Buffalo Bills must address wide receiver position in 2019 draft

The Buffalo Bills have issues on offence and addressing their lack of depth at wide receiver should be a top priority in the 2019 NFL draft.

Kelvin Benjamin was released by the Buffalo Bills earlier this week, despite sitting second in total receiving yards on the team this season.

With the constant rotation at the quarterback position, the team’s receivers have had little success.

Now that Benjamin and Andre Holmes have been cut, the Bills must look to address a lack of real depth at the position during the 2019 draft.

Sean McDermott‘s team appears to have a real receiver threat emerging in the form of Zay Jones, with the second-year pro leading the team with 459 receiving yards and four touchdowns.

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With Josh Allen starting to finally settle into his role as the team’s starting quarterback, this should mean that Jones can continue to improve and establish himself as the team’s true number one out wide.

Meanwhile, the team is fairly thin at legitimate threats in the passing game, with the Bills currently ranked 31st in the league with an average of 164.6 yards per contest.

The Bills have a strong defence, currently leading the NFL in fewest passing yards allowed, as well as a stout running game (ranked 12th in yards per game) thanks to running back LeSean McCoy.

If McDermott and Brandon Beane hope to have the team compete regularly in the AFC East, more receiver options need to be looked at in the near future.

This does not necessarily mean the team should target a receiver with their first-round pick, however, with the team’s offensive line a likely area for improvement with the young Allen standing in the pocket.

The second day of the draft or even late on the first could see some top receiving talent remain available for the Bills to consider making a move for.

One such player is Oklahoma junior Marquise Brown, who is ranked highly among receivers, but could fall into the second day depending on other teams’ needs.

The Sooners have just claimed the Big 12 Championship and secured their place among the four CFB playoff teams.

Brown, meanwhile, has been a huge part of this team’s offence – hauling in 25 percent of their receiving touchdowns.

He has 75 receptions this season (averaging 101 yards per game and 17.6 per catch), 10 touchdowns and 1,318 yards – impressive numbers that should give the Bills pause for thought when considering the talent available next year.

The team appears quite happy to work with and develop young receivers and Brown could be a player well worth taking the draft gamble on – with very little help outside of Jones on the team’s current roster.

Free agency could be an area that the Bills choose to explore, but drafting a young guy who they can mould into their image would be a more sensible approach – with the hopes that he can develop in a similar way to Jones.

What do you think Bills fans? Would you like to see the team’s receiver corps improved at the draft? Let us know what other areas the team needs to work on moving forward.