Next year's Roster

[Buffalo Barbarian]

4 hours ago, Magox said:

I'm as pained as anyone but this idea that you are going to get rid of the entire defense and start over is ludicrous.    Who are you going to replace them with?  I'm ok with replacing certain players but you better have someone in place to take over their spot that you think can do the job better or just as well at the least.

 

Honestly, the biggest problem on the defensive side of the ball wasn't individual efforts from the players, it was schematic.  How many passes did Mahomes make where he threw the ball to his first read within 2.25 seconds?   Tons

 

Time after time the Chiefs were able to scheme up where someone would be open very quickly and time after time Mahomes was able to read it pre snap and know exactly where he was going to throw it and time after time that player was pretty open for an easy 8 yarder.   They just ran horizontal routes all day long and they executed them, not to mention the Mahomes called runs which we had no answers for.

 

The defensive philosophy needs to change, they need to run more disruptive plays/blitzes, they need to have lots more disguised coverages with men in the box and they need the CB's who can execute man to man coverages for these sort of plays.

 

With that said, here are the list of Unrestricted FA's

 

RB Ty Johnson

FB Reggie Gilliam

WR Amari Cooper

WR Mack Hollins

OL Tommy Doyle

DT Quinton Jefferson

DT Jordan Phillips

DT Austin Johnson

DE Dawuane Smoot

CB Rasul Douglas

S Damar Hamlin

LS Reid Ferguson

 

Out of this group the keepers are:

 

Ty Johnson

Reggie Gilliam

Mack Hollins

Jordan Phillips (on a minimum contract)

Reid Ferguson

 

If they can get a good deal then these are the ones open for consideration:

 

Amari Cooper (If they can get him for under $10M a year, which I doubt)

Tommy Doyle

Dawuane Smoot

Damar Hamlin (if he could agree to a minimum contract with the thought that he will be a backup)

 

Extend:

Cook

Rousseau (I know everyone is down on him but he didn't have many opportunities to get after Mahomes, Mahomes was getting the ball out so quickly that the ends didn't have many true opportunities)

Benford

Bernard

 

FA/draft needs:

Will need a man specialist to replace Rasul 

Will need to get someone to replace Von Miller 

If Amari doesn't come back we need his replacement

Need to get two big monster DT's that can stop the run effectively and push the pocket.

 

Player development needs:

Need Kincaid to step up

Need Cole Bishop to take a nice leap of improvement

Need Keon Coleman to improve

 

The Coaching Staff:

 

On offense, not much needs to change philosophically.  Brady was excellent

 

On Defense, gear up this defense to stop the Chiefs.  More blitzes, more disguised coverages, more man to man.

 

 

We blitzed the ravens a ton, we should have done the same to the Chiefs

 

 

[GASabresIUFan]

22 hours ago, SoMAn said:

same with WRs last year.

You know that is incorrect.  The Bills could have easily chosen Worthy at 28.  After Worthy 5 WRs went off the board in the next 9 picks.  The Bills could have drafted any of the those 6 players.  Beane chose to trade down twice.  FYI the next pick after Coleman was Ladd McConkey.  All McConkey did was put up 1149 yards & 7 TDs as a rookie.  

 

For all our issues with Coleman, the kid actually had a perfectly reasonable rookie year with 29 catches for 556 yards and 4 Tds.  

 

For comparison purposes, Michael Pittman, who has similar size and speed to Coleman and was drafted 34th in 2020, had 40 catches for 503 yards & 1 TD as a rookie.  There is still plenty of time for the Coleman pick to not only pan out, but truly improve the team.  

 

 

 

[Cheektowaga Chad]

1 hour ago, turbo044 said:

This is a bit of a lazy take.  I thought he was one of the better defensive players on Sunday. Led the teams in tackles, wasn't picked on in coverage, and wasn't beaten in general and certainly not beaten deep.  Hamlin and Elam were getting killed in coverage.  Bernard had a sub par game and Rousseau had his worst game of the season against a back up tackle with 30" arms.

 

Douglas, Oliver, D. Williams, Phillips and Bishop were the 5 that didn't suck.  Maybe my bar is low??

Bishop looked solid Sunday but let's be honest if elam and Hamlin weren't on the field he would have gotten targeted

 

Why target bishop when you got elam and Hamlin on the field. It made mahomes job incredibly easy 

 

 

[freddyjj]

6 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

This guy is going to be a monster next year. McDermott has an entire offseason to figure out how to get him on the field.

 

Why not try Taron Johnson at safety next season? He seems like the perfect option. He’s getting older. 

 

 

That is a great tackle.  I was also taken back by how Dorian was first Bill to get to PR, albeit he dove and missed tackle, and how he then got up and ran back 45 yards to make the TD saving tackle.  HUSTLE!

 

https://www.chiefs.com/video/nikko-remigio-s-44-yard-punt-return-gets-chiefs-into-bills-territory

 

 

[Gregg]

https://fbschedules.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/

 

The home schedule is brutal. 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

If we bring back Ted Washington, Bruce Smith and Cornelius Bennett our defense will be all set.

 

 

[Low Positive]

2 hours ago, Gregg said:

https://fbschedules.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/

 

The home schedule is brutal. 

Would you rather the Bills played those games on the road? If you want an easy schedule in 2026, root for the Bills to suck next year. Finishing in first place has it's drawbacks. 

[Sojourner]

2 hours ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

Bishop looked solid Sunday but let's be honest if elam and Hamlin weren't on the field he would have gotten targeted

 

Why target bishop when you got elam and Hamlin on the field. It made mahomes job incredibly easy 

 

 

Elam had a poor first half, Bishop a poor second. They were targeting Cole in the passing game and were the reason they moved the ball the last 2 quarters through the air. 
 

Actually watching the second half, for as bad a sieve as Elam was the first 30 minutes, he turned it around the last 30 in comparison. 
 

The player quality on the field is a problem. 

[Fan in Chicago]

3 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

Elam had a poor first half, Bishop a poor second. They were targeting Cole in the passing game and were the reason they moved the ball the last 2 quarters through the air. 
 

Actually watching the second half, for as bad a sieve as Elam was the first 30 minutes, he turned it around the last 30 in comparison. 
 

The player quality on the field is a problem. 

Elam will be offered up for a trade and if they get a pack of gum in exchange, he will be gone

[Sojourner]

2 minutes ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Elam will be offered up for a trade and if they get a pack of gum in exchange, he will be gone

No dispute. I’m not advocating to keep him or that’s he’s a quality player. Just an observation for how bad he was, he did very well the last 2 years quarters. Most players would crumble when you combine what’s happened this year, what happened in the game to start and the magnitude of the game itself. 
 

Not a fan at all but he did do some things right. 

Edited Tuesday at 11:41 PM by Sojourner

[MarlinTheMagician]

1 technique - 1 please, drafted pretty high. 

DT that can flex between 1 and 3 tech - 1 please

CBs - 2 please, one drafted high, one later.

Edge - 2 please, one drafted high, one FA

Free Safety - starter, drafted pretty high (Rounds 2 or 3?)

WR - whenever you see value.

 

Need another pick in rounds 2 or 3, go up and get it!             

[Magox]

19 hours ago, Magox said:

 

 

Honestly, the biggest problem on the defensive side of the ball wasn't individual efforts from the players, it was schematic.  How many passes did Mahomes make where he threw the ball to his first read within 2.25 seconds?   Tons

 

Time after time the Chiefs were able to scheme up where someone would be open very quickly and time after time Mahomes was able to read it pre snap and know exactly where he was going to throw it and time after time that player was pretty open for an easy 8 yarder.   They just ran horizontal routes all day long and they executed them, not to mention the Mahomes called runs which we had no answers for.

 

The defensive philosophy needs to change, they need to run more disruptive plays/blitzes, they need to have lots more disguised coverages with men in the box and they need the CB's who can execute man to man coverages for these sort of plays.

 

 

Rousseau (I know everyone is down on him but he didn't have many opportunities to get after Mahomes, Mahomes was getting the ball out so quickly that the ends didn't have time to get home)

 

 

This is exactly what I’ve been saying the past couple days.   People can want to blame Rousseau or Von and the lack of pressure, but it would be misguided blame.  Andy Reid schemes open plays and Mahomes was able to read the plays pre snap and he was consistently throwing to his first option and each time it was netting 8-12 yarders.

 

The problem wasn’t personnel from the ends, you could have had Myles Garrett and he wouldn’t have gotten to Mahomes on time.   You can’t when Mahomes is getting the ball out in 2.29 seconds.

 

The defense has to show new looks and disguise their coverages more effectively and not have Mahomes constantly throw it to his first read. 
 

The biggest problem from the defensive side wasn’t personnel but rather our defensive gameplan and it’s predictably 

[GASabresIUFan]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6097505/2025/01/29/bills-chiefs-offseason-roster-free-agents/

 

Really good article about the Bills roster needs this off-season

1) CB opposite of Benford - After reading the article, this seems like a place to invest both draft capital and finding a veteran FA to play immediately.

 

2) Safety behind Bishop and Rapp - let Hamlin walk.  

 

3) DE - Low pressure rate against the Chiefs a critical issue.  AJE's pressure rate was terrible all season and he was taken off the field on passing downs as the season progressed.  Miller is going to be a cap casualty and Smoot is a FA.  Groot was good all season except against the Chiefs in the playoffs and has only one year left on his deal.  Sounds to me like a complete overhaul is necessary.  

 

4) WR - The whole group lacked the ability to get consistent separation.  Finding a boundary WR who gets separation should be a top priority this off-season.

 

I agree with everything Buscaglia wrote in the article.   

 

IMHO Draft priorities - DE, WR and CB

 

FA priorities - DE, DT, CB, depth S & WR 

[LABILLBACKER]

On 1/28/2025 at 3:34 PM, Sojourner said:

Elam had a poor first half, Bishop a poor second. They were targeting Cole in the passing game and were the reason they moved the ball the last 2 quarters through the air. 
 

Actually watching the second half, for as bad a sieve as Elam was the first 30 minutes, he turned it around the last 30 in comparison. 
 

The player quality on the field is a problem. 

With how worthless our pass rush usually is against KC, losing Rapp & Benford was basically a death blow.

[BarleyNY]

On 1/28/2025 at 3:47 PM, GASabresIUFan said:

You know that is incorrect.  The Bills could have easily chosen Worthy at 28.  After Worthy 5 WRs went off the board in the next 9 picks.  The Bills could have drafted any of the those 6 players.  Beane chose to trade down twice.  FYI the next pick after Coleman was Ladd McConkey.  All McConkey did was put up 1149 yards & 7 TDs as a rookie.  

 

For all our issues with Coleman, the kid actually had a perfectly reasonable rookie year with 29 catches for 556 yards and 4 Tds.  

 

For comparison purposes, Michael Pittman, who has similar size and speed to Coleman and was drafted 34th in 2020, had 40 catches for 503 yards & 1 TD as a rookie.  There is still plenty of time for the Coleman pick to not only pan out, but truly improve the team.  

 

 

 

Michael Pittman Jr. is an absolutely terrible comparison for Coleman. Pittman is known for his ability to separate while Coleman is known for his inability to separate. Try again. 

On 1/28/2025 at 3:22 PM, Buffalo Barbarian said:

Apparently Rousseau wasn't getting any footing, he should have changed his shoes

So why didn’t he? Wasn’t this an excuse for some players against Cincy in that playoff game too? It’s a fireable offense to not have your players in the proper equipment for an entire game. A series. That happens. But a whole game? It shows a lack of competency at many levels.