Bills Central

5 Bills who could be surprisingly productive in 2024 NFL season

Here are five Buffalo Bills who are positioned to be surprisingly productive in the 2024 NFL season.

Kyle Silagyi

Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
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The Buffalo Bills kick off their 2024 season this Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. clash with the Arizona Cardinals, commencing a campaign that the team hopes will result in its fifth consecutive AFC East crown. The individuals who will be most crucial in this endeavor have been oft-covered and are, for lack of a better term, obvious: Josh Allen will need to again carry the load offensively. Terrel Bernard will need to effectively lead the defense sans Matt Milano. Head coach Sean McDermott will need to again traverse potentially murky waters as he attempts to lead his reworked roster to the postseason.

With this said, there are several players who aren’t currently receiving significant attention who could surprise both local and national supporters as the season commences and progresses. Here are five Bills who are well-positioned to post surprising production this fall.

RB Ray Davis

Ray Davis
Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

He’s penciled in as the No. 2 running back on Buffalo’s depth chart, but rookie ballcarrier Ray Davis could still be in for a pivotal offensive role in Orchard Park this fall. The Bills selected the compact 5-foot-8 power rusher in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft to serve as a north-south complement to reigning Pro Bowler James Cook, hoping to make the most of a skillset he oft-flashed throughout his collegiate career to the tune of 3,626 rushing yards. The 24-year-old showed signs of being this player throughout the preseason, displaying solid vision, burst, and physicality as he picked up 60 rushing yards on 13 attempts (good for an average of 4.6 yards per carry). Making this stat line more encouraging is the fact that 40 of his yards came after contact, per PFF, indicating that he’s set to bring the powerful presence to Buffalo’s backfield that was advertised.

The Bills’ coaching staff does have a history of rotating backs (even Cook, in his Pro Bowl campaign, only played on 54% of the team’s offensive snaps), so Davis should be in for a rather meaningful role as a rookie. His skillset makes him a prime candidate for short yardage and goalline looks, and he’s also a capable pass-catcher out of the backfield, this evidenced by his 94 receptions for 762 yards and 12 scores as a college player. The general focus, at this juncture, is justifiably on Cook, but Davis could be a player who surprises many with his usage as the season progresses.

Related: 5 players on Bills’ practice squad who could still play roles in 2024 NFL season

WR Mack Hollins

Mack Hollins
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Many wrote Buffalo’s offseason signing of Mack Hollins off as a depth acquisition that wouldn’t impact the team’s on-field fortunes in an overly tangible way, but the veteran’s impact has been palpable since his March onboarding. He’s fast become a beloved figure within the Bills locker room, with his teammates taking to his wholly unique personality and general disdain for footwear; among Hollins’ several lifestyle quirks is his decision not to wear shoes in most settings, a trend that’s spread throughout One Bills Drive to the point that a large swath of the team now goes through walkthroughs barefoot.

Locker room standing is not necessarily indicative of on-field usage, but all signs seem to point to the 30-year-old journeyman having a potentially large offensive role this fall. He’s one of the few traditional boundary receivers in the team’s revamped receiving corps (which currently consists of just five players), and he flashed throughout training camp as he earned consistent praise from quarterback Josh Allen. He’s never posted gaudy stat lines (with his best production as a professional coming in a 2022 season with the Las Vegas Raiders in which he caught 57 passes for 690 yards); that said, he could be in for a significant chunk of outside reps early as rookie Keon Coleman adjusts to the professional game. He’s also never played with a quarterback of Allen’s caliber; it’s important to take all offseason chatter with a grain of salt, but the Hollins hype appears to be based in reality. Don’t be surprised if he’s an important offensive contributor to start the season.

DE Greg Rousseau

Greg Rousseau
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Greg Rousseau has improved in each of his professional seasons, arriving on the scene as a surprisingly stout run defender with pass-rush upside in his 2021 rookie season before posting a still-career-high eight sacks in 2022. Though the 6-foot-7 defensive end’s statistical production dipped in 2023, he generated pressure at a more consistent rate, totaling 55 quarterback pressures, per PFF.

Now in line for a contract extension, Rousseau is looking to take the next step in his development, to piece the potentially elite parts of his game together and evolve from a good defender into a household name. He’s earned praise from the Buffalo coaching staff throughout the offseason thanks to his work ethic and dedication to his craft, and though the sample size was small, the 24-year-old saw the fruits of his labor in the preseason, particularly flashing in a Week 2 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in which he totaled 2.5 sacks and three pressures on just 11 snaps. He looked dominant in the contest, often bullying Broderick Jones and simply looking like the commanding pass-rusher he’s long had the potential of being. He’ll look to carry this dominance over into the regular season, and given the offseason talk, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him do so; if he’s able to evolve into an upper-tier pass-rusher in his fourth professional season, general manager Brandon Beane may be forced to back Brinks trucks into his driveway sooner rather than later.

Related: ESPN projects Bills to miss playoffs in strange 2024 NFL season preview

DE Dawuane Smoot

Dawuane Smoot
Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Buffalo’s coaching staff has long valued defensive linemen with positional versatility and the ability to play across the entire unit, which is seemingly an attribute offered by veteran defender Dawuane Smoot. The team signed the 29-year-old in early May to little fanfare, but he quickly cemented his roster status in training camp as he saw frequent snaps with the first and second-team defenses. He’s seemingly penciled in as the Bills’ fourth defensive end, meaning that he could be in for frequent opportunities on a Buffalo defensive line that often rotates players.

Smoot has flashed pass-rushing ability throughout his seven professional seasons to the tune of 23.5 career sacks, so he could bring some juice off the end this fall. What makes his role a bit more interesting is that he saw snaps as an interior pressure generator on passing downs throughout training camp, potentially giving him another opportunity through which he can chase down opposing quarterbacks this fall. 

KR/PR Brandon Codrington

Brandon Codrington
Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

The Bills experimented with their special teams returner post throughout the entire offseason, drafting cornerback Daequan Hardy in April before throwing him in a competition with reclamation project K.J. Hamler throughout the summer. It looked as though Hardy had shored up return duties late in the preseason, but the team ultimately determined that it hadn’t seen enough to trust him in the role entering the regular campaign, releasing Hardy and trading for New York Jets undrafted return specialist Brandon Codrington on roster cutdown day.

Codrington was an electric special teams returner throughout his time at Divison 1 FCS school North Carolina Central, returning 69 kicks for 1,359 yards and 61 punts for 789 yards throughout his collegiate career. He averaged nearly 20 yards per kick return and nearly 13 yards per punt return, taking four total kicks back to the house. The 23-year-old rookie showed flashes of being this type of returner throughout his debut preseason, returning six punts for 89 yards and breaking off a 63-yard kick return in Week 2.

The entire league is in an experimental ‘wait and see’ period regarding the revamped kickoff rules, but Codrington has shown promise and potentially dynamic ability in a limited sample size. The kickoff now figures to result in more frequent splash plays than it has in years past, and having a difference-maker manning the post could go a long way for a team this fall; we won’t say Codrington is a lock to be a special teams stud, but he certainly has the potential to flash in the role.

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Kyle Silagyi

KYLE SILAGYI

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