The Panthers started the 2017 season with a bang in San Francisco and come home with a 1-0 record and a date with the Buffalo Bills at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers will see some old friends come back to Charlotte when Carolina’s former Assistant General Manager Brandon Beane and Defensive Coordinator Sean McDermott bring the Buffalo Bills into town for what should be a very entertaining game.

The Bills are one of those teams who are on the cusp of being very good. They are also 1-0, but in fairness they should be because they played the New York Jets in Week 1.

McDermott will have an advantage in preparation for the Panthers that other coaches don’t by virtue of seeing them in practice every day for the last six years. That probably won’t have much of an effect on the final outcome of the game, but it’s still worth mentioning in case the Bills win and we need to come up with a scapegoat.

I think the game being so early in the season will benefit Carolina as the Bills will still be working out the kinks of McDermott’s system, so I’m going to call it in favor of the Panthers by a slim margin.

Score prediction: Carolina 28 - Buffalo 20

For a closer look at what to expect from the Bills this season, let’s take a look at what their experts have to say.

h/t to Buffalo Rumblings for the Bills season preview

Notable free agent additions: LB Gerald Hodges, S Micah Hyde, WR Andre Holmes, FB Patrick DiMarco, WR Philly Brown, DL Ryan Davis, CB Shareece Wright

Notable free agent departures: WR Robert Woods, CB Stephon Gilmore, CB Nickell Robey-Coleman, WR Justin Hunter

Trades: none

Draft picks expected to contribute as rookies

CB Tre’Davious White (Round 1): Had a reliable four-year career at LSU playing everywhere across the formation. Has some experiencing returning kicks but will almost assuredly be asked to be the CB2 to Ronald Darby as CB1.

WR Zay Jones (Round 2): His WR coach from East Carolina holds the same position for the Bills. Jones is likely to see the second-most targets in Buffalo’s receiver group this season.

OL Dion Dawkins (Round 2): Like they did for Jones, the Bills traded up to get Dawkins, a four-year contributor for an upstart Temple program. He’s a superb athlete, and will battle for the starting right tackle job this summer.

LB Matt Milano: (Round 5): Milano enters a crowded linebacker room in Buffalo (Preston Brown, Reggie Ragland, Gerald Hodges, Lorenzo Alexander) but fits the “smaller but faster” mold of linebacker Sean McDermott likes. He was super-productive at Boston College (29.5 TFLs the past two seasons) and could sneak onto the field in some sub-packages.

Biggest offseason addition

S Micah Hyde: The former Packers standout will be a swiss-army knife in McDermott’s defense this season, most notably as the playmaker in “big nickel” packages. He’ll play safety and slot cornerback along with his role as the extra defender in the box on occasion.

Biggest storyline heading into training camp

Sammy Watkins’ health: Like Julian Edelman and Dez Bryant before him, Watkins had his second surgery on his injured foot earlier this offseason and is said to be very close to 100%. When he’s on the field, he and Tyrod Taylor have been a dynamic pairing. When Watkins hasn’t been on the field, Buffalo’s aerial attack has lacked explosiveness and efficiency.

Under-the-radar storyline heading into training camp

The linebacker battle: Well it may not be enormously under-the-radar, with Lorenzo Alexander almost a lock for the SLB role near the line of scrimmage, there are two spots at middle linebacker and weakside linebacker and three linebackers looking to grab those positions. Reggie Ragland didn’t play a down in 2016 thanks to an ACL tear but should be ready for camp. Preston Brown is coming off a down year, and Gerald Hodges has quietly pieced together a few effective seasons early in his NFL career.

Notable injuries heading into training camp

Beyond Watkins’ foot… Cordy Glenn’s ankle. Possibly will keep the left tackle off the field for the first few days of camp.