2. Squad evaluation will be a priority in the coming days and weeks
Before the Bills wrap up the chapter on the 2022 season, McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane will take the time to assess each player’s performance this year.
“Starting tomorrow, we’re going to start our analysis of the squad with offense versus defense,” McDermott said. “And then Brandon and I will follow up on each of those situations and meet up. And this is what the next few days will really look like.”
When evaluating each player, McDermott and Beane want to be meticulous about looking at the bigger picture. They believe spending the time looking inside first, especially if they have big goals in mind, will help them uncover the gaps they need to fill in this offseason.
“The goal is to win a world championship. So in order for us to have a real assessment of where we are, we have to be objective with ourselves and say, ‘Hey, where are we?’” explained McDermott. “And then you go through every player and every coach, that’s what you do. You evaluate the whole thing, the injuries, all of that, you evaluate everything, and that’s what we have to do.”
Although it was the third year in a row that they won the division, staff will also take the time to assess the state of the AFC East.
“The division’s improving, right? The gap is closing for that matter,” said McDermott. “If we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be doing it right. I know that’s going to be my challenge to everyone in the organization, start with ourselves, start with myself, let’s go back and look at everything and make sure we’re not just doing it because we did it last year have done because in some cases the gap is being closed in the division.
With a slew of free agents and a new salary cap, McDermott and Beane will also focus on position value when determining what the roster will look like in 2023.
“It’s who we value,” McDermott said. “The positions that we value because you can’t pay them all and you can’t get all the elite players in every position. In the modern era of salary caps, that’s unrealistic. We have to give the right value to the positions that we have, feeling that’s going to help us win the Super Bowl and then finding those players in those positions.”
One thing is for sure, this team will look different in the coming weeks.
“There’s going to be a new roster here over the next few days and a fresh start for a new roster and we’ve got to reset things,” McDermott shared. “And you’ve heard me say before, you don’t just pick up where you left off the season before. That’s why this post-season evaluation is so important, with this evaluation we’re being honest and objective about who we are and what we need to become to get there.”
Comments are closed.