Through six weeks of the NFL season, the Buffalo Bills find themselves at 5-1 which includes back-to-back wins out on the West Coast against the Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders.
Coming into this season, there was so much curiosity surrounding the Bills because of all their changes that they went through that started with Sean McDermott being fired, Joe Brady being hired, and then doing a little bit of a roster revamp on the defense. Not to mention, bringing in new coordinators was going to be an adjustment.
So far, the Bills are off to a great start record-wise, but there have been some major weaknesses that they need to address., especially on defense. Now granted, the offense under Brady has looked impressive as they are averaging over 30 points per game.
As the Bills enter their bye week, there are 5 notable members of the organization that have been a surprise, for both good and bad reasons.
5 surprises that Bills are dealing with (for better or for worse)
OLB Greg Rousseau
For as bad as Buffalo's defense is, one player that has adjusted very well to the scheme change is Greg Rousseau, who was moved from edge rusher to OLB in this 3-4 defense. In the first three games of the season, Rousseau racked up 6 sacks and 15 total tackles.
Then in Week 5 against the Rams, he came up with a big blocked field goal attempt in overtime to give the ball back to the offense and get the walk-off field goal to beat LA. He has been generating a much better pass rush than he ever did in Sean McDermott's defense. He's been the biggest change for the better for the Bills this season.
CB Davison Igbinosun
A lot of fans, including myself, were extremely confused that the Bills traded back up into the second round of the NFL Draft to select CB Davison Igbinosun out of Ohio State, despite the Bills already having Maxwell Hairston, Christian Benford, and Dee Alford as the top starters. However, Igbinosun has been proving himself this year that he, and not Hairston, deserves the start opposite of Benford.
He sticks with his man and he has had a couple of solid pass breakups in multiple games. Right now, he looks like Buffalo's best rookie. He's tied for the sixth-most pass breakups (7), and his coverage has been extremely impressive early on.
Right now, he is the star of the rookie draft class for the Bills.
WR Keon Coleman
It was an absolutely terrible 2025 season for Keon Coleman. However, with the Bills hiring Joe Brady as their head coach and Brady already have worked with Coleman (and publicly supporting him this past offseason), Coleman was going to be given another chance to show what he can do. So far, he is delivering big time for this offense.
He's got 19 catches for 283 yards and 3 touchdowns. According to the Buffalo Bills' PR X account, 15 of Coleman's 19 catches have all gone for first downs, showing that he is dependable and that Josh Allen trusts him.
With DJ Moore dealing with a shoulder injury since Week 2, Coleman has stepped up for this offense and it should not go unnoticed.
DC Jim Leonhard
When the Bills landed Jim Leonhard as their next defensive coordinator, there was so much excitement amongst the fanbase because of the type of coach Leonhard has established himself to be. He was coming to Buffalo with a more aggressive look, and he wasn't afraid to say what was on his mind. However, the defense has been a massive liability and Leonhard has faced criticism for it.
Coming out of Week 6, the Bills have the 31st ranked defense in terms of total yards given up. They are allowing 386.8 yards per game, with 285.8 yards through the air. Their run-defense has seen a significant improvement from last season (just allowing 101 yards per game), but their pass-defense has been so bad that the run-defense isn't getting noticed.
Even though this is a new scheme, you would think that the Bills would make the adjustments from the first few games to now. However, the defense is just getting worse week by week at this point. It all starts with Leonhard.
K Tyler Bass
After missing all of last season with a pelvic injury, Tyler Bass has come back strong and is tied for first in FG percentage. He hasn't missed a field goal try this season, going 13/13 which includes going 4/4 this past Sunday against the Raiders.
Prior to his injury last season, Bass was inconsistency which was heavily frustrating Bills Mafia. The coaching staff showed promise in Bass this past offseason as they didn't bring in any serious competition for Bass. Right now, it's paying off big time.
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