Many Buffalo Bills fans are set on expecting general manager Brandon Beane to select a wide receiver early in the 2026 NFL Draft. Even if the team’s biggest need at the position is an immediate No. 1 target, the state of the group requires some future-focused attention too.
Of course, we’ll have to see how free agency falls and whether Beane is active on the trade market to solve the offense’s biggest problem before we get a true idea of just how aggressive he’ll be at the receiver position in the draft.
Nonetheless, even if Beane can address the position effectively ahead of the draft, he might have a perfect fit waiting for him at the back end of the first round that he can’t pass up.
The appeal and uncertainty of pairing Denzel Boston with the Buffalo Bills
Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport recently paired each NFL franchise with the draft prospect who fits their team the best. For Buffalo, that was Washington standout receiver Denzel Boston.
Davenport liked the fit because of NFL Draft analyst Lance Zurlein’s pro comparison for Boston to Rams’ star Puka Nacua. Boston is a big-bodied receiver at 6-foot-4, 206-pounds, and while he lacks breakaway speed, like Nacua, he has the route-running ability and toughness to eat up volume targets underneath, while picking up hidden yardage through contact.
To a degree, Boston would give Buffalo something they lack. But it is a wonder if Boston is really the best fit. Joe Brady hasn’t exactly had a Nacua-like receiver since he came onto the scene in 2019 down in LSU. What he has made use of are more traditional outside receivers with big bodies and playmaking ability.
That’s where a guy like Keon Coleman finds his promise in Brady’s offense, even if it hasn’t been realized yet. Still, Coleman’s struggles with creating separation at the NFL level aren’t unfounded, and that's why many in Bills Mafia have shied away from prospects like Boston or Notre Dame’s Malachi Fields. The Bills’ wide receiver group needs more of a sure thing than potential and hope at this point, and any receiver who struggles to get open shouldn’t be at the top of Buffalo’s wishlist.
READ MORE: Buffalo Bills 2026 NFL Draft: Washington WR Denzel Boston Scouting Report
It’s also why, as I become more familiar with the draft class and its wide receivers, I’m drawn more toward players who are dangerous with the ball in their hands in space, like Indiana’s Omar Cooper, Jr., or Oklahoma’s Deion Burks on Day 2. But picks such as those are only truly satisfying to Bills Mafia if Beane finds a true No. 1 option for Josh Allen elsewhere beyond the draft.
But that also speaks to why Davenport would suggest Boston as the perfect fit for Buffalo at pick No. 26, because if the team is entertaining a receiver at that spot, it’s hard to go wrong considering the state of the receiver room coming out of the 2025 season.