3 lessons Buffalo Bills should learn from Super Bowl contenders in 2023

Juju Smith-Schuster (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
Juju Smith-Schuster (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /
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Buffalo Bills
George Karlaftis (Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports) /

Commit to playing rookies

One of the things that was frustrating for most of the season, and this is a trend that dates back a few years now under Sean McDermott, is a lack of commitment from the coaching staff to playing rookies.

This season the Bills were forced to play some rookies out of necessity, like Kaiir Elam and Christian Benford, but once they started to get key players back they would create rotations or have some rookies inactive when they really needed to just commit to them.

During the course of the season, players like Elam, James Cook, and Khalil Shakir looked ready to contribute but the coaching staff limited their opportunities which is in sharp contrast to what the Kansas City Chiefs did.

The Chiefs committed to players like George Karlaftis III, Trent McDuffie, and Isiah Pacheco as the season went along by giving them almost all the snaps. These players are now in a position to contribute to the biggest game of the season because of the experience gained along the way.