The great thing about ranking last in this index, Bills fans, is that you can only improve next season. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File

Buffalo’s quarterback depth chart is jarringly bad. This team’s receiving corps is an abomination. Let’s begin our season preview right there, just to be sure we don’t accidentally leave any Bills fan with a feeling akin to hope.

Last season, with Tyrod Taylor at the controls, Buffalo’s passing offense ranked next-to-last in the NFL, averaging only 176.6 yards per game (6.5 Y/A). This year’s passing offense is likely to be worse — possibly much worse in terms of efficiency. At present, we are in the earliest days of a three-man QB competition with a predetermined ultimate winner. Sooner or later, first-round rookie Josh Allen is going to have to play quarterback for this franchise. Allen was the seventh overall pick in the draft. If he sits all season in favor of A.J. McCarron or Nathan Peterman … well, that’s not a great look.

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free!]

Of course if Allen actually plays, and he’s no better than his collegiate tape, that’s also a bad look. There are no terrific choices here.

Josh Allen is the future for Buffalo, and the future is kinda scary.

By now, you probably know the Allen scouting report reasonably well. He had a terrific combine performance, showing off his catapult of an arm, excelling in the speed and agility drills and acing the Wonderlic. He impressed at the Senior Bowl, too, where he unleashed a 66.1 mph throw. Allen looks the part of a franchise quarterback, no question. Or at least he looks the part until you start watching his college games.

On tape, Allen offers the full range of quarterbacking possibilities. He certainly made plenty of wow throws while at Wyoming, showing off his weapons-grade arm strength. It’s not difficult to see the traits that interest pro scouts. But Allen’s tape is cluttered with misfires and boneheaded plays, too, particularly in the few games he played against power conference opponents. His second-half effort against Nebraska back in 2016 — in a winnable game, against an ordinary team — is as bad as anything you’ll ever see from a first-round prospect. He finished the afternoon 16-for-32 with one TD and six turnovers, and the numbers don’t fully express the horror of the performance.

Allen was somewhat less awful last season when facing power-five competition (yet still inarguably awful). Against Iowa, he went 23-for-40 for 174 yards, zero TDs and two picks. His team scored three points. Two weeks later against Oregon, he went 9-for-24 for 64 yards, no passing scores, one interception, one rush TD and one lost fumble. Wyoming lost 49-13. You’d like to think an early first-round quarterback could have dented those defenses, neither of which ultimately ranked among the nation’s best. But nope.

View photos First-round pick Josh Allen didn’t exactly deliver a weekly quarterback clinic at the collegiate level. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes) More

If you want to say that Allen’s receivers were the problem at Wyoming, I would respectfully counter that you are [profane phrase]. He missed a bunch of short, simple bread-and-butter throws to open receivers when facing Mountain West defenses. For his career, he completed just 56.2 percent of his passes at 7.8 yards per attempt. Nice enough for a random starting college QB, but, again, not what you want from the seventh overall pick in the draft.

The arm is real, however. There’s no disputing that fact. He can chuck it with finger-breaking velocity. Allen made enough impressive throws at the collegiate level to earn Carson Wentz and Ben Roethlisberger comps from various analysts. He’ll be playing for Buffalo, soon. Responsibility falls to OC Brian Daboll and quarterbacks coach David Culley to get him ready. Peterman cannot be a serious threat to start for this team. McCarron is a respectable placeholder quarterback — he had his moments back in 2015, subbing for Andy Dalton — but Allen’s development is the story for the 2018 Bills. It’s not as if the front office has surrounded him with playmakers.

Story continues