One of the best feelings in the NFL is seeing breaking news, whether it’s in-season or in the offseason. Whether it’s free agency or a trade, it just sparks up a conversation amongst NFL fans. It causes immediate reactions and in-depth disagreements which are always fun to be apart of.
Brandon Beane and the Buffalo Bills had themselves a bust first week of free agency and they could still make plenty of moves before and after the NFL Draft. Beane clearly had a plan of attack in the first week, going heavy with the defensive line signings.
Buffalo’s first move of free agency was bringing in wideout Joshua Palmer, who spent four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. He gets added to the “everybody eats” offense in hopes of helping life easy for MVP quarterback Josh Allen
The Bills would then put a lot of their focus on defense with the signings of defensive linemen Michael Hoecht, Joey Bosa, and Larry Ogunjobi. In addition, they also brought in safety Darrick Forrest and brought back cornerback Dane Jackson, who was drafted by the Bills in 2020. The Bills also managed to bring back Damar Hamlin and Ty Johnson.
Buffalo had a strong offseason and Pro Football Focus agrees
With the first week of free agency being over, Mason Cameron from Pro Football Focus (PFF) created a power rankings list post-first week of free agency and Cameron put the Bills at No. 4 overall, only behind the Ravens, Eagles, and Lions.
"While the Bills had some notable departures, they managed to upgrade key areas in free agency—swapping Mack Hollins for Josh Palmer in the receiving corps and releasing Von Miller to facilitate a deal for Joey Bosa. While none of the additions are major needle movers individually, Buffalo assembled a strong group of role players to reinforce their roster."Mason Cameron, Pro Football Focus
Now granted, the Bills have lost Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi for six games due to them violating the league’s PED policy, so they lost depth for the first month of the season. However, if the Bills can still find a way to bring in depth in free agency or in the draft, then it will make up for that news.
The Bills are reloading after coming off an AFC championship appearance and these first couple of moves have been solid for Brandon Beane (aside from the suspension news of Hoecht and Ogunjobi). Bills fans should be on the lookout for more moves that Beane pulls off from now until the start of the season.