After coming up short of the Super Bowl in 2024, there's a $30 million reason why the Bills opted against adding a new star WR1.
After coming up short once more in their pursuit of a Super Bowl appearance, the Buffalo Bills took a rather unorthodox approach to reloading their offense ahead of the 2025 NFL season, saying goodbye to Amari Cooper in favor of a more scattershot approach to the position with the additions of Joshua Palmer, Elijah Moore and Laviska Shenault Jr.
What gives? Why did the Bills opt against securing a WR1 like they did last offseason, when they had to trade for Cooper midseason and give up assets to correct that mistake? Well, as Dan Graziano pointed out in an offseason breakdown for ESPN, Buffalo simply doesn't want to be in the $30 million wide receiver game, as they believe that the market has become too rich for the team's blood.
“There are several teams around the NFL, though, that think the receiver market has grown too much — upward of $30 million per year for the top guys — and don't want to follow it there. The Bills, as last offseason's Diggs trade indicates, are one of those teams. The number of talented receivers who enter the draft every year means teams can now find good production on cheap rookie deals,” Graziano wrote.
“The Bills would point out that they used the 33rd pick of last year's draft on Keon Coleman, a player they expect to make a second-year jump in 2025. Shakir, meanwhile, caught 76 passes for 821 yards and four touchdowns last season and just turned 25. They also expect to get more out of 2023 first-round tight end Dalton Kincaid, and they like to throw to their running backs. Buffalo finished second in the NFL in points per game last season (30.9) without a star wideout, and as GM Brandon Beane pointed out in a postdraft radio appearance, that should offer fans some comfort and confidence that the team knows what it's doing.”
As things presently stand, the Bills will open Week 1 with six wide receivers with legit NFL experience in Shakir, Coleman, Palmer, Moore, Shenault, and 2024 free agent addition Curtis Samuel.
While only time will tell who ends up playing what role or if another player will come out of nowhere to fly up the depth chart and become a star long-term, in a league where there are only so many true WR1s, the Bills are doing something different, paying six receivers instead of one and hoping that they can provide Josh Allen with optionality snap-in and snap-out. Will it work? Only time will tell, but more than a few eyes will be on Buffalo to see how it shakes out this fall.
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