Bills’ ‘reason for optimism’ in 2024 NFL season identified

The NFL offseason is an ever-optimistic time for football fans.

Players are generally healthy and are working with clean slates. They’re flashing against air at OTAs and minicamp. Coachspeak is being subscribed to—fans, en masse, are talking themselves into their respective teams being competitive in the upcoming campaign.

The oft-(cautiously) optimistic Buffalo faithful are hopeful ahead of the 2024 NFL season, but perhaps less so than in recent years; the Bills—who have qualified for the postseason in each of the past five seasons—saw significant turnover in the spring, moving on from stalwart starters like Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, Mitch Morse, Gabriel Davis, and Stefon Diggs in an effort to extend its championship window and free up salary cap flexibility. The maneuvers have left the team with a younger roster that, on paper, is not as stout as it once was, with some national pundits expecting the team to take a step back in the forthcoming season.

There are still sources of hope, however, players who figure to keep Buffalo in championship contention despite its turnover. There’s no better personification of this idea than quarterback Josh Allen, a world-beater of a passer who is objectively one of the best signal-callers in the league. He’s the only player in NFL history who has totaled over 40 touchdowns in four consecutive seasons, and he’s earned NFL MVP votes in three out of the last four years. The Bills will remain competitive for as long as Allen is manning their offense.

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This idea has been echoed in Pro Football Focus’s recent article highlighting one “reason for optimism” for each NFL team in the 2024 season. Writer Dalton Wasserman praised Allen in the piece, even suggesting that the magnitude of the team’s offseason turnover is being overstated.

“Despite the loss of Stefon Diggs and the perception of constant chaos in Buffalo, Allen is the main reason the Bills win games,” Wasserman wrote. “The demise of his supporting cast is greatly exaggerated. While losing Diggs hurts, he did not have a 90-yard game after Week 6 last season. 

“The offense became more balanced and the target share became more of a meritocracy as the campaign progressed. The combination of James Cook, Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, Dalton Kincaid and rookies Keon Coleman and Ray Davis will be fully capable of winning the AFC East with Allen leading the charge.”

The loss of Diggs, as Wasserman writes, will likely be felt within Buffalo’s offense, as the perennial Pro Bowler led the team in targets and receiving yards in each of his four seasons in Western New York. That said, his absence will allow the Bills to take a more democratic approach when it comes to aerial production, spreading the ball out amongst second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, third-year contributor Khalil Shakir, free agent signee Curtis Samuel, and rookie Keon Coleman.

Factor in the team’s projected prowess on the ground—Allen is universally viewed as one of the better rushing quarterbacks in football (3,611 career rushing yards and 53 touchdowns) while third-year back James Cook finished sixth in the league in scrimmage yards last year (1,567)—and it’s clear that the team’s offense, while tweaked, is still talented. There’s little reason to believe that Buffalo can’t finish within the top 10 in total offense for a fifth consecutive year in the 2024 season.