Bills roundtable: Which players will break out this year?
Katherine Fitzgerald, Jay Skurski, Lance Lysowski and Ryan O'Halloran talk about which Buffalo Bills players are poised to have a breakout season.
Editor’s note: This is the third of a five-part roundtable series previewing Buffalo Bills training camp. Today, we ask: Which player (one offense and defense apiece) will have a breakout season?
Katherine Fitzgerald: I’ll go with receiver Keon Coleman on offense and tackle DeWayne Carter on defense. Both are entering their second year, and both have room to grow. Each dealt with injuries last season – both wrist injuries, in fact – that derailed their growth, to an extent.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott have put pressure on Coleman to step up. He finished last season having played in 13 games, with 29 catches on 57 targets for 556 yards and four touchdowns. The Bills need more from him, and based off his OTAs and minicamp, I foresee a jump for him.
Carter was a healthy scratch after his injury, but he is primed for a comeback. He has the characteristics off the field that the Bills value – he was the first-ever three-time captain at Duke – and it is time to showcase his tenacity on the defensive line. If Carter can make a move at defensive tackle, he gives the Bills a long-term solution at the position.
Here’s to a Year 1-to-Year 2 jump for both of these guys.
As a rookie last year in the regular season and playoffs, the Buffalo Bills’ Ray Davis carried a combined 120 times for 468 yards and four touchdowns.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
Jay Skurski: Running back Ray Davis and safety Cole Bishop.
The only real drama the Bills have had this offseason is the public desire expressed by James Cook for a contract extension. That, of course, has not materialized, to this point. If the Bills are firm in their stance that Cook is going to play out the final year of his contract, it makes sense to give Davis some more run in his second season, as a way of learning whether he’d be capable of handling a bigger workload if Cook were to depart following the year.
Davis thrived in Week 6 last season against the New York Jets when Cook was out because of an injury, gaining 152 total yards on 23 touches.
Bishop should get every opportunity in training camp to prove he can be the permanent starter next to Taylor Rapp. It wasn’t a good look for Bishop to miss time during minicamp last month with an injury, but it is believed to be minor in nature and should not keep him out once the team reports to camp.
As a 2024 second-round draft pick, a lot is riding on Bishop developing into a key part of the defense. McDermott said last year that he believes safety is one of the three hardest positions to learn at the NFL level (along with quarterback and middle linebacker), so a year in the system should go a long way for Bishop.
Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid caught 44 passes last year, second on the team.
Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
Lance Lysowski: Tight end Dalton Kincaid on offense and cornerback Maxwell Hairston on defense.
Kincaid played through multiple knee injuries during a disappointing sophomore season. The 2023 first-round draft pick tore the PCL in his left knee, and he told The Buffalo News last month that he dealt with a Morel-Lavallee lesion – a form of bursitis in which fluid filled up underneath his right knee.
He had just 44 catches on 75 targets for 448 yards and two touchdowns, with four drops. Beane and McDermott challenged Kincaid to get stronger. He’ll earn more snaps in 2025 and lead the Bills in red-zone targets.
Hairston’s breakthrough may need to wait. Don’t be surprised if McDermott leans on Tre’Davious White early while the Bills’ first-round pick acclimates to the NFL, but Hairston will emerge as the high-end No. 2 cornerback this team was lacking last season.
To earn a starting job, Hairston will need to prove he is a reliable tackler and clean up some technical issues in his approach, especially when it’s time to get physical with a receiver at the line of scrimmage.
Ryan O’Halloran: Linebacker Dorian Williams and wide receiver Curtis Samuel.
Wait, can a team’s leading tackler from the previous year break out? In Williams’ case, yes. Williams started 11 games last year because of Matt Milano’s preseason biceps tendon injury, and Williams had 114 tackles.
Milano is back and will enter camp healthy, but the guess here is the Bills will create some early-down opportunities for Williams to use his physical play to stop the run.
Wait, can a player with more than 100 games on his résumé still be eligible for breakout status? In Samuel’s case, yes.
Forget about what Samuel did in Carolina and Washington and remember how long it took him to get out of the blocks last year, his first with the Bills. He had 31 catches for 353 yards and one touchdown while fighting injury in the regular season. In the playoffs, he had six catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bills are banking on Playoff Samuel becoming Regular Season Samuel and that offensive coordinator Joe Brady has unlocked how to use him.