The fifth wide receiver job is starting to heat up and should be one of the focal points heading into the preseason finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Heading into training camp, it appeared the Buffalo Bills had a firm grasp on their top five receivers — Keon Coleman, Elijah Moore, Joshua Palmer, Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir. Any other receiver would have to impress enough for the Bills to keep six.
But Samuel hasn’t practiced in full since July 28. Moore missed a week with a leg ailment, Palmer has battled a groin injury and Shakir is out with a high ankle sprain. The door is now open for someone else to creep into the role.
Should the Bills only keep five receivers — something they have done the last two seasons — the battle seems to have been whittled down to Moore, Tyrell Shavers and Kristian Wilkerson, while Laviska Shenault Jr. is hovering. Coleman, Palmer and Shakir are the top-three, while Samuel carries a $12.085 million dead cap hit and is owed $6.91 million in guaranteed money — in other words: he’s not getting cut.
Moore had a flashy spring, but it hasn’t carried into the summer. He’s easily had the most productive career of the three and has been consistent during his four NFL seasons.
But Moore hasn’t stood out during camp and had a rough outing in Buffalo’s 38-0 loss to the Chicago Bears. Moore did beat nickelback Terrell Smith, baiting him into biting on a slant, only to cut outside on an out.
It’s the type of play Moore has made throughout his career. But quarterback Mike White’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and didn’t get anywhere close enough.
That was the biggest positive for Moore during the game. He dropped a screen pass in the first quarter and it was a play that was set up perfectly, with a chance for a first-down yardage and more.
Later in the game, Moore dropped a crossing route. White’s pass was a little late, but Moore still dropped it upon arrival.
Shavers had perhaps the best offensive play of the game, beating cornerback Nick McCloud on a beautiful back-shoulder fade from White that resulted in a 22-yard gain. Late in the second quarter, Shavers showed superb footwork in beating Jeremiah Walker off the snap, sending the cornerback in scramble mode.
Shavers was open down the right sideline, but he looked back for the ball too early and throttled down just enough for White to overthrow him. In the third quarter, Shavers got Walker to bite again.
He ran upfield, selling a deep ball. But Shavers quickly pumped the brakes and snagged an easy 7-yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky.
Wilkerson, meanwhile, made the longest gain of the day for the Bills. Like Shavers, Wilkerson sold a go route and then slammed on the brakes. It caused Smith to do the same, his foot snagged on the turf and he went down with an injury, while Wilkerson caught a 25-yard pass with room to run afterwards.
Whoever gets the final receiver spot is likely going to do so because of special teams play. It would be un-Sean McDermott-like to dress five receivers who don’t cover kicks and punts and Moore doesn’t do either.
They have tried Moore as a returner, but that’s a new endeavor for him. Meanwhile, Shavers and Wilkerson can both play kickoff, kick return, punt and punt return and could fall into the Mack Hollins/Jake Kumerow/Andre Holmes role.
Wilkerson can play all three receiver spots and has a pair of 20-yard grabs during the preseason, but has six career catches in just nine career games since entering the league in 2020. He’s playing for his fifth team during that time and there’s a reason he hasn’t been able to stick.
Shavers, meanwhile, is the darling of training camp for the second consecutive season. He seemed like a good bet to make the team last year, but didn’t. And when the Bills needed a receiver midseason, they signed Jalen Virgil off the practice squad instead.
The difference this season is Shavers has four catches for 99 yards in the first two preseason games, compared to four for 28 in three preseason games last year. Moore has gotten more of the first-team reps, with Wilkerson second.
Buffalo has also tried Shenault as a returner and on kick coverage. His main skill is kick returns, but he doesn’t have experience returning punts and doesn’t offer much as a receiver.
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After impressing in his preseason debut, second-round defensive tackle T.J. Sanders struggled at times against the Bears.
Sanders played 3-technique (outside shoulder of the guard) or wider on 29 of his 30 snaps. But he struggled with handling combination blocks, with the Bills allowing 30 yards and a touchdown on seven attempts.
He was pancaked by right guard Luke Newman and right tackle Ozzy Trapilo on a 4-yard run by Brittain Brown in the first quarter. And the same duo caved him in on Brown’s 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Sanders was drafted to be a penetrator, but there are times when his job is to hold his ground and eat up blockers. But he can’t get knocked backwards like he’s on roller skates, which is what happened on a few occasions, including a one-on-one block by Newman that helped spring Brown for an 8-yard run.
There were some good aspects of the game, though. He made two plays in which he beat his man, pursued the running back to the opposite side of the field and made a tackle for a minimal gain.
He also took his revenge on Newman, helping collapse the pocket on quarterback Tyson Bagent in the second quarter. He also blew up left guard Jordan McFadden, sending him into the backfield.
Bagent couldn’t step up in the pocket and his throw was errant. Sanders did get lucky to avoid a roughing the passer call after hitting Bagent in the hand with his hand.
Sanders is still adjusting to the NFL and one game isn’t a cause for concern, especially since he hasn’t been manhandled all training camp. Fourth-round pick Deone Walker also had a solid outing, but both players will have to learn not to overpursue on runs.
Third-round pick Landon Jackson hasn’t played up to his draft slot. An offsides call negated a Jordan Hancock interception against the Giants and he was whistled for roughing the passer call against the Bears.