BUFFALO, N.Y. — Bills kicker Tyler Bass sat on the bench with his helmet on after missing a 44-yard field goal. As the clock ticked down — after a failed 6-minute, 40-second drive filled with wasted opportunities — the Kansas City Chiefs continued to move the ball. Bass put his helmet in his hands.
Eventually, the timeouts ran out and the Chiefs bench celebrated as fans in the stands at Highmark Stadium threw snowballs toward the bench filled with red jerseys.
The Bills' 2023 season ended with a 27-24 loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round again.
The location was different (the Bills have traveled to Kansas City for the playoffs twice in recent years), but the result was the same old story.
As Bass walked off the field, quarterback Josh Allen noticed the kicker behind him and slowed to offer him a hand and a hug, a symbolic gesture of the future.
The team that walked off the field that day will look different when the Bills walk through that same tunnel to play the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 on Sept. 8.
The Bills enter the 2024 season after an offseason of changes and preparation for the future. The task is to stay as competitive as possible and take advantage of the play of Allen, who is entering his seventh year. Buffalo will rely on its franchise quarterback to continue to grow as a leader and on new, younger players to take on important roles on and off the field in an attempt to win a fifth consecutive division title and build a team to achieve its goal.
MARCH 6 MARKED A day of change for the Bills.
One day before NFL free agency, the team began shedding veteran players, releasing cornerback Tre'Davious White, safety Jordan Poyer and center Mitch Morse, among other contributors.
Less than a week later, wide receiver Gabe Davis agreed to a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
On April 3, the Bills traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans.
Once the dust settled, the Bills were left with two of last season's eight team captains: Allen and Von Miller. (Former captain and safety Micah Hyde is still thinking about retirement and has said he will only return to play for the Bills.)
The changes marked a departure for coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane; most of the departing players played important roles in all or many of McDermott and Beane's seven years with the Bills.
Each decision has been a combination of economic, performance and/or age factors. In the case of Diggs, who is 30, the three-time captain's performance in four years in Buffalo broke countless records, but the right trade was made with future cap space and draft capital in mind given the stage of Diggs' career.
There's also a desire to find new ways to do things, and as Beane said in January, part of the work in the offseason was to “be honest, be real” and find ways to achieve greatness, he said.
“Change isn't always bad. Change can be difficult when you've had the stability we've had at some positions,” Beane said in April. “A lot of those guys were captains, so is that uncomfortable? Yeah, it is, but sometimes your team has to evolve.”
DAWSON TIGHT END KNOX He is one of several remaining players who has been with the Bills since being drafted in 2019. He said being on this year's team is the most fun he's had playing football. Whether it's his comfort in his career, the energy in the locker room (“different personalities coming from different teams”) or some combination, it has allowed him to be able to “fly” and “not [be] “fear of making mistakes.”
The 2024 Bills feature changes beyond the players. There are two new full-time coordinators, Joe Brady and Bobby Babich, who have been praised by players for their energy. That extended to other areas as well, such as the team’s strength and conditioning, medical and sports science staff looking for ways to improve, as McDermott noted this spring.
Questions remain about how new center Connor McGovern and a one-returner wide receiver room, Khalil Shakir, will fare, as do questions surrounding the safety position.
In reality, the number of changes was relatively normal for an NFL team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, though the height of the players was significant. As of Aug. 28, the Bills had 24 players who were not on the team’s Week 1 roster last year, tied for 12th in the league at the time. While the Bills did get rid of some veteran players, the average age of the current roster (26.8 years) is only slightly lower than last year (27.1), according to Elias.
“You never replace people like [Diggs]”Players like that. No two players or people are the same,” McDermott said. “… It's an opportunity for people to take on new roles, to stretch themselves a little bit more. For people to take responsibility for someone else. I think a big part of it is that you're not just hiring leaders or bringing in leaders. You're developing leaders all the time.”
Allen has taken a step forward in that regard. Last year, Allen began conducting exclusive meetings for players and this year he has ramped up that, according to Knox.
“He's stuck his head in the tight end room a couple of times, 'What do you see here?' … and on top of that, he's putting in a lot of extra work in practice,” Knox said. “He looks like he's in shape from the moment he comes out to the moment he comes out after everyone else has left.”
Shakir described him to ESPN as “probably one of the best leaders I've ever been around simply because of the fact that [if] Josh said to me, “Hey, grab your shield and sword and let's go to war.” I have no doubts. I'm going to grab it and go.”
It's more than the “grown-up” leader Allen is, as McDermott described him before camp. There are emerging voices like middle linebacker Terrel Bernard, nickel corner Taron Johnson and left tackle Dion Dawkins, who has been in that role before.
Bernard singled out Hyde (who Beane said the team hasn't closed the door on returning) as someone he looked up to during his early years and tried to emulate.
“Everyone has to step up their game, especially the guys who have been here a while, so that's something we know,” Bernard said. “I think we all know that.”
LAST YEAR, BEFORE History repeated itself, and the Bills went on an unexpected run: They went from 6-6 to winning the division despite there being a 4% chance of that happening, according to ESPN Analytics, after Week 13.
This year, the Bills may need time to get into a rhythm, as a variety of new players will miss most of training camp due to injuries.
“We feel confident in the group we have. We probably would have loved to play a little bit more offense, but circumstances dictated that things be a little bit different,” Beane said. “… Will we be a finished product next week? No. But hopefully we can get off to a fast start and get off to a good start and continue to improve.
“We have a lot of confidence in our coaches and the players we have in the 53, ready to move forward.”
