Is the 2021 season for the Buffalo Bills really "Super Bowl or bust"?
I say it isn't. Not even close.
A popular training camp conversation, especially when Colts quarterback Carson Wentz got hurt in Indianapolis, has been should the Bills trade backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky if another team comes calling?
As someone that argued the Bills should sign Trubisky, over a month before it actually happened, I would run to the phone to accept a second round pick in exchange for the Bills backup.
It's really a philosophical question about how the Bills should run their organization, now that they are a Super Bowl contender. Push all of your chips to the middle, or continue to build and build and build?
For a team with as many young core pieces as the Bills, 2021 is not "Super Bowl or bust."
The Bills have a franchise quarterback. He is 25-years-old and is under contract for eight more years.
The Bills have a franchise left tackle in Dion Dawkins, a franchise cornerback in Tre'Davious White, a franchise No. 1 wide receiver Stefon Diggs, and two great linebackers in Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano.
That core group's average age is 26-years-old, and they are all under contract for multiple years. The Bills have built something that should contend for a long time, if they continue to build around that group.
The team needs to treat this as a volume play. You never even need to be better than the Kansas City Chiefs on paper, but be the second-best team in the AFC for 5-10 years and you will get your Super Bowl.
A successful outcome for this era of Bills football would be to be the Brady-era Pittsburgh Steelers or the Brady-era Colts. Peyton Manning's Colts and Ben Roethlisberger's Steelers were always playing second-fiddle to the New England Patriots, but play second-fiddle for a decade and look what happens.
The Colts got their Super Bowl with Manning. The Steelers got two Super Bowls with "Big Ben". All of which came within the greatest dynasty we've ever witnessed in New England.
Want the Bills to be that, or do you want to see them become what has happened to the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons? Constantly trading future assets and young players in order to give their star quarterbacks a better chance that year. Always starting from behind, because they're not building. They're playing catch-up.
I think the Bills are smart enough and forward-thinking enough to recognize this way of thinking.
Other than the Diggs trade, which was a long-term and short-term necessity, general manager Brandon Beane has not been one to divest himself of future assets for short-term band-aids.
So where does the Trubisky debate fall into this?
Ask yourself this question: What helps the Bills win a Super Bowl more, Trubisky or a second round pick?
For me, it's not even close. It is the draft pick.
I value Trubisky's ability to get the Bills through a stretch of games, should Allen go down with injury, but not more than a potential impact player on a rookie deal for multiple years.
Impact players on rookie contracts are going to become even more valuable to the Bills now that they have paid Allen $43 million per-year, and have a looming Edmunds extension around the corner.
By the way, Trubisky is only here to help re-build his value. He wants to be a starting quarterback in the league again. If he has a chance at that, do right by the player. That will only help the Bills' cause the next time they want to sign a reclamation project like Trubisky.
I've used the same "long-term volume play" mentality when thinking about Gabriel Davis at wide receiver.
The Bills have eight more years of Allen under contract to win a Super Bowl. The No. 2 wide receiver on this team is one of their most important roles. Who is playing that role beyond this season?
Cole Beasley will be 33 and a potential cap casualty. Emmanuel Sanders will be a 35-year-old free agent.
The Bills need to expand Davis' role this season to find out if he can be a 100-plus target receiver behind Diggs for years to come. Because otherwise, they need to find someone else.
I get it. We're all excited. This is the best Bills team in years, especially in my lifetime. That does not mean the Bills have to stop building and have to stop stockpiling young pieces in the name of a marginal improvement, at best, in your Super Bowl odds.
If another desperate team wants to make Trubisky their starting quarterback, the Bills shouldn't blink before trading a failed franchise quarterback on a one-year deal for something that could help them for years to come.
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