Plausible X/#1 receiver trade candidates — are there any?

[jahnyc]

There are so few WRs that we would want and even fewer (maybe one (Olave)) that may be available.  There is an overall lack of talent in the NFL currently at the boundary WR position.  If Olave really becomes available, there will be significant competition to acquire him, and I doubt that we will be the team to offer more for him in terms of draft capital or current players than any other team.

[No_Matter_What]

19 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

It's just really hard to buy this given the total lack of any attempt to add one. He's made exactly 1 WR pick in the top 100 of the draft since 2021. In fact Shakir is the only WR other than Coleman that was a top 150 pick during that period. It's almost impossible to invest such a small amount into any position over 5 years, let alone a premium position. There have been several WR trades and signings made over the years that he has failed to make. It's pretty clear to me that he just doesn't value the position nearly to the level that he should.

 

Beane spent all of the 2024 offseason resetting the team's salary cap to prepare for the 2nd window of Allen's career. He then used the vast majority of that freed up cap space to re-sign good but not great defensive players instead of using it on a legit offensive weapon. 3 of his top 4 free agent signings were defensive linemen. His first 5 picks were defensive players. If Beane "would love to have" a legit #1 WR he sure hasn't acted like it.

 

You can't excuse the quality of the WR room away as just bad luck or bad timing. Repeatedly and intentionally he has valued every single position higher than WR. His words and his actions make it impossible to deny that.

Again, Metcalf was the only real option. If you want to blame Beane for not wanting to pay him, fine — that's a valid opinion, in my view. But beyond that, he didn’t really have a choice. We had no shot at landing Egbuka or McMillan, and there was no one worth targeting in free agency either.

 

And yes, it's not just bad timing or bad luck — but those things played a huge role. Opportunities to land a true WR1 were extremely rare, and I honestly don’t understand why that’s so hard for some people to see (or admit).

 

That also applies to the so-called “generational” 2024 WR draft. We had zero chance at Marvin Harrison Jr., Nabers, or Odunze. Even BTJ was probably out of reach, despite many people around here thinking otherwise (there was no realistic trade partner). After that, the realistic options were Worthy, Legette, McConkey, Mitchell, Coleman, Pearsall, Polk, and Franklin — and we picked one.

 

Now everyone’s acting like it was obvious McConkey should’ve been the pick, but let’s not rewrite history. The consensus ranking on TBD was something like: Mitchell > Legette > Franklin/Worthy/McConkey > Coleman. And then we had a chance to double dip — which I would’ve done, just to increase the odds of hitting the jackpot — but unless I missed something, nobody from that class is exactly lighting up the NFL right now.

Edited 8 hours ago by No_Matter_What

[No_Matter_What]

14 hours ago, MasterStrategist said:

Problem is Beanes philosophy of winning with #2 types, or who they thought would be #2s.

 

He invested a 1st in Kincaid --- a move alot of this board liked.  But it wasn't what we needed.  He panicked when Addison went off the board IMO.

 

Essentially a 1st in Keon.  Someone who you liked, but isnt winning his matchups.

 

Then decent #2/3 money, in Shakir, Palmer and Samuel.

 

Im not against this approach of Beanes.  He has just majorly whiffed on alot of these player decisions.

 

To say we haven't aggressively gone after a #1, is like saying we know our 2023 1st and 2024 1st were gonna suck out of the gate.  Those are legit chances to get a borderline #1 type.  He screwed the cap with decisions on #3 WR types --- thats massively hampered us - and obviously made poor decisions.

 

So my biggest gripe isnt what positional decisions, its their constant "misses"

Just curious, why do you think he "panicked"?

 

I think he wanted Addison and hoped he would fall, or was ready to move up a little. But he went sooner. So he picked next guy available, who happened to be Kincaind. Where's the panic in that?

17 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Yeah I hate to boil it down to one move but that is the glaring mistake. There is no combination of defensive players that we're paying that I wouldn't give up for Metcalf's contract right now. Rousseau and Bernard in particular stick out. Their combined AAV alone just about pays for Metcalf's $33M.

 

To be clear, I do agree with this. And I do agree that he could've done more. I just strongly disagree with the opinion that he doesn't care about WRs or is satisfied with what we have. He just had very very few realistic options and failed to utilize them.

 

And it can't be all on him. Both Palmer and Coleman are better then their numbers suggest.  Brady needs to use them better.

[Coach Tuesday]

17 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Yeah I hate to boil it down to one move but that is the glaring mistake. There is no combination of defensive players that we're paying that I wouldn't give up for Metcalf's contract right now. Rousseau and Bernard in particular stick out. Their combined AAV alone just about pays for Metcalf's $33M.

If I had to pin it on one thing it’s the fact that they don’t seem to have had ANY backup plan at X in the event Keon wasn’t ready - and he clearly isn’t.  And now it’s almost Halloween and there is no other option on the entire roster somehow.

[LEBills]

51 minutes ago, No_Matter_What said:

Again, Metcalf was the only real option. If you want to blame Beane for not wanting to pay him, fine — that's a valid opinion, in my view. But beyond that, he didn’t really have a choice. We had no shot at landing Egbuka or McMillan, and there was no one worth targeting in free agency either.

 

And yes, it's not just bad timing or bad luck — but those things played a huge role. Opportunities to land a true WR1 were extremely rare, and I honestly don’t understand why that’s so hard for some people to see (or admit).

 

That also applies to the so-called “generational” 2024 WR draft. We had zero chance at Marvin Harrison Jr., Nabers, or Odunze. Even BTJ was probably out of reach, despite many people around here hoping otherwise. After that, the realistic options were Worthy, Legette, McConkey, Mitchell, Coleman, Pearsall, Polk, and Franklin — and we picked one.

 

Now everyone’s acting like it was obvious McConkey should’ve been the pick, but let’s not rewrite history. The consensus ranking on TBD was something like: Mitchell > Legette > Franklin/Worthy/McConkey > Coleman. And then we had a chance to double dip — which I would’ve done, just to increase the odds of hitting the jackpot — but unless I missed something, nobody from that class is exactly lighting up the NFL right now.

The issue isn’t picking Keon though who knows how these other players would be doing on the Bills. The issue is only picking Keon early in his whole tenure as GM. If Diggs and Keon are your only early draft pick investment in 8 years at WR (he also spent thirds on fat Kelvin Benjamin and semi-retired Amari Cooper that it took less than a year to realize they would not be on the team long), that’s not enough as we are seeing right now. 

[CincyBillsFan]

On 10/17/2025 at 3:50 PM, BearNorth said:

Bills also had a guy named Beebe who was at the time the fastest guy in the league, and when they lined up with Reed, Lofton and Beebe, defenses always had to respect gunslinger Kelly and the deep ball.

But it started and ended with the Bills having 2 highly productive, HOF game dominator's named Thurman Thomas & Andre Reed.  

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

I'd rather trade picks for a known WR because I don't trust these guys to draft the right WR.

[Maine-iac]

1 hour ago, No_Matter_What said:

Again, Metcalf was the only real option. If you want to blame Beane for not wanting to pay him, fine — that's a valid opinion, in my view. But beyond that, he didn’t really have a choice. We had no shot at landing Egbuka or McMillan, and there was no one worth targeting in free agency either.

 

And yes, it's not just bad timing or bad luck — but those things played a huge role. Opportunities to land a true WR1 were extremely rare, and I honestly don’t understand why that’s so hard for some people to see (or admit).

 

That also applies to the so-called “generational” 2024 WR draft. We had zero chance at Marvin Harrison Jr., Nabers, or Odunze. Even BTJ was probably out of reach, despite many people around here hoping otherwise. After that, the realistic options were Worthy, Legette, McConkey, Mitchell, Coleman, Pearsall, Polk, and Franklin — and we picked one.

 

Now everyone’s acting like it was obvious McConkey should’ve been the pick, but let’s not rewrite history. The consensus ranking on TBD was something like: Mitchell > Legette > Franklin/Worthy/McConkey > Coleman. And then we had a chance to double dip — which I would’ve done, just to increase the odds of hitting the jackpot — but unless I missed something, nobody from that class is exactly lighting up the NFL right now.

My favorite draft prospect that I thought we had a chance to land was Tory Horton who has looked pretty damn good when he's in the game as a WR and kick returner.  That's water under the bridge at this point but he was there in the 5th round and he's probably better than everyone but Palmer and Shakir on our roster.  To Coleman's credit if they targeted him on something other than go routes and screens he might have a chance.   The guy should get some in breaking routes and some sail routes.

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, No_Matter_What said:

Again, Metcalf was the only real option. If you want to blame Beane for not wanting to pay him, fine — that's a valid opinion, in my view.

 

Yeah I do blame him... It's an unforgivable error. Missing on a draft pick, that's forgivable. Failing to make a no brainer addition is not. Right now we are wasting an entire season of our elite QB while he's in his prime. That's a fireable offense.

 

This season we could have been watching Allen throw rockets to Metcalf downfield which would have been fun to watch if nothing else. It would have opened up everything underneath too. Nothing about the offense the last two weeks has been fun to watch. Beane rested on last year's laurels and used that as an excuse to run it back. I genuinely think he believed that last year's results meant we didn't need a #1 WR and he doesn't have a head coach that tried to convince him otherwise. If he really believed we needed one he would have closed the deal. They (and much of this board) had the completely wrong philosophy about how to build this team to a championship level.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by HappyDays

[Sierra Foothills]

16 hours ago, Nihilarian said:

Bills OC Joe Brady has stolen my heart with his run scheme, but alas, his passing schemes appear somewhat flawed if he can't get the most out of his players like he does with RB James Cook. And even with Cook, he simply doesn't utilize him enough in the passing game. I can see perhaps why, with him having a 35.7 receiving success rate. pretty stinky. So, have him work with the JUGS more often. 

 

BTW, fans that say that Amari Cooper opened up the offense just by being on the field seem to ignore that it stayed open even when he was on the bench. 

 

McD should tell Joe Brady to get his crap together with the passing offense, or he will hire a passing game coordinator 

 

 

 

I thought we all agreed we were going to use the term, "diddly-poo."

 

[Maine-iac]

One of my favorite fallacies to read is how such and such a WR would equal us throwing bombs down the field.  It could happen but stating it like it's an undisputed truth is a little heavy handed.

[No_Matter_What]

2 hours ago, No_Matter_What said:

Just curious, why do you think he "panicked"?

 

I think he wanted Addison and hoped he would fall, or was ready to move up a little. But he went sooner. So he picked next guy available, who happened to be Kincaind. Where's the panic in that?

 

To be clear, I do agree with this. And I do agree that he could've done more. I just strongly disagree with the opinion that he doesn't care about WRs or is satisfied with what we have. He just had very very few realistic options and failed to utilize them.

 

And it can't be all on him. Both Palmer and Coleman are better then their numbers suggest.  Brady needs to use them better.

 

To quote myself, don't tell me that Allen and Palmer are not capable to pull out what Maye and Boutte just did at the end of half. Just use Palmer's strengths. This is on Brady.

[3rdand12]

6 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

One of my favorite fallacies to read is how such and such a WR would equal us throwing bombs down the field.  It could happen but stating it like it's an undisputed truth is a little heavy handed.

I think one of the issues has been the lack of a downfield threat that gets respect from defenses.

 Whether it is the player we don't have . or the play calling for the players we do have.

Defenses will always adjust when you cannot threaten an over the top pass or a breaking route that gets separation into open field.

 We had a good "run" but defenses are adjusting now and Brady might be slow to respond or even get ahead of that trend. just my opinion

[Negan]

Olave stock is going up.  Hopefully Beane is in attendance scouting.

[HappyDays]

👀

 

Hopefully Chicago embarrasses them in the 2nd half and they move into fire sale mode.

[Maine-iac]

10 minutes ago, 3rdand12 said:

I think one of the issues has been the lack of a downfield threat that gets respect from defenses.

 Whether it is the player we don't have . or the play calling for the players we do have.

Defenses will always adjust when you cannot threaten an over the top pass or a breaking route that gets separation into open field.

 We had a good "run" but defenses are adjusting now and Brady might be slow to respond or even get ahead of that trend. just my opinion

I don't deny the downfield threat thing.  That said I don't think go routes are our answer even with a speedy player to run them.  We need in breaking routes, sail routes, and attacking the seam (vs 2 high) or deep crossers (vs single high) and we just don't scheme them up for our WR's.  We run the sails for Kincaid and our WR's crossers are generally shorter routes to free up Kincaid or Shakir.  All of this works fine when Allen is seeing thigs well and getting the ball out.  Even when defenses are trying to stop it.  I'll put on my flame suit here and tell you I believe outside of winning go routes with speed I actually think Coleman could get used better and be far more productive.  Most of our current passing issues (the last two weeks) have started in Allen's head and Brady's game plans.

Edited 8 hours ago by Maine-iac

[LEBills]

24 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

👀

 

Hopefully Chicago embarrasses them in the 2nd half and they move into fire sale mode.

2 Olave TDs now…he may be a core piece of their rebuild 🥲

[HappyDays]

1 minute ago, LEBills said:

2 Olave TDs now…he may be a core piece of their rebuild 🥲

 

His release on that 2nd TD was amazing. Rattler threw the ball late but he was so open it didn't matter.

 

Make them an offer they can't refuse. A 1st and Coleman. Just get it done.

[Warriorspikes51]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

His release on that 2nd TD was amazing. Rattler threw the ball late but he was so open it didn't matter.

 

Make them an offer they can't refuse. A 1st and Coleman. Just get it done.

Did I miss something? I thought ESPN said they were working on extending him?

 

have you heard the Bills are interested or just wishful thinking like me?

[Dr. Who]

4 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Did I miss something? I thought ESPN said they were working on extending him?

 

have you heard the Bills are interested or just wishful thinking like me?

The question is whether that language is posturing that could result in maximum trade value, or the plausible reality that they are going to keep a core piece for their rebuild and risk the injury factor. I don't know, but we are in a tight spot with few options.