The evolution of Buffalo's roster and QB Josh Allen's leadership expectations

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Bills kicker Tyler Bass sat on the bench with his helmet strapped on after a missed 44-yard field goal. As the clock ticked down -- following a failed 6 minutes and 40 seconds drive filled with squandered opportunities -- the Kansas City Chiefs continued to move the ball. Bass put his helmet in his hands.

Eventually, the timeouts played out and the Chiefs' sideline celebrated as fans in the stands at Highmark Stadium threw snowballs toward the bench filled with red jerseys.

The Bills 2023 season ended in a 27-24 loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round again.

The location was different -- the Bills traveled to Kansas City for the playoffs twice in recent years -- but the outcome was the same old story.

As Bass walked off the field, quarterback Josh Allen noticed the kicker behind him and slowed to offer a hand and an embrace, a gesture symbolic of the future.

The team that left the field that day will look different when the Bills walk down that same tunnel to play the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 on Sept. 8.

The Bills head into the 2024 season after an offseason of change and preparation for the future. The task is to stay as competitive as possible and take advantage of the play of Allen, who enters his seventh year. Buffalo will rely on its franchise quarterback to continue to grow as a leader and new and younger players to take on significant roles on and off the field in an attempt to win a fifth straight division title and build a team to reach its goal.

MARCH 6 MARKED a day of change for the Bills.

One day ahead of NFL free agency, the team began moving on from longtime players in the franchise -- releasing cornerback Tre'Davious White, safety Jordan Poyer and center Mitch Morse -- in addition to other contributors.

Less than a week later, wide receiver Gabe Davis agreed to terms with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On April 3, the Bills traded Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans.

Once the dust settled, the Bills were left with two of eight team captains from the previous season -- Allen and Von Miller. (Former captain and safety Micah Hyde continues to contemplate retirement and has said that he will only return to play for the Bills.)

The changes marked a departure for coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane -- most of the departed players had significant roles in all or many of McDermott and Beane's seven years with the Bills.

Each decision has been a combination of financial, performance and/or age. For the decision on Diggs, who is 30, the three-time captain's performance in four years in Buffalo broke countless records, but the right trade came together with future cap space and draft capital in mind given the stage of Diggs' career.

There's also a desire of finding new ways of doing things, and as Beane said in January. Part of the job in the offseason was to "be truthful, be real" and find ways to achieve greatness, he said.

"Change is not always bad. Change can be hard when you've had the stability we've had at some of the positions," Beane said in April. "A lot of those guys were captains, so, is that uneasy? Yeah, it is, but sometimes your team has to evolve."

TIGHT END DAWSON KNOX is one of several remaining players who has been with the Bills since he was drafted in 2019. He said that being on this year's team is the most fun that he's had playing football. Whether that's due to his comfortability in his career, the energy in the locker room -- "different personalities coming from different teams" -- or some combination, it's allowed him to be able to "fly around" and "not [be] afraid to make mistakes."

The 2024 Bills feature changes beyond the players. There are two new full-time coordinators in Joe Brady and Bobby Babich, both of whom have been praised by players for their energy. That extended to other areas as well, such as the team's strength and conditioning, medical and sports science staffs looking at ways to improve, as McDermott noted this spring.

Questions remain on how new center Connor McGovern and the wide receiver room with only one returner -- Khalil Shakir -- will perform, as well as unknowns surrounding the safety position.

In reality, the amount of change was relatively normal for an NFL team, per Elias Sports Bureau, although the stature of the players was significant. As of Aug. 28, the Bills had 24 players who weren't on the team's Week 1 roster last year, tied for 12th most in the league at the time. While the Bills did move on from some veteran players, the average age of the current roster -- 26.8 years -- is only slightly below last year's (27.1), per Elias.

"You never replace people like [Diggs], players like that. No two players or people are the same," McDermott said. "... It's an opportunity for people to take on new roles, to stretch themselves a little bit. To hold people accountable for somebody else. I think a big piece of this is, you don't just hire leaders or bring in leaders. You're developing leaders the whole time."

Allen has taken a step forward in that respect. Last year, Allen began leading players-only meetings, and that's ramped up this year, per Knox.

"He's stuck his head in the tight end room a couple times, 'What do y'all see here?' ... and then also, he's getting a lot of extra work into practice too," Knox said. "Seems like he's just dialed in as soon as he steps out there to the second he comes off after everyone else has left."

Shakir described him to ESPN as "probably one of the best leaders I've ever been around just because of the fact that [if] Josh was like, 'Hey, grab your shield and your sword and let's go to war,' I'm no questions. I'm gonna grab it and go."

It's more than the "ratcheted up" leader in Allen, as McDermott described before camp. Voices are emerging like middle linebacker Terrel Bernard, nickel corner Taron Johnson and left tackle Dion Dawkins, who has been in that role before.

Bernard noted Hyde -- who Beane said the team has not closed the door on returning -- as someone he looked to his first couple years and tried to emulate.

"Everybody has to step their game up, and especially the ones that have been here for a while now, so that's a known point," Bernard said. "I think it's in the back of all of our minds."

LAST YEAR, BEFORE history repeated itself, the Bills went on an unexpected run -- going from 6-6 to winning the division despite a 4% chance of that happening, per ESPN Analytics, after Week 13.

Finding time to get in a groove may be required for the Bills this year, with a variety of new players missing most of training camp due to injury.

"We feel confident in the group we have. We would have probably loved to maybe play a little bit more of the offense, but circumstances dictated things to be a little different." Beane said. "... Are we going to be a finished product next week? No. But hopefully we can hit the ground fast and have a good start and continue to get better.

"Very confident in our coaches and the players we have on the 53, ready to move forward."