The Buffalo Bills produced the second-highest scoring offense in the NFL without an alpha receiver. But how long can it last?
Right now, the Bills’ approach doesn’t seem to be a one-off. Buffalo added former Los Angeles Chargers receiver Joshua Palmer on a three-year, $29 million contract last week. And his addition seems to show the Bills are content with offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s “Everybody Eats” approach.
Palmer was solid but not spectacular in his four seasons with the Chargers, topping 500 yards in each of the last three seasons, with his career-high 72 receptions and 769 yards coming in 2022. But Palmer brings the ability to stretch the field and he also has the versatility the Bills covet.
Brady is seeking a receiver group that can be positionJoless at times. He wants pawns to move all over the field and that’s what he did a season ago. Khalil Shakir mostly plays in the slot, while Keon Coleman predominantly played outside as a rookie, but they aren’t locked in there on every play.
Palmer, meanwhile, is an upgrade from the departed Mack Hollins, who was the most positionless receiver (and played the most snaps) on the team. Hollins played out wide 414 times and was in the slot on 302, according to Pro Football Focus.
In Los Angeles, Palmer was mostly an outside receiver, but he still recorded more than 30% of his career snaps in the slot. And at 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, he gives the Bills a physical receiver with options.
“We look for that so that Joe can move these guys around,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. “(Palmer’s) a guy that we don’t get into the X and Z. We’ll put him all over. … I don’t think he’s hit his ceiling.”
Beane’s initial reaction to Palmer was that he is an excellent route-runner. Palmer learned under former Pro Bowler Keenan Allen, who was among the NFL’s best route-runners for a decade with the Chargers.
The Bills favored precision route-runners in the early part of Beane’s tenure in Buffalo, bringing in Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders. And like Beane said about Coleman during the draft last season, he feels Palmer plays faster than his 40-yard dash indicates.
Palmer ran a 4.52-second 40 at the 2021 NFL scouting combine, but ran 1.59 in his first 10 yards. Both numbers are comparable to Gabriel Davis, who was one of the league’s top deep threats in Buffalo.
After averaging under 8 yards before reception in his first two seasons, Palmer was over 10 the last two years. He averaged 15 yards per catch over the last two seasons and was targeted 15.2 yards downfield on average a year ago, while Coleman (15.2) and Amari Cooper (12.6) were the only Bills receivers to average over 12 last season.
“I take a lot of pride in being able to run the entire route tree,” Palmer said. “Being able to be outside and inside. The ability to stop, the ability to go deep, the ability to win in different situations. Being able to run a slant route, but do it in five different ways if I have to.”
Brady’s mixing and matching went to another level in the playoffs. Shakir went from playing 71.6% of his snaps in the slot during the regular season to 64.5% in the playoffs, while Hollins played outside 57.5% of the time during the regular season and 39.8% in the playoffs.
Palmer played his first three seasons with Allen and Mike Williams, so he is used to playing at various different positions. Palmer said that even if he didn’t play in the slot much during games, he practiced like was going to be there more often.
Having receivers that can move around put stress on a defense, especially one that likes to play man coverage, which the Bills saw more than any other team in the league last season. Defenses have to find players pre-snap or adjust matchups if an outside receiver lines up in the slot or vice versa.
“I play receiver,” Palmer said. “I try not to say that I play Z, X, F — I play receiver.”