Bills veteran pushes back on early criticism of 1 specific receiver

Last offseason, the Buffalo Bills’ first free agency signing was bringing in wide receiver Joshua Palmer from the Los Angeles Chargers. The Bills signed Palmer to a three-year deal as part of trying to improve the wide receiver room from the year before. The signing of Palmer took Bills by surprise, because they were set to pay him $10+ million per year despite him never reaching over 800 yards in a season.

Since his rookie season, Palmer has gone down in the touchdown category by one every single season. In 2021, he had just 4 receiving touchdowns and then he ended up with zero in 2025 with his first season with the Bills.

Palmer dealt with some injuries this season, which limited him to 12 games and he missed both playoff games as well. Overall, he finished with just 303 yards on the season. Palmer was just one of three Bills receivers that didn’t get into the endzone for the Bills last season (the other two being Brandin Cooks and Elijah Moore).

Joshua Palmer must prove doubters wrong in 2026

Injuries being part of the game is always an unfortunate situation, but it does play a role as to why either an entire team or unit can struggle. With Palmer dealing with some injuries, he wasn’t able to get into a groove with the offense and that’s why he failed to make an immediate impact despite him signing a good-sized contract.

It is very easy to be critical of Palmer and how he didn’t do pretty much anything at all. However, it’s a new year and his offensive coordinator in Joe Brady is now the head coach. Maybe that change will help Palmer grow as a receiver for Josh Allen, but only time will tell.

1 Bills receiver comes to defend Joshua Palmer going into 2026

While fans have certainly voiced their opinions about Palmer, one of his own teammates in Khalil Shakir recently spoke with Eric Wood on the Centered on Buffalo podcast, and Shakir was asked by Wood about something about Palmer that not a lot of people know about him or his game.

“He’s probably one of, if not the hardest worker I know. I mean, the dude is up before all of us, he’s working in the training room and weight room longer than us. He’s in there before us.” said Shakir.

“I don’t think people realize the work that needs to be put on to go out there and compete at a high level. A lot of times we take for granted that being out there and being hurt is inevitable, it’s going to happen, it’s football.” Shakir added.

With Palmer going into the second year of his contract in Buffalo, this could very well be a make-or-break season for him with the Bills. I get it, injuries occur and they are never going away. At the same time, that means that not being on the field hurts the team and there were plenty of times when the Bills’ receiving core was hurting either because of injuries or inconsistency.

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