Buffalo Bills: Breaking down the most vital position battles
By Ryan Brennan
Much like last season, health will be the major concern with the wide receivers. With that being said, they need all the help they can get.
The Buffalo Bills have 12 wide receivers on their roster currently — only five of them were with the team last year.
Between those five that are returning, only 32 games were played. 15 came from Brandon Tate, who was more of a special teams player than receiver. Sammy Watkins played 8 and Walter Powell played 9 (only because of injuries). Kolby Listenbee and Dezmin Lewis didn’t play.
They also combined for just 50 catches, 688 yards and two touchdowns. Watkins had most of that, finishing with 28 catches, 430 yards and 2 touchdowns.
My point is that literally every wide receiver on the roster will have something to prove and will definitely have to earn their spot. Even Sammy Watkins, who has secured the No. 1 spot, but will have to prove he can stay healthy and also prove that he’s worth keeping in town.
Everyone else is either a new face or someone who was a depth player, looking for a bigger role. It should make for a fun training camp and preseason with this position group. It will be a battle for the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 wide receiver. They could keep more, but I’ll stick with that number because it’s half of who’s on the roster currently.
That will also make my prediction a little difficult, since Bills’ fans have never seen most of these receivers. I’ll go based off what they’ve done in the past.
Prediction: Sammy Watkins, Andre Holmes, Zay Jones, Philly Brown, Rod Streater, Kolby Listenbee
If they keep more, I would say Daikiel Shorts or either Dezmin Lewis/Walter Powell would be safe bets. I have Holmes listed as No. 2 WR mainly due to size and where he’ll line up a majority of the time, but I think Zay Jones will be the No. 2 receiver in terms of production. Everyone behind those three will fight for contribution.