The Buffalo Bills' 2025 season ended in a bitterly disappointing fashion over the weekend and now the team will turn its attention to the offseason.
Assuming the Bills don't fire head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane, the first order of business is figuring things out with the team's pending free agents.
One of the most notable ones is edge rusher Joey Bosa, who finished the season with five sacks over 15 starts.
In an article predicting which Bills pending free agents won't stay with the team, Chris Landers of FanSided sees Buffalo letting Bosa walk in free agency.
Landers also predicts Bosa will land with the Patriots.
Bosa was a pleasant surprise on the whole this season, staying largely healthy and contributing some much-needed juice to Buffalo's pass rush. But as the Bills look to get younger and more athletic, he doesn't seem to really fit into the team's future, especially not on a one-year contract that could climb north of $15 million or so based on the year he just put on tape. The value and fit just don't align given the cap realities Buffalo will be facing.
Predicting where Joey Bosa signs: New England Patriots
Bosa is going to want to go somewhere he can contend in the twilight years of his career, and New England can use as much talent on the edge as it can get as it looks to continue improving this defense moving forward. The Patriots have the depth to take some of the burden off of his body and keep him healthy in a rotational role, and he'll come in handy come playoff time.
Bosa, who signed a one-year, $12.6 million deal with Buffalo, looked like he was going to be an absolute steal for the Bills in the first half of the campaign after posting four sacks in that span.
However, Bosa's production declined significantly in the second half of the season, when he posted just one sack.
He also didn't do anything in the playoffs despite Buffalo purposely limiting his snaps all season long to keep him healthy and fresh for that exact moment.
Knowing all that, the Bills simply can't bring him back, especially with their cap space situation that has the team projected to be over by $11.6 million.
The Bills have to be selective with who they sign in 2026, and bringing a year-older Bosa back after what we've seen this past season wouldn't be a wise decision for Buffalo.
As for the Patriots, they are in a better spot financially, with the team projected to have $31 million in cap space. New England also has a need for more edge rush depth, so tying the Patriots to Bosa makes some sense.
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