Buffalo Rumblings
Who are the Bills’ most underrated players heading into the 2025 season?
Before Jan. 26, 2025, the worst two-word profanity any Buffalo sports fan could ever imagine was, of course, “Wide Right.”
After Jan. 26, 2025, that was replaced by “Fourth Down.” Or “NFL Officiating,” perhaps.
Josh Allen’s allegedly missed fourth-down conversion run with 13:01 left in the Bills’ eventual 32-29 AFC Championship loss was obviously the latest agonizing story in this franchise’s oh-so-close Super Bowl shortfalls. Right up there with 13 seconds and the overtime problem.
The good news, such as it was, was that 2024 was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Buffalo Bills, and they damn near made it all the way to the biggest game. So, now what? The Bills have a stacked roster with a defense-heavy draft. Sean McDermott has proven beyond all available doubt that he’s one of the NFL’s best head coaches, general manager Brandon Beane’s personnel acumen is above reproach, offensive coordinator Joe Brady looks like a future head coach in waiting, and the defensive staff may have some interesting and atypical things in store for the new season.
It’s all good. But at this point, it’s all about making it to, and winning, the Super Bowl. To that end, we continue our “Hidden Gems” series in which we detail the prospects of one underrated veteran, one underrated free-agent acquisition, and one underrated draft pick, with the team that is more desperate than any other at this point for the brass ring.
With these three hidden gems in tow, maybe this is the year that the Buffalo Bills actually grab it.
Alec Anderson has certainly been unheralded throughout his NFL journey. The UCLA alum signed with the BIlls as an undrafted free agent in 2022, and didn’t see a single snap in his first two professional seasons. Then, offensive coordinator Joe Brady decided in the 2024 season to go heavy with six offensive linemen to a degree we’ve rarely seen before, and Brady made Anderson his guy for that specific sixth-man task. Buffalo had run more 6OL stuff both in the run and pass games than any other team in the 2023 season with David Edwards as the sixth man, but in his first full season as the OC, Brady doubled down with Anderson as the main man, and to great effect.
The 2024 Bills ran the ball 141 times with six offensive linemen; the Tennessee Titans ranked second with 66. On those 141 attempts, Buffalo gained 721 yards with 450 yards after contact, a 5.1 yards per carry average, and eight touchdowns. Anderson wasn’t just an innocent bystander on those plays; his physical style was a primary construct of those run plays working when it was time to ragdoll opposing defensive linemen to the play side.
But the interesting wrinkle Brady brought to the offense was how often – and how well – the Bills created explosive plays in the passing game with...
