When Did the WR Train Really Leave the Station?
When was the birth of the WR Train?
I’m sure Jeremy White has his own origin story. Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider. Bruce Wayne watches his parents get whacked in an alley. Jeremy probably saw Brandon Beane pass on a wide receiver one too many times and woke up the next morning wearing a conductor’s hat.
But for me—and maybe this will be shocking—the WR Train wasn’t born because I’m obsessed with wide receivers.
13 Seconds
That game changed the way I thought the Bills needed to build around Josh Allen. It gets forgotten, but Buffalo had the No. 1 defense in football in 2021, and when it mattered against Patrick Mahomes, it didn’t mean shit. They still got torched.
My mindset after that game was pretty simple: Fuck defense.
OK, maybe not literally. You still have to field 11 guys on that side of the ball. But if I’m building around Josh Allen, I’m pouring resources into making his life as easy as possible. Give me receivers. Give me weapons. Give me an offensive line. If we’re going to lose in January, I want to lose because Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow outscored us, not because Josh Allen ran out of people to throw the football to.
Instead, the Bills seemed to go the other way with chasing balance or more assets into defense.
Now the chart above does seem balanced for draft picks, trades, and new additions, but money is a different story. And yes, I understand it being phony money. So while fixing it has been an issue, I still go back to the end of the 2021 season…
Cole Beasley took a pretty significant step back in 2021 and was basically out of the league shortly after leaving Buffalo. Emmanuel Sanders was at the end of his career. And Buffalo’s answer was essentially to promote Gabe Davis into becoming its second-best pass catcher.
I hated it at the time.
Davis’ four-touchdown game against Kansas City became one of those performances that almost worked against the Bills long-term. Everyone fell in love with what he did that night ( Go ask Pat about his Mike Evans: 2.0 commentary), but one incredible playoff game didn’t automatically mean he was ready to become a legitimate No. 2 receiver for a Super Bowl contender.
And since then, it has never felt like the Bills have shown the commitment to wide receiver that I thought was necessary after 13 Seconds.
That’s really where the WR Train was born.
Because go through the playoff exits since then and while we can agree the defense was a major liability…tell me what position on offense has failed Josh Allen more.
The WR train.
Against Cincinnati following the 2022 season, the entire offense was terrible. Nobody could get open. You can believe the wrong-cleats story, the snow, the Reddit rumors, the offensive line excuses or whatever else you want. The bottom line was Buffalo couldn’t move the football when its season depended on it.
Then came Kansas City after the 2023 season.
Trent Sherfield—someone who should never have been in the position of deciding Buffalo’s season—couldn’t come down with two opportunities. Then Stefon Diggs dropped the deep ball from Allen that hit him in the hands.
Complete just ONE of those plays and maybe we’re talking about a completely different ending. Furthermore, in that game the Bills played very conservative and were all about running the ball on 1st and 10 and playing to not make mistakes because they were scared shitless of the Chiefs offense.
The next year, Josh Allen wins MVP and Buffalo gets another shot at Kansas City. What do I remember?
Third-and-7 and throwing a screen to Amari Cooper that went approximately two feet. And Buffalo’s leading wide receiver that night? Mack Hollins—a guy they originally brought in largely for his special-teams ability.
That’s insane when you really think about it. You’ve got the MVP of the league, you’re one game away from the Super Bowl, and your most productive wide receiver is Mack Hollins.
Then came last year.
Was it a catch? Was it not a catch?
You can make either case about the Brandin Cooks play. I’ve heard both sides enough that I’m not interested in relitigating it for the 9,000th time. My bigger takeaway is simpler: once again, with Buffalo’s season hanging in the balance, a Bills wide receiver couldn’t come down with the football.
That’s the part that sticks with me.
Different years. Different receivers. Different offensive coordinators. Different circumstances.
Same ending.
That’s why the WR Train has never really been about fantasy football numbers or wanting Josh Allen to have four All-Pro receivers. It’s about January. It’s about recognizing what repeatedly happens when Buffalo finally runs into the other elite teams in the AFC.
Eventually, Josh Allen needs someone else to make the play.
For too many years, Buffalo’s philosophy seemed to be that Allen could elevate whatever they put around him. And to his credit, he usually did.
But there’s a difference between asking your quarterback to elevate an offense in October and asking him to drag one to a Super Bowl in January.
That’s why the DJ Moore trade felt less like the culmination of some grand plan and more like an admission that something wasn’t working. It felt desperate because, frankly, Buffalo had reached the point where it needed to be desperate.
So as we preview the 2026 Bills wide receivers, that’s the question I’m starting with:
Did the Bills finally build a wide receiver room capable of helping Josh Allen win the biggest games or are we eventually going to find ourselves sitting here in January talking about another play somebody couldn’t make?
So, Is This Finally the WR Room?
For all my bitching about the Bills’ handling of wide receiver since 13 Seconds, I will give them this: the 2026 room at least looks different.
DJ Moore and Khalil Shakir are at the top, while Keon Coleman and Josh Palmer are fighting for significant roles behind them.
DJ Moore — The Actual Investment
This is the guy who changes the conversation.
For years, my biggest complaint was that the Bills kept trying to find WR answers without really making a major investment in one. Moore is different. Buffalo traded for a legitimate NFL receiver with a long track record of producing despite spending most of his career playing with quarterbacks nowhere near Josh Allen’s level.
Moore had a down year in Chicago last season with 50 catches for 682 yards and six touchdowns. But this is also someone with 8,213 career receiving yards, five career 1,000-yard seasons and a career average of 13.5 yards per reception. Even during his down 2025 season, he produced 12 catches of 20-plus yards. (Pro Football Reference)
That’s what I’m interested in here. I’m not asking Moore to catch 110 passes. I’m asking him to be the guy Buffalo hasn’t really had since Diggs left: someone a defense actually has to worry about outside.
What I want: 1,000 yards and, more importantly, someone Josh Allen can look toward on third-and-8 in January without me having to say, “Why the fuck is Trent Sherfield out there?”
Khalil Shakir —Make them pay
Until this season…Shakir is like the Derek Roy of the Bills. You love him as your 3rd center with Drury/Briere ahead of him, but once they leave, you need more but the GM has already said he’s a top 20 center which he doesn’t need. Wait. I’m still in hockey land.
Anyways, he’s a nice Alfred. But he shouldn’t be Batman. He’s right now where he should be on the pecking order as there should be less pressure on him and he should get open more with Moore on the outside.
Last season: 72 catches, 719 yards on 95 targets, meaning Allen completed nearly 76% of his passes when targeting him. Shakir also forced seven missed tackles and produced a ridiculous 541 yards after the catch, or 7.5 YAC per reception. (Pro Football Reference)
That means roughly 75% of his receiving yardage came after the catch.
And then he was arguably Buffalo’s most dependable receiver in the playoffs: 19 catches on 21 targets for 157 yards in two games. He added 113 yards after the catch. (Pro Football Reference)
He’s not Diggs. He’s not going to suddenly become Ja’Marr Chase.
But Shakir does something extremely valuable: He catches the ball.
What I want: Basically more of the same, except I’d like to see Buffalo find ways to get him involved farther downfield. His average depth of target last season was only 3.7 yards. He’s too good with the football to have his entire existence be screens and underneath stuff.
Keon Coleman — We’re Out of Excuses
Coleman finished 2025 with 38 catches for 404 yards and four touchdowns. He caught 64.4% of his 59 targets and averaged 10.6 yards per reception. (Pro Football Reference)
The advanced numbers aren’t particularly exciting either.
His average depth of target was a healthy 11.1 yards, but he generated only 2.3 yards after catch per reception and had three drops on 59 targets. (Pro Football Reference)
I’ll give Coleman credit…He didn’t say much of anything after Terry Pegula kind of threw him under the bus during the McDermott firing presser. I’m not gonna get too deep on his maturity issues of being on time because to be honest, I think there are tons of players who are good who don’t give zero fucks about arriving on the time. The problem is Coleman isn’t one of those good players and it gets magnified.
Coleman doesn’t need to become WR2 anymore. Moore’s arrival removes that pressure. But that also eliminates some excuses.
If Moore draws attention and Shakir is creating underneath, Coleman should have opportunities against second- and third-level coverage players.
What I want: Become a dependable NFL receiver. I don’t even need 1,000 yards. Give me 500-600 yards, win contested catches, become a red-zone problem and make defenses regret putting their third-best coverage option on you.
Josh Palmer — What Exactly Is He?
I’ll admit Palmer confuses me a little.
Buffalo clearly liked him enough to bring him in, but last year didn’t exactly scream long-term answer.
He played 12 games and finished with 22 catches for 303 yards on only 37 targets. The interesting part is how Buffalo used him: his average depth of target was 11.5 yards, and he averaged 11.3 yards before the catch per reception. (Pro Football Reference)
So this wasn’t another Shakir-type underneath receiver. Palmer was being asked to work downfield.
I don’t think Buffalo needs Palmer to be a star. If Moore and Shakir are Nos. 1 and 2, Palmer being a dependable rotational receiver who can stretch the field and punish favorable matchups is perfectly fine. It would also help if he stays healthy.
What I want: Make the catches you’re supposed to make. If you’re WR4 and Allen hits you with a chance to extend a drive in January, catch the fucking ball.
That’s really where my standards are at this point.
Skyler Bell —Not counting on him yet
Buffalo used a fourth-round pick on Bell after he caught 101 passes for 1,278 yards and 13 touchdowns in his final college season at UConn. I’m not expecting him to walk into the NFL and become Puka Nacua.
But Take swings drafting WRs!
The Bills spent too many years acting like receiver was a position where they could patch together veterans and hope Allen elevated everybody. Drafting receivers gives you cheap opportunities to find someone who becomes much more valuable than his contract.
What I want: Give me something on special teams, 1-2 gadget plays per game on jet sweeps, reveres, or hook and laterals, and give me enough offensively that by December we’re wondering why he isn’t getting more snaps.
The Number That Still Bothers Me
Here’s probably the stat that sums up why I’m still sitting on the WR Train.
Last season Khalil Shakir led Bills wide receivers with 719 yards.
After him?
Keon Coleman: 404.
Josh Palmer: 303.
Tyrell Shavers: 245.
Gabe Davis: 129.
Brandin Cooks: 114.
Since Diggs left in 2024, the Bills are one of 8 teams that haven’t had a 1000 yard Wide receiver.
Josh Allen won MVP the year before and remained one of the best quarterbacks on Earth, yet Buffalo still spent another season without anything resembling a dominant outside receiving threat.
That’s why DJ Moore matters so much.
I need January answers.
When it’s third-and-8 against Kansas City, who wins?
When a defensive coordinator decides he’s taking Shakir away underneath, who punishes him?
When Allen escapes pressure and launches one 40 yards downfield with the season hanging in the balance, who comes down with the fucking football?
Because that’s ultimately what the WR Train has always been about.
Not September.
January.
Buffalo Viral Moments of the Week: Stadium edition
WGRZ posted a story about Bills tickets at the new Highmark Stadium reaching some pretty insane prices on the secondary market.
And this is where I think we’re being a little misleading with ticket prices.
Yes, the prices listed right now are ridiculous. The secondary market is basically the only option for many fans without PSLs, so there’s obviously going to be demand for the first season in a brand-new stadium.
But a resale listing isn’t the team sale.
I can put my Bills ticket online tomorrow for a billion dollars. That doesn’t mean Bills tickets are now worth a billion dollars. It means I’m shooting my shot and hoping some lunatic hits “buy.”
This happens with scalping every year. Sellers start high because there’s absolutely no reason for them not to. And this year you can throw the NEW STADIUM TAX on top of everything. It’s the first season, people want to see the place, capacity is smaller and sellers know there’s curiosity around it.
I guarantee these prices come down.
And I don’t care if the Bills start 7-0 or 0-7. Obviously winning will affect demand, but as we get closer to individual games, sellers eventually have to decide whether they actually want to sell the ticket or eat it.
That’s when the market tells us what these tickets are really worth.
So show me the completed sales, not somebody asking $2,000 for a seat in August.
Because there’s a gigantic difference between “Bills tickets are selling for $2,000” and “someone would really like you to pay $2,000 for their Bills ticket.”
Those aren’t remotely the same story.
So apparently one of the reasons for some of the obstructed views at the new Highmark Stadium was a design choice: the Bills wanted fans on the concourse to still be able to watch the game instead of completely closing off the bowl.
You know what? That’s totally fine. I actually understand the idea.
But here’s my question:
Did anyone ask the season-ticket holders?
I’ve always had a theory that this stadium was mostly what Terry Pegula wanted. Maybe what Terry wanted happened to line up with what Bills fans wanted, but those are two very different things. I’ve never gotten the sense that the Bills went out of their way to ask the average season-ticket holder, “If we’re spending more than $2 billion on a new stadium, what do you actually want?”
That question has been bouncing around my head again after John Wawrow’s posts this past week.
The obstructed-view stuff is obviously the easiest thing to photograph and bitch about, but I think there’s a much more interesting question underneath it:
How much actual fan input went into designing this place?
Was there a large survey of season-ticket holders? Focus groups? Did fans get asked about sightlines, concourses, video boards, protection from the weather, seating, PSLs and what mattered most to them? Or did the organization decide what the new home of the Bills should be and then sell that vision to the fans?
Because if the Bills did extensive research and this is what fans told them they wanted, that’s one story. If they didn’t, that’s a completely different one.
Did the Bills or stadium designers hold focus groups with actual season ticket holders and say, “Would you rather have completely unobstructed seats, or would you be willing to sacrifice some sightlines so people standing on the concourse can watch the game?”
People may forget that this whole stadium project was outsourced to Legends, the Jerry Jones/Steinbrenner stadium company, and some other stadium company in KC. They have zero ties to the region from design to the people selling these seats. The only survey I remember was in like 2019 that anyone could have filled out and it was through a different company. Frankly, it shouldn’t have been a public survey. It should have just went to season ticket holders.
Maybe fans would’ve overwhelmingly chosen the open-concourse concept. Great. But if you’re going to defend an obstruction as a deliberate trade-off for the fan experience, it seems pretty important to know whether the fans paying for that trade-off were ever asked.
Since last Saturday, we’ve heard plenty from the Bills explaining why this is being overblown. Pete Guelli has responded by doing a conference call, stadium people have gone on WGR with the one guy saying the word “family” more times than Tony Soprano at a sit down. Plenty of Bills talking heads have blamed the evil national media for turning a molehill into Mount Everest, and even NFL Network came to stadium to do live remotes and wear the whacky blue collar jersey.
And maybe they’re right! Maybe this affects a tiny percentage of fans and getting both sides of the story nowadays can lead to just getting a fringe, hostile take. (see: political stories)
But there’s one pretty important question nobody seems interested in answering:
Were any of these fans misled when they bought their PSLs?
Joe DiBiase and Chris Parker have hinted on WGR that people they know with these seats feel like they were misled. And that’s really the story I want somebody to dig into. Is there an email or text exchange?
Maybe your response is buyer beware. Maybe these fans were naive thinking they were sitting down with another Bills fan helping them pick their seats instead of, essentially, a car salesman trying to close a deal. Maybe it is buyer’s remorse. Maybe I need to just shut up and ignore the 1% who aren’t happy. There’s been radio callers but who the fuck knows if those people are real PSL holders or just full of shit.
Channel 7 is the one local outlet I’ve seen actually interview with a fan of who feels he got duped. He said he didn’t know about the obstruction beforehand, but was still excited about the new stadium
That’s actually useful reporting because both things can be true: You can love the stadium and still be pissed that a railing is blocking part of the field.
They also did do a bigger follow up with someone else where the season was ticket holder didn’t know about it and his view was hideous.
I’m not sure why Channel 7 -with what appears like a skeleton crew based on cuts- is so far leading the pack on this. TBN had a Bills podcast where business reporter Mike Petro came on to discuss it, but most of his reporting was once again mostly from the Bills who told him obstructed view seats were released to those on the waiting list and were told they were obstructed.
I also got this tweet…
After Saturday’s preseason game, Matt Bove caught up with a bunch of fans in the concourse and they were all praising how great it was.
Fine. No argument, but where are the people who complain about obstruction?
Thad Brown and Caleb Carr from WROC in Rochester did the best job. On their YouTube postgame show after Saturday’s preseason game, the first segment was about how many obstructed seats there were at the stadium. Before the game, both went around the 400 level to get a better idea of the number and basically came up with 1,200 obstructed seats. They actually sat in the seats, which is something I wrote about last week how reporters needed to do this. Additionally, the show went to the people sitting in those seats to get their opinions. The segment went almost 15 minutes and was definitely informative.
As of this writing, there’s still plenty of time for reporters and news outlets to dig deeper into this story. On Saturday, I even saw CNN posting about the obstructed seats. Once something like this escapes the Buffalo sports bubble and becomes a national story, it’s not going away quietly and that helps explain why the Bills have been so aggressive in getting their version of events out there.
Maybe there really are only a small number of seats with serious issues. Maybe some of the complaints are being exaggerated on social media. Maybe reporters think preseason is a bigger deal and are placating to part of an audience that ONLY wants positive stories or they are doing their best to not rock the Bills boat.
But when a local reporter can walk around the 400 level and estimate roughly 1,200 obstructed seats, there are legitimate questions that deserve answers.
The Bills spent years selling this stadium as the next chapter for the franchise and its fans. Now that the doors are open, they don’t get to control the entire story about what’s behind them.
You can release statements. You can dispute the numbers. But you can’t PR spin your way around an obstructed view.
Stathead of the Week: 23, 7, 3
No, that’s not the combination to my luggage or whatever the seeds where that Terry Pegula mentioned at the firing of McDermott presse. Those are where the Bills ranked in allowing plays of 20+ yards rushing, total plays, and pass plays during the 2025 regular season.
It’s actually been somewhat hard to find truly bad Bills stats from the regular season. We all know the playoffs under Sean McDermott were a different story, but during the regular season, Buffalo’s defense did a lot of things well.
The big exception?
Stopping explosive runs.
The Bills gave up 51 total plays of 20+ yards, which ranked 23rd-most in the NFL. But how they got there is the interesting part.
Buffalo allowed just 38 passes of 20+ yards, the third-fewest in the league. Meanwhile, they surrendered 13 runs of 20+ yards, tied for the seventh-most.
So if you’re looking for a flaw in an otherwise pretty good regular-season defense, there it is: teams weren’t consistently bombing the Bills through the air. They were ripping off chunk plays on the ground.
Dad Shots
—You may be expecting some preseason content here. Well, go listen to Pat Moran’s Talking Buffalo podcast for that shit. I’m not talking about fake football unless somebody gets hurt—then I can bitch about it.
Otherwise, I’m taking absolutely nothing from these games. I don’t care who “flashed,” who’s “in the best shape of his life,” who dominated against a guy who’ll be selling insurance in three weeks, or even if Bills first teams looked good cause the playbook is more vanilla than a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Wake me up when the games count.
— Has anyone looked at what the Bills’ cap numbers are this season compared to next season? I’m the first person to say the salary cap is fake. You can restructure contracts, convert money into bonuses and keep kicking the can down the road.
Brandon Beane is going to have to be fucking Houdini with some of these contracts.
—I really don’t understand why Joe Brady wanted to play the starters in the preseason. Are they testing out the new stadium? Does the defense need more fine-tuning? Did they decide to play the starters so people can bitch about that instead of the stadium? Who the hell knows. But it’s kind of dumb and I don’t care that they won by like 30.
—Get ready for a lot of bitching about Joe Brady being coy about injuries. He won’t give timetables, and apparently he’s been talking to Lindy Ruff about the art of the “upper-body” and “lower-body” injury. That’ll change once the regular season starts, when NFL rules require teams to be more specific with injury designations and practice participation.
And really, we all know why.
Damon Wayans’ character, Jimmy Dix, says it while ranting about how gambling has affected pro football in The Last Boy Scout AKA: Die Hard 1.5
“They need the injury reports for the fucking gamblers!”
—Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith are awful. That’s all. Really excited to watch McAfee ball-wash the Bills during the Week 2 tilt before inevitably going through a table. [sarcasm]
—You gotta love how angry parts of the right get anytime someone criticizes Pat McAfee for cozying up to Donald Trump. McAfee was literally alongside Trump at the Patriot Games this week, greeted him when he arrived in Ohio and sat with him during the event. McAfee has since pushed back on some of the criticism he received.
And immediately the defense becomes:
“But what about Obama?” “What if McAfee did this with Biden?”
I don’t give a shit.
Criticize Obama. Criticize Biden. Criticize any politician you want. But this constant need to pretend every president is interchangeable with Trump is ridiculous. You can disagree about policies all day long, but Trump’s record—including his criminal convictions—is not erased because another president did something you didn’t like.
And I don’t even care that McAfee talked to Trump. Interview the president. Have him on the show. But when you’re one of the biggest personalities on ESPN and repeatedly insist you’re “not a politics person,” people are allowed to point out when what you’re doing starts looking a hell of a lot more like hanging out with a politician than interviewing one.
—OK…I’ll give you a preseason take. Tyler Bass is going to be an issue and my pitch fork is gonna be out if he stinks the first month of the season. And Walker looked great but it was against backups so put the lube away. Also, fuck you if think I’m counting the Josh Allen to Keon Coleman TD as the first TD at the new stadium. Like fight club…we don’t talk about preseason football.
—My garden is officially an epic failure.I started it in late May and it currently looks like complete shit. Remember those two cucumbers I proudly showed you guys a few weeks ago?
Dead.
The leaves are now more brown than green. I don’t know if I didn’t water enough, watered too much, planted the wrong shit or simply have no idea what I’m doing.
It is on life support.
—Nothing is more annoying than throwing your 40-pound toddler in the air 20 times, only for him to immediately scream, “MORE!” You tell him Daddy needs a break, and suddenly he has a complete emotional breakdown like you just ruined his childhood.
Meanwhile, I’m hunched over, gasping for air, wondering if there’s a toddler-parent exemption in the NFL’s PED policy.
I need some PEDs.
—I’ve complained enough about Andy. It’s time to complain about Baxter the cat. I love Baxter. He’s my first son. But this fucking cat has regressed so much since we had kids.
He wakes us up at 5 a.m. because he wants food. We give him food. Then he wants more food. He jumps on the kitchen table now, which we never allowed him to do before. Apparently Baxter has realized that enforcement of household rules has completely collapsed since we had children.
Then he’ll find some random piece of plastic and eat the shit out of it and barf 30 minutes later which we discover when we step in it. He’s always bitten me, but now he’ll do it while I’m standing in the kitchen just trying to make a sandwich. Like right on my ankles and it hurts.
And my personal favorite:
It’s 5 a.m. I’m exhausted and feeding Luke a bottle. Baxter decides this is the perfect time to take a tour of the bookcase behind me, attempting to climb all the way to the top while knocking shit over along the way. I’ve screamed at Baxter a lot lately. And then I feel terrible because I love the little prick.
I gotta be nicer to my first son.
—If you made it this far, thank you. I won’t be on Four-P’s podcast (Preseason propagandist Pandering Pat) on Monday, but I wanted to take a timeout and say that last week was the best traffic week I’ve ever had for the Substack. My three articles brought in more readers than ever, and I even received a few donations, which I really appreciate.
Please keep reading, sharing, and passing the Substack along to anyone you think might enjoy it. Every share helps more than you probably realize.
I hope you all have a fabulous week. And be sure to eat some peaches as they’re in season, and damn, they’re good.
Hahaha love Baxter!
You can choose to not count Keon’s TD as the first but I’ll take it over the Redskins’ Herb Mul-Key who ran the opening kickoff back to open Rich Stadium.
Speaking of Rich, when it opened in ‘73 much more fanfare was put on that preseason game then the regular season opener to the best of my knowledge. The fans got a “I was there” card and Pete Rozelle presented this silver plate to Ralph Wilson in a pregame ceremony.
Like you said the Lions game will get all the national attention, but I can’t shake the thought if you include the practices it’s like the 5th event at the stadium.