Bills dubbed one of NFL's 'most overrated teams' entering 2024 NFL season

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane has described his 2024 offseason strategy as an “infusion of youth,” as a concerted effort to move on from experienced, but aging options at several key positions while simultaneously regaining some of the team's long-term salary cap flexibility.

The strategy, which saw the offseason departures of stalwart starters Stefon Diggs, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, Mitch Morse, and Gabriel Davis, leaves the team at a bit of a crossroads—though it's been uber-competitive for much of the recent past (five consecutive postseason appearances and four straight AFC East titles), it’s simply not the same team it has been over much of that stretch.

Buffalo still figures to be competitive thanks to the presence of otherworldly quarterback Josh Allen, but it’s fair to have questions about the team’s ceiling given the offseason turnover. Did the team do enough to sufficiently supplement the secondary after the departures of Hyde, Poyer, and White? Will Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, and rookie Keon Coleman be able to make up the near 2,000 yards of production vacated by Diggs and Davis in the receiving corps? Will the reshuffling of last year’s stout offensive line lead to a hiccup in cohesion?

The larger sentiment of there being question marks in Buffalo is one shared by Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon, who identified the Bills as one of the most overrated teams in the NFL in a recent article for Bleacher Report. Though he acknowledges Allen’s excellence, the team’s offseason maneuvers leave him concerned, writing that “it’s hard to believe the Bills are actually a high-end AFC threat.”

“I've been wrong plenty often before and could be here, too,” Kenyon wrote. “But if Buffalo didn't win a conference title recently, how is that going to happen in 2024 after releasing or not re-signing a handful of veteran defenders and doing little to bolster the unit in free agency? Stefon Diggs' departure leaves a massive void at receiver that rookie Keon Coleman cannot be expected to fill immediately.

“Seeing the Bills fall short of the Divisional Round wouldn't be a surprise.”

The analyst even writes that Buffalo “probably” will qualify for the postseason.

Kenyon’s concerns, while fair, can perhaps be largely mitigated by the great equalizer that is Allen. He’s simply a talent few other teams in the NFL—let alone AFC—have, a quarterback who can—and often does—singlehandedly win football games. The former All-Pro signal-caller is the only quarterback in NFL history who has recorded over 40 total touchdowns in four consecutive seasons; he’ll attempt to make it five straight in the 2024 NFL season.

And while Buffalo didn’t make ‘splashy’ moves to round out its roster around Allen, the players who figure to feature more prominently given the veteran offseason departures are promising and have flashed in spot duty in the past. Shakir has been productive in limited opportunities throughout his first two professional seasons to the tune of 49 receptions for 772 yards; he’s answered when occasionally tasked with taking on a bigger role, indicating that he may be ready to be a more featured piece of the offense fulltime.

Kenyon is correct in his analysis that second-round pick Keon Coleman ‘cannot be expected’ to fill the void left by Diggs immediately, but he likely isn’t taking over as the focus on Buffalo’s aerial attack; that will instead be second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, who caught 73 passes for 673 yards last year. The former Utah pass-catcher figures to serve as a dynamic weapon and safety valve for Allen over the middle of the field, with many projecting the 24-year-old to lead the Bills in receptions next season.

Though Buffalo did part with several previously key defensive starters in the offseason, it’s not as though the team hasn’t been without said starters for much of the recent past. Tre’Davious White has missed large stretches of the past three seasons with various significant leg injuries while Micah Hyde missed the vast majority of the 2022 season with a neck injury (Jordan Poyer has also missed games in the past two seasons due to injury). Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas will return as the team’s starting cornerbacks while Taylor Rapp, who played in a depth role for Buffalo last season, figures to take over one of the starting safety spots; the team, in general, returns nine defensive starters.

While there’s reason to be concerned from an outsider’s perspective, the situation in Buffalo does not appear to be as dire as many believe. We’ll only know the true extent of the Bills’ offseason maneuvers once the team takes the field later this year.