ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. —
Here are my five thoughts on the Buffalo Bills after the start of offseason workouts:
1. Coach Sean McDermott and General Manager Brandon Beane have made their shared concerns about Josh Allen’s playing style as clear as ever.
Run less. Protect yourself more.
The question is, does Allen buy into those worries? His comments to reporters early in the week didn’t exactly sound as if he was ready to co-sign on the idea of putting greater focus on minimizing his exposure to injury. Though Allen acknowledged he “can’t continue” putting his 26-year-old body at greater risk by frequently leaving the pocket, he made no promises about adjusting his style anytime soon.
“I know when I’m using my youth, I feel like I can, but over the course of my career, I’m going to have to learn to adapt and change,” Allen told reporters. “I’ve always had the mindset of I’ve been a football player first and a quarterback second, and at some point, that’s going to have to switch. When that point is, I don’t know.
“I guess I’ll let my body tell me.”
It’s fair to say Allen and his body had a serious conversation in the middle of last season when he suffered an elbow injury against the New York Jets. He was bothered by it through the balance of the schedule and the playoffs, but said he hasn’t received any medical treatment and is throwing without discomfort.
The injury happened while Allen was dropping back to throw, but it gave McDermott and Beane a troubling reminder of Allen’s vulnerability. The coach and GM would prefer that the quarterback do more to reduce it. They probably shouldn’t expect him to conform any time soon, because it’s reasonable to believe Allen sees his ability to make big plays, including the ones he generates with his passing arm, stemming from his running dimension.
2. Damar Hamlin’s announcement that he’s making an NFL comeback, now that he’s been medically cleared to do so, will likely be a greater boost to the Bills’ psyche than their safety position.
Hamlin’s teammates, coaches and other fellow members of the Bills’ organization are understandably overjoyed to have him back on the field, even for non-contact drills. After the horrifying scene in Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium, when Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest early in a game against the Bengals and seemingly the entire NFL world was holding its collective breath, the sight of him doing football activities prompted a collective smile. It was though a huge weight had been removed from the shoulders of everyone at One Bills Drive.
Sure, Hamlin’s availability could help provide much-needed depth. However, the Bills already took significant steps to help themselves at safety with the re-signing of Jordan Poyer, easily their biggest move of the offseason, and the free-agent acquisition of Taylor Rapp. Don’t be surprised if they add another safety early in the draft.
3. Speaking of the draft, the clamor for the Bills to pick a wide receiver or a running back (especially if he’s Bijan Robinson of Texas) with the 27th overall pick is understandable.
Offensive playmakers are much more exciting than those at any other position. Fans always prefer the view of the game they see through their fantasy-football-colored glasses.
But offense should not be the Bills’ priority. Offense was not the primary reason the team fell short of the Super Bowl in the four consecutive postseason appearances they’ve made since 2019. The Bills’ biggest shortcomings were, and still are, defense.
Their pass rush needs to be stronger. Their secondary needs to be better. And they have a gaping hole at middle linebacker from the free-agent departure of Tremaine Edmunds.
Despite the celebrating many fans will do if the Bills go offense in the first round, the priority should be defense. Period.
4. I don’t think Brandon Beane was spewing the typical pre-draft smoke when he told reporters that if he made a trade involving his first-round pick, there was a greater chance of moving down than up.
Two thoughts here. One, there’s a wide consensus among league observers that this draft is thin on players with legitimate first-round grades. Two, with a total of six picks, the Bills don’t necessarily have the ammunition to make a significant upward move to a targeted player.
Beane said the Bills “would definitely be open” to a trade-down scenario, “especially if it falls in a way where our (projected) first round is wiped out and it starts getting well into your second round and you’re like, ‘Oh, man, yeah, we’d be best to move back.’ ”
At what point would he have a sense of the right time to stay or move? “... when it starts getting to pick 20, five, six, seven picks out,” Beane said, “I think we’ll start to know whether we think there’s gonna be someone there that we should try and stay for, move up for or move back and gain more picks.”
5. Beane was right to take a little bit of a bow for how the Bills have approached free agency with a tight salary cap that was loosened a bit with some restructured contracts and moves to reduce the payroll.
The emphasis was on improving depth, and possibly landing a starter-level player, at multiple spots on offense and defense.
“We’ve done a pretty good job of filling enough of the holes, whether it’s starters to good backups where maybe we don’t have a sheer starter, but we’ve got several people to compete, two, three,” the GM said. “Is it perfect? No, but there’s enough guys that we can line up and play football right now.”