Bills Wide Receivers Poised To Do more Damage This Year Than Last

Stefon Diggs was a newcomer last season and led the NFL in receiving. Imagine what he and everyone else can do with a full offseason under their belts.

Not too many people outside Orchard Park and maybe even inside the Buffalo Bills' headquarter saw the Bills' offensive juggernaut of 2020 coming.

Yes, the expectations were for a higher-scoring machine than the year before after trading for wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

No, a team that plays outdoors a stone's throw from Lake Erie could not have reasonably expected to average more than 30 points a game.

But now that it has, there can be no more speed limits imposed on the offense, especially with the wide receivers quarterback Josh Allen has at his disposal following his breakout party in 2020.

Not only are Diggs and Cole Beasley coming off All-Pro seasons, but Emmanuel Sanders has been signed to compensate for the loss of John Brown.

The Bills also are counting on Gabriel Davis to build on an encouraging rookie season that saw him average 17.1 yards on 35 receptions, seven of which were for touchdowns.

Further aiding their cause was the failure of NFL teams with head-coaching openings to hire offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, which means he's also back for more and not expecting to take any steps backward.

Daboll is thrilled that Sanders (8,619 career receiving yards on 662 catches) already is fitting in as someone who can play any spot.

"I think it's important that they understand everyone's position," Daboll said at OTAs. "You know, there's five eligibles on every play, and anyone can be at any spot. So his experience will serve him well."

What's more, it's not unreasonable to expect more from Diggs, who last season caught 127 passes for 1,535 yards and eight TDs.

That's because of the standard Diggs sets for himself, according to Daboll.

"He has got that dog mentality," Daboll said. "He doesn't look at what he did in the past year. He's just looking to get better this year and trying to live up to his own expectations, and that's all that we can ask any of the players and the coaches is we have expectations and standards here that we set within our walls, and that's what we're going to try to achieve.

"Anything outside of that, that's up for everybody else to look at. So having the right mindset of being competitive and being humble about where we're at and what we need to do, we have a long, long way to go before we start playing real games."

Pro Football Focus last month ranked the 32 best wide receivers coming into the 2021 season. Diggs and Beasley are on it at Nos. 8 and 23, respectively, meaning the Bills have more than their share.

So no limits anymore. Not for these receivers or the offense as a whole.

Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro.