OverDrive - Johnson on the Bills' team outlook, the AFC East landscape and the pursuit of Super Bowl

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Former NFL Wide Receiver Stevie Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the Bills' season outlook, how Buffalo stacks up in the Super Bowl run, the landscape of the AFC East, the Bills' mindset across the roster, the wide receiver stars, Micah Parsons' hold-in with the Cowboys and more.

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Yo, what's up, teammates? It's good to be on again. Absolutely. It's good to have you again. And how jacked up are you to get the season kind of underway pretty soon here? Very, very. I mean, it's exciting to seeing the rookies come in. All the guys get drafted, you know, celebration to them. But now the grind is starting to pick up. You know, we've completed two preseason games. I think the guys are looking forward.

to get in the regular season going and really getting after it. And especially after a loss like that, I think there's a lot of tape for guys to get better. And I think they're looking forward to doing that. You know, how much faith do you think Bill's fans should have in Sean McDermick going into this season? Okay. Now, you ask how much faith should they have? I would say they should have all the faith in the world after bringing the team to consecutive championships,

leading the league, well, no, I want to say leading the league, but they have 525 points, which was the most in franchise history since, what, 2021 when they did the 17 game season. So, I mean, they should have a lot of faith, but when you look at the social media, you know, it's not like that. You know, they want to win Super Bowls, and we haven't got, and the Buffalo Bills haven't got there yet, so I'm going to say the fan base are 50-50 on our guy McDermott. And that's fair. That's fair.

McDermott would take it. You know, he knows he has to handle business. And the Buffalo Bills know they have to handle business in order to keep everybody comfortable in Buffalo. Well, so, Stevie, you know, Super Bowl or Bust is kind of where I think Buffalo Bills fans are at at this point. They've come so close, just haven't been able to get over the hump. Like, when you look at this roster and you've now watched them a couple of games

here in the preseason, you've been able to watch this team for the last couple of years. Like, what gives you confidence that maybe this is the year that they can finally get it done? we can start with Josh Allen with our MVP number 17 just the growth that he's had the way he's carried people the way he's brought people up elevated their game and when you speak on Super Bowl or Bus yeah that should be the mindset and there's nothing wrong with feeling that way you know it's no disrespect and no added pressure when you got one of the best guys leading your offense and you got a bunch of talent around this team on special teams and defense you should be thinking of Super Bowl or Buzz anything less is obsolete. When it comes down to it, how I feel about the roster, I am confidence. However, I still feel like the Buffalo Bills need to get to another level of physicality in order to beat those teams, such as the Kansas City Chiefs. And when I saw last season, the Houston Texans, they out physical does, and they play with more energy. If we can connect on those two things, energy every week and physicality, we should have a great chance at knock it down at Super Bowl.

So when you talk about energy and physicality, is that, you know, are you pointing to the defensive side of the ball? Because the narrative around Buffalo, I guess, you know, what they were saying is that's where they needed to make the biggest improvements. So do you think they've done that? Have they addressed that in the offseason? Yes. Yes. I answer that confidently. Yes.

Because we saw the guys who knocked us out the previous four seasons. And they got, and the Kansas Chiefs got dominated by the Philadelphia Eagles defensive line, a versatility. that they had. And what the Buffalo Bills did, they went out and they beefed up their defensive line from the interior to the edge. So I feel like they did address that. When I was speaking on energy, that's collectively.

We need energy from whether you make a tackle on special teams or whether you block somebody out the way on special teams and you show that energy and sparked the offense or the defense to get on the field. So energy can come from anybody. Physicality, I would say majority, yeah, I'm talking about the defense. because, I mean, these offenses, come on now, we can't, we can't be joking around.

Everybody's elite in his NFL. So if you're not physical with these guys, just think about it. You got a hundred mile an hour Ferrari driving past you. You think you'll keep up with them by backpedaling and twisting and turn? No, it's not going to work. You got to be physical. That's my point. With Stevie Johnson, former Bill's wide receiver, and everybody eats mantra is what the bills keep harping on here.

and they don't necessarily have an alpha receiver like they did, like you were for many years in Buffalo. How does that differ within kind of the wide receiver group and in those meetings? The fact that kind of everybody collectively is supposed to step up as opposed to looking at one guy. Yeah, great question. And I actually loved everybody's mantra.

Even when I was that guy, I still wanted other guys to be as good as I am or as capable as I am because, It takes a load off. It takes a load off of you when you're the only one that you feel like can only get first downs. Then you got defenses strategizing and game playing on you. You begin to look around like, come on, is anybody else going to do something? So me personally, I love the everybody's mantra.

And then nowadays, how the game is, the speed, even guys being faster, stronger. Injuries happen now. You know, so if you're only relied on one to two players, good luck. good luck later on in the season. You know, if you got a team that's stacked and everybody can help out and it's a balance, you got more opportunity to win that ball at the end of the season. Josh Palmer is one of the bigger wide receiver weapons that was brought in over the off season. He's obviously a native here in the GTA area.

What are you expecting from him in his first year in Buffalo? Yes, I'm actually expecting a lot out of Josh Palmer without, you know, giving that unwanted pressure on him, but, I mean, you got to think about it. This is his first time in a situation where he's being looked upon as the guy. You know, in San Diego, he was always either behind Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and then when Lab McConkey came in, McConkey had that rapport with Herbert, and Josh was still, he was there, but he was just there, you know, to fill in. Now he's in Buffalo to be a playmaker, so I'm looking forward to him to exploding,

since he didn't have many injuries and like you said he's back home this is basically his home team so i'm looking forward to him to you know shining and uplifting his game to another level uh as a buffalo bill now you know in i guess the previous few years we would go into the season talking about the afc east and um you know new england was was kind of an afterthought miami was pretty explosive offensively we were kind of waiting for the the new York Jets to turn into something with Aaron Rogers. Like, how's your kind of view on the landscape of this division

this year? Of course, the bills would be head and shoulders above everyone else, but like, how do you see, you know, their main opposition kind of faring this season? You know what? You're right. Back then, a few years ago, you know, we can be thinking about it, but not as much. To me, honestly,

I'm not even thinking about it at all. You know, until they prove that they can beat the bills consecutively two times in the season. in any of those teams in the AFCs. I'm not really sweating it. Even though the Houston Texans in the AFC South, they beat our bills. Yeah, it was a good game they got us,

but was I really worried that the Texans are a better team than our Buffalo Bills? No, I wasn't because I want to see it being done over and over or we meet in the playoffs and you beat us. So right now I'm not really worried about the regular season. I'm not overthinking it. I'm just thinking about when we get to the playoffs, who will that matchup be?

and then I can I guess give some more insight on that team but as far as regular season I still see the Buffalo Bills being the number one going into with no issues Steve you spent a number of years in the league I'm reading a report here the New York Jets held a players only practice

it was just Aaron Glenn and the players the players conducted their own drills called their own plays Justin Fields ran the offense germane Sherwood their linebacker ran the defense you ever heard of something like this in the NFL you know what no actually no that i heard of players only meetings you know but players only practices no i haven't but a fun fact i used to do that with my high school kids because it gave them a sense of ownership it let them feel like even though you are the players you guys are the stars on the field but when you got the coaches

around it's still that sense of like a pecking order you got to listen to what the coach say but what I believe Aaron Glenn is doing is he's establishing that sense of, okay, there's going to be situations in his game or in the future where I can't be looking to the sidelines, expecting the coach to give me an answer. I have to own up and do this. So I love, I actually love that technique that he's doing. Unfortunately, it's not going to work this year for our bills. I've got to throw that in there.

But I really love it, though, on the personal side, bro. With Stevie Johnson, there are a lot of talented receivers in the NFL right now, Jamar Chase, obviously, C.D. Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Amon Ross, St. Brown. Like, when you look at the landscape of that position, is there one to you that you just love to watch and what do you make of the star-studded group in general?

Dang, you know, I can say any one of those names that you said, but I'm going to go a little different. I was just talking with my guy, Mike Florio, and he asked me about a fantasy receiver. And yeah, all of those names, as you say, it came up. But there was another one that I ended up doing the commentary on his name was Darnel Mooney, the wide receiver from the Atlanta Falcons, number one. And when I watched his game, I was calling the game, and I saw how he was stacking his DB,

how he was like hiding his stem in a sense. And I was like, okay, he's doing something pretty good that, like, everybody won't really notice. And he was getting money. He was getting first down at the first down for Kurt Cousins. He came through and got a touchdown. He was catching big plays. And I felt like he's going to be one of the guys to break out. Last year, Mooney had 992 yards, and he was eight away from that big thousand.

And I felt like he's going to take that hump and be a 1,000-yard receiver next year. So, Mark it, number one, Darnell Mooney, aka Darnell Money. Just writing that down right now. His brother, is writing that down? He thanks you for that. I wonder, is Micah Parsons ever going to thank Jerry Jones for making him an offer that he can't refuse? Like, where, where, like, is it not bizarre watching some of the, the clips of Micah Parsons sitting there on the sidelines? He looks bored.

He looks uninterested. Like, credit to him for being there. But, like, is this not getting crazy that this hasn't been resolved yet? Yeah. And, you know, I don't know much about that, that organization was going on inside. But as a fan, I'm going to say as a fan now, I'm going to say as a former player term fan, looking at that situation, you want to say, hey, bro. It's bigger things to deal what I worry about than the net nitpick on things that's going on internally. Like you with the Dallas Cowboys, you know y'all go get TV time all the time.

Just go up and just show up and keep being you and just if it's that tough on you as a team base, then okay, focus on being the best individual that you can. But doing the extras and, you know, calling out for trades. I know that's the new thing in this day and age, but I mean, he's a good. great talent and all and he can go wherever he need to and there's so much time he's so young I don't think all the extra shenanigans is needed maybe if he stepped away and had the game taken away from him he wouldn't care which team he was playing on but on the flip side of that I understand he want to go to a team that wants to win he's got a goes to Philadelphia which is

his hometown similar to Michael Parsons and he wins a Super Bowl so I'm sure he wants to do the same thing so that's probably why he's a little bit impatient down there in Dallas and it's understandable but he can just stay calm he's a great talent he'll be fine uh with stevie johnson and i want to kind of jog your memory a little bit here um richard sherman i was listening to a podcast a little bit ago i don't know if you if someone sent you the clip but he said that you were the receiver that gave him the most fits throughout his career and i i found a game and i remember it now it was here in toronto back in 2012 hawks bills You went eight for 115 and a tut against Richard Sherman.

You remember that one at all? Yeah, I definitely do, man. It was, it's funny you say eight for 115. I didn't know that. But I did notice that our guy Fitzpatrick just would make him so beloved with our bills. Our teammate, T.J. Graham, was having a tough time. He was having a tough day that game. And Fitz just kept trying to get him the ball.

And, you know, it wasn't working out for him. So I was just thinking, like, as I look back at that game, like, I wonder if it's would have just gave me the ball a whole time. I probably would have had 200 and some yards that game. You could have encroach on Brandon Marshall's record maybe or something. Yeah, I felt like I could have did that all the time, but it was a different game back then. You know, I was a seventh round draft pick at that time. You say too much, you might get cut, and I love the bill so much. I was just trying to do as much as I can and not cause as many problems, but I definitely should have been calling out for the ball a whole lot more with the, you know, ability that I had.

Here's a fun story about that So Tavares Jackson Came out to me During the pregame of that game And he said hey Stevie Shirm said you ain't getting nothing today And I said I say what like what are you talking about Like this is trashed

Nobody trash talked to me You know not because I'm big and scary But I just never heard this before And Tavaris came and told me And I said okay Okay we'll see what happens And we lined it up And I just I just remember what Shirm told

to varus so i had i couldn't let them i couldn't let them play me out so you know we ended up competing it was fun they they destroyed us as a team but i guess i won a war against uh my guy sherman big prop to him though receiver to db and being a hall of famer legendary yeah i mean it's got feel pretty good to have shirm you know say that you were the guy that gave him the most fit that's got to feel pretty darn good uh really appreciate taking the time to to join us today stevie uh i'm sure we'll have a chance to do it again throughout the season broken tables coming back this year yes yes definitely we'll be back this year and i'm looking forward to kicking it with the gang man i love it love it absolutely uh love it will be we'll

definitely keep an eye for when that's uh gonna drop i think what next week possibly i think we're getting back into for broken tables beautiful all right appreciate the time we'll chat again soon stevie yes sir one love y'all take care absolutely stevie johnson former Buffalo Bills, wide receiver, and co-hosts of the Broken Tables podcast. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now, learn the details of how they came to be. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love.

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