There have been plenty of questions surrounding the status of the Buffalo Bills wide receiver room – and not just the ones like “Do they have a deep threat receiver?” or “Who is actually WR1?”. The more pressing questions have been about health and who would actually be in uniform on opening night, after all, if “everybody eats” what happens when nobody can make it to the table?
I’m here to tell you that you can relax. It’s going to be okay. Yes, more than likely, one of Buffalo’s six wide receivers
on the 53-man roster will be inactive on Sunday, but they will be a healthy scratch.
Khalil Shakir suffered a high ankle sprain while the Bills were in training camp at St. John Fisher. He didn’t play a single snap of preseason ball, but neither did the guy who will be slinging him the football on Sunday night. The fourth-year wide receiver, who signed a contract extension this offseason, has been a full participant in practice this week. The videos of Shakir in a walking boot and on a bicycle have been replaced with ones of him running routes and catching passes.
Curtis Samuel seems to be fine as well. He hasn’t even been listed on the daily injury report this week. The nine-year veteran who is in his second season with the Bills didn’t practice much in August. The oft-injured Samuel – he missed two preseason games and four regular season games last season – struggled with a hamstring issue for the first three weeks of August this year. After returning to practice in a limited capacity before Buffalo’s final preseason game in Tampa Bay, he was sidelined with an illness. Then, according to head coach Sean McDermott, it was a personal issue that kept him out of practice last week. Now, however, he appears to be a full go for Sunday.
Keon Coleman, Buffalo’s first draft pick a year ago, missed time at the end of last season with a wrist injury. By all accounts, he had a strong camp this summer – although we saw very little of any of Buffalo’s starters during preseason, and, again, quarterback Josh Allen never took a snap. So, as fans, we’ve had no way to “evaluate” his improvements. I have been eager to watch him as the season starts to see if he’s made as big a leap as we’ve been told he has. But Wednesday, he ended the day with a limited practice designation due to a groin injury. The good news is that he practiced again on Thursday. Still limited, but better than not practicing at all. In fact, videos show him moving freely as he worked with the other receivers on Thursday. I would expect him to play Sunday as well, giving us the first true glimpse of the maturity offensive coordinator Joe Brady said he’s seen out of the now twenty-two-year-old.
Elijah Moore, who signed with the Bills this offseason after spending the first four years of his career split between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Brown, was missing from practice on Thursday. However, there’s no reason for concern as Buffalo has him listed as out with a personal issue.
Rounding out the Bills’ wide receiver room are Tyrell Shavers, who is starting his first season on the 53-man roster after spending the past two seasons on the practice squad, and Josh Palmer. While Palmer finished 2024 with a heel injury while a member of the Los Angeles Charger and then dealt with a groin injury in early August after signing with Buffalo, he hasn’t shown up on any injury reports this week.
So, now, the questions for Sean McDermott and Joe Brady are: Does one of the wide receivers not dress out on Sunday? And, if so, Who?
