While the 2024 season has ended, the NFL offseason is full of several important events. The players may not be in Buffalo but there's plenty going on to keep the league at the top of our minds.
Here are five things to know about the Bills and the next few months of the offseason.
1. What are the important dates to know?
Hard to believe, but we are about a month away from meeting some of the newest Buffalo Bills. Free agency is set to begin during the second week of March. Here are some important NFL dates to know this offseason.
February 18: Beginning at 4:00 PM EST, clubs may designate Franchise or Transition Players
February 24 - March 3: NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN
March 4: Deadline at 4:00 PM EST for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players
March 12: The 2025 League Year and Free Agency signing period begins at 4:00 PM EST
March 30 - April 2: Annual League Meeting at The Breakers in Palm Beach, FL
April 21: Clubs with returning head coaches may begin offseason workout programs
April 24 – 26: NFL Draft in Green Bay, WI
2. How will the salary cap affect decisions?
While the Bills have several players returning from last year's roster, there will still be plenty of newness on the 2025 roster. Formulating a plan to build next year's roster begins with knowing the salary cap number. Last year, the number was $255.4 million dollars. That number will increase in 2025 but has not been finalized yet.
General manager Brandon Beane believes the Bills will be in a better position this offseason compared to last season with freeing up cap space.
"We won't be in as deep of a cap hole," Beane said. "Now, we also had some numbers that were easier to move off of last year…I don't think we have as many of those options, but we're okay. We also have to remember we've got guys that are coming up on extensions...I don't expect us to be, as I said here a year ago, big spenders in free agency or anything like that."
When it comes to extensions or restructuring current players' contract, Beane said he's not ruling quarterback Josh Allen out of the conversation but also not guaranteeing something will happen.
"Josh and I will have those conversations holistically about the team, things like that," Beane shared. "And I'm not saying it will happen, I'm not saying it won't happen. I don't really want to go into that…there'll be a time and place, and not saying we will, but not ruling it out either."
3. What are Buffalo's areas of need?
Buffalo will use free agency and the NFL Draft to address needs on their roster. Beane and head coach Sean McDermott believes assessing the roster always starts up front. Buffalo's offensive line, who allowed a league-low 14 sacks in 2024, returns all five starters in 2025. That isn't the case for the defensive line as the Bills have several rotational players set to become free agents in March.
"Winning the line of scrimmage is critical," McDermott shared. "I felt like we did that at some times this year, not enough. And so, that's an area where I did see some of our players, maybe not statistically, but just overall factor-wise or performance-wise, improve up front."
It's not just the line of scrimmage. McDermott addressed the importance of playmakers as well.
"You need to be able to stretch the field horizontally, vertically and gain separation," McDermott said. "So, I know, in fact, we'll look at that like we do everything and evaluate exactly the type of player and the type of person that that would fit that."
When asked about finding a game-wrecker on defense, Beane said those types of players aren't easy to come by, especially when you're consistently drafting near the bottom of the first round.
"We're not ever picking in the top five or 10," Beane explained. "Not to say you can never get those guys, Chris Jones actually fell to the second round. And we'll turn over every stone we can to find them, but would I love to add one of those guys? Heck yeah, I would.
"But we have a cap. We pick where we pick. You kind of got to make the best of what you got. Again, we would love to do that if that player's out there."
While a game-wrecking player can be a very important addition to a team, Beane doesn't want to lose sight of the fact that one player won't change the entire outcome of a season.
"It's you're never one player away, that's a dangerous mindset to get into," Beane explained. "I learned that when I was a younger person in this league and you see it with teams, 'I'm going to chase this player, I'm going to chase this position.' But you're never one player away. Again, this team had championship ability, I do believe that.
"Sometimes you leave the season, and you say, 'Man I don't know if we if we gave ourselves a chance.' But ultimately, it's down to a few plays."
"In my experience, you need two or three on each side of the ball that are difference makers like that," McDermott said. "I'm not suggesting we have them or don't have them. I'm just saying, what gets a team to the Super Bowl, philosophically, for me, when you look at it and you study it, you've got about two to three on each side of the ball that are top one to three, one to five at their position."
The Bills will spend the next couple of months evaluating their roster and who is available in free agency and the draft to figure out how they can develop or add those two to three players on both sides of the ball.
4. Who's returning and who's a free agent?
The Bills had 22 unrestricted free agents in 2024. This year, they have only 12.
Free agents:
UFA – FB Reggie Gilliam, RB Ty Johnson, WR Amari Cooper, WR Mack Hollins, OT Tommy Doyle, DT Quinton Jefferson, DT Austin Johnson, DT Jordan Phillips, DE Dawuane Smoot, CB Rasul Douglas, S Damar Hamlin, LS Reid Ferguson
RFA – TE Quintin Morris
ERFA – OL Alec Anderson
With a smaller list of free agents this season, the Bills have several returning players who were key contributors in 2024.
Key contributors who return:
Offense: QB Josh Allen, entire starting OL (Dawkins, Brown, McGovern, Torrence, Edwards), WR Khalil Shakir, WR Curtis Samuel, WR Keon Coleman, RB James Cook, RB Ray Davis, TE Dalton Kincaid, TE Dawson Knox
Of the offensive players returning, the offensive line allowed an NFL-low 14 sacks this season. Shakir and Coleman finished first and second in receiving yards on the team with Shakir at 821 and Coleman at 556. Shakir led the team with 76 receptions this year. Cook's 16 rushing touchdowns tied for the most in the league. Allen finished with at least 40 total touchdowns for the fifth year in a row, becoming the first QB to ever do so.
Defense: DT Ed Oliver, DE Greg Rousseau, LB Terrel Bernard, LB Matt Milano, LB Dorian Williams, DB Taron Johnson, CB Christian Benford, S Taylor Rapp
Of the defensive players returning, Johnson, Benford, Rapp and Bernard tied for the most interceptions on the team with two. Buffalo had seven different players with two interceptions in 2024. Milano led the team with 17 total tackles in the postseason. Rousseau led the team with eight sacks and 24 quarterback hits this year. Oliver and Rousseau tied for three forced fumbles each, the most on the team. Benford led the team with 10 passes defensed. Williams finished with 114 total tackles and three fumble recoveries, which led the team.
5. Which non-divisional matchups standout most on the 2025 schedule?
The Bills are slated to play several playoff-worthy teams during the 2025 season. Of that group, there are a few matchups to keep an eye on that will draw national attention.
Home opponents: Chiefs, Eagles, Ravens, Bengals
The Bills are set to the face the two teams competing in Super Bowl 59 in the Chiefs and Eagles at home. It'll be Buffalo's sixth straight season playing against the Chiefs in the regular season and third time seeing them at home over those six years. The Bills and the Eagles will face off for just the third time in the Sean McDermott and Josh Allen era and the second time at home. This will be a must-see matchup when it comes to the running backs with James Cook and Saquan Barkley squaring off.
It'll be a rematch of the tightly matched Divisional Round of the 2024 playoffs between the Ravens and Bills. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson will also play each other for the first time since Allen was named the NFL's 2024 MVP. The two will play each other for the seventh time, including playoffs, since being drafted by their respective teams.
The Bills and Bengals game will feature another incredible quarterback matchup between Joe Burrow and Allen. It'll be the QBs' third time facing each other, including playoffs. Buffalo is searching for their first win over that span as Cincinnati is 2-0.
Away opponents: Texans
The Texans were one of the four teams who beat the Bills during the 2024 season. Like the Bills, the Chiefs also knocked the Texans out of the playoffs. Knowing how far the Texans made it last season, the 2025 matchup between these two could be one that affects playoff seeding.
