Losers
Depth defensive ends
The Bills selected Miami’s Gregory Rousseau and Wake Forest’s Carlos Basham, Jr. with their first two picks in this year’s draft. Buffalo was in need of youth influx at the edge pushing, and they doubled down on this concept. Both Rousseau and Basham, Jr. were found in the backfield quite often in college, becoming a thorn in the side of opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks.
The Bills like to rotate their players on the defensive line. However, with this year’s additions, combined with last year’s second-round selection of AJ Epenesa, the Bills have made it quite challenging for depth players to find a role on the roster. It’s unlikely that the trio of young players selected in the draft over the past two years will cede snaps to marginal veterans.
Recent free agent signee Efe Obada, along with holdovers Darryl Johnson, Mike Love, and Bryan Cox, Jr., will struggle to find the field, or the final roster this upcoming season. It’s a numbers’ game and unfortunately, the odds don’t seem to be in the favor of the team returning several of their veteran depth options.
Josh Allen
OK, before people’s freakin’ heads explode, just take a breath. It’s not that Allen can’t make do with the stellar crop of skill position players surround him; after all, he was a MVP candidate in his breakout season last year.
With the Bills on the cusp of a Super Bowl berth, management could have found a major piece that could round out the offense. This could have been a home run hitter out of the backfield, another receiving option to bolster the vertical passing game, or a tight end to provide more coverage over the intermediate part of the field. Heck, it could have been someone who can challenge to start on the offensive line this year.
Instead, the Bills focused on the defensive side of the ball. Allen is poised for another stellar season, but the thought of giving him another weapon on offense had us imagining how this team could set scoring records in back-to-back seasons.
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