The Buffalo Bills have moved on from their number one wide receiver this week after trading Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans. The question now looking forward is how they might replace such a big part of their offense.
Players like Odell Beckham Jr. are still available in free agency and this year it is a deep wide receiver class in the NFL Draft. Another potential route they could have taken is trading for a veteran wide receiver and including that 2025 second round pick they just got as part of the Diggs trade.
There are certainly some notable big-name wide receivers that could be available on the trade market like Cincinnati Bengals' Tee Higgins, San Francisco 49ers' Brandon Aiyuk, or even possibly Minnesota Vikings Justin Jefferson. However, ESPN's Adam Schefter recently seemed to imply that this would not be a possible route for the team.
Buffalo Bills don't have cap space to afford a veteran wide receiver
Adam Schefter mentioned that because of the dead cap they took on by trading Stefon Diggs, which accounted for over $31 million, they don't have the cap space to trade for Tee Higgins and then sign him to a long-term deal. The reason is that Higgins is set to play on the franchise tag which is essentially a one-year deal with a cap hit of $21.8 million.
Without question, the Bills have taken on some risk if they want to lean on a rookie wide receiver to be the leader of this position. Stefon Diggs had over 150 targets every season in Buffalo and when including Gabe Davis' departure, there is alot of experience that is lost.
The good news is that the Bills have put together some pieces that might amount to being the "sum is greater than its parts" mentality with players like Curtis Samuel, Dalton Kincaid, James Cook, and Khalil Shakir. By adding a rookie wide receiver to this mix, it doesn't put as much pressure on that young receiver but there is no question that the offense is going to look very different in 2024.