ClutchPoints
The Buffalo Bills are looking cheap for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. James Cook is certainly having his issues with it. Along with those things, here is the Bills’ riskiest move in the 2025 NFL offseason.
When looking at the body of the Bills’ offseason work, one thing stands out. Yes, the team made a concerted effort to get better on defense. Their first five picks came from that side of the ball.
But throughout the draft and the free agency period, the Bills didn’t make even a pebble splash at the wide receiver position.
It’s not that the Bills’ wide receiver group is bad. But there’s a potential problem with the current makeup.
First, let’s get things clear. Josh Allen could take a group of so-so wide receivers and make them passable. However, the idea for the Bills isn’t winning more games than they lose. The idea is, first and foremost, winning the Super Bowl.
And not having dynamic wide receivers puts too much pressure on Allen in the biggest games of the year.
Yes, Khalil Shakir had a decent season in 2024. But he fell short of even 1,000 yards. And if you look at Mike Clay’s projections, it could be a similar year for Shakir in 2025
Clay tabbed Shakir and Keon Coleman both getting 850-plus yards. He gave Coleman seven scores and Shakir four. Those seem like spot-on projections. And that’s why the Bills took a gamble with their 2025 offseason approach.
They could have — should have — brought in a WR1. With only a third-round pick needed to secure George Pickens, why didn’t the Bills get in the mix with the Cowboys and try to get him? Imagine Allen having the luxury of a downfield threat like Pickens.
Character concerns, perhaps? But the Bills are so close to getting over the top. Wouldn’t Pickens have been worth the risk?
The easy argument is the Bills have taken a bigger chance by deciding to roll with Shakir, Coleman, Joshua Palmer, Elijah Moore, Curtis Samuel, and Laviska Shenault Jr. That’s a sad sack of receivers, no matter what Bills general manager Brandon Beane says.
Beane is defending his risky move. And he should. But it’s still, “I know more than you do.” The problem is, Beane doesn’t have a ring with the Bills. Other teams have them. So who knows more?
He said the Bills finished with the second-highest points-per-game total in the regular season in 2024, according to nfl.com. However, that logic doesn’t win because the Bills lost in the playoffs.
“Let’s be realistic,” Beane said. “Our job is not to have — it’s not fantasy football, to trot out the best receivers. We’ve got Josh Allen. First thing you’ve got to do is protect him. You can’t have everything. You can’t have Pro Bowl wide receivers and have a Pro Bowl...
