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The Buffalo Bills are less than two weeks away from the start of training camp at St. John Fisher University. It’s a point in the summer that felt like it’d never come, simply due to a massive change in the coaching sphere at One Bills Drive. While new head coach Joe Brady is familiar,
it’s anyone’s guess how his system will evolve as the head man.
The prior near-decade under Sean McDermott gave Bills Mafia plenty to chew on in the offseason, reflecting on the prior campaign and how it fit a longstanding narrative — and what needed to happen in the coming season. Now, the team has half hit the reset button, and that means we have to wait patiently before seeing what’s new.
We’ve spent time in recent weeks discussing Buffalo’s position groups, asking Rumblers which areas are most intriguing and where the bigger concerns are roster wide. This time we want to know who you believe is primed to take control of the Bills’ starting WR3 role in 2026.
Buffalo has a long list of names in the wide receivers room, but several of them don’t fit the poll’s ask. We know that wide receivers DJ Moore and Khalil Shakir are set to play the WR and WR2 roles, respectively. Others in the room are reasonably expected to play reserve and special teams roles much further down the depth chart.
We also know that any conversation about wide receiver carries a sidebar about the tight end room. That’s for good reason, as tight end Dalton Kincaid will certainly be a featured part of the passing game.
But what about three-receiver sets? If not for a severe ACL injury during the playoffs this past January, it’s possible that this could have included Tyrell Shavers in a four-man battle to win the starting role. Even if Shavers is fast-tracked to return late in the summer, it’s likely he begins the season on the PUP list.
That leaves us with three names to consider for the starting WR3 job: Skyler Bell, Keon Coleman, and Joshua Palmer. Bills fans think they know what to expect from Coleman, and many are ready to move on. That’s short-sighted, however, as his career has been anything other than defined at this point. Is year three his time to shine?
Then there’s Palmer, who signed a lucrative free-agent contract in 2025. He was too often hurt and uninvolved for many peoples’ preferences, and he was eventually lost for the season. Will 2026 be a different story, with Palmer set to show everyone why the team made him a priority in free agency?
The receiver in this equation we know the least about it Skyler Bell. There’s college tape of his to watch, but we don’t truly understand how he fits into Brady’s system. He enters the NFL with a profile not too dissimilar from Shakir, but to this point he hasn’t shown to have Shakir’s elite hands (and he tends to body catch).
It’s a trio of guys who have a lot to prove in the coming weeks. There’s also the possibility Buffalo could bring back Brandin Cooks, and who knows if running back James Cook III is set to take on a more featured role as a receiver. But for now, we’ll focus on the three most likely options in the wide receivers room.
So who do you believe wins the Bills’ starting WR3 role in 2026? Vote now!
