The Buffalo Bills seem to be lacking in the necessary components for a successful offseason. They have precious little cap space that they must use to fill a number of roster holes, and they hold only six picks in the upcoming NFL Draft.
According to Danny Kelly of The Ringer, though, the Bills are in decent shape.
Kelly ranked the 32 NFL teams based on what he terms “offseason capital”: cap space (according to Spotrac) and draft pick value (according to the infamous Jimmy Johnson chart), and put together a composite ranking.
The Bills, who rank 25th in cap space but sit at tenth in draft pick value, came in at 17th. Kelly notes that the Bills only hold six picks in the draft, but three are in the top 75, and “the 10th overall selection could bring them a long-term starter”.
Of course, the big issue for the Bills this offseason is the sheer number of players who need to be replaced; despite having less cap space than all but seven teams, the Bills rank dead last (45) when it comes to players currently under contract for 2017, and the lack of picks will be a problem when it comes to filling those roster spots with low-cost rookies.
So, yes, the Bills have a decent amount of firepower to work with over the next few months. Unfortunately, Doug Whaley has more targets to aim for than any other general manager in the league.