Buffalo Rumblings
Digging deeper into Buffalo’s wide receivers, what can we learn?
The Buffalo Bills’ offense bought in and then sold us all on the “everybody eats” concept. They ran through the regular season with no “true” WR1.
The Bills locked up their fifth-consecutive AFC East division title a full month ahead of schedule. Buffalo’s reinvented offense that lost both Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis in the offseason was so successful that quarterback Josh Allen sat out the majority of the fourth quarter in seven games and only played one snap in the season finale.
But if “everybody” eats, what’s going on with wide receivers Amari Cooper and Keon Coleman?
Since the postseason began, Coleman has been targeted by quarterback Josh Allen just four times. He’s caught two of those passes for just five yards each. As for the veteran Cooper, he’s also been targeted four times, and just once in the divisional round, making two catches for a grand total of eight yards.
In comparison, wide receiver Curtis Samuel, who seemed to be the odd man out for much of the regular season, caught three passes on three targets for 68 yards during Super Wild Card Weekend. Samuel then caught both passes sent his way in the divisional round.
Mack Hollins led Bills wide receivers in touchdowns this season, but that number was low (5). While he hasn’t caught a touchdown in the playoffs, Hollins still has more yards than both Coleman and Cooper combined. Hollins’ 31 yards is second among Bills’ wide receivers since the postseason began, although he only has one catch on two targets in each of this year’s playoff games.
So who’s getting the targets? And the yards? The answer is wide receiver Khalil Shakir.
Shakir entered the season as the “veteran” on the team. He was the only wide receiver on the roster to have caught a pass from Allen before September.
Shakir’s sure-handed, catching 76 of the 100 balls thrown his way this season — including every pass thrown his way for the first three games of the regular season. Shakir had 821 yards and four touchdowns in nine starts over 15 games played, career highs for the third-year receiver out of Boise State. But more impressively, he was credited with 597 yards after catch.
So, yes, it makes sense that Allen is targeting Shakir. But in an “everybody eats” offense, Shakir getting 14 targets while the other receivers have just 12 combined doesn’t seem like there’s much sharing going on.
Shakir has 128 yards in the Bills’ two postseason wins (61 and 67 respectively), which is a full 79 more yards than all the other receivers combined.
But in Buffalo where everybody eats, no one is complaining about the disparity in targets. No one is worried that the Bills’ first pick of the 2024 NFL Draft isn’t hauling in passes at an alarming rate.
None are concerned that the true veteran receiver that general manager Brandon Beane went and brought in midseason isn’t even...
