Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - As the Buffalo Bills get ready to kick off the 2024 season this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals at Highmark Stadium, the national outlook on the team this upcoming year continues to remain opaque.
While some continue to believe the Bills remain atop the AFC East and are in line to win a fifth-straight division title, others continue to look at the offseason turnover to the roster and believe Buffalos is due for a step-back season.
Audacy NFL insider Ross Tucker falls in line with many others around the league where this Bills team is one in transition, led by quarterback Josh Allen and head coach Sean McDermott.
"It just seems like a good chunk of the guys that, if you think about the last five years and we wrote down who we thought were the top-10 core guys on the Bills during this extended playoff run they've had, it feels like a bunch of them - [Jordan] Poyer, [Stefon] Diggs, [Mitch] Morse, [Micah] Hyde, Tre'Davious White, and then even just because the injury, [Matt] Milano - you're probably talking about seven of the 12 guys that would be most associated with this era of Bills football. That's a lot," said Tucker during an appearance on "Schopp and the Bulldog" on Tuesday.
When Tucker looks at the Bills' depth chart, he admits it's probably hard to look at it and say the team is better this year than they were last year.
"Nobody's gonna say they're better at receiver. Maybe they're better at offensive line? I don't know, I mean we'll see. I think [Connor] McGovern is a different player than Mitch Morse at center," Tucker said with Mike Schopp and Chris "Bulldog" Parker. "And then defensively, I don't know that people would look at them and say they're definitely better than they were last year. So I think that's maybe the reason for some pessimism."
Tucker feels the last 3-to-4 years in Buffalo has seen the expectations for the Bills at very high levels with optimism being off the charts. However, the end result has been basically the same.
While the depletion of talent on the depth chart may be seen as a negative, Tucker admits he's been wrong before.
"Nobody had high hopes for the [Kansas City] Chiefs after they traded Tyreek Hill. My thought was, 'Wow. Well, they're trying to build this thing for the long term, and they don't want him around. They don't want to pay him that money, and we'll see what happens.' Well, what happens is they won the next two Super Bowls. I'm not saying that's what will happen with the Bills, I'm just saying it is possible," he said.
"I think what people forget, at times, is that last year after Joe Brady took over, they were better offensively not throwing it to Diggs that much. They were a better team, they were better offensively when they were not throwing it to No. 14 as often. I don't know why that was the case, but I think that part of it would have to be encouraging for Bills fans."
Tucker will be on the CBS call of the Bills-Cardinals season opener on Sunday, and is excited to always be back in Western New York, where he spent two years with the Bills in 2002 and 2003.
As for Buffalo's opponent this Sunday, Tucker shares a similar belief with others league-wide that the Cardinals are going to be a better team than they were last year.
"Year 2 of this regime, they've got some better players now. They've got Kyler Murray a year removed from that injury, he'll start the season. Last year it was Josh Dobbs and these guys. So the Cardinals should be better than they were last year, so I think people are optimistic that they'll win, at least, a couple more games this year than they did last year," Tucker said.
Kickoff in Orchard Park is slated for 1 p.m. ET, and can be heard on the official voice of the Bills - WGR Sports Radio 550 - with Chris Brown, Eric Wood and Sal Capaccio on the call.
