1. CBS Sports analyst predicts this accomplishment for Buffalo in 2020
The Buffalo Bills are an awfully popular team this offseason. After earning a Wild Card playoff berth under head coach Sean McDermott last year with their first 10-win season in 20 years, and GM Brandon Beane's crafty roster building, a lot of NFL prognosticators have hopped on the Bills bandwagon for 2020.
The latest is CBS Sports' NFL analyst Jason LaCanfora, who has Buffalo as his division champ in the AFC East.
They have the best roster in this division and it doesn't appear to be particularly close to me right now. Even if Josh Allen is more of a project than a solution, as long as he protects the football and does his thing with his legs they will be in the playoffs again. Top 5 defense and Stefon Diggs will be a game changer.
LaCanfora has the Chiefs, Colts and Ravens as the other division champs in the AFC and the Chargers, Steelers and Titans as the wild cards with the new seven-team per conference playoff format.
2. Bills have two of three best under-the-radar additions
In assessing the AFC East offseason, 'The Ringer's' Robert Mays put together a breakdown that included six specific categories. One of them was the 'Best Under-the-Radar Additions.' Mays had three players on this list and two of them were Buffalo Bills.
Mario Addison and Quinton Jefferson were two of Mays' three picks for offseason additions that may pack more punch than some might think. Here was his reasoning.
Beane has been shrewd in how he's built positional groups for the Bills. He hunts for bargains and creates units featuring players with complementary skill sets. This offseason was no different. Jefferson is an effective interior rusher who should pair well with 2019 first-round pick Ed Oliver inside in nickel packages. Addison is a solid edge rusher who will join forces with Jerry Hughes and 2020 second-rounder A.J. Epenesa to give Buffalo a nice three-man rotation. Together, Jefferson and Addison have about the same amount of guaranteed money on their deals that former Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson received from Miami.
The third player Mays listed was RB Matt Breida, who the Dolphins acquired during the draft via trade with the San Francisco 49ers.
3. NFL.com's burning question for Bills focused on Diggs
NFL.com took a league-wide look at each NFL club and came up with a burning question for all 32 teams as the 2020 season approaches.
Their question for the Bills was 'Will Stefon Diggs thrive?'
The query is rooted in Buffalo's pass game ranking the last few years, which has been unable to climb out of the bottom third in the league. But one could argue, that's exactly why the Bills made the trade to acquire an elite receiver like Diggs. In any event here's an excerpt from their take on whether they believe Diggs will thrive in Buffalo this fall.
The Bills made it their mission to furnish Josh Allen with a lineup of capable targets. Trading for Stefon Diggs completed a wideout room that last offseason added Cole Beasley and John Brown. The threesome ranks among the AFC's finest on paper. In real life, Diggs spent 2019 mired in "palpable" frustration with Minnesota's air attack and passer Kirk Cousins. How will the receiver feel about a cold-weather offense that finished bottom seven in passing with Allen ranking dead last in completion percentage among qualified QBs (Cousins, meanwhile, ranked fourth)? Diggs boasts the physical traits to help his quarterback, carving out the highest contested catch rate (61.1 percent) of any wideout in the NFL since 2017, per PFF. The metrics site grades all three Bills wideouts favorably in separating from defenders, a quality that should quell Allen's penchant for erratic lobs. ...
