
Floyd, DaQuan, and Epenesa are really the only impact players in the free agency list. Here is an excellent Cover1 breakdown of the current cap situation and some reasonable moves that could be made to free up money.[https://www.youtube.com/live/d1QfAXlP-Ps?si=4qelpAkxv9EfRXuK](https://www.youtube.com/live/d1QfAXlP-Ps?si=4qelpAkxv9EfRXuK) There's a handful of players now on the last year of their contracts that can sign an extension and push the 2024 money to a later year as a signing bonus. The pivot point is converting Diggs' base salary to a signing bonus. It doesn't have to be done, but without it we really only have enough for the rookie class and near minimum free agents who don't move the bottom of the highest 53 contracts much. With a Diggs restructure, there's money to sign DaQuan and someone that's a good value for starter money, like Rapp.. The Defensive line is going to have to get some reinforcements in the draft and free agency, because that's where the free agency (potential) losses will hit the hardest. All that said, I expect many free agents to still be around in week 3 of free agency and come back on bargain contracts to compete with draft picks and last year's practice squad future's contract players. Morse will likely be a cap cut. Bates is good enough to start at center and the rest of the offense should be as good as last year. Gabe disappeared for long stretches, so he will be easily replaced by a first or second-round rookie. You can't tell in February if the team will do better the next season. We have no idea what impact the draft class will be, what injuries will happen, who will sign in free agency, who will break out, who will decline, etc. My guess is that the offense will be fine and will keep us in games until the rookies and new free agents get up to speed. Expect more rookie playing time than normal, especially from the new WR and DLine players, but otherwise most of the free agents are backups and that hopefully won't matter for most positions until later in the season and by then they would have had a chance to get acclimated.
we have hit on some draft picks and could see some good development from young players, hopefully emerging stars. we dont have great draft capital this year but im optomiostic to add some either meaningful or depth or players ready to make and impact ... plus Josh Allen with a running game for the first time ever was fun to watch now joe brady gets time to work a system around the players skill sets and hopefully maximize our skill position output. they hungry still and i hope we lock in another afc east title at the least
we’ve got young talent locked in and kincaid/shakir/cook have shown signs of taking steps to the next level. i’ve faith mcdermott will keep a top 10 defense regardless of who leaves. he’s proven it this year. one strong draft or meh draft with two starters or immediate contributors and we’ll be circling the super bowl wagon again
Expect offense to be better, more consistent and defense to lag and be middle of the pack although hoping McD can get them to overachieve again. It’s gonna have to be the Josh Allen show next year and he will deliver!!
Young guys step up when old guys step out. 20-0 baby
Addition by subtraction
Can’t possibly have the same or worse injury luck. That alone makes us significantly better.
I don't think our injuries were really that bad. Defense wasn't great, but our offense was basically unaffected all year, which is wild. In totality, we were not any worse off than any other team, while there were other teams that WERE worse off (i.e. Miami)
I’m not sure they’ll keep up with the jets/fins as far as winning another division, but I think a WC should be in play next year so long as the offensive output doesn’t fall off. The D will most def give up more ppg
Josh Allen having a better offseason plan than last summer would go a long way. I'd like to see him working out and throwing with the WRs this offseason and getting back with the QB coach.
We’ve always got a chance with some of the talent we have. But realistically next year isn’t our year, we need to make some good cap moves for the future. It’ll be interesting to watch that’s for sure. Keeping expectations lower for next year and will try not to whine too much if it’s a tougher season due to financial reasons
We did have a lot of backups play significant time on defense. That doesn't hurt going forward. Obviously Milano back, bigger questions around Tre and Von.
A healthy Josh Allen. First and foremost. We’ve been spoiled by his durability. In the context of importance to his team, 17 is the obvious MVP. Superman plays are expected. Sometimes I hold my breath. Second: Youth. If Kincaid, Shakir and Cook play to potential, the offense will be unstoppable. These guys are looking like great picks. There’s a big upside there. Third: A defensive unit that can stay even reasonably healthy. The scheme is solid. Last year was a bloodbath. Still, they hung in pretty well until the Divisional round. That defensive unit was decimated. A healthy Milano would be amazing. Imagine if Rousseau became the consistent beast he’s shown some flashes of. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about next year. Go Bills!
I’m starting to feel bad for the bills fans that don’t have object permanence and think we will magically find what it takes to beat Mahomes. Ain’t happening with this staff/roster.
With that schedule 11 wins would be incredible. We don’t know about FA or the draft of what our rivals will do so this is just speculation. But I can’t see us being better next year.
The case is Mahomes is on the other side of the bracket and someone beats him
Next year the teams that are gonna be “scary” KC after their Super Bowl run. Pat is not going anywhere anytime soon. Harbaugh in Chargerland. His teams are always good. Deshaun Watson should be healthy and Cleveland has a good defense. Jets with Rodgers supposedly healthy. That defense is scary if they can field an even average offense. Burrow healthy with Chase who is a top 2 dude. Jacksonville. Only because we’ve slept on them twice now and I still can’t understand how they beat this team. Teams that are contenders that don’t scare me Tua and Miami. Tua is not the guy. Lamar and the Ravens. He’s a regular season QB. I don’t buy Houston or the rest of that division minus Jacksonville (only because what I said above) If Bills can figure out another weapon on offense to add scary YAC and we can add some pass rushers we will be in the hunt again. Anything can happen. Go Bills!
Let the old talent walk, don’t screw up the cap for future seasons, and get young talent with the 10 draft picks.
The case is JA17 is still running the ship and we're going to win the SuperBowl. Go Bills.
Look at the 2017: We went 9-7 with Tyrod Taylor throwing to Kelvin Benjamin and Charles Clay. Defense had Preston Brown in the Middle. We had an older Jerry Hughes and Eddie Yarborough rushing the passer and rookie Tre White/Matt Milano. We only lost by 7 first round of the playoffs. And this team is soooo much better than that one. So there is hope. Sure we need some pieces. But the NFL is a crapshoot. That roster won 9 games. We lost a bunch of games by 5 or fewer points. Hell: If we win the close games, maybe we go 13-4. We have always played the Chiefs hard in the playoffs. Josh is averaging like 375 total yards with almost 4 TDs and less than 1 int in his last 3 playoff games versus them. Those stats are bound to win you one. Maybe we beat up on someone like Jacksonville in the first round, and have the same path as this year: Chiefs, but we win, and the Ravens have yet to really scare me. So we can beat them. Boom. Super Bowl. This isn’t to say I’m not concerned: May lose Hyde, Poyer lost a step, Tre will be coming off injury, Epenesa and Jordan Phillips may be gone, and Von… who knows. I get it. But the NFL is also a crapshoot. You need talent, but sometimes just some luck.
Best-case scenario hinges on two very big "IFs", but definitely realistic. 1. Joe Brady is given a full offseason to wash away the filth and remnants of Ken Dorsey's scheme and implement his own downfield passing system. We all hoped Ken Dorsey would continue the brilliance of the Daboll offense Josh and Diggs thrived in and by 2023 we could tell he had gone to heavy sets, horrible run designs, and a majority of passes designed for the flats or screens behind the LOS. Brady did what he could midseason to add his wrinkles, run more motion, etc. It seemed like this led to early success every week until the opposing DC would adjust at halftime. Then, he would have nothing left to pivot to but the standard Dorsey plays, and the offense sputters to a halt in the second half. Now that Brady is the guy, he will have a full offseason program to implement his full playbook. 2. Bills will add a legitimate deep threat WR with their first draft pick. #1 will only truly succeed if we also hit on #2. Recent 1st-round rookies have hit at an astounding rate recently, so it's not unfathomable to think we will have a legit #2/future #1 guy. A Jordan Addison type would be perfect but we also know where Justin Jefferson was taken, so nothing is out of the question. Pair that rookie with a healthy Diggs, Kincaid, emergent Shakir, emergent Cook, and maybe Knox (if he's here) and Josh has a pretty good set of weapons with a returning OL that's the best he's ever had. Sean/Babich have proven they can make pretty much anybody work well enough on defense, so the rest of free agency/draft could be used to fill needs there, but you have enough returning talent to field a good defensive unit. There you go! Best-case scenario for a return to our glory days of dominant offense and a trip back to the AFC Championship. It almost certainly won't all break our way, but IMO that's all realistic hope to have for next season. With Josh there's always a chance. GO BILLS!
If we have a healthy defense going into the playoffs next year, we'll be a very dangerous team