Bills roster has holes after free agency: Here are players they could sign or draft

Now that the initial free agency frenzy is behind us, it’s a good time to take a look at where the Buffalo Bills’ roster stands, and which areas still need to be addressed in the coming weeks and months.

Given the bloated salary cap he was dealing with, general manager Brandon Beane and the financial gurus at One Bills Drive did a very nice job of creating enough space to make several meaningful moves last week, and there’s still enough available to continue adding to the periphery of the roster, a total that was increased on Monday when the Bills created cap space by extending the contract of nickel cornerback Taron Johnson.

Before the Bills do anything else, you can make the case that there are only two positions where a clear-cut starter is not already in place.

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With the release of center Mitch Morse, the scuttlebutt is that left guard Connor McGovern is going to slide over to replace him, so that leaves his left guard spot in a bit of flux. The Bills re-signed David Edwards, a player with 45 career starts under his belt with the Rams as he heads into his sixth NFL season, and someone who is clearly a favorite of offensive line coach Aaron Kromer as they were together for a couple years in Los Angeles.

Still, Edwards won’t be handed that job and young Alec Anderson, who the Bills kept on their 53-man roster for the entire 2023 season, will get a chance to compete as well as some yet to be determined players.

The other spot is safety where Jordan Poyer has already bolted to rival Miami, and Micah Hyde, though nothing has been determined, most likely won’t return. The Bills brought back Taylor Rapp who figures to be Hyde’s replacement, but they still have to find someone to take over for Poyer. Yes, they also re-signed Cam Lewis, but he’s a Swiss Army knife player who can play several positions capably, but isn’t starter material.

If the Bills had to line up and play tomorrow, here’s what the starting groups would look like:

On offense it would be QB Josh Allen; RB James Cook; WRs Stefon Diggs, Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir; TE Dalton Kincaid; and offensive linemen Dion Dawkins (LT), David Edwards or Alec Anderson (LG), Connor McGovern ( C), O’Cyrus Torrence (RG), and Spencer Brown (RT).

On defense you’d have DEs Greg Rousseau and Von Miller or A.J. Epenesa; DTs Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones; LBs Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard; CBs Rasul Douglas, Christian Benford and Taron Johnson; and safeties Taylor Rapp and Cam Lewis or Damar Hamlin.

Now it’s all about determining those last two starters and building the depth which has certainly taken a hit with the departures of RBs Latavius Murray, Nyheim Hines and Damien Harris; WRs Gabe Davis, Deonte Harty and Trent Sherfield; offensive linemen Morse and Ryan Bates; defensive linemen Leonard Floyd, Tim Settle, Poona Ford, Shaq Lawson, Jordan Phillips and Linval Joseph; LBs Tyrel Dodson and Tyler Matakevich; and DBs Poyer, Hyde, Tre’Davious White, Siran Neal and Dane Jackson.