Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘The combine has long been considered one of the most important weeks of the offseason and what makes it so valuable is that it brings together approximately 330 of the top draft-eligible college players to one place, where everything is apples to apples.’

‘Coaches have long insisted that the time teams get to spend together in the offseason is invaluable, but as we found out in 2020, that was, by and large, a load of crap. I have long believed that the bulk of the offseason work teams put in was unnecessary, and until 2020, all you had to do was wind the clock back to the Buffalo Bills’ Super Bowl years.’

‘“As the season progresses and as the vaccine becomes more mainstream, I think that will help us a lot to get back to those years where we had sellouts,” she said. “I’m very optimistic that we’re going to be at a better place but also being realistic that we do have a lot of hurdles to get through. That’s next season, that’s September. A lot can happen between now and September so I’m hoping for all good things and looking forward to having our fans back.”’

‘However, the one problem the Bills are facing is the salary cap because at present, they have no room to sign Watt. The Bills are already going to have to cut several players and will probably restructure other contracts just to give them the ability to re-sign some of their own free agents, most prominently offensive linemen Daryl Williams and Jon Feliciano, and linebacker Matt Milano.’

‘The fifth-year option applies only to first-round draft picks and it allows teams the ability to lock up a player, albeit at a big price, for an extra season beyond the standard four-year rookie contract all draft choices sign. The decision on that must happen following the player’s third season which, for Allen and Edmunds, is upon us. The deadline is May 3.’

‘To spend a first-round pick on a running back when they already have two young players, both of whom carry reasonably high investments as third-round picks, doesn’t seem prudent, especially when the Bills have more pressing needs to fill with their first choice.’

‘The 2020 season provided a stark reminder of how deficient the Bills are at the tight end position. The Bills’ defense gave up 963 yards worth of completions to opposing tight ends, the second-most in the league.’

‘It’s not necessarily about sacks but more so, applying pressure on the passer and getting him to either move off his desired spot in the pocket or force him to throw the ball before a play has fully developed, both of which often lead to a successful outcome for the defense.’

‘This is where the spotlight glares on the offensive line as it had an alarmingly difficult time holding up at the point of attack. When you couple that with backs like Singletary and Moss who lack big-play ability, it’s a problem.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with spending big on playmakers for Josh Allen, but Brown is no longer worth a $9.5 million salary cap hit that is sixth-highest on the team, especially when the Bills have a replacement ready to step into his role in Gabriel Davis.’

‘“I proved that (the Bills) didn’t make a mistake by drafting me going back a few years ago,” he said when asked to summarize the giant leap he took from 2019 to 2020.’

‘And then there’s Ed Oliver. The former No. 9 overall pick does some good things that don’t always get noticed, but he also doesn’t get noticed very much and that’s not good. He has not been a difference-maker in any way, and while his pass rush improved this season, his play against the run is still sub-standard.’

‘Instead, what we got was a run game that was mostly dysfunctional from start to finish. Now, it’s tough to complain about an offense that scored 501 points, and coordinator Brian Daboll made the decision to move away from the run and turn the offense into one of the most pass happy in the league, but the Bills’ inability to run effectively was problematic and McDermott admitted it, saying, “I can tell you right now, we’ve got to run the football better.”’

‘“I still think we have to be very honest with where we’re at – we’re still not a Super Bowl team,” he said candidly during an hour-long season-ending Zoom call with reporters. “There’s one team happy at the end of the year. We made a great step last year in ’19 from ’18 and another step this year. We still have to go further. The goal here is to win that thing. Until we get in that game to compete for it, we can’t win it. So it wasn’t good enough this year.”’

‘“It’s probably premature to get into it too deep right now but generally speaking, we’ve got to improve,” McDermott said Tuesday during a 45-minute season-ending Zoom call with reporters. “I’ve got to improve, our teams’ got to improve, our staff has to improve. Here’s what I know from experience: If you sit here and say, ‘All we need to do is do this much more to make it to the Super Bowl’ you’re wrong. You’ve got to start over.”’