Buffalo Rumblings
Who’s ready to fill one of the biggest voids left since Stefon Diggs’ departure?
Since the Buffalo Bills moved on from wide receiver Stefon Diggs, it’s fair to say the team’s receiving game has been a work in progress. Yes, reasonable to consider despite the offense putting up prolific points-scored numbers in 2024.
Though many are quick to point to (insert your favorite Bills pass catcher here) making the passing game hum, there is no clear top option in the mold of a WR1. It works for Buffalo right now because Josh Allen is an elite quarterback, one of the game’s very best.
Whether by design or necessity, the Bills have very vocally taken on the “everybody eats” persona. It’s a concept that isn’t too dissimilar from the Run & Shoot, which puts receivers in motion pre-snap and allows (asks) them to make on-the-fly route adjustments after diagnosing a defense.
Allen has become a field general with surgical-like ability to read and thread a completion to anyone anywhere on the field, and often his work behind the line of scrimmage requires receivers staying available for an extended time, often well outside of the scripted route. That plays well into what wide receiver Khalil Shakir does well, losing defenders in traffic between the sticks.
In the past, everyone knew Allen was looking for Diggs in critical moments — and it wasn’t up until the very end of things that anyone could do a thing to stop it. Yes, Diggs’ incessant need for the football became a problem, but there’s a reason so many teams covet WR1s.
The idea that everyone is on equal footing, involved in a featured role or as supporting cast game to game has its pluses, certainly. But when a defense manages to shut the concept down, and has defenders who play a brand of football superior to the Bills’ receivers, problems appear.
One has to wonder if there’s a lack of well-developed chemistry between Allen and (insert receiver name) to rise above these roadblocks. To believe there is anywhere on the same level as the Allen-Diggs connection is foolish. But it’s not as though Buffalo lacks options.
Most would say that Khalil Shakir is Allen’s top target, and Allen speaks highly of his game. But is he a 120-target, 1,400-plus receiver? He hasn’t shown to be such yet (100 targets, 821 yards in 2024). It also appears as though Shakir isn’t someone Allen looks to specifically in certain situations — his production more akin to making things happen apart from design.
Consider Buffalo’s final game, its latest playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. We’ll avoid discussing the defense’s featured role in the loss for this article. In the waning moments of the game during a drive to re-claim the lead, Allen didn’t have a top target who he’d worked the entire season with to overcome the odds. Instead, during the Bills’ final offensive play — where protection broke down thanks to an expert defensive call —...
