Why the Buffalo Bills are better off without Antonio Brown

In the wake of the Antonio Brown fiasco of weeks past, cooler heads have prevailed and it is clear that the Buffalo Bills are better off without him.

This season, the AFC East will have all eyes on it and with good reason.

The New England Patriots are coming off yet another Super Bowl title, the New York Jets have Le’Veon Bell, the Dolphins, well, the Dolphins are in full-blown tank mode so we won’t count them, and that leaves the Buffalo Bills.

So where do they stand without Antonio Brown?

In short: The team is better off without him.

The Bills, for as long as I can remember, have never built their roster around a diva of sorts that commands an offense and a team to bow down before him. As we have seen through his media interviews and enraged tweets, the former Steeler turned Raider has made it clear that he is happy in the Bay Area; far away from Buffalo.

With Brown’s de-commitment from the Bills, the team is now left in a better position than they would be with him.

For starters, they have arguably had the most quietly-productive offseason of the other 31 teams in the NFL. Targeting all areas of the team in offense and defense, the Bills are looking more put together than they have in recent memory.

On the outside, the Bills have gotten faster in John Brown who ran a 4.34 at the Combine in 2014, which is .01 off from Rams receiver Brandin Cooks. The six-year veteran with the Baltimore Ravens and the Arizona Cardinals has recorded 3,230 yards and 22 touchdowns in his career. The Bills’ other addition, Cole Beasley, has recorded 3,271 yards and 23 touchdowns.

The signing of these two high-quality players does something to the roster that Brown’s addition could never, which is bring serenity to the locker room.

If Antonio Brown were to be suited up in the blue and red this coming season, the eyes of the masses would ascend down onto New Era Field each and every Sunday. And though this would be a good thing as the Bills would find themselves circulating in water cooler talk Monday morning, this team has maintained the underdog persona and would prefer to keep it that way.

Along with the quality signings the Bills made, it still keeps them in contention to land big fish next offseason. Currently, according to Spotrac.com, Buffalo will place 10th in the NFL in cap space with $75,802,502 free to spend.

As players like A.J. Green, Sterling Shepard, Tyreek Hill and Willie Snead are all expected to hit free agency in 2020, a multitude of offseason signings, much like this one, could result in an extremely competitive Buffalo Bills team in the near future.