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Buffalo Sports News

Bills Offseason: 3 Areas Buffalo Must Upgrade 2025 Roster

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Saints Head Coach

Every Buffalo Bills season for the remainder of the Josh Allen Era is Super Bowl or bust. There are no moral victories. There are no pats on the back for a modest playoff run. If the year doesn’t end with the franchise’s first championship, it’s a failure. That’s the harsh reality as another Bills offseason begins.

Head coach Sean McDermott tried to paint of hopeful picture following Sunday night’s 32-29 AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

“We’ve got to keep working to get over that hump,” McDermott told reporters. “We’ve won a lot of tough games this year against really good opponents, [we have] good coaches and I’m proud of this football team for it.”

Empty words. Beating good teams in the regular season means nothing at this stage of a championship window. Participation trophies aren’t handed out in the NFL. Veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas provided a far more realistic view of Buffalo’s campaign.

“We don’t accomplish s–t. We don’t win a ring,” Douglas said. “None of that s–t going to matter. Everybody got one goal, bro. Only one team handles the goal at the end of every year. All other 31 is just trying to get to that goal.”

That’s the energy McDermott, general manager Brandon Beane and the rest of the Bills brass needs heading into the offseason. Changes are required to create a roster actually capable of beating the Chiefs when it matters most next year.

Bills Offseason Game Plan To Upgrade 2025 Roster

1. Edge Rusher

It’s time for the Bills to move on from Von Miller. Injuries have sapped his explosiveness off the edge. He recorded just two total tackles and no sacks in the team’s three playoff games. He was a complete non-factor against Kansas City.

Miller’s defenders will point toward his solid pass-rush win rate. That statistic carries little value if it doesn’t ultimately translate into sacks, however, and the future Hall of Famer tallied only six sacks in 30 appearances (counting the playoffs) across the last two seasons.

Designating the 35-year-old Texas A&M product as a post-June 1 release would create $17.4 million in 2025 salary-cap space, per Spotrac. It’s a necessary move to create financial flexibility. He’ll count $23.8 million against the cap if the Bills keep him. His production simply doesn’t match that cap hit.

Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa, the team’s starters at defensive end, are solid but they’re not game-changers. They rarely wreck an opponent’s game plan. Finding a player who can create real, consistent problems for high-end quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes is priority No. 1 of the Bills’ offseason.

Buffalo could try to make a massive swing with a trade for Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett. Something smaller, like bringing former University at Buffalo standout Khalil Mack back to the 716 area code, would also provide a boost.

One thing’s for sure: the Bills can’t afford to enter next season with the same edge-rushing group.

2. Safety

Damar Hamlin is one of sports’ most inspirational stories. Suffering a life-threatening injury on the field and eventually reemerging as a key player on the Bills defense is an incredible act of resilience. It’s ridiculous he didn’t win last year’s NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

That said, Hamlin isn’t a starter-level player. His scheme knowledge allowed him to provide Buffalo with a one-year stopgap option while waiting for rookie Cole Bishop to develop. His severe lack of speed created massive problems, though. It was particularly evident in coverage.

Fellow starter Taylor Rapp is the epitome of a boom-or-bust player. Although that worked this season given the Bills’ over-reliance on turnovers as a form of defensive stop, trying to find someone more reliable on a snap-to-snap basis would make sense.

Bishop acclimated himself well in a limited role. He’ll be a favorite to win one of the starting safety jobs next season. The Bills should be in the market for a ball-hawking free safety to become his long-term partner in the secondary.

Buffalo would likely survive one campaign with a Bishop-Rapp pairing, but Hamlin absolutely can’t be counted on to serve as a full-time starter again. He’s too much of a liability and teams like the Chiefs exposed that weakness in a major way.

3. Wide Receiver

The Bills offense hasn’t featured a wide receiver who could constantly take the top off a defense since John Brown. He played for Buffalo full-time in 2019 and 2020. He made a brief cameo return in 2022, highlighted by a 42-yard touchdown catch.

Those are the types of plays that have been missing in the Buffalo passing game. While the team built a solid pass-catching corps in 2024—Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Amari Cooper, Mack Hollins, Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox—most of their success comes of short and intermediate routes. The deep element has been absent.

Creating an offense that thrives on quick passes isn’t necessarily a problem. That’s the way the NFL has trended in recent years. Those throws are more repeatable, but the issue arises from the fact the Bills can’t even pretend they can win over the top. There’s no threat whatsoever.

In turn, defenses are able to bring extra players down in the box. That creates hurdles for both the ground game, which Buffalo leaned on far more heavily this season, and the quick passing game. The Chiefs found plenty of success with a single-high safety on Sunday.

The Bills will likely try to re-sign Hollins given his impact, both on the field and in the locker room. They’ll probably let Cooper walk in free agency, though. Their goal should be trying to replace him with a vertical threat who can force defenses to respect the deep ball.

Main Photo: Tina MacIntyre – USA Today Sports

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