'Lots of excitement' in Buffalo's WR room

Strong points

The Bills won’t replace Diggs’ production with a single player in 2024.
Running back James Cook will be crucial to the offense without Diggs.
The offense will continue to thrive with quarterback Josh Allen leading the way.

Buffalo Bills fans may be worried about the loss of Stefon Diggs, but according to offensive coordinator Joe Brady, there is excitement in the building:

“Every year is going to be different and for me the biggest thing is… hey, what are these wide receivers doing right? And let’s find ways to put them in those positions. And right now we have a lot of new stuff in this receivers room and there’s so much good and so much excitement with it.

Josh Allen is probably happy to not see Diggs (whom he targeted 160 times in 2023) complaining about his lack of touches. Meanwhile, receivers like Curtis Samuel, Marquez Valdes-Scantline and Chase Claypool must be drooling over their potential opportunities.

The Bills have made the playoffs in each of the last five seasons and in six of the last seven. However, they have only advanced to the AFC Championship Game once and are 0-3 against the Chiefs in the playoffs during that stretch. However, before the Bills can think about overcoming that hurdle, they need to focus on getting back to the playoffs with this changed offense.

Here’s why the Bills will fare well, despite trading away their talented, but sometimes distracting, star receiver.

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs in 2024.

Bills GM says Stefon Diggs production no longer worth the cost

Brandon Beane decided to move on from the star wide receiver position this offseason after juggling the Bills cap.

Bills become ‘Moneyball’ after Diggs leaves

Buffalo will spread the ball around to replace its former star WR overall

Josh Allen Buffalo Bills — Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Bills won’t replace Diggs 107 catches, 1,183 yards and eight touchdowns with any player in 2024. Instead, Samuel will take a bite out of it, tight end Dalton Kincaid’s role will increase, and they will rely more on their running game. As Brady explained:

“Yes, you don’t just say you’re going to replace a player, you’re going to replace a plan or targets.”

It’s important to note that Diggs failed to record a single 100-yard game after Week 6 last season. Buffalo also went 6-1 to finish the season, with Diggs averaging just 45 yards per game during that stretch.

Running back James Cook has become an important part of the offense, both as a rushing and pass-catching threat. In many ways, the Bills paved the way for life without their star receiver long before he left. When it came time to weigh his hefty contract and endless antics, the decision became clear. As general manager Brandon Beane detailed:

“A player of his caliber, we weigh a lot of things in these situations, but ultimately, we just talked about the cap. I don’t need to go through all the reasons why we decided to go ahead and do this. I would say from a cap standpoint, we decided to go ahead and eat it now… We think we can be competitive and do what we need to do by eating it now. And not next year. Because if we didn’t, if we tried to find a way to divide it in too many different ways, then now it’s like this albatross hanging around your neck all year round. You look at your cap and say, “Look how much money we still have to lose. »

There will be times when the Bills miss Diggs, especially on third down, but more than anything, it all runs through Allen. Brady can rest easier without a true number one threat, knowing there’s always Superman there to bail him out:

“We also had to worry about Josh Allen. And this is a quarterback-driven league. And at the end of the day, we’re lucky to still have him, and the offense will always run through him. We will have to adapt and we will have to have an idea of how the teams compete against us.

You know Buffalo’s MVP candidate is willing to take on whatever it takes.

Source: Buffalo Bills

All statistics courtesy of Professional football reference unless otherwise stated.