Buffalo GM Brandon Beane has continued a trend in 2026 from recent offseasons, in gradually piecing together the Bills’ receivers room.
This year, he’s added potential key starting rotation pass catchers via trade and the NFL Draft.
The recently promoted President of Football Operations traded with the Chicago Bears for D.J. Moore to give QB Josh Allen a legitimate WR1 for the first time in two seasons, and drafted rookie Skyler Bell out of UCONN in the fourth round to add another impact talent to their depth chart.
This puts more playmakers in the passing game with Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, and Keon Coleman, while giving new head coach Joe Brady more positional flexibility as he calls his own offense. Up front, the line graded out as a top-five unit per ESPN’s preseason rankings, and RB James Cook forms an elite backfield with Allen.
Here are five questions the Bills must answer on offense:
What will the target share distribution look like?
Brady’s “everyone eats” approach was tested last season when defenses started bracketing Shakir in the slot. Moore’s arrival and Coleman’s potential expanded role can help change that. Moore has positional versatility and will command CB1 coverage and pull a safety along with him. Moore projects as a WR1 and Brady will be looking to feed Coleman more to streamline development, get Kincaid getting seam volume in his 5th year option on his rookie contract as a key offensive weapon, while feeding Cook- And there’s only one football.
Like Cook and Shakir, is another target who will see an increase in role? With those players getting priority snaps, what will that mean for players under multi-year deals like Josh Palmer taking on rotation roles?
Brady’s offense has often been about making the most efficient play when your number is called. Will his playcalling look different with these new weapons and freedom as an offensive playcaller and head coach?
Keon Coleman SZN loading?
Coleman has shown flashes of what he can do in a short sample size. The athleticism, big play, and touchdown abilities are there and have been on display despite limited opportunities, albeit some of them due to his own off-field tardiness. He’s put in another strong offseason, and is leaner, faster, and running a fuller route tree.
With Moore drawing the top corner in coverage and Shakir in the slot, Coleman could expose CB2s in single coverage, where he had his best tape coming out of college. In his third year as a pro, both he and his head coach, who stumped to draft him, will be measured by whether he takes the next step at the pro level for the Bills.
Is Josh Allen’s foot a concern?
The injury update on Allen’s foot is that there is no reason for concern, but any time a starting quarterback’s lower body shows up in a midweek report, it matters. Much of Allen’s elite play relies on the mechanics fix and a healthy plant foot as well as his ability to take off and extend plays.
Expect the staff to manage his reps through minicamp and into training camp while it heals up from his offseason procedure, and for Brady to look to continue to increase his line protection against the pass rush.
Is the offensive line resolved ahead of the season?
Dion Dawkins is set to return, the interior is fortified, and ESPN’s preseason board put this unit in the top five in the league.
Brady’s offense leans on play-action and on Allen’s ability to climb a clean pocket, so the margin for error in pass protection isn’t as it appears on the stat sheet.
As for the question of depth at swing tackle or center, they may look to younger players to help in the rotation or the post-June-1st market for answers.
Return of the deep ball?
Another looming question is whether the Bills have addressed their deep threat need, and if that will translate to the return of Allen’s epic long ball plays that his offense saw under Brian Daboll.
Brady’s play-sheet last year leaned heavily on intermediate concepts and YAC-after-catch via Shakir and Cook. With a true vertical threat in Moore joining the group, it gives them a versatile deep threat while allowing more opportunity for Coleman’s contested-catch radius to grow. Bell adds speed and athleticism to take the top off a zone.
We may see one of the most complete offensive units Allen has played with, and the return of the strongest deep pass in football.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: 5 questions the Buffalo Bills must still answer on offense
Reporting by David Benjamin De Cristofaro, Bills Wire / Bills Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
