With the NFL trade deadline just days away, the Buffalo Bills are not where they want to be, and appear compelled to take some action by Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. In a year when the Bills were supposed to be focused on one goal â ending the Super Bowl championship drought that has lasted the entire lifetime of the franchise â the season is about to hit the halfway point and Buffalo isn’t even in first place in the AFC East.
That spot, at least prior to this weekend’s slate, belongs to the resurgent New England Patriots, a team that won just four games in each of the last two years. So what can the Bills do improve?
Ranking just 21st in the NFL in passing offense, based on total yards gained (1,529) despite boasting the league’s reigning MVP quarterback, it seems that the Bills have one pressing need above all others â an upgrade to the receiving corps.
Bills Chasing Raiders Receiver
According to new reporting by Dianna Russini of The Athletic on Saturday morning, that Bills are actively pursuing a receiver who caught more than 1,000 yards worth of passes last year, but comes with a $15 million cap hit.
Buffalo’s leading receiver across the team’s first eight games, 25-year-old fourth year player Khalil Shakir, has recorded 356 receiving yards â well behind the league’s top 10. The Seattle Seahawks‘ Jackson Smith-Njigba leads with 819, and Baltimore Raven Zay Flowers ranks 10th with 550.
Shakir obviously is not anywhere near the league’s elite. But the receiver that, according to Russini, the Bills have in mind is not there either.
Meyers Would be a Supplement, Not Upgrade
“The Bills were one of the teams that inquired in recent weeks about Saints WR Chris Olave. New Orleans is still expected to retain its top wideout,” Russini wrote in her Saturday report for The Athletic. “The Raiders have fielded calls from the Steelers and Bills on WR Jakobi Meyers, but Las Vegas has set a high price.”
Meyers despite averaging roughly the same yards per catch figure as Shakir â 11.3 for the Raiders’ wide receiver, 11.5 for the Bills’ top pass catcher â comes with the advantage of being available, and the Bills need someone to help Allen.
It seems clear, however, that Meyers would serve as a supplement to Shakir, not an upgrade, though he did catch a career-high 1,027 yards last season.
Meyer’s percentage of balls caught this season so far stands at 67.4 percent. Shakir has caught 75.6 percent of passes targeted for him. In plain language, that means Meyers catches two of every three passes thrown his way â but Shakir catches three out of four.
Price For Meyers May be Too High
The next most productive Bills pass catcher is not a wide receiver at all, but tight end Dalton Kincaid, who has caught 77.8 percent of his pass targets for 310 yards â averaging 14.8 yards per catch.
Meyers, it appears, would be a trade acquisition designed primarily to give Allen additional options. The question then becomes, is the price the Bills would need to pay worth it? Meyers earlier this season requested a trade out of Las Vegas and is playing on an expiring contract. Just last week, Meyers reiterated his desire to be traded.
But according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, the Raiders have set a price tag that would include a Day 2 draft pick, and another insider â Jeremy Fowler of ESPN â wrote this week that “the Raiders want a strong pick for Meyers. A swap of Day 3 picks won’t do at this stage.”
Are the Bills willing to surrender a second-round pick for Meyers? Only the next three days will tell.
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