Buffalo Bills: Which direction is the franchise headed?

1 of 4

buffalo bills sean mcdermott leadership council

Jan 13, 2017; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott speaks during a press conference at AdPro Sports Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports /

As you should all know by now, the Buffalo Bills have hired a new general manager and a new head coach on top of that.

Both Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane come from Carolina Panthers’ franchise, so you can get a good idea of how they will want things run with the Buffalo Bills.

Below is a breakdown of where the Bills seem to be headed — both on defense and offense.

I will focus more on why the Bills are being built the way they are, but will also give my overview of where the overall game of football is headed — as it pertains to the Buffalo Bills and the NFL as a whole.

Let’s first go over what kind of offense and defense the Buffalo Bills will look to enforce this season.

What are the plans on offense and defense?

Buffalo Bills’ new head coach Sean McDermott is known as a defensive minded coach — most recently working as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator. He is a first time head coach, so you know the Pegulas have a lot of faith in his abilities and leadership.

He inherits an NFL top-five running back in LeSean “Shady” McCoy and will also have a young, talented quarterback in Tyrod Taylor — he’s only been an NFL starter for two seasons. In addition to that, McDermott will inherit the best run-blocking offensive line in the entire NFL, along with a run-game that has led the league the past two seasons.

More from BuffaLowDown

It’s very logical for him to prefer a run-heavy/play action type of offense. For his offensive coordinator, McDermott brought in Rick Dennison, who comes from the Denver Broncos. Dennison, under Gary Kubiak, won a super bowl against the Panthers when Sean McDermott was with the team in 2015.

On the defensive side of the ball, McDermott has some very good pieces at his disposal. Names like Marcell Dareus, Kyle Williams, Jerry Hughes and Lorenzo Alexander will bring a veteran presence, while Shaq Lawson, Reggie Ragland and most of the defensive backs bring younger talent to build off of. Bringing in Leslie Frazier as the defensive coordinator was a great move that will look to maximize the 4-3 defensive scheme.

Looking at this year’s draft, McDermott himself added a defensive player in cornerback Tre’Davious White. Before that, he signed former Packers’ DB and return man Micah Hyde and Browns’ Jordan Poyer right when the 2017 free agency period started.

Going back to the Bills’ quarterbacks, they’ve now drafted two backup quarterbacks in the past two seasons. Both years, however, they passed on other quarterback prospects that could’ve came in and produced day-one.

That might sound a little strange, but it’s a pretty smart thing to do for a team that is looking for a home run, not a single or even a double.

So why are the Buffalo Bills choosing development quarterbacks over more talented quarterbacks?

Most fans consider the NFL in 2017 to be a passing league. Looking ahead to the next two to three years, it appears that could and probably should start to change. The following is the list of current quarterbacks who have won at least one super bowl and their ages:

R. Wilson, 28
A. Rogers, 33
B. Roethlisberger, 35
E. Manning, 36
D. Brees, 38
T. Brady, 39
J. Flacco, 32

Averaging out their ages comes to roughly 35 years old. Tyrod Taylor is 27 years old and is younger than all of these quarterbacks who have won at least one super bowl in their careers.

If that doesn’t make you feel better about the Bills’ quarterback situation, let’s look at the young quarterbacks that have been coming into the league lately — and whether they would’ve been a better option than sticking with Tyrod.

Home/Bills Draft