The Buffalo Bills signed former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Brandin Cooks on Tuesday to the surprise of many observers. Cooks had requested his release after not being a large part of the New Orleans Saints’ offense so far in 2025, and the team had granted it a few months into a two-year, $13 million deal he signed with New Orleans in March.
It’s the latest in a series of moves at the position by the Bills in the recent weeks. The team benched 2024 second-round selection Keon Coleman, gave additional
playing time to undrafted free agent and former practice squad player Tyrell Shavers, and took advantage of a newly healthy Gabe Davis to inject some life into the passing attack. They also signed Mecole Hardman Jr., who was fielding double duty as a deep threat and return specialist before injury sent him to Injured Reserve.
These maneuvers are in addition to the rumored interest in wide receivers at the trade deadline, where the Bills were reported to be sniffing around Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle among other players at the position.
It comes just seven months after Bills general manager Brandon Beane famously stated that “bitching about wide receivers is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard” on WGR550 in Buffalo. Beane hasn’t been available for public comment since the trade deadline, leaving head coach Sean McDermott to explain that the Coleman benching was about being late to a team meeting (a recurring phenomenon since the Bills drafted the former Florida State receiver 33rd overall).
But if Coleman was playing well and had become an instrumental piece in Buffalo’s passing attack, would he have been a healthy scratch for two games in a season where the Bills are looking up at the suddenly resurgent New England Patriots in the division for the first time in the last six years?
Former Green Bay Packers vice president of player finance and general counsel Andrew Brandt coined the phrase “greater talent, greater tolerance” when it comes to disciplinary measures for NFL players. Coleman’s expendability due to tardiness highlights the bigger issue: the Bills are making moves to fix a situation they swore wasn’t an issue. The GM of the team scoffed at concern, and repeatedly pointed out the successes offensively of the 2024 Bills’ offense when insisting that the wide receiver room wasn’t an issue.
Actions speak louder than words, though. The Bills signing a 32-year-old wide receiver released from one of the worst passing offenses in the league in the middle of a season might be pawned off as another “we’re always trying to make the team better” move by the team, but it’s part of a set of transactions and shifts Buffalo has made in recent weeks that shows they don’t believe status quo is optimal.
The team chose this status quo, though.
The injury to free-agent signee Joshua Palmer is the only disruption the Bills have had in the wide receiver room so far this season, and for which they could be given some grace. All other outcomes are based on decisions the team made. Decisions they were vehemently and vocally defensive of. Decisions that haven’t panned out.
So every move made to improve the room and better-align the player archetypes in it with Josh Allen’s skill set and the optimal passing offense is appreciated.
They’re also moves made to put out a fire that the team started.
…and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan with Buffalo Rumblings. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @BruceExclusive and look for new episodes of “The Bruce Exclusive” every Thursday on the Rumblings Cast Network — see more in my LinkTree!
