Bills’ revamped WR corps dubbed team’s ‘biggest red flag’ heading into 2024 NFL season

The Buffalo Bills made significant, and perhaps initially unplanned, changes to their receiving corps in the 2024 offseason, parting ways with Gabriel Davis, Trent Sherfield and Deonte Harty as free agents before trading longtime Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans in exchange for a top pick in next year’s NFL draft. The departures, particularly Davis and Diggs, leave Buffalo with substantial unaccounted production; the two alone have combined for 241 targets, 152 receptions and 1,929 yards through the 2023 season.

The Bills assembled a ragtag receiving corps following the offseason departures, signing veteran free agent Curtis Samuel before drafting Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Buffalo also expects increased production from third-year contributor Khalil Shakir and second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, both of whom shined down the stretch of the 2023 season; though Buffalo’s receiving corps is certainly different There is more talent than there was a year ago, and there is enough of it to give rise to justified optimism.

CBS Sports reporter Cody Benjamin doesn’t seem to share that sentiment. In a recent piece for the outlet identifying a “red flag” for every NFL contender, the reporter questioned the immediate feasibility of the Bills’ receiving corps, casting fundamental doubt on the team’s approach.

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“In theory, Buffalo replaced a bona fide wide receiver (in this case, Stefon Diggs) with a slew of solid role players: a red-zone receiver (Keon Coleman), an all-around player (Curtis Samuel) and a sprinter (Marquez Valdes-Scantling),” Benjamin wrote. “Is that really a better supporting cast for Josh Allen?”

While this may not be a “better” supporting cast for Allen, he’s certainly better positioned for the future, something Buffalo has attempted to do with its entire roster in the 2024 offseason. The team has shed several veterans in the locker room in an attempt to free up long-term financial flexibility and get younger overall; by not signing Davis long-term and removing the final three years of Diggs’ contract (and his roughly $25 million annual salary cap hit) from the books, the Bills will have the opportunity to make some big-time additions in future offseasons.

And those moves could ultimately be made to bolster a wide-receiving corps that, again, is already talented; Shakir earned Allen’s trust over the final few games of the 2023 season and appears poised to break out next season. Samuel, while never topping 1,000 receiving yards in a single season, had his best campaign as a pro under current Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady (totaling 1,051 yards from scrimmage with Brady at the helm as the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2020). Coleman is a big-time target with demonstrable big-play ability (he caught 11 touchdowns at Florida State last season), and his overall skills are raw enough that the Bills can really mold him the way they want. Kincaid — and veteran tight end Dawson Knox — also have to be mentioned in any conversation about aerial production, as Allen will likely turn to them early and often next season.

Buffalo’s receiving corps might not be better The unit is more dynamic now than it was at the start of the offseason, but building the unit will allow Allen to spread the ball around and take an egalitarian approach to aerial production rather than forcing one or two targets. Considering the relative youth of the unit and the financial flexibility the Bills’ offseason maneuvering gives the team, it’s hard not to be optimistic about the future of Buffalo’s receiving corps.

The unproven nature of the unit might reasonably give a national pundit pause, but the talent should be enough to keep the Bills’ passing attack going in 2024. Plus, the offense is led by an otherworldly quarterback — one that can reasonably be expected to elevate the unit above its perceived ceiling this fall.

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