Super Bowl-winning WR and familiar DE suggested for Bills to fill out their roster

We’ve reached the waning days of the 2024 NFL offseason; the rush of free agency is over, the draft has concluded, and teams around the league are now gearing up for minicamps and their eventual training camps. The bulk of the ‘significant’ developments that are going to occur this offseason have already transpired—that said, there are still relatively notable players who have yet to sign with a club, perhaps anticipating a perfect opportunity to present itself later this summer.

The Buffalo Bills have been a popular destination for notable players willing to take a team-friendly deal to compete for a Super Bowl in recent years, and despite being a team in transition, could be so yet again in the coming months. Buffalo moved on from several long-term starters in the offseason in the likes of Stefon Diggs, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, Mitch Morse, and Gabriel Davis, ushering out the ‘old’ while hoping to replace their production with younger players both new and returning to the roster.

The turnover has left Buffalo with perceived deficiencies in several areas of its roster, with its depth chart looking quite thin throughout (particularly at wide receiver and cornerback). This is a sentiment shared by Bleacher Report’s NFL Scouting Department; in a recent article breaking down every NFL team’s biggest remaining needs, the outlet identified cornerback, edge, and wide receiver as the team’s biggest holes, suggesting veteran wide receiver Mecole Hardman, pass rusher Jerry Hughes, and cornerback Fabian Moreau as potential targets.

“The Bills' need at receiver might be a little overstated,” B/R wrote. “Khalil Shakir was highly efficient last season and could have a breakout season after catching 39 of his 45 targets for 611 yards last season. If [Keon] Coleman can blossom into a No. 1 receiver, then they could become a good one-two punch. Still, it wouldn't hurt to add a low-cost vet like Mecole Hardman who works as an additional vertical threat.”

The outlet’s assessment of Buffalo’s receiving corps is fair—though it’s not a flashy group (especially when compared to its state when it deployed Diggs and Davis), it’s not a weak one, either. Big-bodied rookie Keon Coleman has a fair bit of promise, as does Khalil Shakir, who flashed in his sophomore campaign to the tune of 39 receptions for 611 yards and two scores. The team also added Curtis Samuel as a free agent, reuniting the 27-year-old with the offensive coordinator that led him to the best production of his career in the 2020 NFL season. After factoring tight ends Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox into the passing game and remembering that it’s helmed by Josh Allen, it’s clear that the Bills’ aerial attack is not in as dire of a situation as many suggest.

While Mecole Hardman would bring experience and speed to the unit, he doesn’t necessarily move the needle. The wideout, who has caught 166 passes for 2,212 yards and 16 scores throughout his five years in the NFL, wouldn’t supplant Coleman, Shakir, or Samuel on the depth chart or Kincaid on the pecking order; he’d be, at best, a comparatively pricy fifth option. At that point, the team may be better off giving those snaps to one of the little-talked-about receivers already on their roster and hoping something sticks.

The same can be said about veteran pass-rusher Jerry Hughes, who B/R writes “would be a cheap way to give them some depth on the edge” and could “replace [the departed] Leonard Floyd’s production.” These statements are true, but again, Hughes wouldn’t be a needle mover. NFL fans—especially those in Buffalo—know what the 35-year-old is; once a pressure specialist who tallied 53 sacks throughout his near-decade in Buffalo, Hughes has settled into a rotational role in his waning career years. He’d play opposite Von Miller in Orchard Park as the team’s DE4—at that point, wouldn’t you rather just see what you have in fifth-round pick Javon Solomon, the reigning FBS sack leader who the team drafted as a pass-rushing specialist? Or give those snaps to the recently signed Casey Toohill, a 27-year-old who recorded five sacks for the Washington Commanders last season?

Fabian Moreau, however, is an inspired suggestion; the 30-year-old would provide depth on the boundary to compete with the largely unreliable Kaiir Elam and Ja’Marcus Ingram.

Though Bleacher Report is correct in its assessment of Buffalo’s roster holes, the deficiencies, while not intentional, do not seem to be something the team is overly concerned with. The Bills seem confident in the youth on their roster to step into and succeed in more prominent roles; while a handful of veteran signings later this summer should not be ruled out, they certainly shouldn’t be expected, either.