2024 NFL Power Rankings: Buffalo Bills
Throughout the 2024 NFL season, we will compile a consensus NFL Power Rankings that averages the rankings of all 32 NFL teams.
Below you will find a Week 18 roundup for the Buffalo Bills in our consensus 2024 NFL Power Rankings.
ESPN -- Rank: 8
Most improved: Youth
This is a Bills team in transition, and that's reflected in the many changes to the roster over the offseason. Multiple key players who departed are 30 or older -- including Stefon Diggs, Jordan Poyer, Mitch Morse -- with only two of 10 team captains from last season still on the roster. As a result, there was an injection of youth when the Bills drafted 10 players last month. Unlike in recent years, later draft picks have a better chance of making Buffalo's roster this coming season, something general manager Brandon Beane acknowledged. This will be a Bills team that has a different look come September. -- Alaina Getzenberg
This is a Bills team in transition, and that's reflected in the many changes to the roster over the offseason. Multiple key players who departed are 30 or older -- including Stefon Diggs, Jordan Poyer, Mitch Morse -- with only two of 10 team captains from last season still on the roster. As a result, there was an injection of youth when the Bills drafted 10 players last month. Unlike in recent years, later draft picks have a better chance of making Buffalo's roster this coming season, something general manager Brandon Beane acknowledged. This will be a Bills team that has a different look come September. -- Alaina Getzenberg
NFL.com -- Rank: 7
Buffalo slid back following the Stefon Diggs trade, which occurred after our last edition of the Power Rankings, and because the draft unfolded the way it did. The Bills clearly didn't think Xavier Worthy was the answer to their post-Diggs WR issues, otherwise they never would have traded out of that spot. Instead, they deftly slid back slightly twice and landed an "X" receiver in Keon Coleman, who could be a big producer in Buffalo's offense. But you just can't say with a straight face that the Bills have a better roster today than they did one year ago. They're still in that Super Bowl mix, sure, with Josh Allen squarely in the prime of his career and enough talent elsewhere to possibly fend off their improved AFC East rivals for another year. The one-step-back approach was a necessary evil for a team that got itself in salary-cap trouble while chasing a title. Can Buffalo continue competing at the highest level while exercising prudence? We shall see. Allen probably needs his best season to date in order for the Bills to do so.
CBS Sports -- Rank: 5
They will be a different team from 2023 in a lot of ways, but that might not be a bad thing. Josh Allen is still the quarterback, which is why they are still the best team in the AFC East.
USA Today -- Rank: 7
Could the subtraction of WR Stefon Diggs be a "less is more" situation? TBD, the performance of second-round WR Keon Coleman sure to ultimately sway that verdict. But let's not forget this morphed into a rush-heavy team in the second half of last season, and one that also became more reliant on TE Dalton Kincaid. This could be a Kansas City-like evolution if the defensive alterations (and health of LB Matt Milano) also pan out.
The Athletic -- Rank: 10
The draft was another reminder that the Bills are in a controlled rebuild. They traded all the way out of the first round to add more affordable assets to the roster. The good news is they still came away with a pretty good receiver with their first pick, taking Florida State's Keon Coleman with the first choice of the second round. If Coleman can develop a quick connection with Josh Allen, it will go a long way toward stabilizing Buffalo's reset.
Fox Sports -- Rank: 9
In Josh we trust. Hard to come to any other conclusion after Buffalo's offseason. The Bills will be a threat as long as Josh Allen is on his game, but it's going to be tougher without Stefon Diggs or the long list of veteran defenders they had to release. On the bright side, this was a roster in need of a reset. It'll be fun to watch Allen lead a newer, younger version of this team into the next stage of his career.
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