A week ago the inevitable happened, the Buffalo Bills lost their Wild Card playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The score was a pitiful 10-3 and everyone watching the game died a little on the inside for their trouble.
This wasn’t the plan for the Bills, but once it was obvious that the AFC was garbage and their fans really needed a return to the playoffs, Buffalo leaned into it.
The season is over now, a week later than it should have been, and a few draft picks lower in the first round. What’s next for the now 2018-19 Buffalo Bills?
SEAN MCDERMOTT
Here’s the good news, Buffalo. In spite of costing yourself draft positioning with a useless trip to the playoffs, you did prove one fact throughout the 2017-18 season, you hired the right coach.
McDermott took a team loaded with Denny’s fry cooks and Starbucks baristas and won nine games with them. If he hadn’t tried to tank the season for draft picks midway through, he might have won 10. It wouldn’t have done any good in this year’s playoffs, but it would have looked nice on the upcoming NFL Yearbook highlight film.
Want proof that the culture is changing with the #Bills under Sean McDermott? After his end of the season press conference he shook the hand of every member of the media and thanked them for their coverage of the team. #ClassAct pic.twitter.com/Ek0BYpcqoo
— Rich Donnelly (@RichFCN) January 9, 2018
McDermott, along with new general manager Brandon Beane, made trades to free up cap and grab draft picks for the future. They now have two selections in the 2018 first round, back-to-back at Nos. 21 and 22 and two in the second, at No. 53 and No. 55. They have the picks to add real talent to this roster or the ammo to trade up if they fall in love with one of the rookie quarterbacks.
TYROD TAYLOR
Speaking of quarterbacks, can we all stop pretending now that Tyrod Taylor is an NFL starter? Taylor had one of his best seasons as a pro and this is what it looked like. He completed 62.6 percent of his passes for 2,799 yards, 14 touchdowns and four picks. He was sacked a ridiculous 46 times, four more than last season when he led the NFL in getting sacked.
Kaepernick watching Blake Bortles and Tyrod Taylor like https://t.co/hsulC8VGUY
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) January 7, 2018
Taylor, because Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley were morons, is due $18.08 million next season. On a team with, at present, only $38.458 million in available cap space, there’s no way that number can stay. If Buffalo cuts Taylor, they’ll still eat $8.64 million, but they’ll get back $9.44 million in available space.
The beauty of the 2018 off-season is I can’t remember a time when this many good quarterbacks will be in the wind. Kirk Cousins, Sam Bradford and Case Keenum will all be free agents. There’s a great chance Alex Smith will be set free from Kansas City too. Any and all of those guys would be an upgrade over Taylor.
If the Bills decide to go the draft route, they should have two shots at a quarterback in the first round where they’re picking.
A NEW OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Friday, the Bills parted ways with offensive coordinator Rick Dennison. Under Dennison’s direction the Bills were the No. 29-ranked offense in the NFL. If you’re doing the math, that means they were the fourth worst offense in the league, averaging 18.9 points per game.
“We’re not satisfied with the whole offense, and it wasn’t just about Tyrod,” Beane said Tuesday. “There’s a lot of hands in the cookie jar, so to speak, and Sean (McDermott) and I, we’re going to talk about everything, and we know we have to get better on offense, on defense, on special teams. We are far from a finished product.”
Dennison was a disciple of former Denver Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak and was basically dragged along with the Super Bowl-winning coach from job to job.
McDermott blew this hire the first time around, but now he gets another chance. There are some decent offensive playcallers loose right now, including (now hear me out), Jim Caldwell. Caldwell is a horrible head coach, but he’s a decent offensive coordinator and knows how to develop a passing game. Former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinksi has already been connected with the job and coached with McDermott in Carolina. I think he’s the frontrunner.
On December 7, 2017, before the #Bills played the Colts, HC Sean McDermott told a few of us that Rob Chudzinski is "one of the best — I feel like — in the NFL at what he does," and credits him for the development of Cam Newton. Full answers by McDermott on Chudzinski: pic.twitter.com/7KXEKPyz4v
— Joe Buscaglia (@JoeBuscaglia) January 12, 2018
The nightmare candidate connected with this job is Mike McCoy, who was fired twice in a calendar year by the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos. Mike Shula, who just got fired in Carolina, could also be an option. He shouldn’t be.
PENDING FREE AGENTS
The Bills have four guys they really need to keep out of this free agent group. None of them should be that expensive. Kyle Williams is entering his 12th season, all of them with the Bills. He’s started every game in which he was healthy since part-way through his rookie season. He finished 2017 with 41 tackles, three sacks, two passes defended and one fumble recovery. There’s no reason to let him suit up for another team when he’s still that productive. He’ll probably not cost more than $5-6 million a year.
I’ve never changed my twitter avatar since the day I joined, but I never want to forget the look on Kyle Williams’ face when he realized Tyler Boyd was scoring. That’s every Buffalonian everywhere. #NewProfilePic #GoBills pic.twitter.com/9Hf1ofy2Jz
— John Gworek (@JohnGworek) January 4, 2018
Two of the guys the Bills acquired in their preseason trades are up for free agency too, wide receiver Jordan Matthews and cornerback E.J. Gaines. Both guys were hurt and could probably be kept with smaller, one or two-year deals. Matthews played in 10 games and started seven. He caught 25 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown. Gaines played in and started 11 games with 59 tackles, three forced fumbles, nine passes defended and one pick.
The must-keep guy out of the group is middle linebacker Preston Brown. Brown was screwed out of a Pro Bowl berth this season after recording 144 tackles and three passes defended.
FREE AGENT TARGETS
Other than the gaping sarlacc pit hole at quarterback, the Bills don’t have a lot of glaring needs they can’t address in the draft. What they must get, and they can do it in free agency, is some pass rushing defensive ends. They need two. I’d look at guys who can produce in a 4-3 that don’t come with a high price tag like William Hayes from the Miami Dolphins and Alex Okafor from the New Orleans Saints.
If you do want to spend some money, Ezekial Ansah of the Detroit Lions and DeMarcus Lawrence of the Dallas Cowboys are both free agents too, but I don’t see either of them really hitting the market. Don’t be surprised to see Julius Peppers, if he still wants to play, end up on the Bills’ roster. He had 11 sacks this season with the Panthers.
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