The Buffalo Bills’ secondary will look a lot different in 2024 as compared to last season. Tre’Davious White, Jordan Poyer, and Micah Hyde are no longer with the Bills. Hyde is currently a free agent and may not play football in 2024. White is now on the West Coast with the Los Angeles Rams and Poyer stayed in the AFC East by signing with the Miami Dolphins.
For now, the expected starting cornerbacks for Buffalo are Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford (unless Kaiir Elam breaks out in training camp and preseason). At safety, the Bills signed Mike Edwards from the Chiefs and extended Taylor Rapp to a three-year deal. Brandon Beane also drafted Utah safety Cole Bishop in the second round who could turn into an eventual starter this season.
Long story short, the Bills’ secondary is set to look very different for the first time since 2017. With Sean McDermott at the helm, he has been able to help build a solid secondary so this unit should not be too much of a concern as compared to other positions. While the Bills have had a solid secondary, only Douglas, Benford and Rapp have experience playing together. There is going to be an adjustment for sure on the backend of the defense.
Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich and McDermott will need to make sure that the secondary is meshing well together before the start of the season. They are going to face some serious talent at wide receiver this season, and they will need to make sure that Josh Allen does not always need to find a way to win the game.
Here are the five best wide receivers that the Bills will play in 2024.
5.) Marvin Harrison Jr. - Week 1
There is a high possibility that at some point next season that Marvin Harrison Jr. will be higher up on this list, but we have to give respect to already established players who have NFL experience. However, that doesn’t mean Harrison should not be on this list because his ceiling is very high to have a successful career.
Unlike Malik Nabers, Harrison finds himself in a great situation in terms of who his quarterback is. Kyler Murray showed promise at the end of last season after coming back from a torn ACL and now he will get the best wide receiver prospect from this draft class.
Even as a rookie, Harrison has the opportunity to make an immediate impact for the Cardinals’ offense. The Bills’ secondary will have to create a game plan that takes Harrison away from Arizona’s offensive gameplan. While Harrison will take on professional cornerbacks, he has been playing like an NFL player the last two seasons at Ohio State.
4.) Amon-Ra St. Brown - Week 15
Over the last two seasons, Amon-Ra St. Brown has gone from a solid football player to one of the best receivers in the game. He is a back-to-back Pro Bowl player and earned First-Team All-Pro honors last season. He has become Jared Goff’s go-to guy in the Lions’ offense which earned him a career-high 1,515 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns last year. St. Brown has established himself as a great route runner who can catch passes all over the field.
Detroit has a lot of weapons on offense that Goff can utilize, which will make life difficult for the Bills. There is only one true way that the Bills can keep St. Brown from going off against them, and that is to pressure Goff up the middle. While Goff has revived his career in Detroit, he still cannot always go off-script to create plays. He needs a near-perfect setup to make a play happen. If the Bills are able to create pressure on Goff up the middle, they will be able to disrupt the passing attack which means St. Brown won’t be a factor.
3.) Stefon Diggs - Week 5
Let’s face it…there should have been an idea that Stefon Diggs would be on this list. For the first time since 2020, the Bills will not have Diggs on their roster but will be playing against him when the Bills head down to Houston. Diggs is now catching passes from C.J. Stroud who played phenomenally in his rookie year. The Texans have loaded up for the 2024 season and will be looking to make a deep run in the playoffs.
There is no doubt that this will be a big game for the NFL world to watch. After two years of drama with the Bills and Diggs, we will see the anticipated matchup between the two. In the first six games of the season last year in Buffalo, Diggs had five games of over 100+ yards which included a three touchdown game against the Miami Dolphins. After Week 6, Diggs went down in production big time. He would have no more than 87 yards in a game and had three total touchdowns from Week 7 and on.
Once it was discovered that the Bills could win without Diggs, the writing was on the wall for Diggs’ future with the Bills. While Diggs dropped down in production, he still managed to get 1,183 yards and 8 touchdowns in the regular season. He now goes to a Texans’ offense that was pass-happy last year. Diggs will be looking to make Buffalo pay and with this new secondary, who knows how they will keep Diggs contained?
2.) Puka Nacua - Week 14
The steal of the 2023 NFL Draft was wide receiver Puka Nacua who broke out in the Los Angeles Rams’ offense. Despite only having six touchdowns, Nacua was just 14 yards shy of 1,500 yards with 105 receptions. In his first two games, Nacu had 35 receptions for 266 yards. Right out of the gate, Nacua took the NFL by the horns and made a name for himself right away. In the Rams’ wild card playoff game, Nacua had 9 catches for 181 yards and a touchdown. In an offense that has Cooper Kupp and a steady run game led by Kyren Williams, Nacua still managed to make his mark.
The Bills will more than likely have a hit or miss game against Nacua. While he can be explosive for the Rams’ offense, he also can be quiet depending on who Matthew Stafford is throwing the ball to. Even though Cooper Kupp is also in this offense, Kupp has had a recent injury history. Buffalo’s secondary will have to make sure that when it comes to LA’s passing attack, Nacua does not get any easy targets.
1.) Tyreek Hill - Weeks 2 & 9
It should be no surprise that Tyreek Hill is number one on this list. The last two seasons in Miami, Hill has had back-to-back 1,700+ receiving yards and has had 21 total touchdowns in that span. Last year, Hill was on his way to having a historic season before missing one game. He had 11 games of double digit targets and 8 games of 100+ receiving yards (one over 200 yards). Luckily when the Dolphins played against the Bills, Hill was not a dangerous weapon like he usually is. In the two meetings between Buffalo and Miami, Hill only had ten receptions for 170 yards and a score. He was not a headache for the Bills’ secondary.
However, with this new look Buffalo secondary, anything can happen in 2024. When Hill is playing at his best, he is almost impossible to stop. He can turn a five yard pass and turn it into a 75+ yard touchdown. He has the ability to run outside and inside the field to move the chains for Miami. Either way, the Bills will be tested twice once again when they take on Hill and the Dolphins. Hill is a player that teams always have to prepare for because at any moment, he can take over a game.