1. The Athletic calls Buffalo the NFL's best front office
The major stages of the free agency period have come and gone, and the focus now shifts to the NFL Draft which is less than three weeks away. The Athletic NFL writer Sheil Kapadia went back and looked at all the signings that took place by all 32 teams and put together a list of what he learned about each team so far this offseason. For the Bills, he noted that the front office, led by Brandon Beane, might be the best in the entire league.
Buffalo Bills: They might have the best front office in the NFL.
The Bills' focus was on retaining their own players. Buffalo was able to bring back right tackle Daryl Williams, linebacker Matt Milano and interior offensive lineman Jon Feliciano without overpaying. … Among the 23 players who logged at least 500 snaps for the Bills last season, 21 are back. The Bills also signed Mitchell Trubisky to a one-year, $2.5 million deal and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to a one-year, $6 million deal.
"I think if you look at them for the last two, three years now, I think you can make a pretty strong argument that this is the best front office in the NFL," said Jason Fitzgerald. "They took over such a bad situation when they came in with Tyrod Taylor, Marcell Dareus and that whole group that was there on bloated contracts. They've maneuvered that better than any team that's ever had to come into a situation. That one year, they were probably carrying like $50, $60 million in dead cap just trying to get the roster apart."
It's true that the biggest reason why the Bills are Super Bowl contenders is the development of Josh Allen. But even if Allen hadn't progressed the way he did, Bills GM Brandon Beane assembled a roster that could help another quarterback be successful. Buffalo leads the NFL in MTMS (Moves That Make Sense).
2. Thad Brown: "Ed Oliver, to me, is the linchpin of this season"
Who is an under-the-radar player for Bills that could have a breakout season?
WROC Sports Director Thad Brown thinks it could be Ed Oliver. The Bills preseason TV sideline reporter joined Maddy Glab and Steve Tasker on One Bills Live on Thursday and talked about the moves made by the team this offseason and looked ahead to the NFL Draft. Brown said that he didn't know if Oliver would count given his successful rookie year, but he added that the third-year defensive tackle could fill that primary role of a pass rusher.
"Ed Oliver, to me, is the linchpin of this season in terms of getting to a Super Bowl," Brown said. "I'll go back to 'the Bills need a pass rush,' and you hear about edge rushers and we think about defensive ends as a primary pass rusher. It's almost getting to the point now where the tackle is becoming if not as important a role there but even more important. Simply because they're closer to the quarterback and quarterbacks get the ball out so fast these days. I still think Ed Oliver can be that terror in the middle, that terror at defensive tackle, to where he can change the game. He's not quite Aaron Donald but certainly, whatever the next level down is, I think Oliver can get there. Whether or not he does get there may be the difference between the Bills having a nice playoff run and coming up a solid second place to a team like Kansas City, or finally achieving that Super Bowl level that everybody hopes they can get to this season."
To hear the full conversation between Thad, Maddy, and Steve, click here.
3. Tre'Davious White explains how Josh Allen become the leader of this team in 2020
Josh Allen took another step in his development as an NFL quarterback from 2019 to 2020. He took the next step in his play on the field but also in his role as a leader off of it. Tre'Davious White was on The Cris Collinsworth Podcast featuring Richard Sherman and talked about the growth he saw in Josh Allen and what Allen did to lead the team throughout the 2020 season.
"He just took control of everything, and you could tell through the whole team," White said. "He knew that we looked at him to lead us and he took on that role with no regret and he took it on full force. I think that he handled it the right way as far as the quarterback position and the way that he carried himself in the building. Getting his lifts in, doing all the things that he's supposed to like watching film. He came prepared each and every day and we had a good defense too, so it wasn't like he was going to practice against some scrubs. He was going up against a pretty good defense, so he was getting us better and then we would get him better."
