Where do the Bills rank in the NFL power rankings heading into training camp?

It may be a bit premature to rank every NFL team based on its quality heading into the 2024 season, because each club, at this point, is a ball of clay. We have a general idea of ​​what each team will look like in September, but there are still precious moments to be won and roles to be won on each roster; training camps (now underway across the NFL) will provide the answers to those questions on a league-wide basis.

And while we don’t have a definitive picture of what each team will look like in Week 1, Bleacher Report has taken a stab at ranking each club heading into training camp, taking into account their pre-camp uncertainties. The Buffalo Bills sit at No. 7 in the site’s NFL pre-training camp rankings, with the publication’s staff noting that the team’s offensive turnover is a cause for concern.

“There’s a level of unease around the Buffalo Bills as training camp gets underway that’s unusual for a team that has won four straight AFC East titles and went 11-6 last year,” the B/R staff wrote. “There are legitimate concerns on both sides of the ball. With Gabe Davis gone and Stefon Diggs traded, Buffalo’s top two receivers from last season. Replacements have been brought in like veterans Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling and rookie Keon Coleman, but while offensive coordinator Joe Brady has acknowledged this new group may not have experience together and lacks a true No. 1 receiver, he’s confident quarterback Josh Allen can elevate his new receivers.”

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“The concerns aren’t just about the offense. For years, veterans Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer manned the safeties at Western New York. They’re both gone, replaced by Taylor Rapp and Mike Edwards. That’s not to say the Bills aren’t still a very good football team capable of doing damage in the AFC. But they’re not the overwhelming favorite in the AFC East that they’ve been in recent seasons.”

It’s hard to have too many reservations about the site’s analysis, because any rebuttal is simply hopeful. Buffalo’s offensive corps is talented but unproven after the departures of Diggs and Davis; Khalil Shakir and tight end Dalton Kincaid both showed promise late last season, and their roles should grow in importance given the Bills’ offseason moves. Keon Coleman is a promising, big-bodied rookie, while Curtis Samuel is set to reunite with the offensive coordinator who led him to his best production as a pro; that said, this is a nearly entirely new group that has never bothered to come together. There are reasons for optimism, but the unit is objectively unproven.

The publication also notes the omission of Hyde and Poyer from the defensive backfield, noting that they should be replaced by Taylor Rapp and Mike Edwards. Rapp was with the team last season and, as a result, knows its defensive system, and rookie Cole Bishop could very well usurp Edwards on the depth chart; regardless, the team will objectively have two new starting safeties for the first time since 2017 this fall, and it’s fair for a media outlet to find that uncertainty concerning.

Buffalo, however, still fields a world-beating quarterback, which is why the team is ranked No. 7. It is still a favorite in the AFC East, but the gap between the Bills and the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets may be a bit narrower this summer than in years past. Buffalo is the top-ranked team in Buffalo’s AFC East heading into training camp; the only teams ranked higher are the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. One could argue that the Bills are better placed than Houston and Cincinnati, but the team will simply have to prove that point during the regular season.

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