One of the biggest surprise teams of 2020 was the Buffalo Bills, as they won double-digit games and took the Texans to overtime in their first playoff game of the Josh Allen era. Although the season was a success for the Bills, their players' fantasy performances were a little less spectacular. A couple of bright spots were, Josh Allen finished the season as QB6 and established himself as a redzone monster, as he scored 9 rushing touchdowns, which was more than all but seven backs in the league last year. The defense also finished as the sixth-best defense on the season, despite only scoring one defensive touchdown all season, which was tied for the fewest in the league. The rest of the Buffalo roster had moments in 2019 where they showed what they were capable of but were not consistent enough to trust in fantasy football. This offseason the Bills added Stefon Diggs to their receiving core, giving them the much-needed WR1 they were missing all of last year. In the backfield, Devin Singletary is no longer a rookie and is looking to take a big leap in year two. Josh Allen was a very reliable fantasy option last year, as he only scored in the single digits once during the fantasy season, which was against the Patriots number one defense. He had six games last season where he had both a passing and rushing touchdown, which was twice as many as Lamar Jackson and the next closest quarterbacks. Allen's rushing ability is what helps make him such a reliable fantasy option, but his ridiculous arm strength and the Bills speedy receivers are what make him a potential fantasy standout this coming year. The Bills wide receiver trio might get overshadowed by other receiving crews around the league, but the combination of speed and hands in this bunch is exactly what Allen needs to maximize his ability. Although they did bring in a new weapon this offseason and the running game appears to have turned it back around late in the season, there are reasons to doubt Allen will duplicate his performance. He finished last among starting quarterbacks in completion percentage, and as a team, the Bills finished in the bottom ten in passing attempts last year. It's a little alarming that even with a 50-year-old Frank Gore and rookie from FAU, they still didn't throw it very much. Currently, Allen is being ranked around QB5-QB10 and is projected to be drafted somewhere between round 7-10. If Allen falls to round ten or later, he's a great value with a lot of upside. He's been inconsistent and only had one good year, so it's hard to rationalize using too high of a draft pick on him. If you do draft him, you'll want to take another quarterback later in the draft, as a backup option, in case things go south. Right before the season started last year, the Bills made a not-so-surprising surprising move and released LeSean McCoy, which left a two-headed backfield-by-committee consisting of Frank Gore and rookie Devin Singletary. Singletary got injured early in the season, but once he came back in week 7, he quickly took over the role. Singletary was given an average of 17 carries per week over his last six games of the year, which was only three behind Derrick Henry's, the league leaders, season average. If Singletary is healthy this coming year, he has the potential to be a top ten fantasy running back with Buffalo's current style of offense. He's currently being projected as high as the middle of round three to round five, but most agree he falls into the RB2 category. A starting running back, without much backfield competition, who should see 20+ touches a game is a very hard thing to come by in the league now. With that being said, I think Singletary as an RB2 in round three is a great value, but the depth at the running back position would make me lean towards a wide receiver in round three and hope that he's still in round four. Buffalo's receiving core was probably their weakest position last year, so they went out and did something about it. The addition of Stefon Diggs is huge because in Minnesota he was treated as the WR1, with Thielen mainly working out of the slot. The Bills now have a receiver they can trust against opposing teams' top corners, which will theoretically give both Brown and Beasley opportunities to exploit the defenses weaker areas. Diggs and Brown both finished as top 25 fantasy receivers last year and both finished in the top ten in 20+ yard receiving plays. Only Tampa Bay, with Godwin and Evans, would have had more combined 20+ yard receiving plays, which says a lot of Diggs and Brown with some of the dynamic wide receiver duos around the league. You would like to think since the Bills traded for a star receiver, they also intend to change the play-calling up and feature the passing game more than they did last year. These receivers will probably be two guys who will see their draft position fall all over the place depending on the league because they're both hot and cold receivers on a team that is very inconsistent offensively. Diggs is being projected as a low-end WR2 and going in the fifth or sixth round, meanwhile, Brown is a fringe flex and drafted in the late sixth or seventh-rounder. Both of these guys are great additions to your bench, but it all depends on what risks you might have taken earlier in the draft. If you already have a star receiver who's inconsistent at times *cough* Amari Cooper *cough* you might not want to take a risk on another receiver like that. If you just need someone to help fill in on good matchups or during bye weeks, I think these are great options. Being drafted that closely is a little surprising to me because I think Diggs will lead the team in targets by a decent margin, so I'm a little more bearish on Brown this year. The other receiving options in Buffalo will be Cole Beasley and tight end Dawson Knox. These guys are great pieces for the Bills, but they're not used enough to warrant drafting in a standard league.
- Alex Zani