Though the Buffalo Bills’ offense did enough to win 10 games throughout the 2019 NFL season, to say that the unit was good would be a bit too generous.
Buffalo finished the campaign with the league’s eighth-worst offensive unit, averaging a total of just 330.2 yards per game. The grouping struggled to consistently move the ball through the air, with its 201.8 passing yards per game besting the weekly average of just six other teams.
While the Bills’ lack of success in the passing game can be partially attributed to quarterback Josh Allen’s lack of polish, it can also be attributed to his lack of weapons. Though John Brown and Cole Beasley shined in their debut seasons in Buffalo, combining for 1,838 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, that’s where the receiving corps’ production started and stopped.
Isaiah McKenzie finished the season as the team’s third-most productive wide receiver, totaling 254 – yes, 254 – receiving yards.
As Buffalo enters the 2020 offseason, it’s clear that it needs a true No. 1 weapon, a player who can become the centerpiece of its offense.
According to Bleacher Report, Alshon Jeffery may be a perfect fit.
In a recent article in which he described “ideal offseason trade scenario[s]” for each NFL team, B/R identified the Bills as a realistic suitor for the 29-year-old wideout, who he feels the Philadelphia Eagles may look to move this offseason:
The process [to revamp the offense] began a year ago when general manager Brandon Beane revamped the offensive line and signed free-agent wide receivers John Brown and Cole Beasley. These moves helped lead the team to a playoff appearance, but they didn’t quite go far enough, particularly at wide receiver . . .
. . . The Philadelphia Eagles somehow thrived during their latest playoff run despite being down to three healthy wide receivers, a couple of which came from the practice squad. That’s not the way to build a roster, of course. But circumstances showed the offense doesn’t require big-dollar receivers on the outside to win, which makes Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson expendable.
Buffalo has more than enough to absorb Jeffery’s $9.9 million base salary and complete its skill positions.
Though Jeffery certainly wouldn’t be a poor addition to a receiving corps that is in desperate need of a proven primary producer, whether or not Jeffery is still a ‘proven primary producer’ is debatable.
He hasn’t bested the 1,000-receiving yard plateau since 2014. Though he’s been impactful throughout his three years in Philadelphia, tallying an average of 707 receiving yards per season with the Eagles, he’s only appeared in all 16 games for the team once.
He missed the first three weeks of the 2018 season following offseason surgery. He missed six regular-season games throughout the 2019 campaign, including the final three and the postseason with a hip injury.
While Jeffery has still been relatively productive, his recent injury history is certainly a cause for concern.
Combine that with his upcoming $9.9 million cap hit, and you have a recipe that may give some teams pause while looking at a potential trade.
Buffalo could afford to take on Jeffery’s contract, as its set to enter the offseason with north of $80 million in cap space, according to OverTheCap.
But devoting an eighth of that cap space to a borderline injury-prone wide receiver who will be 30 years of age when the 2020 season commences does not seem incredibly intelligent.
Should Buffalo ultimately acquire the wideout, its Week 1 receiving corps in 2020 would be likely headlined by Jeffery, Brown, and Beasley – all of whom would be at least 30 years old.
Acquiring Jeffery would certainly push wide receiver down on the team’s list of needs entering the 2020 NFL Draft, but it wouldn’t eliminate it entirely. The Bills’ receiving corps would go from untalented to aging, in need of a young, developmental option that the team could look to pick up as early as day two.
Though there are certainly a bevy of reasons as to why Buffalo should be cautious should it choose to pursue Jeffery, a quick eye-test suggests that he could be a valuable addition.
He’s perhaps exactly what the Bills’ offense is in need of – a big-bodied wide receiver who is not afraid to go up and get the football. Though he’s soon to be on the wrong side of 30, and his injury history is certainly concerning, it’s hard to make an argument against adding talent.
Jeffery would immediately become the most talented wide receiver on Buffalo’s roster.
Bleacher Report suggests fourth-and-sixth round draft picks as compensation for Jeffery. Should the Bills acquire the former Pro Bowler for a handful of day three picks, even with his laundry list of potential hiccups – it’d be hard to be upset.
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