Buffalo Rumblings
The Buffalo Bills revamped their receiving corps this offseason. Often, that means that we should expect numerous new faces; however, in this case, the Bills really just added two pieces who are expected to contribute. That might not sound like much, but given the failures of Buffalo’s receivers in 2025, it could be just enough.
That’s not to say that the Bills didn’t add receivers last season. They just added the wrong players—or at least players whose contributions were vastly underwhelming.
In today’s edition of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss a 2025 signee who is currently living squarely in “Bust” territory.
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Name: Joshua Palmer
Number: 5
Position: WR
Height/Weight: 6’1” 210 lbs.
Age: 26 (27 on 9/22/2026)
Experience/Draft: 6; selected by the Los Angeles Chargers in the third round (No. 77 overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft
College: Tennessee
Acquired: Signed with Buffalo on 3/13/2025
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Palmer enters the second year of his three-year, $36 million contract. If he’s on the 53-man roster, he carries a cap hit of $11.75 million, which is the fifth-highest total on Buffalo’s roster. If he’s released, Buffalo will carry a dead cap charge of $14.24 million for the season. If he’s traded, Buffalo will carry a $1.6 million dead cap hit this year and a $4.8 million dead cap hit in 2027. Asa vested veteran, Palmer’s $9.66 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the roster Week One.
2025 Recap: Palmer came over from the Chargers last season, and he was immediately expected to slot in as either the second or third wideout in Buffalo’s passing attack, with Khalil Shakir the clear top receiver. Instead, Palmer was a nonfactor for much of the season. The initial returns were solid, as he caught five passes for 61 yards on nine targets in Buffalo’s season-opening 41-40 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. That was the high-water mark, however, as he did not catch more than two passes in a game for the rest of the season. In the first quarter of Buffalo’s Week Six tilt against the Atlanta Falcons, it looked like Palmer might have a coming-out party, as he caught two passes for 60 yards. However, he injured his knee and his ankle on the same play, which caused him to miss the next three games. When he returned, he was still limited by the injuries, and he missed two more games as a result. Faced with roster decisions and mounting injuries at the receiver position, Buffalo placed Palmer on injured reserve ahead of the postseason, ending his season before he could appear in a playoff game. He finished his disappointing campaign with just 22 receptions for 303 yards on 37 targets. All of those totals were career-lows.
Positional outlook: Palmer is one of 14 wideouts on the current roster. Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, DJ Moore, Skyler Bell, Mac Dalena, Mecole Hardman Jr., Ja’Mori Maclin, Jalen Virgil, Trent Sherfield, Tyrell Shaver, Stephen Gosnell, Max Tomczak, and Quentin Skinner...
