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For years the Bills have needed to put a solid #2 opposite of Lee Evans to take away some of the pressure opposing defenses put on him.  One again they didn’t do that this offseason.  Instead they added a #1 WR in T.O. that will move Lee Evans to the #2 role, which is fine by Evans and his fantasy owners.  Now if you try to shut down Evans’ deep route T.O. will kill you across the middle.  If you try to take that away, Evans will burn you deep. 

Evans was decent last year with 63 catches for 1017 yards and 3 TDs.  His career high is 82 receptions, with 2008 being his second highest total.  Clearly he is not a PPR league value.  With T.O. on board he won’t have to deal with Safety help as frequently.  He should be able to get deep more consistently.  I still think he’s a all or nothing type players and while he’ll finish will impressive numbers, he will frustrate fantasy owners more than he pleases them.  He’ll go somewhere in the fifth or sixth round.  If you draft him, try and get a steady producer to compliment him.  I’m expecting 65 catches for 1000 yards and 6 TDs.

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Trent Edwards gets the luxury/challenge of being T.O.’s newest QB. The good news for Edwards is that T.O. usually plays nice the first year in a new destination.  Plus, T.O. will probably be on his best behavior for his reality show.  In addition to Owens, Edwards has speedy Lee Evans, who just may be the best #2 WR Owens has played with in a long time.  With the attention Owens garners, Edwards and Evans could connect on some deep balls.  He also has three RBs capable of catching the ball out of the backfield in Marshawn Lynch, Fred Jackson, and Dominic Rhodes.  Edwards could be a breakout candidate.

His fantasy playoffs schedule consists of Kansas City, New England, and Atlanta.  I wouldn’t gamble on him in Weeks 15 & 16, but the opening round of the playoffs against Kansas City is intriguing.  He has a couple of decent matchups during the year.  First, he plays New Orleans in Week 3.  He also faces Cleveland in Week 5, which could be of interest to Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers owners, who are on bye that week.  Edwards will be a late round pick and I expect him to have around 3300 yards and 18 TDs.

The Bills went 7-9 again last year.  They went 0-6 in their division.  That’s not gonna cut it.  Trent Edwards likely won’t have J.P. Losman looking over his shoulders so the Bills will need to bring in a veteran backup in case Edwards gets injured.  Marshawn Lynch had a solid season, but Fred Jackson was the better back at times.  He is one of the keys to their offseasons signings.  Lee Evans was solid last year, but they need James Hardy to quickly take the next step in his development. 

Their key defensive free agents are LB Keith Ellison, CB Jabari Greer and S George Wilson.

KFFL Offseason Tracker:

The Bills went 7-9 last year and made a few offseason acquisitions that could help them stay around the 6-8 win mark. I don’t see them playing above .500 football, but they could at least be competitive. On the defensive side of the ball they added DT Marcus Stroud, LB Kawika Mitchess, rookie CB Leodis McKelvin as well as getting last year’s prize rookie Paul Posluszny back from a broken arm that cost him the bulk of his rookie year. On the offensive side of the ball that added WR James Hardy, who at 6’5″ should give them a solid red zone threat.

On offense Trent Edward will be guiding the team again. He won’t overwhelm you with his athleticism and arm strength, he does have the moxie to be an NFL Quarterback. They probably have one of the better backup QBs in the league in J.P. Losman so they shouldn’t see too much of a dropoff if Edwards to go down. The main cog in the offense is RB Marshawn Lynch. He was at least in the coversation of ROY last year until an injury sidelined him. He still finished with 1100+ yards (1300 total) and 7 TDs. They’ll need Lee Evans to be a more consistent threat and hope for a quick maturation of Hardy. A roadblock to the success of their offense is the holdout of LT Jason Peters. If they can’t work something out, they could struggle to match the pathetic 20 offensive TDs they tallied last year.

Defensively they have the pieces to be pretty good. Angelo Crowell (126) tackles, Mitchell, and Poz make up a solid LB corps. Marcus Stroud has been healthy this preseason, and if he can carry it over into the regular season, he should make it more difficult for the Bills to be run on. Terrence McGee had a solid year with 77 tackles and 4 INTs.

The strength of the Bills is their Special Teams. McGee is a dangerous return man, and McKelvin could contribute in that capacity as well. K Rian Lindell and P Brian Moorman are solid as well.

The best I see the Bills being is 8-8, although I’m guessing 6-10 will be their record.

Fantasy-wise the Bills don’t offer very much. Marshawn Lynch is their biggest fantasy star, but Peters’ holdout doesn’t help his cause. Lee Evans should be owned in all leagues, but he’s typically a “Use at Your Own Risk” play. James Hardy could be roster worthy if he catches on and is productive in the red zone. Trent Edwards is worthy of a backup spot in deep leagues. Their D should be good for the matchup game. Other than that, you want to avoid Bills on your fantasy teams.

Third Tier WRs
We’ve profiled the Big Dog WRs and Second Tier WRs, now it’s time to examine the next wave of wideouts.  Again, these will be #2 & #3 wideouts for most teams.

Santonio Holmes/Hines Ward – Has Santonio Holmes officially surpassed Hines Ward as the top dog?  Juding by last year’s stats (942 yards, 8 TDs to 732, 7) and it appears that way.  I’m not quite ready to write Hines Ward off, but Holmes will likely be the first Steeler WR drafted.  They will probably be picked fairly close together and produce very similar numbers.

Marvin Harrison – Last year was a wasted year for the former Syracuse Orangeman.  Then he showed some bad judgement in the offseason.  Was last year the beginning of the end for #88?  I don’t think so.  I think he keeps himself in good enough shape, has one of the games best QBs slinging it to him, and has great knowledge of his system that he’s in for a nice rebound.

Calvin Johnson – Here’s a guy I’m high on.  He has the size and speed to be an elite wideout.  He was decent enough (756 yards, 4 TDs) as he was adjusting to the NFL.  Now that he has a year behind him, I can see his career taking off.

Dwayne Bowe – Bowe had a nice rookie campaign last year, nearly hauling in 1000 yards.  I see him leaving that mark behind as well as tacking on a couple of TDs to his decent five-spot he produced last year.

Roddy White – Roddy had a sneaky 1200 yards last year.  On name recognition alone I wouldn’t put him in this tier, but his numbers talk.  He was one of the top wideouts from Week 12 on (minus the dud he dropped in Week 15) scoring in 4 games and topping 140 yards twice.

Chris Chambers – I think San Diego was a good fit for CC.  With a full training camp and preseason with the Bolts, I expect him to do even better.   He’s one of the WRs I’m targeting for ’08.

Lee Evans – If someone can just convince Evans that December year round (17 of his 29 career TDs have come in December), he’ll make the leap into Big Dog status.  He almost always starts off slow out of the gate so he’s a guy you may want to hold off on using during the beginning weeks of the season.  However, targeting him for a midseason trade may not be a bad idea.  I think he can return to the 1000 yard territory with 8 TDs.  Let’s just hope they don’t all come in December.

Jerricho Cotchery – He’s produced back-to-back 82 reception seasons for the Jets.  He topped the 1100 yard mark.  He just needs to prove he can be more a factor in the endzone.  His measly 2 TDs conjure up thoughts of past Jet Wideouts like Keyshawn Johnson.

Donald Driver – Driver slid under the Third Tier wall like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  He failed to reach 1200 yards for the first time since 2003 last year, but his 1048 weren’t bad.  What was bad was the 2 TDs he scored.  Greg Jennings was clearly Brett’s go-to-guy last year in the red zone.  With a new QB though, the steady Driver could be leaned on heavier than the explosive Jennings.

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