Bills are being dubbed one of the NFL’s “most overrated teams” heading into the 2024 NFL season.

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane described his 2024 offseason strategy as an “infusion of youth,” as a concerted effort to move from experienced but aging options at several key positions while simultaneously regaining some of the flexibility of the team’s long-term salary cap. .

The strategy, which saw the offseason departures of strong starters Stefon Diggs, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, Mitch Morse and Gabriel Davis, leaves the team at a crossroads, even though it has been extremely competitive for a large part. of the recent past (five straight playoff appearances and four straight AFC East titles), this just isn’t the same team it’s been for much of that span.

Buffalo still looks competitive thanks to the presence of otherworldly quarterback Josh Allen, but it’s fair to wonder about the team’s ceiling given the offseason turnover. Has the team done enough to sufficiently fill out the secondary after the departures of Hyde, Poyer and White? Will Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel and rookie Keon Coleman be able to make up for the nearly 2,000 yards of production vacated by Diggs and Davis in the receiving corps? Will the shake-up of last year’s strong offensive line lead to a cohesion problem?

The general feeling that there are question marks in Buffalo is shared by David Kenyon of Bleacher Report, who identified the Bills as one of the most overrated teams in the NFL in a recent article for Bleacher Report. Although he recognized Allen’s excellence, the team’s offseason maneuvers left him concerned, writing that “it’s hard to believe the Bills are actually a high-end threat to the AFC “.

“I have been wrong many times before and I could be here too,” Kenyon wrote. “But if Buffalo hasn’t won a conference title recently, how is that going to happen in 2024 after whether or not they release a handful of veteran defenders and do little to shore up the unit in free agency? The departure of Stefon Diggs leaves a huge void at receiver that rookie Keon Coleman can’t immediately fill.

“Seeing bills fail in the divisional cycle would not be a surprise.”

The analyst even writes that Buffalo will “probably” qualify for the playoffs.

Related: WATCH: Keon Coleman’s Basketball Mixtape Shows Bills Have Athletic Marvel

Kenyon’s concerns, while fair, can perhaps be largely alleviated by the great equalizer that is Allen. He’s simply a talent that few other teams in the NFL – let alone the AFC – possess, a quarterback who can – and often does – single-handedly win football games. The former All-Pro signal caller is the only quarterback in NFL history to record more than 40 total touchdowns in four consecutive seasons; he will attempt to make it five in a row in the 2024 NFL season.

And while Buffalo hasn’t made any “splashy” moves to fill out its roster around Allen, the players expected to feature more prominently given offseason veteran departures are promising and have played one-time roles in the past . Shakir was productive on limited opportunities during his first two professional seasons, with 49 receptions for 772 yards; he is responded to when occasionally asked to take on a larger role, indicating that he may be ready to play a larger role in the offense full-time.

Kenyon is correct in his analysis that second-round pick Keon Coleman “can’t be expected” to fill the void left by Diggs immediately, but he likely won’t focus on Buffalo’s aerial attack; instead it will be second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, who caught 73 passes for 673 yards last year. The former Utah pass catcher should serve as a dynamic weapon and safety valve for Allen in the middle of the field, with many predicting the 24-year-old to lead the Bills in receptions next season.

Although Buffalo parted ways with several previously key defensive starters this offseason, it’s not as if the team hasn’t been without those starters for much of the recent past. Tre’Davious White has missed large chunks of time over the past three seasons due to various significant leg injuries, while Micah Hyde has missed the vast majority of the 2022 season due to a neck injury (Jordan Poyer has also missed games the last two seasons due to injury). Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas will return as the team’s starting cornerbacks while Taylor Rapp, who played a big role for Buffalo last season, is expected to take over one of the starting safety spots; the team, in general, returns nine defensive starters.

While there is cause for concern from an outside perspective, the situation in Buffalo doesn’t seem as dire as many think. We won’t know the true extent of the Bills’ offseason maneuvers until the team takes the field later this year.