Bills OC reveals how WR group will replace lost production: 'Everyone is going to eat'

Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady recently spoke about the team's revamped receiving corps.

Sep 19, 2022; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach Joe Brady speaks with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) at a timeout during the first half against the Tennessee Titans at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

With several coaching stints in the state of Louisiana under his belt, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady knows a thing or two about good food, and despite the team’s alterations to its receiving corps in the 2024 NFL offseason, the coach is confident in what he’s cooking up.

“In this offense, everyone is going to eat,” Brady told reporters ahead of a Tuesday OTA practice at One Bills Drive.

Brady’s comment, though reading as a confident prediction, can more accurately be described as a philosophy—Buffalo is not going to center its aerial attack around one or two players as it has in years past. The team instead plans to spread the love, to make use of the varied skill sets on its roster and get consistent production from several sources as opposed to two wide receivers.

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This is a strategic departure from years past, as Stefon Diggs became—and remained—the primary target in Buffalo from the moment he walked in the door in the 2020 offseason. He was targeted 160 times in the 2023 NFL season, his fourth consecutive season in which he tallied more than 150 targets.

The Bills parted ways with the alpha in the spring, trading him to the Houston Texans after allowing Gabriel Davis—who finished second on the team in targets last year with 81—to walk in free agency. That’s 241 targets eliminated from Buffalo’s receiving corps, a number the Bills plan to make up with a committee approach that will sort itself out in time.

“You don’t just sit there and just say that you’re going to replace a player, or replace a scheme, or targets," Brady said. “Every year is going to be different, and to me, the biggest thing as you’re going into it, is alright, hey, what do these wide receivers do well? And let’s find ways to put them in those positions. 

“Right now, we have a lot of newness in that receiver room. There’s so much good and so much excitement with it, and so I think it’s important for us to not sit there and focus necessarily on we have to replace this, we have to replace this. More so it’s like, every season is going to be different. The numbers are never going to be the exact same. Let’s just figure out how we can get our players in the best position to have success.”

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Third-year contributor Khalil Shakir, free agent signee Curtis Samuel, and rookie Keon Coleman project to play prominent roles in the 2024 season; that said, there are also intriguing players lower on the depth chart in the form of veteran big-men Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, second-year pros Justin Shorter and Tyrell Shavers, and reclamation projects Chase Claypool and K.J. Hamler. 

It’s easy to pencil some receivers in above others on the depth chart, but this, too, will sort itself out in time; according to Brady, the playing time wideouts receive will ultimately be determined by their own work ethic.

“We told all the wide receivers—your usage, your mindset, the amount that you play or you don’t play, that’s going to be on you,” Brady said. “That’s what I love about this receiver room right now. They just come, they just go out there and just work, a lot of energy, a lot of juice, and a lot of competition. From a play-calling and from a coordinator perspective, it’s a lot of fun.”