2026 Buffalo Bills Fantasy Preview: Can Joe Brady put them over the top?
The Bills are feeling the pressure of becoming another one of sports’ great also-rans. There is one team in the NFL that has won more games than the Bills over the last decade. Their .640 winning percentage and 105-59 record trails only the Chiefs since 2016. However, the Chiefs have five Super Bowl appearances and four wins in that span, and the Bills have none of either. Can a new leader at the helm and two new offensive weapons on the perimeter help get the Bills the title that has eluded them? Points per game: 28.3 (4th) Total yards per game: 376.3 (4th) Plays per game: 63.6 (28th) Dropbacks per game: 37.1 (23rd) Dropback EPA per play: 0.23 (4th) Designed rush attempts per game: 29.8 (2nd) Rush EPA per play: 0.04 (2nd) Perhaps feeling the pressure to do something different to get over the hump, the team fired longtime head coach Sean McDermott in the offseason and turned the reins over to his offensive coordinator, Joe Brady. At 36 years old, Brady is now the youngest head coach in the NFL and will be thrown right into one of the most high-pressure jobs in the league. Josh Allen is now 30 years old (and a new father), and the Bills are feeling the heat to maximize their potential while their quarterback can still perform the athletic feats that have made him one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. Can Brady be the young voice that gets them over the top? QB: Josh Allen, Kyle Allen WR: DJ Moore , Keon Coleman WR: Khalil Shakir , Skyler Bell WR: Joshua Palmer , Trent Sherfield TE: Dalton Kincaid , Dawson Knox , Jackson Hawes As with everything in the Bills’ offense, the passing game discussions begin and end with Josh Allen . The 2024 NFL MVP had another good season, completing 319-of-460 passes (69.3 percent) for 3,668 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also added another 579 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns on the ground, becoming the franchise’s leader in rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns. Yet, despite that, he also threw for his fewest yards since 2019 and averaged a career-low 7.1 yards per target. In fact, a career-high 65 percent of his attempts traveled fewer than 10 yards downfield, so his career-high 69.3 percent completion rate was more because of how short Buffalo had to design its passing game. With Brady now calling plays for his own offense and not to fit the balanced style that McDermott favored, it makes sense that we would see the offense try to push the ball down the field more. However, a higher average depth of target will likely mean that the completion rate takes a hit, and the interception numbers could climb back up around 14-15. Still, that could be worth the tradeoff if we get back to a 4,000 passing yard and 30 passing touchdown season. Of course, getting Allen weapons has also been a big conversation. Last season, the Bills didn’t have one wide receiver who surpassed 750 yards. Keon Coleman failed to take a step forward in his second season. Veteran Curtis Samuel and Josh Palmer battled injuries all year, and Khalil Shakir was forced into a role as a YAC monster. So what did the Bills do in the offseason? They brought in Pete Carmichael, who spent the majority of his coaching career coaching one of the most productive passing attacks in NFL history with Drew Brees in New Orleans , and traded a second-round pick to acquire DJ Moore . Now, Moore only had 50 receptions for 682 yards and six touchdowns in 2025 with the Bears, but that was a team that was moving towards featuring young players like Rome Odunze , Luther Burden III , and Colston Loveland . When Brady was the Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2020, he led the first offense in franchise history with four different players who had over 1,000 scrimmage yards, including Moore, who led the team with 1,215. Moore won’t need to be that player in Buffalo, but he can still be an outside threat that can make defenses pay if they leave him in single coverage. That could still lead to 1,000 yards and eight or more touchdo [... truncated ...]
