The Buffalo Bills have a celebrated history that encompasses six decades, several home stadiums, and a handful of professional leagues. Some of the most iconic players to ever lace up a pair of cleats have proudly worn the ‘charging Buffalo’ helmet, with the team, thus, having a number of franchise-specific records that have stood unchallenged for several years.
That said, there are a handful of team records that are teetering dangerously close to irrelevancy, as several could be broken as early as the 2024 NFL season. With that in mind, here are five Bills-specific records that could fall this… fall:
Quarterback Josh Allen’s excellence through the air is demonstrated, and though national fans understand his rushing prowess, they perhaps struggle to comprehend just how dominant he is on the ground. He’s as effective a goalline power back as he is an open-field menace, making defenders make business decisions on a weekly basis.
He’s coming off a 2023 campaign in which he rushed for 15 touchdowns (tied for most among quarterbacks); had he rushed for just one more touchdown, he would’ve tied O.J. Simpson’s 16 rushing touchdowns scored in the 1975 season, which currently stands as the most rushing scores ever tallied by a Buffalo player in a single campaign. Allen can usurp this record should he find the endzone on the ground 17 times in the 2024 season, an idea that seems quite feasible given his penchant for using his legs in the red zone.
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Speaking of Allen’s rushing prowess, he’s scored 53 touchdowns on the ground throughout his six-year professional career. That’s good for third all-time amongst all Buffalo players; he’s four off of Simpson’s 57 and 12 away from Thurman Thomas’ 65.
Allen will almost certainly retire as Buffalo’s franchise leader in rushing touchdowns, and he can take the title as early as 2024 if he reaches paydirt with his legs 13 times.
Dalton Kincaid is coming off a breakout rookie season in which he caught 73 passes for 673 yards, particularly shining down the stretch as he became one of Allen’s go-to targets. His (perhaps nationally overlooked) debut effort already saw him break several franchise records, as his 73 receptions are the most ever tallied by a Bills tight end in a single season (and most ever by a Buffalo rookie pass catcher).
He finished his rookie year just 53 yards away from tying the record for most receiving yards ever recorded by a Buffalo tight end in one campaign, a record currently held by Paul Costa (set in the 1965 AFL season). Kincaid seems like a lock to break this record this fall, especially considering his projected role in a revamped Bills passing attack that lost Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis in the offseason.
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Buffalo was forced to supplement the spring departures of Diggs and Davis with value veterans and overlooked youth, its highest profile addition perhaps being second-round draft pick Keon Coleman. The team selected the Florida State pass catcher with the first pick on the second day of the 2024 NFL Draft, and though he’s a bit raw as a separator and route runner, his aerial ability and general talent are undeniable; he caught 50 passes for 658 yards and an impressive 11 touchdowns in Tallahassee last season.
There’s set to be competition for targets in Buffalo’s reworked passing game, with Allen likely to spread the ball amongst Coleman, the aforementioned Kincaid, third-year contributor Khalil Shakir, and free-agent signee Curtis Samuel. That said, Coleman could carve out a significant role in the aerial attack, as he currently projects as the Bills’ X wide receiver—if he’s able to cement his spot on the depth chart in training camp and develop an early rapport with Allen, the sky is the limit with regard to his immediate ceiling.
It’s not egregious to suggest that Coleman could construct the best season ever turned in by a Buffalo rookie wideout; that distinction is currently held by Sammy Watkins, who caught 63 passes for 982 yards and six scores in 2014. Another record to keep an eye on is most receiving touchdowns ever hauled in by a Buffalo rookie; that record currently belongs to Lee Evans, who caught nine touchdown passes in 2004.
Buffalo’s recent stretch of contention has seen it win four straight AFC East titles, which is already tied for the longest stretch of consecutive division titles in franchise history (the other stretch occurred from 1988–1991). The contemporary Bills can claim the record for themselves should they take the divisional crown yet again in 2024.
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