The Buffalo Bills underwent a significant roster turnover during the 2024 offseason, with many familiar faces heading to other NFL teams and new ones suiting up in Orchard Park.
With most of the Bills’ needs having been addressed in free agency and the draft, ESPN had named which addition might still remain ahead of the 2024 season.
In it, ESPN writer Aaron Schatz suggests one final move for all 32 NFL teams that each can make in late June or early July that will put them in a better situation for the upcoming season and/or the ones beyond.
This includes contract extensions and last-minute signing or trade suggestions.
So which does he pick for the Bills? Does it involve talent on offense or defense? A stop-gap veteran on a short-term deal or a multi-year pact type of player? A familiar face or someone new?
Here’s the player and move that ESPN picked for Buffalo ahead of their 2024 campaign…
AFC East
Buffalo Bills
Extend edge rusher Gregory Rousseau
The Bills’ roster doesn’t have many clear holes, so it’s time to lock up some players in their primes. Rousseau is an important part of the Bills’ pass rush, with five sacks and 34 pressures last season. He is excellent against the run, ranking ninth among edge rushers in average yards per run tackle.
This would be a shrewd move for the Bills, Rousseau’s development has been steady year-to-year, he’s an impact player and a key part of their defense and pass rush.
He hasn’t had a monster year yet, but he could this season or in those that lie ahead in his young career. An extension now that Buffalo has reworked its cap space for the future would lock him into a sensible deal for both sides without overpaying.
Rousseau also appears to be part of the team’s long-term plans on defense, so getting a deal done with the 24-year-old ahead of the season to extend his deal through more of the prime years of his young career makes sense.
The team picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal in April to already extend his pact and buy them time to get a new agreement done.
Under those terms, Rousseau would make $2.3M this upcoming season and $13.4 million in 2025. Suffice it to say Buffalo will look to extend him to a new multi-year deal.
He had eight sacks as a rookie and five last season and will look to help put up or increase those numbers to replace the productivity in the pass rush filled last season by Leonard Floyd who had 10 sacks but departed in free agency.
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