Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Sorry, but the Bills cannot, and should not, do something so crazy, especially when they’re already on the hook for seven players with an eight-figure cap hit for 2025 before Beane and his money men start reworking existing contracts just to get cap compliant and then to open some space to sign outside free agents.’

‘Going into 2025, Milano and Terrel Bernard are the likely starters while Dorian Williams will be the primary backup for Milano. Behind them, it’s slim pickings with 2022 seventh-round pick Baylon Spector, 2024 fifth-round pick Edefuan Ulofoshio, and 2024 undrafted free agent Joe Andreessen.’

‘However, Allen was right on the money regarding his season assessment of his connection with Kincaid. It was not good, both players share the blame in their lack of chemistry, and it’s something that has to be fixed for the 2025 season.’

‘In 20 games counting the postseason, Bass missed 10 kicks – five field goals and five extra points, meaning 20 lost points, and that’s certainly not ideal. However, not one of his misfires had any impact in Buffalo’s five losses. In fact, he missed only two kicks in losses, a field goal against the Ravens in a game the Bills lost by 25, and an extra point in the meaningless season finale against the Patriots.’

‘Tabor has a wealth of experience in this role and that is exactly what the Bills need. When he was with the Browns, he had a player win at least one AFC special teams player of the week award in six consecutive seasons and in 2012, when kicker Phil Dawson and return man Joshua Cribbs were selected to the Pro Bowl, it was just the second time in history that two players from the same team in one season.’

‘However, as this specifically relates to the Bills, you have to ask yourself do they really have the personnel to pull off the embarrassment the Eagles just foisted on Mahomes and the rest of the Kansas City offense? The honest answer right now is simply no, and general manager Brandon Beane and his college and pro scouting departments need to rectify that in the offseason.’

‘This was a classic case of the time-honored tradition known as the Friday afternoon news dump when organizations try to do things when the glare of the spotlight is dimmed, only the Bills cranked it up several notches with Smiley’s dismissal leaking out on the morning of the Super Bowl.’

‘In Buffalo, Jauron could not get the Bills over the hump, mainly because the team was so bad on offense. With quarterbacks such as J.P. Losman, Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick for his half season in 2009 before he was fired, the Bills finished 23rd, 30th, 23rd and 28th in scoring, and 30th, 30th, 25th and 30th in yards.’

‘The question I have on this Friday is, why are so many people so enraged over this? You would think the voters handed the award to Bills backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky rather than Allen.’

‘It would not be fair to pin Buffalo’s inability to reach the Super Bowl over the past five years solely on the defensive line, but in each of the five elimination games – four losses to the Chiefs and one to the Bengals – the defensive line has fallen far short of controlling the play and it has led to some gory numbers.’

‘Samuel battled injuries all season and he could never find a defined role in the offense and counting the postseason he had just 37 receptions for 334 yards and three TDs. Obviously, the Bills were big on spreading the ball around, but Samuel was a big-time disappointment and the Bills are kind of stuck with him because the dead cap hit to cut him is $11 million for 2025.’

‘But the drama surrounding Diggs had grown untenable and Beane understood this, so he made the trade with Houston that brought back the Texans’ 2025 second-round draft pick. It created a massive $31 million dead cap hit in 2024, but also wiped Diggs from the books thereafter, a purge that greatly helps Beane this year and beyond.’

‘In eight seasons, he has amassed 102.5 sacks including double digits in each of the last seven years, and he has earned six All-Pro selections (four on the first team), six Pro Bowl invites and he was the 2023 NFL defensive player of the year.’

‘“I know playing in a number of these games, a couple AFC championship games, couple making it to the divisional round a handful of times, once you get this far, the games all come down to four or five plays and sometimes less than that,” said long snapper Reid Ferguson, the longest-tenured member of the Bills. “And it’s just whether or not they fall your way or not. We feel like we’re putting the best product on the field that we can. Sometimes you get beat.”’

‘The primary issue with Coleman coming into the draft was the question of whether he’d be able to win on his routes in the NFL. The Bills knew gaining separation would be a problem and it was. One of the ways Coleman overcame that against weaker competition in college was his contested catch ability, but that did not translate in year one.’