With the season officially halfway done, now it's time for us to look back at the first half of the Buffalo Bills season. We're going to be doing a series of mid-season articles that will talk about both the good and the bad of this year so far.

To start this series, we wanted to first bring up the Buffalo Bills rookies and how we would rank them for what they've been able to accomplish this season. While there is still plenty of football left and more opportunities for these younger guys to prove themselves by our end-of-the-year report card, we wanted to dive right in. We'll be going in the order that the player was drafted.

Dalton Kincaid

The Buffalo Bills pumped up the Bills Mafia when they took Dalton Kincaid with the 25th overall pick back in April. Kincaid wasted no time establishing himself as a fan favorite with a dominant training camp in which some even had comparisons between him and Travis Kelce.

When the season began, Kincaid just couldn't get going in the offense. Whether it was Ken Dorsey not drawing up enough plays to get him open in the middle of the field, or if it was Josh Allen just struggling to find the tight end, he left much to be desired early on in his career.

However, over the past few weeks, Kincaid has shined. Part of this is a result of Dawson Knox requiring wrist surgery and his timetable to return is in question, another could be that Kincaid is finding a rhythm in his game and finding ways to get more targets in this offense.

Kincaid has raw talent, and you can see that over the past few weeks, he's going to be a much bigger part of the Bills offense. His slow start did have us a little concerned and will be part of the reason I give him a lower grade, but he has plenty of football left to really set himself apart. 

Grade: B

O’Cyrus Torrence

Coming into this season, there were two big question marks with this team. First, the linebacker position. With Tremaine Edmunds leaving, who was going to fill in that gap? And second, the offensive line. Too often last year Josh Allen was forced to play hero ball due to the poor play from the offensive line. Coming into the season, Buffalo needed some reinforcements up front.

Brandon Beane made a splash by bringing in O'Cyrus Torrence with the 59th overall pick. Early on in camp, it was a battle between him and Ryan Bates for the starting offensive lineman position, a contest in which Torrence ran away with, earning a start for the Week 1 game against the Jets and never losing it again.

Buffalo is leaning on the success of Torrence, and the overall growth from an offensive line perspective has been huge for Josh Allen as he leads the league in completion percentage and despite some overall woes on the offense, and a nagging shoulder injury, he looks well protected and poised in the pocket.

Torrence was a massive addition who has already been paying dividends this season.

Grade: A

Dorian Williams

Dorian Williams started his career in Buffalo with a bang. It wasn’t a good bang, but it was memorable. On draft night, both Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane gave conflicting reports on where Williams would start, outside or inside linebacker. 

Fans were hoping that the 91st pick in the previous NFL draft would be their answer for Tremaine Edmunds' departure, but that just hasn't been the case this season. With injuries to Matt Milano, Williams has seen an increased role at the linebacker position and has flashed with his physicality and hard-hitting nature.

Unfortunately, and at times expected because of his rookie status, there are times when Williams looks lost on the field, forcing McDermott to look at Tyrel Dodson to get some playing time over him.

His future is bright, it was just unfortunate for him that our expectations were for a Tremaine Edmunds replacement, and he just hasn't panned out to be the starting linebacker quite yet. Not necessarily a swing-and-miss from Beane, and there's plenty of time for Williams to bounce back. 

Grade: C+

Justin Shorter

When Justin Shorter was taken with the 150th overall pick in the previous NFL draft. The Bills Mafia saw a reliable weapon for Josh Allen. Shorter quickly a relative fan-favorite throughout camp with some highlight reel plays, having the fanbase even more excited to see what Ken Dorsey could do with him in the offense.

For Shorter, it could just be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, and not enough targets to go around. He has yet to play in a regular season game for Buffalo with the likes of Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, and others proving their dominance on offense.

Last season, Buffalo had drafted Khalil Shakir and it took him until almost midway through this season to start getting some reps and to be activated more regularly. It could be the same case for Shorter. 

He has a long way before making an impact on this roster, he'll need a big second half of the season for us to feel confident in this decision from Beane.

Grade: D

Nick Broeker

If you’re wondering, who is Nick Broeker, it’s because he’s no longer a part of the team. Broeker got a few looks during the preseason games but the front office just didn’t have too much confidence in the 230th pick in the previous NFL draft.

Offensive line struggles were a nightmare last season, and Buffalo used one of their late-round picks to try and see if they could find a diamond in the rough with Broeker. Unfortunately, it just didn't pan out and his time in Buffalo was short-lived.

A couple of swings and misses in the late rounds of the NFL draft aren't something that Brandon Beane is used to. However, for this selection, it was just that. 

Grade: D

Alex Austin

Another late-round pick from Brandon Beane in this past NFL draft is no longer with the organization. The Buffalo Bills took Austin with the 252nd pick in the previous NFL draft and he just didn’t see much playing time outside of a few reps in the preseason.

With Buffalo losing Tre'Davious White for the season, Austin could've made an impact on the roster, he just wasn't able to flash any of that raw talent and found himself on the bench without being called up a single time.

Now, Austin is on the division-rival New England Patriots and we're hoping more than anything he doesn't explode onto the scene and make an impact. It would just add insult to injury with the Bills falling flat late in the draft with this selection.

Grade: D

Bills’ Sean McDermott offers brutal diagnosis of Ken Dorsey’s offense

The Buffalo Bills once again found themselves losing a game in which the offense couldn’t get things going. Immediately after the game, head coach Sean McDermott went viral.