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Buffalo Bills reporter and insider Sal Maiorana

Buffalo Bills reporter and insider Sal Maiorana from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle joined for a

Q and A on the Buffalo Bills’ offseason. Free agency, the upcoming NFL Draft and more. Enjoy.

ML: Free agent frenzy in the NFL. Bills best and worst of it?

SM: The Bills main priority was to retain as many of their own free agents as possible because one of the tenets of the Brandon Beane/Sean McDermott philosophy is draft, develop and re-sign. That’s what happened in the case of A.J. Epenesa. They also brought back DT DaQuan Jones who I believe was their No. 1 target. With their salary cap situation, they were never going to be a big player in the expensive first wave of free agency, but they will do what they did in 2023 and start working the periphery to find targeted values on one-year deals.

ML: Is the salary cap overrated?

SM: No, it’s very real. Ask the Dolphins who had to move on from a ton of players they couldn’t afford. For teams with franchise QBs on huge contracts, like the Bills, the cap is a very real deterrent to roster building. Yes, there are always ways to free up money, but those are rarely things that are beneficial, either in the short term or the longer term because if you kick money down the road, eventually it catches up to you.

ML: How will you remember Jordan Poyer in Buffalo?

SM: A terrific player who no one expected anything from when he signed with the Bills in 2017. He and Micah Hyde played seven seasons together in the back end of the defense which is unheard of in today’s NFL. His play diminished at the end, but I consider him a potential Bills Wall of Famer if that ever gets back to being a thing.

ML: Regular season. Camp. Free agency. NFL Draft. Etc. All of it leads to the playoffs, which really ultimately matters. But the Bills can’t beat the Chiefs, so why should Bills Mafia stay excited?

SM: They are still one of the AFC’s best teams, and they will be as long as Josh Allen is playing at an MVP-caliber level, and Beane continues to keep the roster intact. They are bringing back most of the offense, and they will surely add a potential difference-making receiver in the draft, and on defense, they have some holes to fill but that’s going to happen later in free agency and then the draft. The Bills are still the frontrunner in the AFC East, and they have to find a way to take the next step.

ML: What will the Bills do in the NFL Draft?

SM: Even though they brought back Epenesa and Jones, they need reinforcements on the defensive line. It wouldn’t surprise me if they go with a D-lineman in the first round, then address receiver in the second round because the class is so deep. After that, they need to draft a safety, probably an offensive tackle, and you can never have enough cornerbacks, especially now that Tre White is gone and Rasul Douglas is in the last year of his contract.

ML: Thanks Sal. Keep crushing.

SM: Thanks Mike.