Buffalo needs a top pass catcher.
Bills predicted to trade for $68 million wide receiver after Khalil Shakir injury originally appeared on The Sporting News
The Buffalo Bills were just hit with some added uncertainty over the weekend. Star wide receiver Khalil Shakir has been announced as "week-to-week" with a high ankle sprain.
Better in August then December, but it's still not ideal. Buffalo's receiving corps is a bit unsettled behind Shakir, with the likes of Keon Coleman, Elijah Moore and Josh Palmer all competing to prove they belong.
There is one path out there that would allow the Bills to move someone right to the front of the line. The Athletic suggests that Buffalo could trade for Terry McLaurin.
McLaurin is entering the final year of his three-year, $68 million deal with the Commanders, and he has requested a trade amid difficult contract negotiations.
He's coming off a season with 1,096 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns, and he'd immediately become Josh Allen's top outside receiver.
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The Athletic's proposed package sends WR Curtis Samuel and a 2026 fifth-round pick for McLaurin.
"The Bills could certainly use a legitimate No. 1 receiver, but as of right now, only if the right situation arises," The Athletic's Joe Buscaglia writes. "McLaurin is a perfect fit for Josh Allen, though McLaurin’s need for a new deal with a cap-strapped team casts some doubt on the pairing. If the Bills could move Samuel’s $6.9 million in guaranteed base salary, along with a Day 3 pick for someone like McLaurin, I could see them talking themselves into it. Samuel, at least, could give the Commanders a player they could start in the interim. Considering McLaurin’s age and that the Bills would need to give him a new contract, that creates some leverage. The Bills could conceivably make room for a new deal on their cap with the excavated Samuel cap hit in 2025, using some previously untapped contract restructures, along with backloading McLaurin’s new deal since they can structure it however they want. However, the presence of Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer, and wanting to see what they have in them for a year, may discourage the Bills from even getting involved."
The problem here appears mostly to be that Samuel may not be a good enough return.
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It'd be a tough deal for both sides. Buffalo doesn't have a ton of room to deal from, and there's also not a ton of cap space to work with once McLaurin shows up.
And Washington would almost certainly want more than Samuel and a fifth, but if McLaurin keeps holding out, he could back them into a bit of a corner.
This isn't the most likely of proposals, but maybe it's a starting point. It does make the case that Buffalo could use a true outside WR1, and they don't come available all that often. It's probably at least worth making a phone call to the Commanders about McLaurin.
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