LEBills

Other posters that claim to have some sources have said the Bills would have drafted Ted Higgins if we had retained the pick. Maybe one of them will see this post. Let’s just enjoy memories of the most prolific receiver in Bills history.

Ridley is toast anyway.

Let’s hope. Keeping the OL together and adding a WR1 gives this offense everything we could ask for in 2026.

It’s a rental to potentially improve your offense for a Super Bowl run. Then you can either resign him or allow him to walk. He is projected to get a good size contract in Free Agency and so you should be able to recoup one of those picks as a comp pick in 2027. I would have done it for that price. But I’m not heartbroken we didn’t either.

The Bills actually have one of the highest amount of players under contract for 2026 at 40. 9 of them are on IR currently so it is easy to forget them. Knox, Samuel, Rapp, and Ty Johnson are almost certainly not returning on their current contract. Maybe Bass as well. Starters that will need to be resigned or replaced are LG, C, DE, LB and Safety. DT and CB we already drafted replacements this year. I think you may be counting K and P as starters that need replacement - those positions don’t require a large investment. In any case, the roster status is not that dire that we couldn’t afford to make a trade without crippling ourselves. We will never know what conversations were had. If I was Beane I probably would have tried really hard to land someone to try and improve the roster, even marginally, this year when the path to a Super Bowl seems less daunting than any year I can remember during the Allen era.

On to asking for a first round WR in the 2026 draft again. Realistically, the trade deadline didn’t have much to offer the Bills.

You will get the hungry version

Bc Shaheed got traded

With Meyers and Shaheed gone I don’t think we will be trading for any WRs this deadline.

Meyers would have been an upgrade but for a 4 and 6 he isn’t worth it. I thought the Meyers add was more likely due to Hunter being out long term. This is a bit interesting

Meyers played out wide for about 70% of snaps in 2023 and 2024. He was about 50% this year with the new staff. Shaheed isn’t a traditional X but does align wide over 60% of the time his entire career

He isn’t much better (but much faster), but he is the only realistic one on that list unless they somehow pry Olave away.

Welcome to Buffalo Rashid

any of those would be awesome but doubt it. $3 mill is just about right for Shaheeds contract rest of season.

he actually has two games already in his career where he scored two touchdowns. Saints game too (1 receiving and 1 return TD). He was the top draft WR fit for the Bills imo and had him ranked as such in the pre draft WR thread

He isn’t healthy. He would fit in well here that way.

Yea very clearly he is a role player. We shouldn’t expect him to be a go-to player, but someone that adds another dimension to the passing attack and special teams. I don’t think he will ever be more than that personally, but the ability he does have is valuable.

I would like it if we could get Waddle or Olave but it seems pretty unrealistic at this point. Rashid Shaheed really should be a Bill by tomorrow. His contract is manageable and would provide a vertical outside element to our passing game. In addition to that, there is immediately a roster spot for him as he would take Coddringtons spot as punt returner. He was an all pro there in 2023, currently the Bill with the best punt return average is Keon with 6 yards per return which is 43rd in the NFL. His receiving production through his first four years is similar to that of Jameson Williams who signed a 3 year $83 million dollar contract extension this year. So even if you give up a third rounder this year, if he walks in free agency you are likely to recoup a similar pick in 2027. An acquisition with upside and very limited downside.

No slippery rubber mats?

I’m not sure Meyers is realistic for us at his salary this year. Shaheed contract is half the price and so easier to fit, so it does seem like it will be him or no notable receiver this deadline imo.

Im not going to derail the topic by veering off into a Beane discussion. I believe the totality of how he has put together this team, from drafting to free agency leaves a lot to be desired. My point in these posts is that Keon hasn’t been terrible. He may not reach his fullest potential because of the role he is filling. For example the Steve Smith quote is getting passed around about not getting off jams - then don’t have him on the line so much having to beat press if he isn’t ready for it? But he kinda has to because we don’t have anyone else.

Beane’s drafts are bad, and the way he uses free agency to paper over his mistakes has held us back for too long. I have been done with Beane for years. But he isn’t the only one like this, Jayden Higgins was pick 34 in this years draft and is another player that likely need to work out of the slot to succeed per Matt Harmon. Despite having Christian Kirk they drafted him and then drafted Jaylin Noel - his teammate that was primarily a slot player in college - the round after him. my argument is that Keon is going to be a very inconsistent player how they are using him - which we have seen. A lot of players are this way in the league, one good week followed by a multitude without much accolades. DJ Chark (another early 2nd rounder) is who I always think about for Coleman. A guy whose career YPC was 14.4 (Coleman’s is 14.7 right now) and had five 100 yard games in 5 seasons where he played most the games. Keons role and skill set are setting him up to be that type of feast or famine player. Franklin is trending towards being a more consistent player but some if that is due to how he is being used. I wish we had drafted him. He should have been the pick instead of Dwayne Carter

You may not find a bigger pre-draft and current fan of Franklin than me. But the other poster is right that Keon as a whole has been better over the past two years. Yards per route run, first downs per route run, etc. Franklin has improved a lot from 2024 to this year, but that has coincided with him getting much more snaps out of the slot which is what basically everyone says the Bills need to try with Keon. Now unlike Keon, Franklin was instantaneously a great separator and I think he will continue to improve. If he can get his hands more consistent, he will be a good WR. I think Keon will be ok in the league. In the role he has been pigeonholed into and his current strengths as a receiver, it will lead to him being a very inconsistent player over the course of the season

Meyers played about 70% outside in both 2023 and 2024. He has been more 50/50 this year.

I don’t believe using a third round pick on Meyers despite Beane’s poor drafting. You will see in my history that I am one of the biggest Beane haters on this site. But I believe in good process. Giving up a third round pick for a WR who won’t alone fix our offensive woes and who is unlikely to get a large FA contract to offset our investment with a comp pick the following year is bad strategy. It is bad strategy that has gotten us to this desperation point two years in a row with WRs.