Bills Central

Where does Bills' skill position group rank entering 2024 NFL season?

Sports Illustrated's Matt Verderame recently ranked each NFL skill position group entering the new season. Where do the Buffalo Bills slot in?

Kyle Silagyi

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Reality prompted a wave of change to cascade upon One Bills Drive in the 2024 offseason, as the Buffalo Bills parted ways with several stalwarts across their roster in an attempt to get generally younger and create long-term financial flexibility. The most marquee alterations of the spring perhaps came in the receiving corps, as the team allowed key complementary weapon Gabriel Davis to depart as a free agent before trading perennial Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans.

Buffalo supplemented their departures with capable players, signing veterans Curtis Samuel and Mack Hollins as free agents before selecting big-bodied Florida State pass-catcher Keon Coleman in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. These wideouts join a Bills weapons corps headlined by the returning James Cook, Khalil Shakir, and Dalton Kincaid to create a still-stout, though perhaps less nationally notable skill positions group that, thanks to the fact that Josh Allen is under center, still figures to be productive this fall.

Related: 5 Bills who could be surprisingly productive in 2024 NFL season

What makes Buffalo’s revamped weapons group so intriguing is the versatility it offers; players like Shakir, Samuel, and Coleman can be lined up and succeed from a myriad of spots, while Kincaid and Cook are potential mismatches from the tight end position and backfield, respectively. Though there’s not a marquee name at the top of the group, there’s enough talent throughout to have faith in the unit for the upcoming season; Sports Illustrated writer Matt Verderame seemingly doesn’t agree with this sentiment, as he’s penciled the Bills in at No. 23 on his ranking of the league’s best skill position groups entering the 2024 campaign.

The writer believes that the team’s top weapons are Cook, Shakir, and Kincaid, not expressing immense confidence in their offseason additions.

Dalton Kincaid
Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

“We’re not used to seeing the Bills so low here, but they’re now without Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis,” Verderame wrote. “Yes, they added rookie Keon Coleman and veteran Curtis Samuel, but the offense now goes through Cook and Kincaid. It’s not a terrible group, but it’s limited.”

Though perhaps a bit low, Buffalo’s placement on Verderame’s ranking is not necessarily egregious, as its weapons group, while promising, is filled with question marks. There’s reason to believe that Kincaid and Shakir, who both flashed after now-full-time offensive coordinator Joe Brady took over as the team’s play-caller in Week 11 last year, will improve in more prominent roles, but it’s all hope until we see it in action. There are also justifiable reasons for optimism regarding Samuel (who reunites with Brady after posting career-high production under the play-caller in 2020) and Coleman (who created several big plays throughout training camp), but again, until we see it in the regular season, it’s all hope.

It wouldn’t be all that shocking to see Buffalo’s skill position group flourish at the hands of its otherworldly signal-caller and quickly outplay this ranking, but the season needs to start before it can do so. The Bills kick off their 2024 campaign against the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday afternoon.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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