It’s been clear since Week 2 that the Buffalo Bills desperately needed to upgrade their wide receiver corps.
The team has gotten just four 100-yard games out of its pass-catchers this season, and two of them have come from tight end Dalton Kincaid.
Keon Coleman had a promising start to the season with his 8-catch, 112-yard, 1-touchdown performance, but he’s been a healthy scratch the last two games after showing up late to a team meeting two weeks ago, and some have questioned if he has a long-term future with the team.
Khalil Shakir has served as Buffalo’s No.1 wideout the last two seasons, and while he posted 76 catches and 821 yards last season, he’s clearly more of a solid No. 2 than a team’s go-to option.
Bills Make Splashy WR Addition
GettyWR Brandin Cooks is reportedly signing with the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday
The Bills reportedly were scouring the trade market for a WR upgrade ahead of the Nov. 4 trade deadline.
They inquired about Miami Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle, former Las Vegas Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers, and New Orleans Saints duo Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed, who was traded to the Seattle Seahawks, but they struck out on every deal they tried to execute.
But on Tuesday, the Bills made their move and ended up with a former saints receiver after all, signing former 1,000-yard wideout Brandin Cooks, who was released byt the Saints last week.
“Former #Saints WR Brandin Cooks, now a free agent after he cleared waivers, has signed with the #Bills. A new weapon for Josh Allen,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote on X.
The 32-year-old Cooks had just 19 catches on 25 targets for 165 yards in 10 games with the Saints this season before his release.
Cooks has six 1,000-yard seasons, and five seasons with 80 or more catches under his belt. He’s a solid upgrade over the rest of Buffalo’s WR room, which includes Coleman, Joshua Palmer, Tyrell Shavers, Elijah Moore, and Curtis Samuel.
Sean McDermott Puts WRs on Notice
Cooks isn’t the only notable WR addition Buffalo has had recently.
Because of the collective underwhelming performance of the team’s pass-catchers, the Bills recently signed former Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl champion Mecole Hardman.
“Excited about [adding him],” McDermott said when asked by reporters what Hardman brings to the team. “You look at position flexibility, he brings some of that, and the speed element is real, having gone against him. He hasn’t played in a little bit of time here, so we gotta take it one day at a time, albeit, but I’m really interested in seeing how he is gonna help us.”
Some argue adding Hardman and Cooks this late is a desperate ploy by Buffalo. But McDermott revealed he looks at it as trying to find the correct pieces to a puzzle.
“It’s about as many guys as we can get that can help us,” McDermott stated. “And, iron sharpens iron. So, one guy has one skill set, the other guy has another skill set, and we piece it all together week-to-week to put a winning combination out there.”
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