The Buffalo Bills stayed quiet at the trade deadline because of this.
The Buffalo Bills were widely expected to add a wide receiver at the NFL trade deadline, but instead, they sat and watched as players like Jakobi Meyers and Rashid Shaheed were moved to fellow contenders. The Bills didn't make a single trade.
Considering Buffalo's obvious need for wide receiver help, the lack of activity is certainly frustrating, but Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic thinks that the Bills may feel they already have an internal solution.
"I suppose they’re hoping that Joshua Palmer is the answer to all their problems when he returns from his injury. Maybe with a touch of Gabe Davis, who is still trying to get all the way back from his long-term knee injury last season," Buscaglia wrote. "Though it rings a bit hollow given that we’ve seen that version of the Bills offense to this point, and Palmer has been more of a bit player than not. It just feels like the Bills are content to ride out this horizontal passing attack, with their running game being the most vertical aspect to their offense, and hope for a chunk play from their tight ends here or there."
Buffalo Bills receiver Joshua Palmer. Credit: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.Here's the problem, though: Palmer played in six of the Bills' first eight games. He has only missed the last couple of weeks, so it's not like he has been sidelined all season and Buffalo doesn't know what it can get from him.
In fact, Palmer has managed just 14 catches for 234 yards this year. It's a decent efficiency rate, but let's remember that the 26-year-old has never even recorded 800 yards in any individual campaign and finished with under 600 yards with the Los Angeles Chargers the last two seasons.
As for Davis? At least he has plenty of familiarity with Josh Allen, as he has spent his first four NFL seasons in Buffalo before taking a one-year detour with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024 (well, it was supposed to be three years, but the Jaguars cut him).
Davis also boasts a lifetime average of 16.2 yards per catch, so we know that he is a vertical threat.
But the fact that the Bills didn't seem to make a strong effort to nab another wide out before the deadline and appear rather comfortable with their current setup is concerning.
Buffalo doesn't have anything close to resembling a No. 1 receiver, so Bills fans have every right to be annoyed after such an uneventful trade deadline.
Buffalo is 6-2 and will face the Miami Dolphins this Sunday.