2016 Fantasy Football Team Preview: Buffalo Bills

2015 Fantasy Recap

As per usual the Buffalo Bills started the season getting the hopes up for all of Bills nation and once again ended the season by falling flat on their face. Despite the typical mediocrity of the real football season, however, the Bills did display some positive steps forward in the fantasy angle.  Coming into camp with a smattering of seemingly irrelevant quarterbacks Tyrod Taylor actually won the job and managed to remain a solid starting option in most formats by playing in 14 games and doing damage with both his arm and his legs.  His emergence as an impact fantasy player is all the more impressive when you factor in a receiving corps with not much to offer after an oft-injured Sammy Watkins, a running back stable that included two guys who were great but couldn’t stay on the field in LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams and an embarrassingly overpaid tight end.  If Buffalo’s skill players can actually stay healthy for the full season this year with one of the best offensive lines in the game they will be sure to put up some strong fantasy numbers. 

Key Additions and Losses

Additions:

• Leonard Hankerson
• Greg Little
• Jarrett Boykin

Losses:

• Leodis McKelvin
• Mario Williams
• Boobie Dixon

QuarterBack Fantasy Outlook

For the first time in his career, Tyrod Taylor will enter the season knowing he is slotted in as the number one quarterback on the depth chart.  Last season, his first in Buffalo, he came to camp to battle a slew of quarterback vagabonds and came out on top.  He was one of the early stories in fantasy football too as he had 714 passing yards with seven touchdowns and only three picks while adding another 96 yards and a score on the ground in just his first three games as a starter.  He was mildly inconsistent throughout the remainder of the season and missed a couple of games with an MCL sprain in October with over 3000 yards and 20 touchdowns in the air and over 500 yards and 4 more touchdowns on the ground in 14 games he finished as the 16th ranked quarterback in standard scoring leagues. Add in two additional games for him with his average production last year and he would’ve finished in the top 5 for fantasy quarterbacks.  While it is a small sample size for him the Bills did well to bring back his offensive line which is one of the best in the league and some additional weapons at receiver to help out.  If he and Sammy Watkins can stay healthy this season he will easily finish in the top 15 and could very well creep into the top 10.

Grade: B+

 Running Back Fantasy Outlook

Everybody talks about the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line and the running backs that get to run behind them and they very well should.  However, Buffalo has a very formidable line particularly on the left side where Cordy Glenn and Richie Incognito are maulers who can open holes for running backs with the best of them.  Behind them is a stable of running backs that, much like the rest of this team, look very good at times, very bad at times and often injured.  LeSean McCoy, Karlos Williams and Mike Gillislee finished as the 17th, 28th, and 69th scoring running backs respectively.  McCoy was his typical self rushing for almost 900 yards and three scores in only 12 games but again missed time due to injury and enters the season with some looming off-field issues.  Karlos Williams surprised by rushing for 5.6 yards per carry and 7 touchdowns but also had some injuries throughout the year.  Add in Gillislee and incoming fifth-round rookie Jonathan Williams and this is a stable of talented backs who need to stay on the field but can be very solid if they do.

Grade:  B

Wide Receiver Fantasy Outlook

Sammy Watkins is good.  I know, that’s some hard-hitting analysis right there right?  Watkins is big, fast, runs excellent routes and has incredible body control to match an innate ability to come down with the ball.  He can flat out take over games and if the wide receiver position wasn’t so deep in the league he would have top 5 fantasy potential.  But he is yet another guy who has a history of injuries and will come into camp with a foot issue that has a lot of people, myself included, very nervous.  Robert Woods is an intriguing late round option particularly with the Watkins foot issue and the rest of their receivers are journeymen who you may pick up on waivers at some point during the season for a spot start but not much to write home about.  Can we get the Bills a better doctor?

Grade:  Could be an A….Could also be an F

Tight End Fantasy Outlook

It’s Charles Clay and nobody else in this offense and unfortunately for the Bills and the owner’s bank account Clay was basically useless last year.  Signed to an offer sheet in the offseason between 2014 and 2015 the Bills owe Clay a very large sum of money over the next 3 years (roughly $8M per year).  Even more unfortunate is the fact that in his first season with the Bills he played only 13 games, averaged just over 40 yards per game and caught only three touchdowns.  There is some talent there but it will take several good games at the beginning of the season before I even think about picking him up on waivers.

Grade:  D-

Defensive Fantasy Outlook

This defense finished 22nd in the league in fantasy scoring in 2015 and to be quite honest, for a Rex Ryan defense, it was pretty pathetic.  They finished with negative scores four of the weeks last year and only topped the 10 point total three times.  Not what you’re looking for in a solid D.  They also didn’t do much to improve the defense other than drafting a few rookies and bringing in the league’s worst defensive coordinator in Rob Ryan.  I don’t expect much out of this one this year either.

Grade: D

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