By Justin DiLoro / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills have largely gutted significant portions of their offensive roster during the 2019 offseason.
The front office saw that there needed to be changed in front of prospective franchise quarterback Josh Allen, and they made things happen. The Bills, under general manager Brandon Beane, worked to revamp the roster and clear up a challenging salary cap situation.
Now, Buffalo has seeming improved their competitive identity with their changes.
Let’s examine how this year’s prospective offensive starters match up against last season’s Week 1 starting lineup:
Quarterback
2018: Nathan Peterman
2019: Josh Allen
Whoa, what a flashback.
Then-second-year pro Nathan Peterman won the starting quarterback job out of training camp and actually did look good. The team felt so comfortable with his performance that they traded AJ McCarron prior to the opener.
Peterman lasted two quarters as the team’s starter. It was apparent the ending to his time in Buffalo would not be pretty.
The team is clearly in a better position than last year. First off, Allen will take the reins right from the opening snap in Week 1, pending injury. Allen has a stronger arm, is far more athletic, and much more creative than Peterman.
This is a solid upgrade over last season’s Week 1 starter.
Running back
2018: LeSean McCoy
2019: LeSean McCoy
You might think that having the same player starting in consecutive seasons would be a push. However, McCoy is coming off his worst season as a professional. It appeared that he was just stuck with no answer, often dancing behind a substandard offensive line.
There are two schools of thought here: McCoy is either washed up or primed for a bounce-back season. The unsexy, Twitter-defying answer is that he is probably somewhere in between these two extremes.
Nevertheless, expectations were high for McCoy last year, as he was supposed to be the centerpiece of the Bills’ offense. It didn’t play out that way.
McCoy, at 31 years old when 2019 starts, is on the descent of his career. He can still be productive, but it’s not at the level at which Buffalo would like from their former superstar. Because of this, the starting spot is in slightly worse shape than last year.
The position does have greater depth with Frank Gore, TJ Yeldon, and Devin Singletary in the fold. Analyzing the starting spot itself, it seems that the team may be sliding into committee land rather than a true name at the top of the depth chart. If this is the case, it will be quite a change for McCoy.
Wide receivers
2018: Kelvin Benjamin, Jeremy Kerley, Zay Jones, Andre Holmes
2019: John Brown, Cole Beasley, Zay Jones, Robert Foster
Two of the three starters from last year fell by the wayside by the end of the season. Jones, for his part, struggled in the first portion of the season until putting together some decent performances and even ended the year with seven touchdowns.
The Bills made a concerted effort to upgrade this unit in the offseason. Beasley comes over as a reliable slot receiver who can create separation while Brown will work to stretch the field. Both are not top tier receivers, they are serviceable and could put up very good numbers within Bills offensive scheme. Jones and Foster will battle for starting snaps, although Jones seems to be a more reliable target in the intermediate game while Foster can burn defensive backs deep.
This year’s starters are an easy upgrade over last year’s crew. Benjamin and Kerley are currently free agents. That’s probably all you need to know about how bad this group was last year.
Tight ends
2018: Charles Clay
2019: Tyler Kroft
This is where it gets fun. Charles Clay was viewed as a mismatch option for Buffalo. He was a versatile player who was expected to operate from various spots in offensive formations. While Clay had some success during his first three seasons in Buffalo (157 catches and 1,638 receiving yards), his final season in western New York fell flat (21 catches and 184 receiving yards). Injuries and lack of usage forced Clay off Buffalo’s radar.
Buffalo looked for a reliable replacement to Clay’s injury-prone body.
They found Tyler Kroft…a player with a bit of an injury history. He missed most of the 2018 season with a foot injury. The Bills look for him to rebound completely, but a newly broken foot will cause a bit of a curveball here.
The potential in Kroft makes him an intriguing player. In his only full season as a starter, Kroft became a red zone weapon, scoring seven touchdowns during his 2017 campaign. He also caught 42-of-62 passes for 494 receiving yards.
Kroft has been a solid run blocker as well. This, he will be on the field quite a bit, as long as he’s healthy. While Kroft presents an interesting upside, we’re going to say this is a slight upgrade, if he can build chemistry with Allen. Clay put up adequate production until last year when he hit a wall.
Offensive line
2018: Dion Dawkins, Vlad Ducasse, Ryan Groy, John Miller, Jordan Mills
2019: Cody Ford, Dion Dawkins, Mitch Morse, Quinton Spain, Ty Nsehke
The Bills offensive line was quite a sight to watch last year. The unit has a few coherent moments but overall, the group was unable to open holes in the run game and pass protect on a regular basis. Several analytical football outlet’s, such as Pro Football Focus, had Buffalo’s line ranked among the NFL’s worst last season.
Upgrading this unit was a point of emphasis this offseason. With a half-dozen new players on this unit, Buffalo’s coaching staff has plenty of options to find the best five-man unit among this group.
The most important person in the group could be Morse. After Eric Wood’s retirement, the Bills lacked a true general on the offensive line. Morse will fill that role.
While the remainder of the line is in flux, any combination of the new blood should reap positive benefits from last year’s group. Dion Dawkins could move inside, while Cody Ford might protect Allen’s blind side. Or, Dawkins could keep his position and Ford move inside, while a battle could heat up at the opposite tackle position.
Nevertheless, Buffalo has options. And their options are an improvement over last year’s group. This is definitely a step in the right direction.
Overall
The competitive identity of Buffalo’s offense is much improved over last year’s starters. The team could have upwards of eight new starters on the unit this year. The expectation is that the team will be much better and able to put more points on the board and benefit from their strong complementary play from their defense and improved special teams.
The big question: are these improvements enough when compared to other teams? This year’s group should have a better chance of answering that question with a firm “yes.”