Buffalo Bills: Offseason fantasy outlook
The NFL offseason is basically over at this point and rosters are close to being set. It’s time to see how the offseason changed teams for fantasy football, starting in the AFC East with the Buffalo Bills.
The Buffalo Bills are coming off kind of a weird season. They snuck into the playoffs with a 9-7 record despite making a couple of questionable trades and benching quarterback Tyrod Taylor. It appears they’re attempting to rebuild on the fly after they traded Taylor to the Cleveland Browns and used some of their ammunition in the draft to move up and take Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen at the seventh-overall pick. While that’s exciting for Buffalo fans, they ramifications for fantasy aren’t so rosy for the 2018 season.
Coaching Changes – Former offensive coordinator Rick Dennison is out, Brian Daboll was hired from Alabama
Daboll has plenty of NFL experience even though he was a college coordinator last season. He’s worked for four NFL teams but hasn’t coordinated an offense on that level since 2012. Buffalo finished 22nd in points per game last season and potentially got worse through a variety of moves. The weaponry assembled for the offense looks a little lacking on paper and the offensive line lost pieces as well. Buffalo will need to lean on their defense to limit points as much as they can to finish above .500 again this season. Daboll has his work cut out for him.
Impact Departures – Quarterback Tyrod Taylor, center Eric Wood, offensive linemen Richie Incognito and Corey Glenn, wide receiver Jordan Matthews
Impact Arrivals – Quarterback A.J. McCarron, center Russell Bodine, running back Chris Ivory, defensive end Trent Murphy, defensive tackle Star Lotulelei, cornerback Vontae Davis
Impact Draft Picks – Quarterback Josh Allen, linebacker Tremaine Edwards
For a team that really needed some injection of life in their skill position groups, Buffalo didn’t add almost anything. Chris Ivory is a solid backup to starter LeSean McCoy but he’s not going to play a major role in the offense. Much like division rival New York Jets, the Bills sold out to get their quarterback of the future.
Now, picking Josh Allen over Josh Rosen and potentially Lamar Jackson might be judged harshly in a few years. Don’t be surprised if they try to have McCarron start as long as he possibly can to give Allen time to develop. The offensive line is suspect after they lost three starters form last season. All of the other significant adds came on the defensive side of the ball.