Many are expecting the Buffalo Bills to decline next season after trading wide receiver Stefon Diggs, but ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. does not see a big regression coming.
During a recent appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, Kiper said he does not think “the sky is falling” in Buffalo and that the Bills already have some pieces in place to boast a solid aerial attack in 2024.
Kiper mentions that tight end Dalton Kincaid had become the go-to guy in Buffalo last season and that the team also has pieces like wide out Khalil Shakir and fellow tight end Dawson Knox.
Additionally, Kiper notes that the Bills can always take a receiver with their first-round draft pick.
Be that as it may, Buffalo certainly does not have an enviable situation at the wide receiver position no matter how you slice it at the moment.
Not only did the Bills trade Diggs, but they also lost Gabe Davis to free agency, meaning that their top two receivers from 2023 are gone. That leaves Buffalo with Shakir and Curtis Samuel as its top two wide outs.
Fortunately, the Bills have one of the best quarterbacks in football in Josh Allen, who could hopefully improvise and make his lesser receives better, but there is no question that Buffalo needs to add some weapons and is certainly not in as good of a place as it was a year ago.
Is the sky falling? No, but with the New York Jets improving and the Miami Dolphins still in the thick of things, it is going to be very difficult for the Bills to win their fifth straight AFC East division title next season.
Further muddying things for Buffalo is its sticky financial situation. The Bills are very tight against the salary cap and had to absorb a $31 million cap hit by trading Diggs, so swinging a trade for a big-name receiver like Tee Higgins is probably off the table.
We’ll see how Buffalo survives life without Stefon Diggs come September.
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