This was the season the Buffalo Bills were supposed to finally break through and go on a Super Bowl run. No Patrick Mahomes, no Joe Burrow, no Lamar Jackson in the AFC playoff field. Instead, against all odds, it was Bo Nix that show kept Josh Allen, the NFL’s reigning MVP, without a conference title. And now the Bills have some tough questions to answer ahead of a long, cold offseason.
Allen’s prime is getting wasted away by an inability to give him the weapons needed to compete for a championship. His receivers are all role players at best with no true No. 1 target, the run defense has been Swiss cheese all year and the secondary has been depleted by injuries and a general lack of depth. There’s quite a few ways to start when addressing the biggest needs for Buffalo, but here’s three easy steps to salvage what’s left of Allen’s prime.
1. Address defensive line struggles in free agency
The Buffalo Bills should target Jonathan Franklin-Myers as their target to improve their defensive line. They need more depth considering Ed Oliver’s recent injury history; he was hurt for much of the year and even spent some time on IR. That hampered this league-worst run defense for much of the year.
Franklin-Myers isn’t the flashiest target by any means, and he’s a bit older, but he’s worth paying to find out. After all, he was overshadowed by Nick Bonitto and Jonathan Cooper in Denver; he could be the answer the Bills need in the short term. They will need to address their defensive line in the draft too, but free agency is the first step.
2. Add receiver depth in free agency
The Green Bay Packers will be interested enough to bring Romeo Doubs back, but keep in mind that Micah Parsons and Jordan Love are eating up a lot of cap. With the receiver depth they've already got, Green Bay may look to offload Doubs rather than bring him back — and if they do, the Bills should pounce all over that opportunity.
Doubs has proved he can be a reliable weapon. Is he a true No. 1? That’s up for debate, but he’s a stable option that will keep Buffalo from relying on unlikely performances from Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman, neither of whom are consistent enough.
Another player Buffalo should consider is Mike Evans. Evans has been the most consistent receiver in the NFL since he was drafted, and while Tampa Bay is certainly not interested in letting him go, the Bills have to find any way they can to bring him up north. If Buffalo landed Evans, Allen would have no excuses for the offense’s production next season.
3. Follow a simple, but efficient draft plan
This is a mock draft that was conjured up via the NFL Mock Draft simulator, but it’s a blueprint the Bills should follow. While playing around with the simulator, it feels like the best move for Buffalo is to go interior defensive lineman first, cornerback second and receiver third in the first three rounds of the draft. The philosophy here is they won’t get one of the high-end receivers in the first round given where they pick, which is why they should focus on receiver depth in free agency first and then supplement in the draft. Defensive line and cornerback, meanwhile, might be the two most positions to address this upcoming draft. In this example, here’s who the team could land:
- DL Lee Hunter, Texas Tech (Rd. 1, pick 26)
- CB Malik Muhammad, Texas (Rd. 2, pick 60)
- WR Omar Cooper Jr., Indiana (Rd. 3, pick 91)
The jury is still out on Maxwell Hairston as his injury-riddled rookie season doesn’t paint an accurate picture of what he can be. That’s why Buffalo has to draft another corner, but should wait until the second or third round. I like Muhammad from Texas and even Devin Moore from Florida as second- or third-round options if they’re there.
With their third-round pick, they can land a developmental receiver like Omar Cooper Jr., someone who could produce early but won’t have the pressure like Coleman to instantly be a top threat.