Bills had the best free agent class according to ESPN

[JohnNord]

6 hours ago, BILLS55 said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/44363563/2025-nfl-free-agency-class-rankings-teams-improved-better-worse-signings-deals

 

I think they did a good job of addressing some holes but not sure I'd put them #1

 

B55

1. Buffalo Bills
Key acquisitions and returning players: WR Khalil Shakir, Edge Joey Bosa, LB Terrel Bernard, LB Greg Rousseau, Edge Michael Hoecht, WR Joshua Palmer

I loved: How the Bills retained their own talent before markets got set. The Shakir extension is only $15 million per year. Rousseau got $20 million per year. Bernard is at $12.5 million per year. Those are three young cornerstones of a perennial contender, and they're staying in Buffalo for remarkably less than their open market number. The Bills were right to retain the players who helped get them to the AFC Championship Game, even if they haven't yet slayed the dragon that is the Chiefs.

I didn't love: How expensive Palmer was. Palmer is going to fill the Mack Hollins role, but I'm not sure he's going to elevate it much -- certainly not for double the price tag. He is a good dirty work receiver and should be considered a glue guy on a healthy offense, but if he was a truly dangerous pass catcher, he would have already broken out in Los Angeles. Still, this is a small complaint in an otherwise great class.

 

Palmer is a much different type of receiver than Hollins.  He’s faster and is much better with separation.  When Hollins was on the outside, defenses had little problem covering him one-on-one (Same for Coleman).  Palmer can actually get opened.  
 

Also I don’t think Palmer is replacing Hollins in the locker room as “the glue guy” or as the blocker Mack was.  He’s a good blocker but not in the same league as Hollins.  
 

So I don’t think he’s filling the same role.  He’s going to get a lot of snaps on the outside like Hollins but pretty sure he’ll be used differently 

[HOUSE]

 

 

12 minutes ago, ProcessTruster said:

if this board didn't have negative opinions on just about everything, it would have no opinions at all 

 

Board should go from TwoBillsDrive to TwoBillsWhine

This years free Agency period sucks

[Mikie2times]

14 minutes ago, ProcessTruster said:

if this board didn't have negative opinions on just about everything, it would have no opinions at all 

 

This is dumb like Sean's face

[Mister Defense]

9 hours ago, BILLS55 said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/44363563/2025-nfl-free-agency-class-rankings-teams-improved-better-worse-signings-deals

 

I think they did a good job of addressing some holes but not sure I'd put them #1

 

B55

1. Buffalo Bills
Key acquisitions and returning players: WR Khalil Shakir, Edge Joey Bosa, LB Terrel Bernard, LB Greg Rousseau, Edge Michael Hoecht, WR Joshua Palmer

I loved: How the Bills retained their own talent before markets got set. The Shakir extension is only $15 million per year. Rousseau got $20 million per year. Bernard is at $12.5 million per year. Those are three young cornerstones of a perennial contender, and they're staying in Buffalo for remarkably less than their open market number. The Bills were right to retain the players who helped get them to the AFC Championship Game, even if they haven't yet slayed the dragon that is the Chiefs.

I didn't love: How expensive Palmer was. Palmer is going to fill the Mack Hollins role, but I'm not sure he's going to elevate it much -- certainly not for double the price tag. He is a good dirty work receiver and should be considered a glue guy on a healthy offense, but if he was a truly dangerous pass catcher, he would have already broken out in Los Angeles. Still, this is a small complaint in an otherwise great class.

 

 

Nice to see and I agree with most.  A good off season, and now the draft is vital to a championship run of course.

 

But he has it all wrong on Palmer.

 

The Bills did not pay Palmer much more money than they paid Hollins to be a role player like Hollins.  He is penciled in as the starter, which I thought was obvious-?

 

I think he will be a high quality starter and have his first 1,000 yard season next year, as Coleman also has a nice sophomore year.

 

(But I also thought a similar thing with Shepherd two years ago and Samuel last year, so keep that in mind.  Law of averages?)

 

 

[34-78-83]

6 hours ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

Palmer is too slow to take the outside X

 

He's just another JAG slot

 

Maybe a JAG. Not a slot.

[Solomon Grundy]

11 hours ago, DCofNC said:

I’d say it’s more of a hot take to expect Bosa to BE an impact.  If he hits double digit sacks I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

If the Bills could produce consistent pressure from the interior then I'd expect Groot, Bosa and AJ to eat from the outside 

[NewEra]

8 hours ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

Palmer is too slow to take the outside X

 

He's just another JAG slot

This is a terrible post.  

[MJS]

16 minutes ago, NewEra said:

This is a terrible post.  

People just making stuff up. I don't get it.

[Nihilarian]

So, Buffalo won the offseason. Is that like the Rex Ryan prediction? 

 

Seriously though, the Joey Bosa signing could be the best move no question. Then add a better WR, and 2 DTs while re-upping players already on the roster. Good stuff! 

 

This team is still super thin at CB, and Safety might be a problem too.

[RiotAct]

you know, I’ve always liked ESPN

[Thurman#1]

15 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Where is the consideration of signing two suspended players and not filling their most critical need at CB? 

 

 

I don't think you can judge an FA class on what they did NOT do.

 

I mean, if FA was the only way to get players, and if FA was finished, then yeah, you'd blame them for not doing better at CB. But we could still draft a CB, trade for one, find a terrific UDFA, or just pick up an FA CB later in the process. Douglas, for instance.

 

And I can understand why people are upset about the suspensions, but I'm not real worried. They brought those guys in to make them better in the post-season. Not ideal, but not a big deal either, IMO.

 

 

10 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

This is dumb like Sean's face

 

 

So, smart then.

 

Nice.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 06:38 AM by Thurman#1

[Doc Brown]

I laughed at the title of this thread but then realized it accounted for moves all NFL teams have made the last five weeks.  The extensions were smart and the Rousseau one will be a steal looking back a couple years from now.  I know Mack Hollins was a fan favorite here (the no shoe thing was weird) but I wouldn't have paid him what the Patriots did.  I'd give the free agent signings a C because they still have a hole at CB2 and the two guys they added to their defensive line I thought were overpaid and now the Bills defense will be on constant flux throughout the year because of the suspensions.  Love the Bosa signing and am okay with the Palmer signing despite my well documented hatred of the Bills not being in on the DK Metcalf sweepstakes. 

 

I wouldn't have put them at #1 though.  That's crazy.  Glad they re-signed Ty Johnson at such a low price and are happy they won't from all indications give Cook $15m a year.  I do think people overreacted to the Dane Jackson signing as only $567k guaranteed on a one year deal screams out to me Beane thinks there's no way in hell Jackson's our plan at CB2.

Edited Thursday at 07:14 AM by Doc Brown

[CSBill]

20 hours ago, chongli said:

 

To be fair, this is what the ESPN writer said:

 

"I didn't want to just rank their incoming free agent classes, because that would simply be a ranking of which teams spent the most money. I tried to consider everything: Not just free agent acquisitions and departures, but trades and extensions and restructures"

 

That's fair and smart. Kudos to them.

[BobbyC81]

17 hours ago, Motorin' said:

 

Yes, but... Amari Cooper got his snap count reduced to 30-40% of plays as the season went on. 

 

Imo, bc he was washed up and wasn't effective blocking.

 

Palmer should see far higher snap counts than Cooper because he's a much better blocker, and he's a better router runner than Cooper was at that point in his career. 

 

He may end up being a primary wr on 2 wr sets with blocking duty on a lot of run plays. Which is what Hollins did. 

 

So while he won't replace Hollins specific roll, he'll pick up the slack and the snaps. 

 

 

I have a hard time believing Cooper is washed up.  He had a career high in receiving yards the season before with Cleveland’s crap QBs.  It had to be an injury.

[BearNorth]

23 hours ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

I think its kind of the going rate though.  He's a better route runner and wide receiver than hollins, while hollins adds contributions on special teams.  

 

Hollins was a very significant factor in our running game success.  He was constantly hitting people to spring Josh and our RB's loose.

[Motorin']

3 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

I have a hard time believing Cooper is washed up.  He had a career high in receiving yards the season before with Cleveland’s crap QBs.  It had to be an injury.

 

That could be true. But he certainly wasn't very productive last year. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

37 minutes ago, BearNorth said:

Hollins was a very significant factor in our running game success.  He was constantly hitting people to spring Josh and our RB's loose.

 

This is true, i think some of that impact can be spread to coleman, knox, kincaid in addition to palmer.  It's hard to determine... how good a blocker a WR is, but based on snap splits with a rookie and a 2nd year player (all 3 roughly the same), i'd imagine he was the best blocking WR on the chargers.  

 

Just now, Motorin' said:

 

That could be true. But he certainly wasn't very productive last year. 

 

After he landed hard in the jets game he played less than 40% of snaps the rest of the way.  Like i think we all expected him to be healthy and ready for a snap increase in january and it actually went the other direction.  

Edited Thursday at 02:21 PM by Bleeding Bills Blue

[GASabresIUFan]

8 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

I don't think you can judge an FA class on what they did NOT do.

 

I mean, if FA was the only way to get players, and if FA was finished, then yeah, you'd blame them for not doing better at CB. But we could still draft a CB, trade for one, find a terrific UDFA, or just pick up an FA CB later in the process. Douglas, for instance.

If you have a homework assignment and it says complete the following tasks: Add boundary WR, add DE, upgrade depth at DL and DE, add depth at S and and a starting CB and you turn in your assignment with a WR, a S, a DE, DL depth that will miss 1/3 of the season and no CB, the teacher would give you either an incomplete or give you at best a 70 out of 100.  20 for the WR, 20 for the S, 20 for Bosa, only 10 for the DL depth, and a zero for the CB.  
 

The odds of a rookie CB drafted late in the 1st rd or late in the 2nd rd coming in and starting immediately are about 5-10%.  Last season we tried that with Cole Bishop and it failed miserably.   We also tried that with Elam a few years earlier and that failed spectacularly.  We needed to upgrade Douglas and that window has closed unless Beane can finagle a trade.  Possible, but unlikely until later in the season.  Remember Douglas was acquired after week 7 and Cooper after week 6.  Do you really want to go into the season with a camp battle between Jackson (PFF grade 33 last season), Ingram (PFF grade 58.6) and a rookie for the starting job?
 

I’m sorry, and I like Beane, but he needs to get lucky at CB for this off-season to get a good grade.  It’s really to bad.  I like the extensions, I like Palmer and Bosa.  I was excited about both Ogunjobi and Hoecht until I found out about the suspensions.  I believe both guys should have had their contracts voided or greatly reduced.  The Jackson signing is waste.  He was horrible last year in Carolina and hopefully was only signed to be the 4th outside CB.  Outside of Benford, outside CB is the Bills weakest position group and Jackson doesn’t move the needle. 
 

 

Edited Thursday at 03:02 PM by GASabresIUFan

[bigduke6]

3 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

I have a hard time believing Cooper is washed up.  He had a career high in receiving yards the season before with Cleveland’s crap QBs.  It had to be an injury.

from what ive heard that wrist injury he got nearly immediately was looked at and the thought was that he should shut it down for the rest of the season.  it was that bad.  clearly he decided to continue on but that sounds significant to me.  not sure why hes still a FA at this point,  i honestly want him back if its a team friendly deal.  somebody will pick him up around TC time is my guess.  

[Billsfed1]

On 3/26/2025 at 10:08 AM, BILLS55 said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/44363563/2025-nfl-free-agency-class-rankings-teams-improved-better-worse-signings-deals

 

I think they did a good job of addressing some holes but not sure I'd put them #1

 

B55

1. Buffalo Bills
Key acquisitions and returning players: WR Khalil Shakir, Edge Joey Bosa, LB Terrel Bernard, LB Greg Rousseau, Edge Michael Hoecht, WR Joshua Palmer

I loved: How the Bills retained their own talent before markets got set. The Shakir extension is only $15 million per year. Rousseau got $20 million per year. Bernard is at $12.5 million per year. Those are three young cornerstones of a perennial contender, and they're staying in Buffalo for remarkably less than their open market number. The Bills were right to retain the players who helped get them to the AFC Championship Game, even if they haven't yet slayed the dragon that is the Chiefs.

I didn't love: How expensive Palmer was. Palmer is going to fill the Mack Hollins role, but I'm not sure he's going to elevate it much -- certainly not for double the price tag. He is a good dirty work receiver and should be considered a glue guy on a healthy offense, but if he was a truly dangerous pass catcher, he would have already broken out in Los Angeles. Still, this is a small complaint in an otherwise great class.

 

Like I said…Beane is the MVP of 2025 (so far)