With the Buffalo Bills’ 2021 schedule set in stone, Pro Football Focus did not like the way it fell for running back Zack Moss.
The football analytics outlet recently pegged Moss as a “loser” in terms of his fantasy football value after seeing the start of Buffalo’s upcoming slate:
Maybe it’s too early to make this statement, but Zack Moss looks like a prime buy-low candidate after the first few weeks of the season. With three touch matchups against Pittsburgh, Miami and the Football Team (all top-13 run-defense grades in 2020) followed by three plus matchups against Houston, Kansas City and Tennessee, Moss seems destined to be a late-bloomer in 2021. Just be patient and reap the rewards when it matters most.
Unfortunately, Moss and Devin Singletary might have a long 2021 season, not just the first three games. That’s because the Bills didn’t really do much to improve their run game this offseason.
Despite Brandon Beane saying earlier this offseason that part of the offense had to improve, the general manager brought back the same running backs and offensive line. Even free agents Jon Feliciano and Daryl Williams re-signed in Buffalo.
On paper, things won’t look much different next season.
As usual, the Alabama Crimson Tide were at the center of college football in 2020. COVID-19 couldn’t even stop that from happening.
In years past that has been the case because of the stout defense Nick Saban has built but more recently it’s their outstanding offense. Included in that is dynamic running back Najee Harris.
On Friday, NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein released his latest mock ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft in April. In it, the Bills select Harris. It’s the second time that Harris has been mocked to the Bills in a prominent mock draft recently as ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. did the same.
Considering his talent, Harris to the Bills is an intriguing idea.
On the latest Bills-Harris connection, here’s the NFL.com reasoning:
The Bills took a big step forward in 2020, but they need more balance in their offense. The physical three-down runner with talent as a receiver out of the backfield could immediately upgrade not just the running game but the offense overall.
In selecting Harris in this mock, the Bills take the second rusher off the board as Clemson’s Travis Etienne is taken by the Jets at No. 23. However, some do consider Harris as the No. 1 running back prospect.
Harris projects as the type of do-to-all running back that the Bills lack. Devin Singletary and Zack Moss currently have their own jobs, but the Bills would add Harris as a guy that can do what they both bring to the table.
Harris, a four-year player for the Crimson Tide, averaged 5.9 and 5.8 yards per carry the past two seasons, respectively. The 6-foot-2, 230 pound rusher displayed his dynamic abilities as he rushed for 79 yards (3.6 avg) and two touchdowns while also adding a third touchdown via seven catches and another 79 yards receiving in the recent National Championship game.
What helps with the idea of Harris to the Bills is Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane. During his end of season press conference, he did suggest that a focal point of his offseason will be improving the team’s rushing attack. Harris would certainly be a move that shows he is serious about doing so.
Final 2020 Report Card for the Buffalo Bills entire 2020 season.
The Buffalo Bills will soon turn to the next chapter after the most recent one came to its conclusion.
As the team attempts to turn over a new leaf, the one that was… actually had a pretty good run. Despite the disappointment that will ensure this upcoming weekend by not playing in Super Bowl LV, the Bills came within one game of being there. Not many teams can say that.
But before jumping ahead to 2021, a good way to gauge where the Bills (13-3) could stand to improve this offseason can be found by reflecting back.
With that, here is Bills Wire’s final full report card for the Bills from the 2020 season:
Buffalo Bills RB Zack Moss discusses his rehabbing of the ankle injury which ended his season.
We haven’t heard from Bills running back Zack Moss, because the last time we saw him he was being carted off the field on Wild Card weekend with an injury.
That ankle situation occurred at the start of the fourth quarter of Buffalo’s eventual 27-24 Wild Card win over the Indianapolis Colts. It required surgery to repair which occurred on Jan. 20.
Moss is expected to be ready by offsesason workouts, but it’ll take some effort and rehab to get there which has already begun. The running back recently spoke via Vlog to EBA Sports and reflected positively his current injury situation, mentioning it has giving him an opportunity to reflect on his first pro season from a mental aspect as much as anything else.
“This injury just allows me to really refocus my mind and have a chance to go out there and just attack the rehab and… trying to find each and every way I can get better so that way I can go into next season knowing I did everything I could possibly do and then have no regrets going into the season,” Moss said.
Moss will certainly be in the fold for the Bills in 2021 so getting a fully healthy rusher back in the fold, both physically and mentally, will be of the upmost importance to the Bills.
Plus, as Moss’s rookie season rolled on, he did start to see a slightly-higher uptick in terms of workload. Moss and Devin Singletary saw a split in carries and touches for most of the 2020 season until later on when it was Moss getting a bit more work.
In total, Moss had 481 total rushing yards, a 4.3 yard per carry average on the ground in 2020. He added another 14 catches for 95 yards. Overall, Moss had five touchdowns.
Still, the Bills already expressed that they want better production out of their running backs next season. The Bills averaged 107.7 yards per game on the ground. That was good for only the 19th best rushing offense in the NFL.
Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane did not put the blame for rushing struggles on offense on Moss and Singletary at all during his end of season presser, but still expressed a desire for more out of them.
“Maybe a little more balance on the run game,” Beane said when discussing where he’s offseason efforts might be focused. “The ability to run it when you have to.”
Not quite specifically on Moss, but Buffalo’s 2020 rookie class in general will also be under the microscope from Bills head coach Sean McDermott, too. At his end of year interview, McDermott put an importance on rookie transition from their first season to second.
“The biggest challenge is, Year 1 to Year 2, what are you going to do with it?” McDermott said.
Moss might’ve heard both of those messages loud and clear… but so far, so good, as it appears he has a positive attitude during the early stages of his road to recovery.
Winners and losers from the Buffalo Bills’ end of season press conferences.
As the Bills wrapped up the season that was in 2020, the prominent front office figures pulling the strings ended the season as they always do, by stepping up to the podium and answering questions.
Many players were mentioned by the pair, for better or for worse. Moving forward, some of these comments could provide some insight into what the future could hold for the Bills.
In an effort to breakdown these conversations, Bills Wire will breakdown who was a winner and who was a loser from these pressers last week:
Losers
Bills defensive end Mario Addison (97). (AP Photo/Brett Carlsen)
2020 free agents
The Bills were players in last year’s free agency market and without naming names, Beane essentially said he made some mistakes. The 2021 salary cap is all messed up because of COVID-19 and it might actually drop to as low as $175 million instead of increasing like it essentially does every year.
That’s going to cause the Bills to have salary cap struggles this offseason, but looking back, the GM did say he would have done things differently.
“It’s one of those things you wish we knew a year ago, maybe we wouldn’t have made every move that we did. Maybe we wouldn’t have been so aggressive in some areas,” Beane said.
High-profile free agents added last offseason included Mario Addison, Quinton Jefferson, and Vernon Butler. All defensive linemen, a position group which had mixed results this past season. Beane isn’t loving those signings he made from the sounds of it.
OL Jon Feliciano
Combining two things, the future outlook for guard Jon Feliciano doesn’t look great with Buffalo. Again, because of that salary cap situation, it’s going to be hard for the Bills to keep everyone and on the offensive line the two top free agents are Feliciano and tackle Daryl Williams. Beane didn’t beat around the bush when discussing if he can get them both back.
“Whether we can get them back? I don’t know,” Beane said.
Beane went on to not only mention he might have to look for “cost-efficient replacements,” but also praised the hell out of Cody Ford, who was playing in Feliciano’s guard position before being lost for the year due to injury.
Kind of putting both of those together does not bode well for Feliciano.
LB Matt Milano
Beane outright put out there that the concern with brining Matt Milano back will be his health. He was oft-injured in 2020, and the GM saying that kind of indicates that this will be his “bargaining chip” in terms of signing Milano to an extension.
The Bills would “love” to bring Milano back, per Beane, however, along with brining up Milano’s health, there was pretty much zero positive vibes from the team in terms of getting Milano back in the fold next year. Again, the salary cap does not help here.
TE Dawson Knox
Pretty damming thoughts on the tight end group by Beane, which specifically doesn’t bode well for Dawson Knox.
“I thought it was up and down,” Beane said. “It was never where the opposing defense was like, ‘Man we’ve really got to stop their tight ends from going off.’”
Also probably some bad luck for Knox & Co. having to see Travis Kelce in Buffalo’s final game of the season…. The Bills should probably look to improve here. The interesting thought is their QB, though. Josh Allen did not appear to be a quarterback that looks for his tight ends very often unless it’s in the red zone, so how much should the Bills really invest into the position?
HC Sean McDermott
Why is Sean McDermott labeled under our loser category? Because he put himself there, truthfully. But we have a positive spin.
After losing to the Chiefs in the AFC title game, McDermott admitted he misplayed settling going for field goals. In addition, he said he was “outcoached.”
Spin zone time: While McDermott does live off of PR-friendly clichés… him admitting his wrongs is a step in the right direction.
CB Josh Norman
Beane was asked specifically about Josh Norman from his time with the Panthers in the 2015 offseason. That’s when Norman ended up leaving for the Football Team. The GM was not specifically asked about retaining Norman’s services this upcoming offseason, but while discussing the cornerback, he never made a notion of having interest in doing so.
In fact, Beane said rookie Dane Jackson is going to get a chance to compete for Buffalo’s No.2 cornerback job in 2021. All… not good signs for Norman’s future.
Future Buffalo Bills
Good luck trying to get a pay day from the Bills this offseason. Beane outright said the Bills will not be making flashy moves. Instead, their salary cap situation makes it so they really can’t. Therefore, sorry to any future free agents coming to the Bills, you won’t be breaking the bank.
“This is not going to be a free agency that we can be as aggressive,” Beane said.
The AFC East
After coming one loss to the Chiefs short of playing in the Super Bowl, the Bills are not going to be focusing on Kansas City… at least from a front office standpoint. Beane specifically said that his focus is not on KC moving toward the offseason, it’s still on winning the AFC East first.
“I still think it goes back … we’ve got to win our division. We can’t all of a sudden put our eyes on Kansas City and forget about New England, Miami and the Jets. It definitely starts there,” Beane said.
ESPN’s NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. sends Buffalo Bills Alabama RB Najee Harris is first 2021 NFL Draft mock.
The Bills showed in their AFC Championship loss to the Chiefs that they’re not, by comparison, a complete product.
Quarterback Josh Allen was under duress the whole game, Buffalo’s defense did not look like a unit that had a turnaround, among other issues. Of all of those, ESPN NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. evidently thought the running game, or lack thereof on offense, stood out the most.
In his first 2021 NFL Draft mock of the offseason, Kiper sends the Bills a known, dynamic running back in Alabama’s Najee Harris.
Here’s how Kiper breaks it down:
Buffalo’s running game was so ineffective this season that offensive coordinator Brian Daboll cooked up a few game plans that required very few runs. Josh Allen was the Bills’ leading rusher in the postseason — by 82 yards. They should upgrade with Harris, who had a dominant season for the Crimson Tide and could also help in the passing game. With rookie Zack Moss coming off an ankle injury and Devin Singletary not an every-down player, this is where the Bills can get better immediately in 2021. And we’ve seen rookies come in right away and make a big impact. Offensive line is a position to watch for Buffalo; I thought about Michigan offensive tackle Jalen Mayfield here.
Whether it’s Harris or Mayfield, Kiper is clearly on the train of the Bills improving their rushing attack. Aside from Buffalo’s Week 8 win against the Patriots, the ground-and-pound showed little promise this past season.
In potentially selecting Harris, Kiper pegs Buffalo as the team that takes the first running back at the draft. At the most recent rookie selection extravaganza, the Chiefs took the first one at No. 32 overall, the final pick of the first round. The Bills know all too well that such a pick, a late first-round rusher, could make an immediate impact on an offense. They got a front-row seat to Kansas City’s Clyde-Edwards Helaire this season.
Harris projects as the type of do-to-all running back that the Bills do lack, to Kiper’s point. Singletary and Moss currently have their own jobs, but the Bills would add Harris as a guy that can do what they both bring to the table.
Harris, a four-year player for the Crimson Tide, averaged 5.9 and 5.8 yards per carry the past two seasons, respectively. The 6-foot-2, 230 pound rusher displayed his dynamic abilities as he rushed for 79 yards (3.6 avg) and two touchdowns while also adding a third touchdown via seven catches and another 79 yards receiving.
Selecting Harris would certainly be a pretty bold thing to do as well, potentially sending a Super Bowl or bust mentality to this team.
WinDailySports’ CEO Jason Mezrahi checks in with his top Week 6 DFS fantasy football for FanDuel and DraftKings
Top-ranked daily fantasy sports pro Jason Mezrahi, founder and CEO of WinDailySports.com, breaks down his favorite DFS plays at various salary ranges for the Championship Round of Playoffs.
We have made it AFC & NFC Champion games and things are heating up. It was a long year for us all, but I hope I helped you make it a profitable one. Our projection model at WinDailySports.com has been firing on all cylinders to this season so it’s time to crank out some playoff lineups. What I will do in this article is list some of our highest projected players based off raw points and our highest point per dollar plays based on DraftKings.com pricing.
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These are some of the players Jason will be locking in his lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel for this weekend’s slate.
QUARTERBACKS
PATRICK MAHOMES, KC
$7,600 DRAFTKINGS, $9,000 FANDUEL
Assuming Patrick Mahomes comes back to play on Sunday he has to be the quarterback you have the most exposure to on this slate. After Rodgers and Brady outscored him last week and with Patrick dealing with the questionable tag due to the concussion I think his ownership will be lower than it should be. This will provide us with some leverage over the field and I believe Mahomes will be needed heavily for the Chiefs to move on to the Super Bowl. This game has an over / under of 54 which has the NFC championship beat by 3. With both the Chiefs and Bills missing a running game, this game should be played at a higher pace thus providing more possessions and drop backs for both quarterbacks. In this two game slate Mahomes may be the most popular but I don’t see a reason to fade him this weekend.
JOSH ALLEN, BUF
$6,900 DRAFTKINGS, $8,500 FANDUEL
Like I stated above, if I was playing only one lineup on Sunday my lean would be to get more shares of the Chiefs vs Bills game over the Buccaneers vs Packers. The Bills barely ran the ball the entire game and this entire offense is in the hands of Allen. I will have the popcorn and beverages handy and I am truly excited to see both these games played out. I am hoping scoreboard watchers will look back to the first matchup vs the Chiefs and be scared off by Allen’s performance. He had a bad game, but a lot had to do with game script and some pretty bad weather conditions. Allen will be my second highest owned quarterback on the slate.
RUNNING BACKS
LEONARD FOURNETTE, TB
$5,300 DRAFTKINGS, $7,200 FANDUEL
I never thought I would say this but Fournette is shaping up to be the safest running back on the slate. He has been the primary ball carrier and a go to receiver for Brady in the flat. I like the price better on DraftKings than on FanDuel but it’s slim picking on both sites. Aaron Jones is also in play but the way my lineup builds have started on DraftKings, I have been paying down at running back to pay up at wide receiver and tight end. Fournette should be safe for cash or tournaments unless the coaching staff decides to change the gameplan a game before the Super Bowl.
DEVIN SINGLETARY, BUF
$4,500 DRAFTKINGS, $5,800 FANDUEL
It will not be fun to watch, and Singletary could easily get less than 10 carries in this one but I’m hoping he falls into the endzone and catches some passes to finish off both halves. The price is just too cheap on DraftKings and I will be forced to eat some chalk and get different elsewhere. If Hellaire is out again I will increase more ownership to Williams instead because he has more upside than Singletary. Either way I will be rolling the dice with some Singletary come Sunday.
WIDE RECEIVERS
STEFON DIGGS, BUF
$7,000 DRAFTKINGS, $8,400 FANDUEL
The price is too cheap and the consistency of Diggs at this point of the season is second to none. He is the true number one option in this offense and he should get more targets than anyone else on the slate this weekend. I will attempt to hit the lock button on Diggs in at least 80% of my lineups and run it back with either Hill, Kelce, or both. We should see another 100+ yard game and touchdown out of Diggs so count me in this weekend. In lineups I don’t have Diggs I will have shares of Beasley or Brown.
TYREEK HILL, KC
$7,200 DRAFTKINGS, $8,300 FANDUEL
If you can hit value with Chad Henne throwing you the football for over a quarter imagine what’s to come if we can see four quarters of Patrick Mahomes slinging it in a shootout. Tyreek is truly a blur on the field and he will find holes in this defense and exploit it. As long as Mahomes suits up I will have plenty of shares of Mahomes, Hill, Diggs, and Kelce stacks this weekend. In lineups I don’t have Hill I will have Hardman (if Watkins is out again).
TIGHT ENDS
TRAVIS KELCE, KC
$8,000 DRAFTKINGS, $8,600 FANDUEL
Travis Kelce is a wide receiver masked as a tight end. The numbers don’t lie and the production is as consistent as any receiver in the game. Receptions, Touchdowns, and yards after the catch are all parts of Kelce’s game. The Bills struggle defending the tight end and Kelce should eat against the 29th worst defense covering the position. I think it’s safe to set the floor at 20 and I will go as far as saying that I feel safer playing Kelce over Davante Adams in my flex, but it’s obviously very close.
ROBERT TONYAN, GB
$3,600 DRAFTKINGS, $5,700 FANDUEL
Tonyan is simply mispriced on DraftKings. Whether you’re playing him at the tight end position or the flex in a double tight end stack $3,600, he is way too cheap for the safety he provides while looking for value on this slate. Tonyan is my preferred way to get exposure to the Packer side of the football and he will be a cornerstone value piece in my lineups.
We have some great football games on the slate and as a fan I feel truly blessed that we made it to this point of the season and we get 2 dream matchups and a great Super Bowl to come regardless of who makes it there!
Jason Mezrahi has been a professional, top-ranked Daily Fantasy Player on FanDuel and DraftKings for more than eight years. He has won FanDuel’s $155,555 King of the Diamond competition and placed second in DraftKings’ Fantasy Basketball World Championship, earning him $300,000. He owns and operates WinDailySports.com, which supports the DFS and Sports Betting community with resources such as tools, projection models, expert chat, in-depth written analysis and podcasts, plus much more.
Pro Football Focus suggests the Buffalo Bills sign RB Chris Carson in free agency.
[jwplayer HAN0ioyH]
The Bills appear to have a formidable duo in their backfield in youngsters Devin Singletary and Zack Moss. But moving forward, could that change to a trio?
Pro Football Focus made an interesting selection as a player the Bills (13-3) could add via free agency this offseason: Seahawks running back Chris Carson. Ranking the top players at the position that are slated to be free agents, Carson, who averaged 4.8 yards per carry in 2020 in 12 games played, appears No. 2 on the list.
In doing so, PFF complimented Carson’s worth ethic:
You will find few harder-running backs than Chris Carson, and that play style has led to him having some of the most consistent PFF rushing grades of any back in the league during his career. He hasn’t had a rushing grade below 75.0 or above 81.0 in four years and has always maximized his yardage. In each season of his career, he has gained at least three yards per carry after contact, topping out with 3.63 yards on average in 2019 — a season in which he broke 62 tackles including the playoffs.
Carson isn’t overly old at 26, but it still doesn’t seem like an investment the Bills would make. It’s currently unclear what the upcoming salary cap situation will be in the NFL this offseason due to COVID-19, so it’s hard to really even predict what kind of room the Bills would have to add free agents at this time.
But PFF suggests a three-year, $27 million deal, and annual average of $9 million for Carson to the Bills. With pending free agents like offensive lineman Daryl Williams and linebacker Matt Milano, the cap space could be better spent.
Plus, the Bills aren’t exactly a run-heavy team… at all. Of the 1,034 plays the Bills ran on offense in 2020, 411 were running plays. Of that 411, 102 were from quarterback Josh Allen. That leaves 309 total rushing plays to other players.
Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs storylines to watch for during lead up to the 2020 AFC Championship Game.
The storylines… let’s start here because you’ll hear this one a lot, but you have to agree… it’s pretty unbelievable. The Buffalo Bills are one game away from the Super Bowl.
But aside that, it’s still a usually work week and it’s now Wednesday, so the Bills are turning their attention to their next opponent.
After taking home victories to start the postseason vs. the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens, the last step between the Big Game and Buffalo is a meeting in Kansas City against the Chiefs (14-2) in the AFC Championship Game.
As we now look to the weekend ahead, here are seven Bills-Chiefs storylines to follow as it unfolds:
Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll on passing ball and game plan vs. Baltimore Ravens, look ahead to Chiefs.
The case can be made that the Bills offense starts and ends with quarterback Josh Allen each and every game. Perhaps that’s true, but no game displayed this more than their AFC Divisional round meeting against the Ravens.
In their 17-3 win, the Bills came out and called 20-straight passing plays. The only rush among all of those was a scramble from Allen on a passing play that broke down.
On Monday, Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said via video conference that decision came down to two factors. First, Allen’s abilities. Second, the Ravens defense.
“We weren’t afraid to throw the ball. We did it… I don’t know how many times in a row… and that’s because we have a lot of confidence in him. The whole football team does,” Daboll said. “(Allen) played the way he needed to play to help us win the game.”
“You watch Baltimore play Tennessee and Derrick Henry and what they did, so you’re not going to try and bang your head against a wall,” Daboll added.
Good points all around by Daboll, but one could argue that giving Devin Singletary some kind of workload on a handful of plays might’ve helped build momentum for him and keep the Ravens defense a bit more honest when Allen drops back. Hindsight is 20/20 though, and the Bills still won, after all.
In that same mindset, it sounds like Buffalo shouldn’t get used to seeing such a game plan. Ahead of facing the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Daboll already said that the running game will be “important part for us” this week.
“Kansas City is good at both [run and pass defense] and we’re going to have to be good at both of them,” Daboll said.
But using the run won’t just be the only thing the Bills will have to do… they’ll have to improve upon doing it as well. The Bills and Chiefs first faced off in Week 6 and the running game played a huge part.
Kansas City had 245 rushing yards to Buffalo’s 84. The Bills’ running back duo of Singletary and Zack Moss averaged 2.8 yards per carry in that 26-17 loss.
In potentially attempting to do both of those things on Sunday, Singletary has already expressed his confidence in Buffalo having a better run-game production vs. KC.
“That was kind of early on. I feel we grew a lot since then, came together a lot. We just a better offense since then,” Singletary said following the Ravens win.
Allen himself acknowledged it probably won’t be all on him moving forward, either.
“It’s going to take everyone moving forward,” Allen said via video conference postgame. “Guys have to step up and make plays for us.”
Then again, maybe it’s just a smokescreen we’re seeing from Daboll…? We’ll find out on Sunday.
