BUFFALO, N.Y. — Get used to seeing the Buffalo Bills on many different screens later this year.
The team was selected to appear on “Hard Knocks” during training camp for the first time in franchise history after the rules were changed this offseason, allowing teams that have been in the playoffs the past two seasons to be selected as the show’s subject.
A Hallmark Channel romance movie is currently being filmed that centers around the team and the Western New York community.
Then there’s the on-field side of things with the Bills set to appear in prime time for four of their first six games.
On top of all that, the odds are in the Bills favor. Quite literally. While the numbers are subject to change as the season nears, ESPN BET Sportsbook has the Bills favored in all of their 17 games for the 2025 season, the only team to be in such a position. Twenty-three teams, since 1978, were favored to be favorites in every regular-season game.
The team went defense-heavy in the draft, an area that was in need of improvement after last season. Meanwhile, there is talent across the roster, including an offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the league last year, emerging players like wide receiver Khalil Shakir, and of course reigning MVP quarterback Josh Allen. The Bills being favored in every game this year is an indicator of where this group is going into 2025 and the expectations they face, while the work in recent years has led to this type of season with significant challenges still to face.
Best of NFL Nation
• How close are Patriots to winning?• The odds are with the Bills?• Eagles rallying around Sirianni• Titans lean on Ward, new additions• How Seattle rookie Arroyo affects Fant
The team’s on-field work portion of OTAs is scheduled to get underway on Tuesday. It provides a first look of how the 2025 Bills will begin to mesh together before training camp kicks off in late July.
The Bills spent the offseason prioritizing building around players that the team drafted with several re-signings and reunions, as well as adding the likes of edge rusher Joey Bosa and wide receiver Joshua Palmer in free agency.
Some of the potential for this roster will necessitate high draft picks from recent years taking a step forward. That not only includes the players being extended, such as linebacker Terrel Bernard, but also notably third-year tight end Dalton Kincaid (2023 first-round pick) and second-year wide receiver Keon Coleman (33rd overall pick in 2024). Both Kincaid and Coleman dealt with injuries in 2024 but are set to be key pieces of the offense this season.
The strong belief in this Bills team from the oddsmakers is in stark contrast to the question marks that lingered last offseason after the Bills moved on from a variety of veteran leaders, leading the way to the re-signings that highlighted this offseason. Last offseason, the team faced unknowns with two new full-time coordinators, a revamped wide receiver room and new starters on defense. The Bills went on to win the division at the beginning of December, while the offense set historic marks. When it comes to significant changes this offseason, there were few: A new special teams coach (Chris Tabor), and the Bills promoted Will Greenberg to head strength and conditioning coach.
There is, of course, more to the swing in odds than just the talented Bills roster. Significant recent success against a weaker division helps — the Bills are coming off a fifth straight AFC East title. The Bills also have the ninth-easiest schedule (0.467 strength of schedule) and are playing opponents with the best records last season at home (Baltimore Ravens, Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles).
Buffalo’s schedule also includes four of their first five games at home. One of those games that could change their winning odds as the season gets closer is the Week 1 opener on “Sunday Night Football.” The Bills host the Ravens, who join the Chiefs as teams favored in all but their games at the Bills in the opening lines. The game will be the first Week 1 matchup since the 1970 merger to feature the top two finishers in the NFL MVP voting from the previous season, per Elias Sports Bureau. It also marks the first time the Bills have opened a season with a home prime-time game since 2000 (Tennessee Titans).
There are many starting positions locked in heading into offseason work, but those to keep an eye on are wide receiver for the final roster spots — a position that the team continues to tinker with adding Elijah Moore and Kendall Wilkerson after the draft — outside cornerback, safety and along the defensive line. Questions remain at the cornerback No. 2 spot with Tre’Davious White returning and the team drafting Maxwell Hairston in the first round of this year’s draft.
The success of last year gives the team plenty to build off before the team hits the biggest of stages. While the expectations have been set highly from the start via the oddsmakers, the team’s own work and goal are to reach what has been elusive in the first Super Bowl title.
“There’s a lot of teams that are on the outside looking in and saying, ‘Hey, I wish we were the Bills’ to sustain the success we’ve had,” coach Sean McDermott said at the NFL owners meetings.
“The challenge that remains for us is to become the best in the world. And we wake up every day trying to do that. How many people in the world do that? I don’t know, but we do and so, that’s my responsibility to our fans, that’s our responsibility to our fans, is to wake up with that type of attitude, that type of mindset.”
