Ahead of the start of free agency, Insider is providing buyers' guides for all 32 teams: biggest need positions from Football Outsiders, top targets from KC Joyner and Matt Williamson, and predictions on how everything will play out from our NFL Nation team reporters.
Included below are links to every team's article. This is the entry for the Buffalo Bills.
(Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect Buffalo's trade for QB Matt Cassel.)
Biggest needs
Quarterback: The backfield might look better with LeSean McCoy as the starter, but the Bills' passing offense has ranked in the bottom half of the league by defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) for 12 consecutive years -- all years in which the Bills missed the playoffs. Last season, the Bills ranked 24th, but they were only that high due to recently retired Kyle Orton's merely mediocre play. EJ Manuel ranked 38th in DVOA among qualifying quarterbacks, a season after ranking 37th. It is only a slight exaggeration to say nothing else matters until the Bills find a quarterback. UPDATE: The Bills have a deal in place for Minnesota's Matt Cassel, but Cassel is the very definition of a replacement-level quarterback. He ranked 29th or worse in DVOA in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and had just 28.9 QBR in limited playing time at the start of 2014.