Bills offseason position spotlight: Wide receiver
The Buffalo Bills' wide receivers delivered from beginning to end of the 2020 season, setting the stage for quarterback Josh Allen's breakout year.
From Stefon Diggs to Cole Beasley to John Brown to Isaiah McKenzie to rookie Gabriel Davis, Allen had the kinds of options a quarterback rarely gets.
Consider that the Bills put together the second-highest scoring team in the NFL without much of a running game and without much from their tight ends.
In our latest installment of stories examining the team's position group, attempt to project how and why the team will go about its offseason business at wide receiver.
Stefon Diggs
Suffice to say that general manager Brandon Beane would not have been named Executive of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America had he not pulled off this 2020 offseason trade with the Minnesota Vikings in which the Bills gave up four draft picks to get Diggs and a seventh-round pick.
Diggs was a Godsend, catching 127 passes for 1,535 yards and eight touchdowns. and was named first-team All-Pro.
Diggs carries a $13.4 million cap hit for 2021, though the team could reduce that number with a contract extension that would lock him in beyond 2023.
Cole Beasley
All Beasley did was catch 82 passes for 967 yards in the regular season, then play the entire postseason on a broken leg, coming through with 14 catches for 145 yards in three games.
He was a second-team All-Pro in 2020.
Beasley carries a $7.4 million cap hit for 2021 and, like Diggs, isn't going anywhere.
Gabriel Davis
Among receivers who caught more than one pass, this rookie fourth-round pick out of Central Florida led the team with an average of 17.1 yards per reception. Seven of his 35 receptions were for touchdowns.
Davis also has excellent size (6-2, 220) to go with his speed and can be brought along slowly, thanks to all the other options at Allen's disposal.
But here's the best part: He carries a cap hit of less than $1 million for 2021.
John Brown
Brown was limited to nine games because of injuries in 2020 but came back in time for their playoff run and caught eight passes in their 17-3 win over Baltimore in the AFC Divisional Round.
Brown, 30, is at a crossroads, however. The Bills may consider his $9.5 million cap hit for 2021 too prohibitive. They can save nearly $8 million with a trade or a release.
Given their cap health for 2021, it would be just about impossible to see Brown coming back without an adjustment.
Isaiah McKenzie
This remarkably efficient receiver caught 30 of 34 targets for 282 yards and five TDs. But his rookie contract expired at the end of the 2020 season, and the Bills haven't shown an inclination to re-sign him.
Andre Roberts
The Bills' return specialist made the Pro Bowl for a third straight season at age 32 after leading the NFL with an average of 30.0 yards per kickoff return. He also averaged 9.9 yards per punt return.
His contract has expired too, making it unlikely he will return, giving the crunch the team is facing.
Isaiah Hodgins
He hasn't played yet for the Bills because of a shoulder injury. But the 2020 sixth-round draft pick is 6-foot-4 with great hands and isn't going anywhere with his cost-controlled contract.
The rest
Duke Williams, Jake Kumerow and Tanner Gentry all have signed futures contracts as Beane and the Bills contemplate some difficult decisions they're going to have to make with this talented position group, by far the finest on the team.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro.
