Did the Bills have a good 2019 season? Yes. Could the Bills stand to still improve? Also yes.
Pro Football Focus looks deeper than most outlets when divulging football details. The football analytics outlet took a peep down every single NFL roster recently and pegged their top-three needs for every team.
For the Bills, the No. 1 need isn’t a surprise: another wide receiver.
But behind that, PFF tabbed Buffalo’s “secondary needs” as edge defender and the interior of their offensive line.
In regard to the wideout situation, here’s how PFF breaks that down:
John Brown and Cole Beasley proved to both be solid investments this offseason who could separate and provide reliable targets for Josh Allen in a revamped offensive scheme that was built by Brian Daboll to highlight Allen’s strengths. Both receivers are going to be on the wrong side of 30 next season, though, and the Bills could use a bigger, field-stretching wide receiver to complement their skills. On the season, Bills receivers caught just 40.3% of their contested catch opportunities (28th in the NFL). Adding someone who excels in those tight-window situations would give Allen another weapon to work with.
With receiver in mind, many are already looking toward the Bills’ first-round pick at the 2020 NFL Draft. That pick is at No. 22 overall and players such as Clemson’s Tee Higgins, Colorado’s Laviska Shenault and LSU’s Justin Jefferson will certainly be in play.
Having said that, there’s actually a fourth name that the Bills land in PFF’s most recent 2020 mock draft. In that, the Bills trade back to the No. 26 pick and land Baylor’s Denzel Mims, a 6-foot-4 target who had 66 catches for 1,020 yards with 12 touchdowns in 13 games last season.
Moving down the Bills’ needs on PFF’s list, edge defender could certainly be in play as well. Shaq Lawson is a pending free agent and simply put, the Bills need more sacks out of their defensive ends next season. This position could also be attacked at the draft with a player such as LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson or Iowa’s AJ Epenesa with the first round, but there’s also free agency to consider. Players such as Yannick Ngakoue, Jadeveon Clowney, Dante Fowler and Vic Beasley could all test the free agent waters and those names make attacking that position in free agency much more appealing.
Finally on the interior of the offensive line, many observers of the Bills praised the work of Quinton Spain on the interior of their line. But could that be a product of the Bills’ offensive line being so bad the year prior? That’s kind of how PFF looks at it. Spain, a pending free agent, only graded out as the outlet’s 58th best guard last season. Jon Feliciano on the other side of Buffalo’s line was a bit better at the No. 35 spot via PFF’s grades. The Bills could stand to get better than 58 with 64 starting guards in the NFL each week.
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