Worst Bills Receiving Corps of All-Time
A lot of discussion has been going on this season regarding the Buffalo Bills and their receiving corps. Replacing an elite receiver like Stefon Diggs will always be difficult, but the Bills made it harder on themselves by not acquiring a player of his caliber. The current group of receiving options has been mediocre at best, leading to unrest amongst fans. With the current crop of receivers in mind, the idea of the all-time worst receiving corps in team history came to fruition. The criteria for the list is receiving corps, not just wide receivers, so tight ends and running backs are added into the equation. Also, though this is an “all-time” list, the first season under consideration is 1978, the first season where five quarterbacks threw for at least 3,000 yards.
5. 2024 Receiving Corps
Though it’s not even halfway through the season and the group can change, it’s the worst group in a long time. Khalil Shakir has proven to be reliable, but that’s about it. Rookie Keon Coleman and Mack Hollins have drop issues and Curtis Samuel as well as Marquez Valdes-Scantling have been completely ineffective. The only reason they’re not higher on the list is that they appear to have talent, but players like Samuel and Dalton Kincaid just aren’t performing. A trade for a receiver like Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, or Diontae Johnson could very well be on the horizon.
4. 2012 Receiving Corps
It can be argued that the 2013 group deserves a spot instead of the corps from the year before. After all, Scott Chandler, the leading receiver in 2013, had 655 receiving yards compared to Stevie Johnson, who had 1,046 in 2012. However, the 2013 group had more overall talent; rookies Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin would go on to have successful seasons with better quarterback play for the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, respectively. According to PFF, Johnson had 11 drops in 2012, proving that while he was great at getting open, Johnson wasn’t always the most reliable target. Outside of Johnson was Chandler, who had a solid year with over 500 yards, but was never considered a serious threat in the offense. The other top receiver was Donald Jones, catching the ball 41 times for 443 yards and four touchdowns, all career-highs.
3. 1984 Receiving Corps
This blast from the past saw Byron Franklin, Preston Dennard, and Tony Hunter as the top three weapons. None of them started more than 10 career games following that abysmal 1984 season, leaving Joe Ferguson out to dry during his last season as in Buffalo. 1983 wasn’t much better with running back Joe Cribbs as the leading receiver with 57 receptions for 524 yards and seven receiving touchdowns, but at least the team had Jerry Butler and Frank Lewis on the team. Both Butler and Lewis earned Pro Bowls in previous seasons; Butler earned one in 1980 with 57 receptions for 832 yards and six touchdowns and Lewis in 1981 with 70 receptions for 1,244 yards and four touchdowns. However, Lewis retired after 13 years, Butler missed the entire ‘84 season with a knee injury and Cribbs left to play in the USFL over a contract dispute. On the bright side, after that 2-14 season, the Bills drafted Bruce Smith with the first-overall pick in 1985 and then Andre Reed in the fourth round.
2. 2017 Receiving Corps
It was an absolute miracle that Buffalo broke their playoff drought with this flock of inept wide receivers. LeSean McCoy led all players with 59 receptions, Charles Clay led in receiving yards with 558 and Andre Holmes led in receiving touchdowns with three. One would think that the Bills completely forgot that the wide receiver position existed, but no, they just whiffed on every possible option. They drafted Zay Jones with the fifth pick in the second round, who couldn’t catch a cold on a rainy day. In the offseason, they acquired Holmes in free agency and Jordan Matthews via trade; neither eclipsed 300 receiving yards. In the middle of the season, they signed Deonte Thompson and traded for Kelvin Benjamin; those mediocre wideouts became de facto starters for the whole second half of the season.
1. 2018 Receiving Corps
This was just the 2017 corps except they were older and worse. With 30-year-old McCoy and 29-year-old Clay on the decline, rookie Josh Allen was left without his safety valves and forced to throw the ball to one of the most unreliable groups of wide receivers in recent memory. Jones’ 2018 season would go down as his best season as a Bill, but the team saw no future in him as an elite wide receiver. Benjamin, showing no effort and constantly dropping passes, was released by the Bills in December along with Holmes. Allen only found hope in fellow rookie Robert Foster, who recorded 25 receptions for 511 yards and three touchdowns through Weeks 10-16. After 2018, Foster was signed on seven different teams and only had a total of five receptions for 101 yards.
