Buffalo Bills Coaching Vacancy Comes With More Baggage Than It Appears

After the firing of long-term head coach Sean McDermott, many seem to think that the Buffalo Bills' job opening is the best in the NFL. How could you blame them? Josh Allen is one of, if not the best, quarterbacks in the league, and his ability has masked many of the issues plaguing Buffalo over his first eight seasons.

Not only has his talent on the field been undeniable, but his durability is also unlike that of most players, especially given his aggressive playstyle. Allen has missed four games in his career, all in his rookie season, and has since played in every game for Buffalo except when the Bills had already clinched their playoff spot.

Having Allen makes this job opening more enticing than Cleveland, Vegas, or Arizona, but I’m not sure Buffalo is as attractive a landing spot as many think.

Nobody in their right mind would ever want to trade Josh Allen; however, when you have a superstar QB who’s not on a rookie deal, it limits how much talent you can put around him. He currently accounts for 20% of the Bills’ cap room, and that has left them well over the limit. Fortunately for Buffalo, this was still seen as a team-friendly deal, as he was 13th in the NFL in cap percentage used on one player.

I’m sure teams like Dallas, Arizona, Cleveland, and Miami would love to be lower on this list than Buffalo when they aren’t paying for talent that is even comparable to Allen. However, even on this deal, Buffalo hasn’t built a successful roster.

Buffalo has a lot of money tied up in an aging defense that finished just 12th in the league this past season. More importantly, in the biggest moments of the season, they once again let down their offense and were picked apart by a Bo Nix–led Broncos team.

The roster construction isn’t even the biggest issue for Buffalo. Ownership currently looks lost. Their firing of McDermott felt rash. I actually supported this move, but their reasoning for moving on from him doesn’t make much sense. Terry Pegula, the owner of the Bills, also came out and trashed Keon Coleman in one of the weirdest press conferences I have ever seen in my life.

I don’t care if Coleman was cut from the Bills; it’s beyond unprofessional to speak about a player like this. If you’re a free agent, why would you ever want to go play for an owner who might talk about you like this? Coleman knows he’s been struggling, but that doesn’t make it okay to diss a player who’s actively on your roster.

There aren’t many fan bases in the NFL that deserve a winner like the Bills, but even with one of the best quarterbacks in the league, I’m not sure this is the best situation for a coach. Something needs to change in terms of culture in Buffalo, and whoever they bring in had better be ready to clean up some messes.