The votes from Buffalo Rumblings’ latest Reacts poll have been counted, and there’s a bit of controversy to attend in the aftermath. It’s been a bit of a strange offseason for the Buffalo Bills, with so little tangible information about the team available despite massive turnover in the coaching ranks. The reason for that may simply boil down to the fact that we have yet to see what a Bills roster led by Joe Brady as head coach and Jim Leonhard as defensive coordinator are capable of producing.
As
such, it’s been an offseason filled with questions. In the wake of Sean McDermott’s dismissal, the pervading response became “now what” in relation to winning a Super Bowl with quarterback Josh Allen. Astute members of Bills Mafia understood that an exit by McDermott meant far more than just someone different at head coach — it meant a heavier-than-usual round of roster overhaul, and systems changes.
To be clear: the team’s most talented players from last season are still with One Bills Drive and under contract. But the paradigm shift from McDermott’s 4-3 disciplined base defense to what we’ve learned will become Leonhard’s 3-4 attack-based system remains incomplete. Offseason workouts and drills can only show so much, often belying success rates against other teams.
That’s why with our latest poll we wanted to get a pulse on Buffalo Rumblings readers’ roster concerns. In full disclosure, it was perhaps an oversight for us not to include coaching as an option. I tend to believe that coaching will define this team’s season, as was the case with McDermott.
The reason the coaching unit was left off was because unlike on-field position groups, any plan that doesn’t involve Buffalo’s currently contracted coaches won’t have a viable replacement until the season ends. If player(s) x, y, and/or z don’t pan out, there are often plenty of other avenues to explore either by way of free agency, or even in-season trades up until the midseason deadline. With coaches, it’s almost always interim options or assistants in other capacities stepping in to maintain a semblance of consistency.
Long of the short: The Bills aren’t going to make meaningful changes at any key coaching spots short of something catastrophic happening. If that happens, then it’s probably wise to pay attention to the NFL Draft sooner, in a nod to the pre-McDermott days of this century.
So with that in mind, let’s take a quick look back at how your votes tallied. Is it surprising to learn that (inside) linebacker led the way with 57% of the vote, and that no other group listed was anywhere near that figure? Perhaps not, considering it’s the one group the team has done the least amount of work in overhauling, despite allowing key leaders from last season in Matt Milano and Shaq Thompson to languish in free agency, while having to count on Terrel Bernard regaining pre-2025 form and health.
When healthy, Bernard has proven capable of playing far above his fighting weight. But health and availability has been a concern. With Dorian Williams, the team may have a productive option set to take over Milano (and Thompson’s) role. Draft observers are even high on Kaleb Elarms-Orr, but he’s a rookie who’s going to need plenty of time to get up to NFL speed. Until we see otherwise, it’s true that this group may wear the biggest defensive question mark.
At a distant second is defensive tackle, where 17% of fans voted as their biggest concern. It may come down to how one feels about the nose tackle situation, and president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane effectively avoiding the role in free agency and the draft. The team did draft a defensive tackle, but rookie Zane Durant sure sounds like a player in the mold of Ed Oliver.
Will this defense be able to stop opponents’ run game with more consistency; is it even a priority? What’s clear is that Leonhard wants the defensive line to spend a healthy amount of time making life miserable for quarterbacks.
The glass is once again (at least) half full for Buffalo’s wide receivers room. If we’re honest with ourselves, it’s likely that wide receiver DJ Moore isn’t getting enough hype following Beane’s trade to add him to the mix as the team’s top wideout. Well, perhaps that’s not true of voters here, where just 14% of them feel it’s the most concerning position group.
At minimum, it’s a group of players who hold lots of promise, but with a ton of room to grow and improve. This will be a massive season for Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer. Who knows how Khalil Shakir will be impacted within a room that hopefully finds better game-day health. Behind each are several players who have shown capable in NFL games, but who lack the real consistent star power many desire seeing paired with Allen.
At the bottom of these results are the 7% of fans who voted edge rusher, and 5% of those who voted defensive back as their biggest concern. Opinions on these groups and others are likely to change once an abbreviated training camp stay at St. John Fisher University commences at the end of July.
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