Curtis Samuel was one of the biggest additions to the Buffalo Bills offense this offseason, with many expecting the veteran receiver to help fill the void left when Stefon Diggs was traded to the Houston Texans.
But Samuel has been off to a slow start, falling down the depth chart and sparking some concern among fans. As Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News noted, Samuel has been the “clear No. 4 receiver” through the first two games of the season and saw a surprisingly low number of snaps in the team’s win over the Miami Dolphins on September 12.
“Samuel, who signed a three-year contract with the Bills in the offseason worth up to $24 million, was on the field for just 12 offensive snaps during Thursday night’s 31-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. That was 27% of the offensive total,” Skurski wrote.
Skurski added that it was the second straight game that Samuel was on the field for just 27% of the team’s total offensive snaps, putting him behind Keon Coleman, Mack Hollins and Khalil Shakir on the depth chart.
Bills ‘Going With the Flow’
Bills head coach Sean McDermott addressed Samuel’s low snap count after the team’s Week 1 win over the Arizona Cardinals. While Samuel has been dealing with a lingering toe injury that kept him out for a stretch of training camp and the preseason, McDermott said it was more of a strategic decision to limit the number of snaps for Samuel.
“Bills HC Sean McDermott when asked if WR Curtis Samuel’s toe injury impacted his lower snap count, didn’t give the toe injury much mention and said that they were just going with the flow of the game,” The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia shared in a post on X. “He said he thought Samuel did a good job.”
Samuel is the most experienced receiver on the roster, an eight-year veteran with 320 career catches for 3,401 yards and 22 touchdowns. Samuel has also been a rushing threat, accumulating 715 rushing yards and seven touchdowns over his career.
But Samuel has not been much of a factor in any aspect of Buffalo’s offense so far, getting just four total targets and catching three for 18 yards.
Bills Spreading the Ball Around
The Bills made it clear this offseason that the offense would not rely heavily on any one player. After the departures of Diggs and No. 2 receiver Gabe Davis, the Bills brought in a mix of young talent and proven veterans, adopting a philosophy of “everyone eats.”
The term was coined by offensive coordinator Joe Brady during OTAs, the team’s website noted, and speaks to the philosophy of intentionally spreading targets to stretch opposing defenses.
“It’s not just about one person, no one’s bigger than the offense. But in order for someone else to have success, I gotta do my job so they have success and then vice versa,” Brady said.
Shakir, the team’s top returning wide receiver, added that players may have quiet stretches but are always ready to contribute when called on.
“What goes around comes around,” he said, via the team’s official website. “If you got to sit there and run a go 50 times, do it full speed 50 times, then that 51st time it might be you running that out and somebody else is clearing the ball for you. We’re all working together to make sure that play works and you just keep building off of that.”
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