As the Buffalo Bills and NFL move towards free agency and the draft, my position-by-position "State of the Bills" offseason series continues with a look at the wide receivers.
Because there are so many, I’ve divided this position up into two groups and write-ups. The first is those who are under contract for 2022. The pending free agents will be in a separate article on Tuesday:
Under contract:
- Stefon Diggs
- Cole Beasley
- Gabriel Davis
- Marquez Stevenson
- Isaiah Hodgins
- Tanner Gentry
Pending Free Agents:
- Isaiah McKenzie (UFA)
- Emmanuel Sanders (UFA)
- Jake Kumerow (UFA)
State of the position (under contract players):
After his incredible 2020 season, in which he led the league in both receptions and yards, Stefon Diggs didn’t put up the same monster totals, but he was still one of the top wideouts in the NFL. Diggs finished in the top-10 in both receptions (103) and yards (1,225). He actually surpassed his 2020 touchdown total going from eight to 10, which was tied for sixth-most in the league.
There’s no question Diggs is the No.1 receiver on this Bills team, but there is a question about his current contract and if the Bills or Diggs feel they need to re-work it.
The 28-year-old is under contract for two more seasons with a base salary of just over $12.5 million each year. He has a salary cap hit of roughly $18 million in each of the next two seasons. He’s still playing on the five-year deal he signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018, prior to being traded to the Bills two years later. That contract’s annual average value is $14.4 million, which ranked around 20th overall for all wideouts in the NFL last season. Considering a new group of free agents will get paid this offseason, that will drop him even further.
The time may be now to give Diggs an extension so that it doesn't become problematic, but also make sure they lock in one of the best receivers in the game for several more years, and have financial certainty as far as his number.
Speaking of contracts, that may be the deciding factor on whether or not Cole Beasley is part of the team in 2022.
Beasley matched his 2020 total of 82 catches, but they came with 274 fewer yards (from 967 to 693), dropping from 11.79 yards per-catch to a paltry 8.45, the lowest of his 10-year career, and 85th out of 87 qualifying wide receivers. He also fell from four touchdowns to just one in 2021.
Beasley battled through a rib injury through much of the season, but still played in 16 games, missing one due to COVID-19 protocols.
Beasley will be 33-years-old in April. He is scheduled to count for $7.6 million against the team’s salary cap next season. However, they can release him and save $6.1 million and take on a $1.5 million dead cap hit. That's quite a bit of money to save for a team that doesn't have much to spend in the first place.
Spotrac.com calculates the Bills as currently being $1.3 million over next year’s cap before any moves are made prior to the new league year.
Another option would be to restructure Beasley's contract by adding on a couple years to his deal, while lowering this year's cap number. But that would also be risky given his age and having more money tied up in him over the next couple of seasons. Or would he be willing to take a pay cut just to stay in Buffalo versus trying to get more elsewhere?
However it plays out, it will have a major impact on how the Bills go forward at the position this offseason.
For a second-straight year, Gabriel Davis had a slow start, but a terrific second half. He did have an ankle injury in the early part of the season, which may have hampered him, but there was a stark difference between his first eight games versus the rest of his season.
From Week 10 through the playoffs, a total of 10 games played, Davis collected 35 catches for 658 yards and averaged 18.8 yards per-reception, the second-most in the league over that time for any receiver with 10 or more catches. He also caught nine touchdown passes, the most of any player in that span.
Obviously his record-breaking four-touchdown, 201-yard performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round helped, but he’s now proven two years in a row he is not only a viable No. 2 receiver opposite to Diggs, but the Bill's best big-play wideout, as well.
Davis is going into the third year of his rookie contract. He’s still under team control and a huge bargain for his production, still making less than $1 million in base salary next season.
The 22-year-old will most likely take on an even bigger role in 2022, however, that’s what many people thought about this year, too. That never materialized until November, so nothing is guaranteed.
It will be interesting to see how new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey uses him, and how quickly he establishes himself as a full-time player, as opposed to one who was getting just 35-40% of offensive snaps until the final month of the regular season.
With that said, the organization has to feel very good about what their former fourth round pick has already done and what he will continue to do.
After getting injured during the preseason, Marquez Stevenson made the initial final 53-man roster but was immediately put on Injured Reserve. He did not come off I.R. until Week 12 when he took over for Isaiah McKenzie as the primary return man on Thanksgiving night against the New Orleans Saints.
From that game through the end of the regular season, Stevenson averaged 9.43 yards per-punt return, fifth-most in the league for any player with a minimum of 10 returns. However, he also had a costly fumble in a late season contest, which put him back on the bench.
Head coach Sean McDermott used veteran safety Micah Hyde as the team's main punt returner over both Stevenson and McKenzie for most of the latter part of the season.
Stevenson was inactive for both of the Bills' playoff games. He did not catch a pass on offense in the games in which he did play, only seeing six total snaps as an actual wide receiver.
Stevenson's nickname is “Speedy” for a reason. He has electrifying speed, showed off on the 79-yard punt return against the Chicago Bears during the preseason. That was the very play in which he got injured, and definitely showed flashes in his short stint in the regular season.
With a full year and entire offseason under his belt, I expect Stevenson to go into next training camp as the No. 1 returner, but given his and the team's inconsistencies in that area this season, I wouldn’t doubt they bring in more competition for the spot, as they usually do. That might even include re-signing McKenzie, who is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent.
After spending his entire rookie season on Injured Reserve, Isaiah Hodgins pushed for a roster spot through training camp. But with a talented wide receiver room, he never made it and was ultimately released and then re-signed to the practice squad, where he spent all of the season.
Hodgins was elevated for one contest and played four snaps, but did not catch a pass. He’ll be in the exact same situation again in 2022 after signing a Reserve/Future deal.
The 23-year-old is an intriguing prospect who can play both outside and in the slot, but it just hasn’t come together for him yet. Next camp could be his last chance.
Tanner Gentry also spent all of 2022 on the practice squad. He was never elevated for game action. Like Hodgins, he signed a Reserve/Future contract, which means Josh Allen’s former Wyoming teammate is scheduled to come to camp once again to battle for a spot.
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