Buffalo Bills: Scouting the 2017 NFL Draft for a Wide Receiver
By Daniel Hahn
With the NFL Draft quickly approaching, we will be examining the wide receiver position and players the Buffalo Bills should be considering in the NFL Draft.
The Buffalo Bills will be in the market for several wide receivers this offseason. With the limited cap room, selecting wide receivers in the NFL draft will be just about as sure as death and taxes.
Not only is Buffalo going into the offseason thin at the wide receiver position, but outside of Sammy Watkins all the returning players are unproven.
The wide receivers under contract heading into the 2017 season are:
Sammy Watkins (23 years old, unrestricted FA in 2019)
Marcus Easley (29 years old, 2 years left on contract)
Walter Powell (25 years old, 1 year left on contract)
Kolby Listenbee (23 year old, 3 years left on contract)
While seeing 4 players sounds good, only 1 of them is a starter at WR. Easley is one of the top special teams players in the NFL, but even that is in question until he fully recovers from his knee injury that already cost him the entire 2016 season.
Powell showed some flashes in training camp and pre-season, but he really shouldn’t be more than a 3rd or 4th WR. Anything more than that to enter the season is asking for trouble.
Listenbee is coming off his rookie season, that saw more hernia surgeries than regular season practices.
Needless to say, the confidence in wide receiver on the Bills roster will need to be improved to give this team any hope of success in 2017. Add to it, if the Buffalo Bills do move on from Taylor, this group of wide receivers won’t be attractive to any quarterbacks in free agency.
With that, let’s look at a few of the options in the draft the Bills will consider to improve the depth and talent of this group.