Every fanbase thinks their team is better now than it was last year at this time.
Their favorite team (likely) added draft picks. They (likely) added free agents. Those people they lost to free agency? They were losers anyway. They certainly weren’t worth the contracts they signed elsewhere. If a player got traded away, it’s addition by subtraction. Even if the team isn’t better on paper, surely a coaching change will mean that the carryover players will perform better this year than they have recently.
Almost regardless of how we felt in Feburary, March, and April, by the time June 1st rolls around, almost everyone capable of hopium-based mood swings is in full optimism mode.
But strictly on a player-in, player-out basis, are the Buffalo Bills legitimately better right now than they were on June 1st of 2025? Owner Terry Pegula pretty clearly laid out in his media availability this winter that he believed the team had a great roster and needed better coaching, outlining his methodology for firing previous head coach Sean McDermott. How good is that roster he’s banking on versus the way it was at this time last year? Let’s go position room by position room and see how the 6/1/2026 Bills match up to the 6/1/2025 Bills. Important for this exercise: it does not assume development from any player. Just because you have young players on your team does not mean that linear growth is guaranteed and that they’ll be better in year two or three than they were in years one or two. Having cornerback Maxwell Hairston in 2025 and Maxwell Hairston in 2026 is a net neutral in this conversation (we all remember former first-round cornerback Kaiir Elam not taking a step forward in development in year two); trying to guess which players will develop positively and which will plateau or take a step backwards is not the purpose of this piece.
Each position room will be categorized with one of the following labels, using only a “player talent added minus player talent subtracted” opinion calculation. We’ll keep a point total running in our heads and we’ll add up the net additions and subtractions at the end of the exercise.
Significantly improved (+3 points)
Moderately improved (+2 points)
Slightly improved (+1 point)
Push (no points added or subtracted)
Slightly impaired (-1 point)
Moderately impaired (-2 points)
Significantly impaired (-3 points)
This week, we will examine the offensive position rooms. Next week, we’ll look at the defensive position rooms. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and isolate just the players in and players out:
Quarterback:
2025 – Josh Allen, Mitchell Trubisky, Shane Buechele, Mike White
2026 – Josh Allen, Kyle Allen, Shane Buechele
Verdict: slightly impaired (-1). Trubisky has proven more capable in his NFL career than Kyle Allen has, and having another experienced veteran in the 2025 in Mike White puts last season’s room in a better spot than this year’s room.
Running back:
2025 – James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson, Darrynton Evans, Frank Gore Jr., Reggie Gilliam
2026 – James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson, Frank Gore Jr., Desmond Reid, Ben VanSumeran, Jackson Acker
Verdict: slightly impaired (-1). Losing Reggie Gilliam (a valuable part of the heavy personnel run game and special teamer) and replacing him with unknowns means a very similar overall room in 2025 still gets the nod over the 2026 room.
Wide Receiver:
2025 – Khalil Shakir, Josh Palmer, Keon Coleman, Curtis Samuel, Elijah Moore, Kaden Prather, Jalen Virgil, K.J. Hamler, Laviska Shenault, Kristian Wilkerson, Tyrell Shavers, Stephen Gosnell, Kelly Akharaiyi
2026 – D.J. Moore, Khalil Shakir, Josh Palmer, Keon Coleman, Mecole Hardman, Skyler Bell, Tyrell Shavers, Trent Sherfield, Stephen Gosnell, Jalen Virgil, Ja’Mori Maclin, Gabriel Bernard
Verdict: moderately improved (+2). D.J. Moore is coming off his worst season as a pro, but he still represents a three-level veteran threat and immediately projects as the second-best receiver Josh Allen has ever thrown the ball to. Skyler Bell gives the team a much-needed developmental player with upside as a separator on a cost-controlled rookie contract.
Tight End:
2025 – Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, Jackson Hawes, Zach Davidson, Keleki Latu
2026- Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, Jackson Hawes, Keleki Latu, Shane Zylstra
Verdict: push. Swapping Davidson for Zylstra (neither of whom were projected to make the team in the year they were/are rostered) doesn’t move the needle for the room overall.
Offensive Line:
2025 – Dion Dawkins, David Edwards, Connor McGovern, O’Cyrus Torrence, Spencer Brown, Tylan Grable, Ryan Van Demark, Sedrick Van-Pran Granger, Kendrick Green, Alec Anderson, Richard Gouraige, Rush Reimer, Jacob Bayer, Mike Edwards, Chase Lundt
2026 – Dion Dawkins, Austin Corbett, Lloyd Cushenberry, Connor McGovern, O’Cyrus Torrence, Spencer Brown, Tylan Grable, Sedrick Van-Pran Granger, Alec Anderson, Rush Reimer, Chase Lundt, Armaj Reed-Adams, Nick Broeker, Da’Metrius Weatherspoon
Verdict: push. Losing starting left guard David Edwards in free agency and not investing a big contract or high capital on a guard may cause some to immediately move their eyes to the “impaired” section of the classification table, but both Corbett and Cushenberry are accomplished veterans (the same as Edwards was when he got to Buffalo) who have signed meaningful contracts as starters in the past (the same as Edwards had when he got to Buffalo) and together, they offset the loss of both Edwards and swing tackle Ryan Van Demark, who signed an offer sheet with the Minnesota Vikings that Buffalo elected not to match.
Overall:
Verdict: push. The wide receiver room is clearly better for the Bills now than it was on 6/1/2025. In fact, it could be argued that if you’re only looking at the projected starting offensive lineup, the Bills are better now than they were last year at this time. But that’s not the exercise. The loss of Reggie Gilliam matters until VanSumeran, Acker, or someone else proves they can provide ample lead blocking and tush push value. In addition, if superstar quarterback Josh Allen is out for 3-4 games due to injury, Kyle Allen likely doesn’t put the Bills in as good of a position to win as Mitchell Trubisky did.
…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!
