Last offseason, the Buffalo Bills were able to bring all their starters back from the prior year and improved the roster with a few free agent additions, along with the NFL Draft. The results were once again good as the Bills would win the AFC East but come up short against the Chiefs, this time in the form of an overtime loss in the AFC Divisional Round.
This offseason, the Bills may not be as lucky to bring back most of their starters with a number of players set to be free agents. There is also a case to be made that Buffalo will need to make bigger moves to finally get past the Kansas City Chiefs and reach the Super Bowl.
When looking at the players who are free agents, along with some potential roster cuts to free up cap space, these are five players who likely have played their final game with the Buffalo Bills.
Jerry Hughes
The defensive end position is one that should once again see significant changes this offseason. Last year, the Bills went out and added three defensive ends but the results were largely the same.
Jerry Hughes has been with the Buffalo Bills for almost 10 years after they traded for him before the 2013 season and is the player who has been with the franchise the longest. In nine seasons, he has 53 sacks and has missed only one game over that span.
While he still does a pretty good job of getting pressure, he has struggled to finish the play and has had five or fewer sacks in four of the past five seasons.
At 33 years of age, he is getting towards the end of his career. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him sign a short-term contract with Buffalo due to his history and importance to the franchise. At the same time, Buffalo may be ready to take the position in a new direction.
Mario Addison
Another veteran defensive end who may have seen his time come to an end with Buffalo is Mario Addison. The Bills signed Addison to a two-year deal as a free agent in 2020 but at 34 years of age, it remains to be seen how much he has left in his career.
The biggest difference between Hughes and Addison is that Addison has been arguably the team’s best pass rusher over his time with Buffalo. He has 13 sacks during that stretch and led the team both years in that category.
However, the Bills do have a group of young pass rushers like Greg Rousseau, Boogie Basham, and A.J. Epenesa. The plan may be to add a premier pass rusher to this group, which at the stage Hughes and Addison are at in their careers, they don’t fit that description.
Emmanuel Sanders
The Buffalo Bills signed veteran wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders last offseason as a replacement for John Brown, who was released last offseason. Sanders got off to a great start with the Bills and in his first six games had 413 receiving yards (68.3 yards per game) and four touchdowns.
However, as the season went along his role in this offense started to diminish and with the emergence of Gabriel Davis in the second half of the year, he really didn’t have many opportunities. In the final four games he played, Sanders had only nine targets and 97 receiving yards.
The Buffalo Bills may want to bring Sanders back because he was productive at times for this offense but the question is would Emmanuel Sanders want a reduced role next season? The number two receiver next year should be Gabriel Davis and there may not be enough playing time for Sanders.
Cole Beasley
Cole Beasley has been a big part of this offense since joining the Bills in 2019 and has had over 100 targets each of the past three seasons. This season he finished with 82 receptions, which is a career-high and the same total he had last year.
However, Beasley saw his receiving yards drop from 967 to 693 which was due in part to his average depth per target (ADOT) dropping from 7.8 yards to 5.6 yards but also his yards after catch going down from 4.3 yards to 3.7 yards.
Beasley is entering the final year of his contract and at 33 years of age, the question is how much he has left. If the Buffalo Bills were to release the veteran receiver it would save over $6 million in cap space, according to Spotrac. When considering they could use that savings to re-sign Isaiah McKenzie, who played well in place of Beasley at times the past two seasons, this is a move that makes sense.
Mitchell Trubisky
The final player is one that hasn’t played much this year but almost certainly will be with a new team in 2022. The Bills signed Mitchell Trubisky to a one-year deal to be the backup quarterback for Josh Allen.
The move made sense because it gave the Bills a player who has starting experience and could step in to run the offense if the need ever arose. Thankfully, that need never materialized and Trubisky would primarily only see the field late in games when the outcome was pretty much decided.
The former second overall pick now will likely be looking for a new team this offseason, one where he has a chance to compete for the starting job. If that opportunity doesn’t materialize, he certainly could return for another year but I think Trubisky’s time with Buffalo will come to an end over the next few months.