The Buffalo Bills, and Brandon Beane, have had quite an off-season thus far, even better than what many fans initially thought after the first week. They’ve been able to retain a lot of their own free agents, and even add some depth to a few other positions before the draft in one month from now. Beane is setting himself up to go anywhere with their first round pick, and not be limited to one or two positions and reach for a player. So, what would you grade the off-season they’ve had thus far?
Retained:
- RB Ty Johnson
- DT DaQuan Jones
- DE AJ Epenesa
- S Taylor Rapp
Let walk:
- DE Leonard Floyd
- WR Deonte Harty
- CB Tre White
- DB Siran Neal
- S Jordan Poyer
- DT Tim Settle
- LB Tyrel Dodson
- CB Dane Jackson
- RB Nyheim Hines
- WR Trent Sherfield
- QB Kyle Allen
- WR Gabe “All-Pro” Davis
New acquisitions:
- QB Mitch Trubisky
- WR Curtis Samuel
- WR Mack Hollins
- OL Will Clapp
- S Mike Edwards
- LB Nicholas Morrow
- DE Casey Toohill
- DL Austin Johnson
- P Matt Haack
Extensions:
- OL Dion Dawkins
CB Taron Johnson
The Buffalo Bills found a do-it-all receiver who has experience everywhere on offense, including in the backfield. Samuel is a significantly better version of what they hoped Deonte Harty would become, and he has more upside as a WR2 in this offense. Beane and new OC Joe Brady have experience with Samuel from Carolina, and his success with Brady in Carolina will likely transfer over to Buffalo with a rocket-armed QB.
On defense, the Bills found replacements for Shaq Lawson, Jordan Phillips, and Tyrel Dodson in the front seven. In the secondary, they found Jordan Poyer’s replacement, at least for this year. Buffalo has no future at the Safety room at the moment, and the Safeties they do have come with a lot of questions. Their projected starters, Taylor Rapp and Mike Edwards, don’t have much previous starting experience. The backups, Damar Hamlin and Cam Lewis, don’t have many defensive snaps on their resumes just yet. The Bills will need to draft a Safety within the first three rounds to lock up their future for the next four years. If not, they might be desperate come free agency 2025.
Overview
With the limited cap space he had to work with, Brandon Beane gave the Bills a fighting shot going into the draft, which is a win in my book. They found replacements at most positions, and kept their depth at others. However, past this year, the Bills don’t have their starting Safeties. That will need to be taken care of in the draft for Beane to come out of this roster purge in the win column.
Grade: B-
More must-reads: