The Bills need a wide receiver. Who could fit the void ahead of the NFL trade deadline?

The Bills entered the 2024 season, hoping their refresh of the receiver room would be enough to push them forward.

With slot receiver Khalil Shakir as the mainstay, the team added the quartet of rookie Keon Coleman, Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, hoping something would stick. While they have seen Shakir take a sizable step forward in his third year, along with some flashes from Coleman, the rest of the group has left much to be desired.

The Bills used their running game to their advantage in the first two weeks, which helped mask the wide receiver concerns. But the most recent two-game stretch puts a bullseye on the position. There has been a failure to separate, and worse yet, it’s placing franchise quarterback Josh Allen in more compromising positions to take big hits.

If the Bills want to push toward the Super Bowl in 2024, the receiver room likely cannot remain the same. Along with dedicating more snaps to Shakir and Coleman, a fresh face — and someone Allen can turn to in big moments — rapidly looks like a necessity.

There is still a little under one month until the NFL’s Nov. 5 trade deadline, but with one big name on the precipice of getting dealt, it’s time to take a full-scale look at names to monitor and how they would individually fit the Bills’ situation.

*Contract data from OverTheCap.com

Adams is atop the list because he’s likeliest to be on the move the soonest. According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Bills checked in, so there is at least some level of interest there. However, the Bills checking in is part of GM Brandon Beane’s usual operating procedure with players potentially on the market at positions of interest. The talent is easy to see, and he’d easily become Allen’s go-to receiver. Adams, 31, has the talent and skill set to fill either boundary role in the Bills’ scheme.

However, a few things stand in the way of this partnership. The first is cap space. The Bills have only $2.9 million in cap room, according to the most recent NFLPA daily report, and are also running short on contracts they can manufacture cap space with by converting high base salaries into prorated roster bonuses. If the Bills acquired Adams this week, he’d carry a cap hit of $12.28 million. They would need the Raiders to take on the majority of Adams’ cap hit, which would up the draft pick compensation cost, creating another problem.

The Bills going for someone like Adams would also be a slightly abnormal move for Beane, who usually prefers more than a one-year rental. Adams carries a non-guaranteed cap hit of $35 million in 2025, which likely means it’d be a short-term fix for the Bills.

Verdict: Adams would be a phenomenal on-field fit. You can never say never to a player with his talent. But there are legitimate hurdles the Bills would need to clear to make it go, and it could be too much to overcome for this to work out.

Cooper is a perfect fit from a cap perspective. The Browns brought Cooper’s base salary down to the veteran minimum in a cap-saving move, which, in turn, hikes up Cooper’s trade value. Of all the names listed, Cooper has the most conducive contract to trade for a player not on their rookie deal. However, one thing working against the 30-year-old heading to Buffalo is that his deal expires following the current season, meaning it would potentially be a high trade cost for just a few months.

Cooper may be more of an X-receiver in the Bills’ scheme, but he can transfer to the other boundary position due to his talent. With Hollins getting on-field time at Z-receiver despite being better suited to X, it shows the Bills are open to using a receiver this way if he has some speed to his game. They need someone with the ability to take over a game from the receiver position, and Cooper has shown he can put up some monster games with a high volume of targets. Cooper has been ineffective from a drop perspective and has five this year.

Still, over the previous four seasons, he averaged only five per season, so there’s likely some positive regression coming his way.

Verdict: Cooper isn’t a home run fit due to the draft pick cost for his contract, his expiring contract, plus the usual role he plays for a team. However, his talent and cap hit relative to the Bills’ current cap situation should place Cooper firmly on the radar in a potential trade scenario.

The Panthers are looking at yet another lost season, and even though they just traded for Johnson, 28, in the offseason, it might be more worthwhile for their build to move him and collect a young asset in the form of a draft pick. From an on-field perspective, he’s an electric route runner who gains ample separation while slotting in perfectly to meet the current need at Z receiver. His ability to win underneath is outstanding, and in a two-high shell-dominated NFL world, Johnson could be a target sponge with an elite quarterback.

The biggest thing standing in their way is Johnson being in the final year of his contract, along with having a higher cost due to his relatively young age compared to the other top receivers potentially on the market. There would be no guarantee of anything past 2024 if they did it, and that’s a slight risk for Beane and the current place of his roster.

However, they could look at it as a “try before you buy” situation to see how Johnson meshes with the room and, more importantly, Allen. Johnson’s cap hit is not prohibitive enough for them to rule it out, either. They can make it work. It all depends on trade cost and their willingness to take a slight risk with Johnson unsigned in 2025.

Verdict: Keep an eye on this one. Johnson has the type of talent to invest in and at an age where he has several in-prime years remaining. If they’re going for a one-year rental type, it’d be worth seeing how he fits in with the Bills and if it warrants a contract extension as a pillar player. He could be a star with Allen as his quarterback.

What if I told you that the other Raiders receiver has the most compelling case of the two from a Bills perspective? Although Adams is the flashier name, Meyers may be the best fit for what could benefit the Bills the most in the short term, along with satisfying Beane’s usual lean of deadline deals. Flat out, Meyers can separate and knows how to find open space against a defense. He’s never been a dazzling player, nor is he the first name people would think about for a potential receiver solution. But he’s just a good player with the skill set to thrive in an offense with Allen as his quarterback.

Meyers, 27,  would work most frequently at Z-receiver within the Bills’ offense, allowing Coleman to play his natural role at X receiver and keep Shakir at slot receiver. And what takes this fit from good to great is the financial feasibility of it all. If acquired ahead of the Jets game, Meyers would count only $3.4 million on the cap for the rest of 2024 due to proration. The Bills can find the minimal cap space they’d need to bring him on.

What takes the fit from great to excellent is that Meyers has another manageable season ($10.5 million) on his contract that the Bills could hang onto for 2025, which, as we saw with Rasul Douglas last year, Beane prefers in trades.

Verdict: If the Raiders are selling, Meyers is one of the best options out there that meets team need and cap concerns while being more than just a one-year rental.

At 32, Hopkins is easily the oldest player on the list of potential Bills targets. But he’s still got some game left. His route-running wins would fit in nicely with the duo of Coleman and Shakir while providing some much-needed guidance to a receiver room that has seen better days. The Bills might need the Titans to take a little bit of Hopkins’ contract to make it work, especially if they were to strike a deal sooner than later, but not a crazy amount compared to Adams or others that would drive up the draft pick cost.

Verdict: If the Bills were going to take a shot on an older receiver for a one-year rental, Hopkins is an excellent structural fit for the team. He also likely wouldn’t cost a great deal in pick compensation due to his age. While there are more desirable receivers who could factor into 2025 as well for the Bills, Hopkins could be an ideal fallback plan.

Kirk, 27, has been Trevor Lawrence’s go-to target in dire moments for years now. He can win with his route running underneath, and with his speed, he can even push down the field for longer targets. He could fit into the Z-receiver role he used to with the Cardinals, but Kirk has found a great NFL home working out of the slot most often, as it’s been where he’s at his most productive. Trading for Kirk would provide an interesting decision with him and Shakir. Of all the names on this list, Kirk’s cap hit is the second-highest.

Verdict: Kirk is a great player in the prime of his career, but he carries one of the largest cap hits of the trade targets, and has a bit too much crossover with where Shakir is at his best. That seems like an imperfect fit for the Bills at the moment.

The Broncos’ recent two-game winning streak pours some cold water on the idea of them moving out a player like Sutton. But even if they were open to the idea, Sutton has a skill set closer to Coleman than anyone else on this list. Coleman should be a player they invest more time in on the field, and bringing someone who could stand in the way of that would be unwise. Regardless, Sutton can be a presence in the red zone, and if they wanted to go with two contested catch profiles to beat smaller defensive backs that way, he’d be a compelling fit. He also has a low cap hit in 2024, which would drive up trade cost, and is signed in 2025, which Beane would like.

Verdict: Similar to Kirk with Shakir, Sutton’s role of duplicating Coleman’s more than you’d like becomes a big roadblock for a potential deal. The other contract-related peripherals are good, however.

Verdict: Doubs, 24, is young and has a favorable cap hit, though he’s mostly slotted into the X-receiver role with the Packers. It remains to be seen if he can flex over to Z-receiver, or if that would be something the Bills would want to do on the fly. He’s been a high-snap player but has failed to stand out consistently. He’s not a game-breaker, so he may not be as expensive as others. However, on the plus side, Doubs would be a great financial fit for the Bills as he’s on his rookie deal and still has another year remaining in 2025. The most significant challenge to a deal is that it would be odd for the contending Packers to give up on him.

Verdict: Beane’s close relationship with Giants GM Joe Schoen means the lines of communication are always open between the two sides. If the Giants fall out of contention and see an opportunity to grab a late-round pick for a player like Slayton who they may walk away from in the offseason anyway, that might be too good to pass up. Slayton, as he’s shown through his time in New York, can put up some big games every now and again. With a smaller cap hit too, Slayton would be a fallback option, but a good one at that.

(Photo of Davante Adams: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)