Bills Central

Standout Bills WR 'hyped' about chance to work with Amari Cooper

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir is excited about the impact Amari Cooper will have on the offense.

Kyle Silagyi

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A rising tide lifts all boats.

This is the aphorism the Buffalo Bills’ receiving corps is subscribing to as it welcomes Amari Cooper, a five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver whom the team acquired from the Cleveland Browns earlier this week. Buffalo revamped its weapons group in the offseason, parting ways with Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis in favor of a Frankenstein’s monster-type unit constructed of talented, but unproven pass-catchers; the group hadn’t produced to the level the Bills would have liked through the first six games of the 2024 season, most prominently struggling in an ugly Week 5 loss in which the team’s wide receivers combined for just four receptions on 18 targets.

Enter Cooper, a seven-time 1,000-yard wide receiver who is no stranger to logging over 100 targets per season, and Buffalo’s receiving corps immediately transforms from ‘talented, but overtasked’ to immensely promising. The Bills’ pre-existing receivers are excited about the impact Cooper figures to make on the offense, with third-year contributor Khalil Shakir expressing enthusiasm over the idea of learning from the former fourth-overall pick.

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“When I got woken up and told the news, I was excited,” Shakir said, per WKBW’s Matt Bove. “I’m not even going to sugarcoat it, I said the same thing when I got drafted here and got the opportunity to work with Stef [Diggs]. I was like, ‘Man, shoot, I’m hyped.’ Same thing with getting to work with him.”

Though Shakir is one of the few players in Buffalo’s receiving corps who has not looked overburdened through the first few games of the new season, he, too, figures to benefit from Cooper’s presence, as defenses now having a formidable threat to account for on the outside should give Shakir more opportunities to succeed in the slot. Shakir, who has caught 20 of his 21 targets thus far this season, was also the only receiver whom quarterback Josh Allen could trust in crucial situations prior to Cooper’s acquisition; the veteran’s arrival should change this.

The 24-year-old Shakir will also have the opportunity to glean information from Cooper, who has been one of the NFL’s most consistently productive receivers over the past decade; he’ll undoubtedly make an immediate impact on Buffalo’s offense, but the long-lasting effects Cooper’s presence will have on the team’s young pass catchers may ultimately prove even more beneficial.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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