Buffalo Bills’ Offseason Grade: A Defense Built to Break Through?
Brandon Beane Doubles Down on Super Bowl Blueprint
Last year was supposed to be the year, in Buffalo.
The 2024 campaign represented a philosophical shift for the perpetual bridesmaid Bills redoubled their commitment to becoming a pound-the-ball running attack, to alleviate some of the pressure of relying on Josh Allen’s HeroBall in big moments.
“I think the biggest difference has been that the offensive line has stayed healthy throughout the year,” Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas told me leading up to the AFC Championship Game in January. “And, they’re comfortable with all three running backs. Reggie Gilliam doesn’t get enough credit.”
But, for the second consecutive season and third time in four years, the Bills’ season came to a careening end at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, a distant echoing heartbreak to Buffalo’s four Super Bowl failures of the early ‘90s.
This latest heartbreak, combined with general manager Brandon Beane spending Super Bowl Sunday on the couch in Western New York, seems to be a turning point.
Beane watched the Philadelphia Eagles overwhelm and pummel Mahomes with relentless pressure, racking up six sacks without calling a single blitz in a blowout win. The experience triggered Buffalo to quadruple down on bolstering its defensive line and adding playmakers in the secondary, hoping to finally slay the Mahomes monster.
Reigning MVP Josh Allen is still Buffalo’s catalyst, but the Bills got better up front along both lines of scrimmage over the past three months. Whether it will be enough to make it through the AFC gauntlet is the great hope and greater trepidation running through each member of BillsMafia.
What I Like About The Buffalo Bills’ Offseason
Beane set out to build a bully that could rival the physicality of the Baltimore Ravens, whom the Bills escaped from in the AFC Divisional Round, and replicate the kind of beating on Mahomes that the Eagles handed down two weeks after Buffalo’s season ended.
Joey Bosa taps in for Von Miller as the Bills’ new pass rush mercenary, off a five-sack and 34-pressure season.
But, the Bills true commitment to building a defensive juggernaut came during the NFL Draft, where Beane invested Buffalo’s first four picks on that side of the ball; cornerback Maxwell Hairston, defensive tackle TJ Sanders, EDGE Landon Jackson, and defensive tackle Deone Walker. Four top-110 selections, four defensive players who could push to contribute meaningful snaps, immediately, on a defense that finished 17th in total defense while allowing 21.6 points per game.
Hairston, 5-foot-11 and 183 pounds, was among the best of the bunch in a strong cornerback class with elite 4.28 speed to neutralize the likes of Xavier Worthy and ball skills to go toe-to-toe with Tee Higgins or DeAndre Hopkins. As the Eagles showed, beefing up up front with Sanders, Jackson, and Walker is a sturdy foundation to build a roster capable of multiple bites of the Super Bowl apple.
There’s a real chance that for as physical as the Bills tried to be on offense last season, head coach Sean McDermott may finally have a defense capable of matching that toughness and elevating Buffalo’s ability to play complementary football in 2025.
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What Worries Me About The Buffalo Bills’ Offseason, 2025 Outlook
Beane and the Bills deserve significant credit for sticking to a philosophy and trying to build a roster to beat the teams standing in their way of bringing a Lombardi to the banks of Lake Erie.
However, it is fair to wonder if the Bills have enough firepower at receiver. Beane seems to think so, and explained his thought process to my good friend Ty Dunne after the draft, his comments are worth the read.
Still, while Joshua Palmer seems to have perpetual upside, he’s never caught more than four touchdown passes and has surpassed 700 receiving yards only once, despite spending his career on the receiving end of passes from Justin Herbert.
Buffalo is putting some pressure on Khalil Shakir continuing his steady upwards trajectory over the first three seasons of his career, and last year’s second-round draft choice, Keon Coleman, leveraging his first season and an offseason’s worth of experience working with Allen, making big strides on a 556-yard and four touchdown rookie season.
Given the outsized pressure on the Bills to break through to the Super Bowl, it’s worth pointing out that new New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins was the only Bills wideout to surpass 50 receiving yards or catch a touchdown in the AFC Championship Game.
While the Bills defense surrendered 32 points, and that obviously necessitated a massive investment in improving that side of the ball, Buffalo’s receivers are going to need to make big strides in order for those investments to pay any meaningful dividends.
Buffalo Bills’ Offseason Grade: A
There is a blueprint and a verifiable track record that dominance along both lines of scrimmage and a swarming pass rush are critical to winning a Super Bowl.
Buffalo spent this offseason collecting the pieces that give it the chance to boast a unit capable of replicating Steve Spagnuolo’s or Vic Fangio’s or Todd Bowles’ or Aaron Donald and Co.’s success over the past half-decade.
This was already one of the more talented rosters across the league, and Buffalo added potential game wreckers where they had previously come up short against some of the truly elite offenses across the sport in games and moments and on plays where it mattered most. Whether the big swings pay off remain to be seen, but the Bills boast a franchise quarterback, a dominant versatile ground attack, and now the makings of a defense with difference-makers at all three levels.
Maybe, if things break the Bills’ way, it won’t be Howie Roseman’s blueprint teams will be scrambling to follow next March, but Beane’s.
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