The loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game hit the Buffalo Bills hard. The setback exposed the team’s shortcomings in a bad way; however, head coach Sean McDermott learned from the experience and will try to strengthen his defense in the next free agency.
Despite being one of the most dominant teams in the regular season, the Bills lacked power on defense, and the Chiefs knew how to take advantage of that weakness to snatch their ticket to Super Bowl LIX. Faced with this, McDermott admitted that they will welcome any good player who is up to the challenge.
In an interview with NFL Network’s Judy Battista, he hinted that while he’s happy with his roster, the team could use a “game wrecker” on defense. “I’m very fortunate to coach those guys,” McDermott said in response to Battista’s question, “But all the great players that want to come to Buffalo, come on.”
The Bills’ possibilities
With offseason negotiations about to begin, Athlon Sports analyst Nick Faria felt the Bills could test the market for two of the top defensive ends available, Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett.
Last year, Greg Rousseau and AJ Epenesa filled the role; however, Crosby is just past the third year of the four-year contract extension he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 and now he has the option to opt out of the deal.
Garrett, for his part, requested a trade from the Cleveland Browns, denying the team the possibility of granting him a long-term contract extension. The Browns have two option years with Garrett, but if the player does not want to stay, it will be difficult for the team to exercise the option.
The Bills and free agency
Free agency is two weeks away; however, McDermott assured that the team’s priority is to retain its key talent, rather than going out into the market to look for signings. “There’s a market out there for all our players,” warned the coach, “so, it’s important for us to get as many of those players back as we can.”
McDermott was clear about the faith he has in his team but left open the question of which players could reinforce his roster. While the Bills head coach tries to hide his cards, the media will continue to speculate about which players could wear white and blue next season.
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