Bills’ top target may have slipped through their fingers with explosive ESPN prediction heading into free agency
Not the news Bills Mafia was hoping to hear.
The Buffalo Bills need to get some better weapons for quarterback Josh Allen; that much is for certain. They can’t trot out the same old receiving corps they had last season and expect different results. Head coach Joe Brady said he was happy with his guys’ performance, but we all know the team needs to upgrade at the receiver position. It was that bad at points during 2025.
When wide receiver Keon Coleman is haphazardly running routes and seeing himself benched for disciplinary reasons, and the team trots out players like Mecole Hardman and Curtis Samuel in hopes of making an impact in one of the biggest games of the season, you know things have gotten bad.
Buffalo has spent some serious cash over the years to bring in some middle-of-the-pack veterans, and none of them have really panned out. I’m staring at you, Samuel and Josh Palmer.
Nevertheless, ESPN released an article talking about all things free agency, and Buffalo was listed as a potential landing spot for wide receivers Rashid Shaheed and Romeo Doubs. The article also outlined that one of the biggest fish Buffalo was hoping to catch, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce, will be outside of the team’s salary cap range.
“Rival teams expect Buffalo to strongly address wide receiver in the coming weeks. And multiple league executives are linking Rashid Shaheed or Romeo Doubs to the Bills. Alec Pierce will most likely be out of their price range.” — Dan Graziano
Alec Pierce to Buffalo might’ve gotten priced out
Pierce is estimated, according to Over The Cap, to be valued at about $18.6 million a season, but that number is only growing by the minute. When you take into consideration that the Bills are currently negative $6 million in available space, it makes a deal for Pierce seem nearly impossible.
That’s why Graziano reported that it was much more likely the Bills would take a swing to try and land either Doubs or Shaheed once free agency begins.
Shaheed is coming off a monster season where he saw himself get traded to the Seattle Seahawks and bring home the Lombardi Trophy. The Swiss-army-knife player can return punts and kicks at a high clip, all while snagging home the deep ball that’s been missing from Buffalo for years, or so it seems.
Adding that serious vertical threat would immediately boost the offense. Shaheed finished his 2025 season with 59 receptions for 687 yards and two touchdowns.
As for Doubs, he’s had an up-and-down career with the Green Bay Packers and is looking for a new home. The Packers could theoretically hit Doubs with the franchise tag, but that would cost them around $27.2 million, so it’s much more likely he hits the open market. Fortunately for Green Bay, the Packers are log-jammed at wide receiver, and Doubs has become expendable.
Doubs is coming off his best year, totalling 85 receptions for 724 yards and six touchdowns with 13.2 yards per catch.
Neither Doubs nor Shaheed is the flashy, headline-grabbing name some fans were dreaming about, but both would immediately raise the floor and the ceiling of this offense. That’s what matters.
Allen doesn’t need another “maybe.” He needs reliability and separation, and someone who can win when it matters most.
If Buffalo is serious about getting over the hump in 2026, this can’t be another offseason of bargain-bin optimism and hoping someone “breaks out.” Whether it’s Doubs, Shaheed, or someone else entirely, the message needs to be clear. The days of patchwork at wide receiver have to be over.
Because wasting another prime year of Allen isn’t an option.
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