ESPN says the Buffalo Bills helped quarterback Josh Allen the most during the 2020 NFL Draft, who is perhaps their most important player (as is the case on just about every team).
Despite that, the world-wide leader has the Bills falling in their latest power rankings following the draft. Buffalo landed at the No. 11 overall spot after previously slotting in at No. 9.
Here’s how that was broken down:
Player who benefited: QB Josh Allen. Although A.J. Klein is a candidate, given that the Bills did not draft anyone to take snaps away from him at linebacker, GM Brandon Beane got Allen three new playmakers for Buffalo’s quietly ascending offense. Gabriel Davis and Isaiah Hodgins are high-point receivers with wide catch radiuses, and RB Zack Moss should be able to handle short-yardage situations so Allen doesn’t have to. The Bills are committing to Allen as their quarterback and have invested more in their offense this offseason than they have in the past decade.
It would’ve been interesting to understand why the Bills fell here instead of what did “right” at the draft. Buffalo has had a stout defense for the past few seasons under head coach Sean McDermott, but continued to add to that side of the ball, mostly, during the first two drafts under his watch. In 2020, to ESPN’s point, the rookie selection event was very, perhaps surprisingly, mostly focused on offense. That’ll certainly help Allen, but also adds a little more pressure on his shoulders as well. It’s time for another, and bigger, step forward in his third year as a pro next season.
Reading between the lines though, the reason the Bills dropped might have just been because the world-wide leader likes the Cowboys and Tom Brady’s Buccaneers more. While Buffalo dropped two spots, the Cowboys and Bucs took huge leaps forward, going up 11 and 10 spots each, respectively.
But at minimum, ESPN does follow suit with many other national outlet power rankings by putting the Bills as their best AFC East team, at least. The Bills edge out their trio of rivals in the Patriots (15), Dolphins (25) and Jets (26).
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