The Buffalo Bills will roll into 2024 with out their beginning broad receiver tandem and workforce captains from final season, Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. As head coach Sean McDermott put it on the Centered on Buffalo Podcast, the Buffalo Bills’ WR room can have a “completely different vibe for positive”. With famous person QB Josh Allen manning the helm, some new faces are sure to emerge as Buffalo’s top-receiving threats. As coaching camp approaches, followers and analysts alike are wanting to see who will rise to the event and change into key contributors of their revamped receiving corps.
Let’s set the desk with the place the receiver corps stands now and the way it’s modified for the reason that finish of the 2023 season.
Key Departures
Stefon Diggs
Buffalo’s former bona fide number-one receiver leaves behind a large gap after averaging 111.25 receptions, 1343 receiving yards, and 9.25 TDs throughout his 4 seasons in Buffalo. He was traded to the Houston Texans.
Gabe Davis
A former fourth-round draft choose developed into the number-two choice within the Bills’ offense however by no means eclipsed the 1000-yard mark in any season. “Big Game Gabe” was recognized for his propensity to point out up when it mattered most, however now he’s with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Key Additions
Curtis Samuel
The seven-year veteran was signed to a three-year contract through free company by the Buffalo Bills this offseason. Samuel has electrical pace and a few huge play juice that Buffalo’s offense has been looking for.
Keon Coleman
Coleman was Buffalo’s prime choice within the 2024 NFL Draft. The rookie offers the Bills a brand new taste of their WR room and provides Allen an enormous goal to “play above the rim”.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Buffalo swiped a WR away from their nemesis by signing MVS to a one-year contract through free company. The speedster figures so as to add depth and an enormous play menace for Allen to heave the ball to.
Key Returners
Kahlil Shakir
Shakir is the incumbent beginning slot WR for the Bills, nevertheless, I’d anticipate to see him used on the skin, as nicely. From Week 8 to the top of the 2023 season, Shakir outpaced Stefon Diggs in receiving yards, and he did it with half of the targets Diggs had. Shakir enters 2024 as one in every of Allen’s favourite choices.
What’s the Bills’ sport plan at receiver?
With two huge names out and an inflow of latest faces, the Bills offense will face a big transition this offseason as they search for options to revamp their passing offense. Bills basic supervisor Brandon Beane has actually introduced in a wide range of choices to search out the suitable match, however will or not it’s sufficient? Let’s discover the potential sport plans for the Bills’ new-look passing offense in 2024.
Share the love
It could also be regarding to some that Josh Allen doesn’t have a confirmed number-one WR to throw the ball to, however Beane doesn’t essentially really feel that means. In a current interview with Go Long, he mentioned, “Don’t get too caught up in, ‘You don’t have a No. 1 broad receiver.’ Let’s take a look at it as an entire, and keep in mind that completely different guys convey completely different talent units.”
The draw back of not having a real “primary” broad receiver is that Allen received’t have a dependable safety blanket to fall again on. However, the upside is equally invaluable: Allen can have the liberty to undergo his progressions and discover the open receiver with out worrying about forcing targets for Stefon Diggs.
I’m satisfied that the Bills are constructing a receiving corps with various talent units to use mismatches throughout the sphere. They’ve acquired particular abilities at broad receiver, and their pass-catching choices at operating again and tight finish are formidable as nicely. Here is what a few of the specialty talent units appear to be while you put all of it collectively:
- Kahlil Shakir: Rising expertise, do-it-all all man, can be utilized anyplace on the sphere
- Keon Coleman: Jump ball monster, huge goal, pink zone menace
- Curtis Samuel: Gadget man for jet sweeps and screens, big-play menace, run after catch
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling: Deep menace, high quality depth, performed in huge video games
- Dalton Kincaid: Big slot, will get open over the center, mismatch nightmare
- Dawson Knox: Good blocker, powerful to convey down, nice rapport with Allen
- James Cook: Athletic receiving asset out of the backfield, mismatch in opposition to linebackers
Tight ends want love too
“I learn the principles, it’s authorized to throw it to a decent finish”, Beane informed Go Long. The Bills boast probably the greatest tight finish duos within the league with veteran Dawson Knox and former first-round choose Dalton Kincaid. With the broad receiver room solely that includes one participant who has caught a go from Josh Allen in Shakir, the Bills will depend on their tight finish duo for manufacturing as a consequence of their established chemistry with Allen. Last season, Kincaid was third in receiving yards on the workforce and had the second-most targets. Head coach Sean McDermott mentioned on the Centered on Buffalo Podcast that Kincaid is, “going to be primed for an awesome season and that rapport with Josh goes to be essential for us”.
New prime canine
With Diggs gone, somebody might want to step up and take over the “prime canine” broad receiver spot. While that continues to be to be seen, the Bills’ prime draft choose, Keon Coleman, looks as if a robust contender. Brandon Beane highlighted Coleman’s potential with Go Long, saying, “He’s bought play pace. I noticed him dwell at LSU. He caught a thin submit, made a man miss, break up the safeties, and took it in. And you noticed his athletic means returning punts. You don’t see 6’3, 6’4 guys which are capable of observe, bend, and alter.”
The rookie receiver faces an uphill battle to change into a outstanding power within the Bills’ offense, however the current success of rookie WRs within the NFL offers the Bills hope that he can contribute sooner quite than later.
While Coleman is a strong candidate to change into the Bills’ primary WR, he may not be the almost certainly. Shakir flourished within the second half of 2023 and is a sneaky candidate for a traditional third-year breakout. Plays like his playoff TD in opposition to the Steelers ought to be an thrilling signal of issues to come back. Don’t overlook him when drafting your fantasy workforce this yr, as there’s little holding him again from exploding onto the scene subsequent season.
Wild playing cards
As beforehand talked about, the Bills have introduced in a wide range of choices at broad receiver by free company and the NFL Draft, however additionally they have some deep sleeper choices to think about. The Bills took an opportunity on two former second-round receivers, Okay.J. Hamler and Chase Claypool. Both have proven flashes of brilliance, although their careers have fizzled out.
Additionally, Justin Shorter remains to be lurking within the weeds. After being drafted by the Bills within the fifth spherical of the 2023 NFL Draft, Shorter needed to sit out your entire season on IR. The former 5-star recruit appears to be like like a WR inbuilt a lab, however his potential has but to translate to the soccer subject.
These three wild playing cards can have their alternative to earn a spot on the Bills’ roster, although their likelihood is slim. Yet, if one in every of these reclamation tasks succeeds and contributes, the Bills’ WR room may unexpectedly surpass its 2023 efficiency.
The mixture of seasoned veterans, a promising rookie, and potential reclamation tasks will make for an thrilling and unpredictable offensive dynamic. The stage is ready for a reconstructed receiving corps that’s poised to redefine the Bills’ passing sport, ushering in a brand new period of success.
