ESPN’s Seth Walder slammed Buffalo’s decision to fire Sean McDermott and overhaul the coaching staff, ranking the Bills' controversial transformation among the worst in the entire league.
The offseason is just about over, and that means it's time for everyone to look back on the moves their favorite team made to prepare for 2026. For the Buffalo Bills, it was an offseason of change.
The team fired Sean McDermott, hired Joe Brady as head coach, built a (mostly) brand new coaching staff, and brought in several new players with the goal of finally reaching a Super Bowl.
Will the moves made work to get them over the hump? It's too early to say, but at least one analyst doesn't like what Buffalo did this offseason.
In an article looking at all 32 teams' offseason moves, ESPN's Seth Walder gave Buffalo one of the lowest grades, a C. While they were tied with a number of teams with the grade, only one team had a lower grade. That was the Arizona Cardinals with a D.
But why didn't Walder like Buffalo's offseason?
He starts by calling the decision to fire McDermott "controversial". He's also "weary" of the moves to not only keep Brandon Beane as general manager, but make Brady the new head coach.
"While Buffalo did not reach the Super Bowl under McDermott, which is rough given the quality teams it had, I would blame that mostly on close-game luck and variance rather than any systemic issues that McDermott could be blamed for," Walder said.
Moving on to the roster moves, he said that he didn't like the pick-swap trade that brought DJ Moore to Buffalo. He called the move an overpay after the season Moore had, while also paying him $24.5 million each year for the next four years.
It wasn't just the Moore trade. Walder called the signing of Bradley Chubb to a three-year, $43.5 million contract "one of the worst in free agency."
"Chubb recorded 8.5 sacks last season after sitting out 2024 following a torn ACL in late 2023, but the down-to-down numbers told a different story," he said. "Chubb's pass rush win rate was only 7.6% last season (14th percentile), roughly a third of what he posted in 2023 (21.4%)."
For all the negativity, however, there was one move the Bills made that Walder praised.
"Buffalo's best move came just before free agency, when it re-signed McGovern to a four-year, $52 million contract," he said. "At $13 million per year, that contract immediately looked like a bargain once Tyler Linderbaum signed a deal worth $27 million per year with the Raiders."
This is all just one person's opinion on how the Bills did. But the consensus right now does seem to lean towards Buffalo having a lot to prove in 2026.
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