NFL reporter sees stunning highs or painful lows for Bills in 2024 NFL season

The Buffalo Bills have been an enigma for NFL pundits and reporters alike during the 2024 NFL offseason. This is a team with one of the league’s best quarterbacks, an offensive line that returns four of its five starters from last season, a young running back coming off the best year of his career and an emerging star at tight end. Not bad, right?

Still, the Bills lost their top receiver in Stefon Diggs and also got rid of veteran talent like Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer and Mitch Morse. Their receiver room is a complete snafu, and they still don’t have a regularly tested cornerback to line up opposite Rasul Douglas on the edge. From that perspective, it’s not a great outlook for Buffalo. The way the season plays out will likely fall somewhere in the middle, but Sports Illustrated writer Gilberto Manzano tried to lay out the best outcome and the worst nightmare for the Bills this season.

We’ll take a look at his projections and some of the Bills’ possible futures this season.

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Manzano believes the best possible outcome for the Bills this year is simple: Josh Allen wins the NFL MVP award and eliminates the Chiefs from the playoffs. He said of that potential redemption: “If the Bills win more and Allen throws fewer interceptions, this could finally be the year they represent the AFC in the Super Bowl and win the first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.”

The Bills’ season is riding on Allen’s right arm, but if Joe Brady’s more egalitarian approach to offense takes off, Buffalo’s offense could be another juggernaut. If the Bills want to be that juggernaut again, they’ll need Dalton Kincaid to take a leap in production, and Manzano believes Kincaid will break out this season, describing him as “Allen’s No. 1 pass catcher with Diggs off the field. Coleman may need time to find his feet in the NFL, and Samuel and Shakir are threats down the field but may not be a good fit for the No. 1 pass catcher role.”

So that’s all good, right? Well, Manzano also laid out a worst-case scenario for Buffalo this year. His argument is simple, but effective: The reorganization turns into a full-scale rebuild. Manzano has doubts about the Bills’ receiving corps, wondering whether players like Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir can help carry the load on offense. Those struggles could force them to lean more heavily on rookie Keon Coleman, who is still incredibly raw and has immediate limitations. Those struggles won’t just affect the offense: The lack of star power and continuity will affect Buffalo’s defense. Players like Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde and Tre’Davious White have all been key cogs in the Bills’ current run of success since winning the AFC East title in the 2020 season. If those cracks start to form, Manzano believes Buffalo won’t plug them, but will tear them apart, writing, “If this is a rebuild, the Bills could end McDermott after eight seasons.”

Ouch.

Both of these scenarios are dramatic and have significant implications for the Bills’ future. As previously mentioned, the Bills’ season will likely fall somewhere in the middle. That being said, both of these scenarios are entirely realistic for the Bills this season, which is an indictment of Buffalo’s offseason.

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