Buffalo Bills had sixth best offseason according to ESPN
The Buffalo Bills offseason was recently compared to the rest of the NFL by Bill Barnwell at ESPN and fell just outside the Top 5.
The Buffalo Bills entered this offseason in really good shape considering they weren’t many starters who were expected to be free agents and they were near the top of the league in cap space. General manager Brandon Beane could have went in a number of different directions here and made a number of smart moves.
The deals the Bills made this offseason was enough to be ranked as the sixth best offseason in the NFL by ESPN’s Bill Barnwell. They finished behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys. The Bills also were one spot ahead of the Miami Dolphins.
"What went right: The Bills loaded up on defensive linemen and might have the NFL’s deepest line. While Shaq Lawson and Jordan Phillips left in free agency, Buffalo signed former Panthers Mario Addison and Vernon Butler, added Quinton Jefferson and then used their top selection on AJ Epenesa. Another former Panthers player joined the organization when Buffalo signed cornerback Josh Norman to a one-year, $6 million deal. Given how frequently defenders have improved after joining the Bills, the Norman deal could turn out to be a valuable flier for Sean McDermott & Co.The headline move, of course, was trading four selections to the Vikings for star wideout Stefon Diggs. I saw it as a win for both sides, and I like the Bills taking a risk to add a guy who is one of the most talented receivers in football when healthy. In addition to making this team better in 2020, Diggs should make it easier for the organization to make up its mind about third-year quarterback Josh Allen by the end of the season. McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane also supplemented Allen’s offensive line by bringing back Quinton Spain and signing Daryl Williams, another former Panthers player, to a one-year deal."
The assessment of Barnwell is pretty fair as he notes the moves along the defensive line with Quinton Jefferson, Vernon Butler, Mario Addison added in free agency combined with the selection of A.J. Epenesa. He even mentions that this is one of the deepest defensive lines in the NFL which should be one of the strengths of this defense.
In terms of what went wrong, Barnwell discusses the Josh Norman signing and the fact that the Bills may have overpaid. In our article last month, we took a look at some of the cornerbacks signed this offseason and the Bills appear to have overpaid. One of the reasons is that the market wasn’t really set at the time of the Bills signing Josh Norman considering the team did this before free agency even kicked off.
However, whether or not the Buffalo Bills overpaid for Josh Norman is going to come down to how he produces this season. If Norman is able to have a career resurgence returning to a defensive scheme that he played at an All-Pro level in during his time with the Carolina Panthers, then this move doesn’t look so bad.
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The Buffalo Bills didn’t have to do much this offseason with the roster they had but they were strategic in the moves they made and that is a big reason why the Bills continue to rank near the top of these types of lists.