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NFL analyst ranks Bills offensive weapons group as one of NFL's worst

Warren Sharp ranked the Buffalo Bills receiving corps as the NFL's fifth-worst entering the 2024 NFL season.

Kyle Silagyi

Jan 15, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) runs the ball in the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 2024 AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 15, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir (10) runs the ball in the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 2024 AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports / Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
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What a difference a year makes.

The Buffalo Bills have long been viewed as deploying one of the league’s better receiving corps, a talented, if not top-heavy group headlined by perennial Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs and solid complementary option Gabriel Davis. The duo aided in the team finding consistent aerial success over the past several years, with Buffalo finishing as a top-10 passing attack in each of the past four seasons.

Neither player currently has a locker at One Bills Drive, however, with Diggs and Davis now residing in Houston and Jacksonville, respectively. Their omissions leave Buffalo with a retooled receiving corps entering the 2024 campaign; the 241 targets vacated by the departed receivers figure to be spread amongst third-year contributor Khalil Shakir, free agent signee Curtis Samuel, rookie Keon Coleman, veteran journeyman Mack Hollins, and two-time Super Bowl champion Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid and running back James Cook also figure to factor prominently into the passing game. 

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The hodgepodge pass-catching group contains a bevy of varied skill sets and will allow Buffalo to take a democratic approach to aerial production this season as opposed to funneling the offense through one target-heavy option. Prominent NFL analyst Warren Sharp seemingly isn’t bought into the philosophy, or at least not the players the Bills plan to enact the strategy with; the statistician recently ranked each NFL receiving corps entering the 2024 NFL season, slotting Buffalo in at No. 28.

“The losses of Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis resulted in the pass catchers dropping from eighth to 28th in our rankings,” Sharp wrote. “Rookie Keon Coleman has loads of potential, but his inconsistent college career raises questions about his NFL readiness.”

The writer’s analysis is a bit hollow; in an article ranking each pass-catching corps entering 2024, half the analysis is dedicated to discussing what the unit was in 2023. Though the Bills’ revamped weapons group is objectively unproven, ranking it as the fifth-worst in the league seems a bit steep, especially considering the list factors in “all receiving options” (meaning Kincaid and Cook are included).

Focusing on Sharp’s Coleman analysis, the pass-catcher was perhaps a bit “inconsistent” in college; he struggled to consistently create separation, and his game is generally a bit raw. That said, he only dropped two passes throughout the 2023 season, both of which came after Heisman Trophy candidate Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending ankle injury. 

Coleman may not burst onto the scene as a rookie (though he’ll have every opportunity to do so), but Sharp allots not even a single sentence to the team’s other receiving options. Shakir flashed down the stretch of his sophomore year, catching 30 passes for 438 yards (playoffs included) after Joe Brady took over as offensive play-caller midway through the campaign. Samuel, who reunites with Brady after inking a three-year deal with the Bills in the offseason, constructed his best season as a professional under the play-caller in 2020, totaling 1,051 scrimmage yards for the Carolina Panthers that year. 

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Factoring in the team’s non-wideout pass catchers, Kincaid shined as a rookie, catching 73 passes for 673 yards on 91 targets. Though Cook regressed as a pass-catcher a bit in his sophomore year (recording seven total drops, per PFF), he still caught 44 passes in 2023 and could see this number increase in 2024 as part of a Brady offense that historically features running backs in the passing game.

And though it expectedly wasn’t mentioned in Sharp’s analysis (this is a ranking of receiving corps, after all), the unit will be catching passes from Josh Allen, who is objectively one of the league’s premier quarterbacks. Say what you will about the talent of the individual players, but one would have to believe that the unit’s floor is quite high given that Allen is the one manning the attack.

All of this said, Buffalo’s retooled receiving corps is objectively unproven; it will have the opportunity to outplay its unfavorable ranking come the regular season.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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