This past offseason for the Buffalo Bills was an interesting one. They traded away their number one receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans for a 2025 second round pick. Their receiver two Gabe Davis signed a three year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last season the Bills ranked 4th in total offensive. With losing their two best weapons on offense, that brings the question. Who will be the new number one in Buffalo?
The Bills are predicted to have a top five offense in 2024 leading the charge with their quarterback Josh Allen. Starting with the only wide receiver to return to Buffalo is Khalil Shakir. Shakir had 611 receiving yards with only two touchdowns. It’s hard to say if Shakir will slot into the wide receiver one position. With Shakir having the only chemistry of the wide receivers with Allen he could be the new number one.
In this past offseason while they let go some receivers in free agency they also gained one in Curtis Samuel. Samuel is now considered to be a veteran now and could easily eat up targets this year. Samuel is more a gadget player where he really line up anywhere on the offense. The Bills also have many connections to Samuel. Head coach Sean McDermott was coaching alongside Ron Rivera in Carolina when Samuel was drafted. McDermott is familiar with Samuel and will know how to utilize him on the offense.
The Bills also utilize a two tight end set for a lot of their offensive reps. The tight end group consists of Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid. Dawson Knox has been with Allen for the past few seasons and has been a reliable target. However with the Bills that returned this season Kincaid let all of them in receiving yards. The 2023 first round pick had 673 yards and two touchdowns. I predict Kincaid to be the number one option on this offense, with the Bills spending their first round pick on him last season, it makes sense that they will utilize him as much as they can.
Kincaid isn't the only draft capital they have spent on offense rookies recently. In the 2024 NFL draft, the Bills kept trading back until they landed Keon Coleman at the top of the second round. Coleman is a wide receiver from Florida State. The Bills general manager reported that “ we're going to be counting on him early in his role." He also stated that he could be starting at the x position but is not limited to moving around. It sounds like Coleman will line up on the outside and the slot giving him many opportunities early on. If Coleman and Allen heat up throughout the season he could easily develop into the new number one on this offense.
Lastly there is the brother of Dalvin Cook, James Cook. Cook is the starting running back for this Bills roster and is predicted to have the majority of the carries, it won't be a split backfield. Cook is coming off of a very good season, for rushing over 1,000 yards and averaging 4.7 yards a carry. The downside is his touchdowns, this isn't likely to change. Cook only had two rushing touchdowns last season and this due to Allen getting a lot of goal line carries. Allen had 15 rushing touchdowns while his running back only had two. Cook has an important role in this offense, but I think the Bills pass too much for him to be considered the number one option on this offense.
I’m curious to see how the Bills do this season. We saw that Mahomes was still able to perform after Tyreek Hill left. Hopefully Allen can do the same without Diggs this year.
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