Buffalo Bills not in NFL experts’ top 10 rosters for 2024 season

If there was ever a season where Josh Allen could reap individual accolades, it would be 2024. Even though Las Vegas bookmakers have Buffalo in fifth place to win the Super Bowl, many believe the Bills will be a disappointment this season. The latest example is Fox Sports contributor and former NFL player Bucky Brooks, who said the Buffalo Bills won’t even field a top-10 team in 2024.

Brooks wrote a piece on his top 10 teams, which include, in order, the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns. It’s odd not to see Buffalo in the top three when they are one of two franchises to win their division in the last four years and one of two franchises to win a playoff game in each of the previous four seasons. The other organization to have achieved these records is the Kansas City Chiefs.

How did Brooks arrive at this conclusion? He said: “In separate discussions with Super Bowl winners (Bill Polian and Ron Wolf), they often discussed the need for elite talent at the most important positions to take down the league’s heavyweights. While the NFL has evolved over the past decade, championship teams routinely feature top-tier talent at quarterback, running back, wide receiver or tight end, offensive tackle, defensive end/outside linebacker or defensive tackle, off-ball backs and safety or corner.”

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Brooks doesn’t define what he considers a “blue chip” prospect or an “elite talent,” but looking at the other players on the roster, I think these are the Bills players who will reach that level of expectation by 2024.

Quarterback Josh Allen is the obvious answer. He’s coming off a season in which he finished fifth in MVP voting and was rated the best offensive player by Pro Football Focus (PFF). Running back James Cook finished third in the NFL among rushers in yards from scrimmage, 18 yards behind second-place Breece Hall. Tight end Dalton Kincaid had a fantastic run in his last 13 games (including the playoffs) when he was in his rookie form. If you take those 13 games and extrapolate them to a 17-game season, he would have had 84 receptions, 901 yards and five touchdowns. Finally, on offense, left tackle Dion Dawkins finished fourth in ESPN’s overtime blocking win rate.

Related: Bills QB Josh Allen is the only player ranked among the NFL’s top 50 prospects heading into the 2024 season

On defense, linebacker Matt Milano hasn’t had an All-Pro season in a year, and there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t have done so again last year if not for a pesky injury. Cornerback Rasul Douglas is entering his second year (and first full season) with Buffalo. The trade deadline acquisition from Green Bay finished 2023 as PFF’s sixth-highest-graded cornerback. He finished second in corner picks with five and 14th in pass breakups. Cornerback Taron Johnson is arguably (and some would say definitively) the best slot cornerback in the NFL. Johnson was named a second-team All-Pro in 2023 while finishing 11th in defensive coverage among all PFF corners and fourth in snaps per reception allowed from the slot.

These seven players give the Bills more than Cleveland at the bottom of the top 10 list. Brooks also lists the “wild cards” for each team. I think the Bills have several players who could be considered blue chips, but definitely fit the wild card criteria. Those guys are Spencer Brown, Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, AJ Epenesa and Terrell Bernard.

In conclusion, if the Bills truly don’t have a top-10 team in 2024, but still enjoy the success that Bills Mafia has enjoyed, two things must be true: Allen deserves his first MVP award, and Sean McDermott needs to be moved up the NFL coaching rankings.

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