One of the great factors about being one of the best teams in the NFL is that you become a potential destination for great players in the league. For the Buffalo Bills, they have become the best of the AFC East the last five seasons and are showing no signs of letting go anytime soon as long as Josh Allen is under center.
The Bills have worked their magic with some free agents over the years and it’s because of their winning culture they have built. Two names that come to mind easily are Von Miller and Joey Bosa, both who are edge rushers that joined the Bills via free agency.
In addition, the Bills will always find themselves being linked to notable players that might be on expiring contracts or are in contract disputes with their respective teams. We see it all the time where a solid player is linked to getting traded because of a contract dispute with a front office. Heck, the Bills could be in that same category soon if James Cook doesn’t get a contract extension soon.
Bills linked to star WR with ongoing contract dispute (and it would be a big mistake for Buffalo)
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report recently listed dark-horse trade partners for the Washington Commanders involving their star wideout Terry McLaurin who is seeking a new extension after a breakout season in 2024 where he had over 1,000 yards for the fifth consecutive season and a season-high 13 touchdowns. However, things don’t seem to be going well between both sides and it makes you wonder if McLaurin will be in Washington beyond 2025, or even in 2025 at all.
The Bills were the first team on Kay’s list as a potential landing spot. Here are bits on what Kay said about the Bills possibly trading for McLaurin:
"McLaurin would instantly become Allen's top target and perfectly augment the versatile Khalil Shakir and developing Keon Coleman to form the nucleus of a passing attack that has potential rate among the best in the league.Alex Kay, Bleacher Report
With veterans like Joshua Palmer, Elijah Moore and Laviska Shenault Jr. rounding out the roster, the Buffalo receivers room would also be one of the NFL's deepest following the addition of McLaurin."
Kay also mentioned that even though Buffalo has a "league-low $125,000 in cap space" it could be re-worked through contract restructures. Trading for McLaurin would put the Bills in a bad spot financially as well as potentially put them in a bad spot chemistry wise.
Washington would most likely demand a hefty price for McLaurin considering the fact that he is a consistent 1,000+ yard receiver year-in and year-out. Then the team that trades for him would have to give him a massive contract extension at 29 years old. The Bills don’t need to go through this potential mess of trading away assets, having to rework some of their current deals, and then putting a huge dent into their cap space for one player.
Plus, doing this kind of move would discredit the work that the Bills put in this offseason to bring in receivers Joshua Palmer, Elijah Moore, and Laviska Shenault. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like to see McLaurin in Buffalo because quite frankly, it would put the doubters about the Bills’ receiving core in silence. At the same time, Buffalo cannot afford to jump through a bunch of hoops to make this work.