The Buffalo Bills revamped their receiving corps this offseason. Often, that means that we should expect numerous new faces; however, in this case, the Bills really just added two pieces who are expected to contribute. That might not sound like much, but given the failures of Buffalo’s receivers in 2025, it could be just enough.
That’s not to say that the Bills didn’t add receivers last season. They just added the wrong players—or at least players whose contributions were vastly underwhelming.
In today’s
edition of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss a 2025 signee who is currently living squarely in “Bust” territory. _____________________________________________________________________________
Name: Joshua Palmer
Number: 5
Position: WR
Height/Weight: 6’1” 210 lbs.
Age: 26 (27 on 9/22/2026)
Experience/Draft: 6; selected by the Los Angeles Chargers in the third round (No. 77 overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft
College: Tennessee
Acquired: Signed with Buffalo on 3/13/2025
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Palmer enters the second year of his three-year, $36 million contract. If he’s on the 53-man roster, he carries a cap hit of $11.75 million, which is the fifth-highest total on Buffalo’s roster. If he’s released, Buffalo will carry a dead cap charge of $14.24 million for the season. If he’s traded, Buffalo will carry a $1.6 million dead cap hit this year and a $4.8 million dead cap hit in 2027. Asa vested veteran, Palmer’s $9.66 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the roster Week One.
2025 Recap: Palmer came over from the Chargers last season, and he was immediately expected to slot in as either the second or third wideout in Buffalo’s passing attack, with Khalil Shakir the clear top receiver. Instead, Palmer was a nonfactor for much of the season. The initial returns were solid, as he caught five passes for 61 yards on nine targets in Buffalo’s season-opening 41-40 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. That was the high-water mark, however, as he did not catch more than two passes in a game for the rest of the season. In the first quarter of Buffalo’s Week Six tilt against the Atlanta Falcons, it looked like Palmer might have a coming-out party, as he caught two passes for 60 yards. However, he injured his knee and his ankle on the same play, which caused him to miss the next three games. When he returned, he was still limited by the injuries, and he missed two more games as a result. Faced with roster decisions and mounting injuries at the receiver position, Buffalo placed Palmer on injured reserve ahead of the postseason, ending his season before he could appear in a playoff game. He finished his disappointing campaign with just 22 receptions for 303 yards on 37 targets. All of those totals were career-lows.
Positional outlook: Palmer is one of 14 wideouts on the current roster. Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, DJ Moore, Skyler Bell, Mac Dalena, Mecole Hardman Jr., Ja’Mori Maclin, Jalen Virgil, Trent Sherfield, Tyrell Shaver, Stephen Gosnell, Max Tomczak, and Quentin Skinner are the others.
2026 Offseason: Palmer was still rehabbing his injuries at the start of offseason work, but he was a full participant during minicamp. He is healthy now. He did not have surgery to repair his injuries, choosing rest and rehabilitation over surgery.
2026 Season outlook: It’s easy to say that injuries caused Palmer’s season to be a dud last year, but that’s an oversimplification. He was a nonfactor for much of the year even before he was hurt, and while we can debate whether the Bills mismanaged his injuries by not putting him on injured reserve after that Monday Night Football loss to the Falcons, what we do know is that he was not terribly useful for Buffalo’s offense. Add in the fact that his cap hit is the fifth-highest on the team, and we have all the makings of an abysmal contract.
Nothing about Palmer’s play—not his time in college with Tennessee or his performance with the Chargers—suggested that he should be paid like a top-50 wideout in the NFL, but his contract has him at WR42 right now. That’s a pretty huge miss on the part of general manager Brandon Beane. One good thing to come from that contract was Beane realizing that he needed to add receiving help this offseason, so the Bills went out and traded for a legitimate stud in DJ Moore. We can argue about whether that was an overpay another time.
Palmer is likely to be on the Bills’ roster this season. I don’t think they’ll eat the huge dead cap hit by releasing him, and I’d be very surprised if they found a trade partner given Palmer’s horrendous 2025 showing. Allocating top-five cap dollars to someone who’s probably fighting, at best, to be WR3 isn’t ideal, but it’s legitty for the Bills this season. Hopefully, Palmer can bounce back and be a meaningful contributor to a revamped Bills’ passing offense. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s used in a far more niche role this season, especially if Coleman and Bell can beat him out for snaps.
Palmer averaged 46 catches, 572 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns per year with the Chargers. If he can approach those numbers this season, it will be a win for the Bills. I’m not a gambler, but I’d bet the under on all three of those totals, though. Palmer is not someone I’m counting on as a big contributor this season, though I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong.
