ORCHARD PARK – After what Brandon Beane did in free agency and the draft, and what he didn’t do with the lightning rod that is Keon Coleman, there is no doubt the wide receiver competition will be at the forefront from now until the Buffalo Bills make their final roster decisions in early September.
The wide receiver position. The drama never ends in Buffalo, and the spotlight has only gotten brighter and hotter during the offseason as the Bills acquired productive veteran DJ Moore from the Bears, signed free agent Trent Sherfield, picked a really intriguing prospect in UConn’s Skyler Bell in the fourth round of the draft, and perhaps most noteworthy of all, decided not to move on from Coleman.
Coleman’s name has come up in just about every press availability Beane and Joe Brady have had over the past three months, and their aligned and steadfast belief is that he’s going to turn his career around and become the player they initially envisioned when they picked him No. 33 overall in the 2024 draft.
Beane appeared on WGR-550 Monday morning and revealed that a few teams inquired about Coleman’s trade availability at the scouting combine, and there was a little more interest heading into the start of free agency in March, but he chose not to engage, and thus, Coleman never came up during draft weekend.
“We shut those down,” Beane said. “Our intention is for Keon to be here so the word was out, so no calls this weekend. We’ve hit the reset button with him and hopefully the fanbase and everyone is behind him. I think his best year is yet to come here in 2026.”
Of course, Beane and former coach Sean McDermott were saying the same things last offseason after Coleman’s underwhelming rookie year which was plagued by injury and off-field immaturity, and what followed was another season of inconsistency and inability to understand how the alarm on his Apple watch works.
At this point, it’s a bit of an eye roll when listening to Beane and Brady repeating that Coleman is getting after it so far in the offseason. Until he proves it when it matters, no one cares about his offseason. This summer at St. John Fisher University he’s going to be in a battle to retain his roster spot, especially after Beane picked Bell, a player who many draft analysts think could be a steal.
Here are my thoughts on the receiver depth chart now that it’s pretty much finalized:
The top three WRs seem firmly established
The moment Beane made the trade for Moore, the ninth-year veteran with 608 career receptions for 8,213 yards and 41 TDs became WR1 on this team.
“I think we looked at this draft and knew where we would be selecting … we’re probably not going to get a guy of DJ’s caliber,” Beane said of the deal that primarily cost him the Bills’ second-round pick.
He’s not wrong. No one at No. 26 in the first round was going to provide the immediate plug-and-play production Moore should give the Bills in a season where Josh Allen turns 30 and the pressure to win a Super Bowl is ratcheting up.
Khalil Shakir, the Bills’ best receiver the last two years, will continue to be a reliable slot option, and one can hope that things can only go up for Joshua Palmer, a free agent signing in 2025 who saw his season blown up by injury. If he can stay healthy, Palmer is still only 27 years old in September and his ability to separate – one of the main reasons the Bills signed him – is still there.
Skyler Bell is an instant threat to Keon Coleman
Last year counting the postseason, Coleman’s 378 pass play snaps trailed only Shakir (519) and tight end Dawson Knox (392), but unless Coleman beats out Palmer for the No. 3 spot, his playing time is likely to decrease in 2026. Palmer had 256 snaps despite missing seven games and being limited in several others, and what was telling is that there were four games after Palmer returned from his Week 6 ankle injury where even though he still wasn’t 100%, he was active and Coleman was a healthy scratch.
Unless something changes, Coleman is going to battle for the No. 4 spot in the rotation, and the only real threat right now would seem to be Bell. As ESPN’s Mel Kiper said after the pick was made Saturday, “Josh Allen is going to love Skyler Bell” so if he can seamlessly make the transition to the NFL, Coleman could be in trouble no matter how much love Beane and Brady have showered him with.
“Really like Bell a lot,” Beane said Saturday night at the end of the draft. “Joe and I sat down with Pete (Carmichael) and (receivers coach) Drew Terrell a few days before the draft and just looked at certain players, talked about their fit. He was one that we kind of extensively looked at as a group and made sure we were all on the same page.
“He’s a guy that we think can play inside, can play outside, has enough speed, good with contested catches, you saw some run after catch with him. If you just want to watch his highlight tape, go watch the Syracuse game; they just kept throwing him the ball. It’s competition.”
Bell had seven 100-yard games last year, and four games where he caught at least 10 passes including 14 for 113 yards against Ball State and the Syracuse game where he had 11 for 107. For the season he totaled 101 receptions for 1,278 yards and 13 TDs, then went to the combine and the 5-foot-11, 192-pounder ran a 4.4 in the 40 and his 41-inch vertical leap was fifth-best among all the receivers who worked out in Indianapolis.
“Couldn’t love the value or the fit much better,” NFL. com analyst Eric Edholm said. “Bell was a top-100 prospect for me, and I think he can play both inside and out in Buffalo. Bell’s hands improved significantly over his college career, and he’s a YAC stud who should thrive with Josh Allen as his QB.”
Will Trent Sherfield make the team?
The only reason the Bills signed Sherfield is because Tyrell Shavers most likely won’t be available when the season starts as he’s coming off ACL surgery. Shavers was Buffalo’s main blocking receiver, and that’s the exact skill that Sherfield brings to the table, something he proved when he played for Buffalo in 2023.
Sherfield also can be a core special teamer like Shavers which is why he has the inside track for the No. 5 job. Is it possible that Coleman can become a more useful special teams player and bumps Sherfield off the roster? Sure, and that would be a nice development because he’s a much more viable receiving option than Sherfield (89 career catches in 124 games) who would make defenses think a bit more when he’s on the field.
Does Mecole Hardman have a chance?
The only attribute Hardman brings to the offense is straight line speed and punt return potential, but is it impressive enough to warrant a game-day jersey? Probably not.
The Bills don’t have a clear-cut punt returner and haven’t for several years, but that isn’t nearly as important as having a good kickoff returner given the new kickoff rules and alignment which has brought that play back into the game.
Is running back Ray Davis, who earned All-Pro recognition last year in that role, an option to return punts? Maybe, but there will be a few players they can mix into a competition who would make keeping Hardman difficult.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Top of Bills WR depth chart looks set but camp battles will be real
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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