‘We’ll get it done:’ The Buffalo Bills enter the great unknown at wide receiver

Stefon Diggs is gone. The Buffalo Bills drove the position in a completely new direction. A ballsy decision for a Super Bowl contender. Will it work? The new crew does not hold back.

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ICYMI:

• David Long Jr., and the beast within

• 'Undeniable:' Christian Kirk will attack this defining moment

There was zero need for the Buffalo Bills to give into Stefon Diggs’ demands. The team’s No. 1 wide receiver, the alpha who helped a good team believe it can be great, made it clear to the organization that he wanted a one-way ticket out of town. But anyone in life can want something. GM Brandon Beane could’ve informed Diggs the ink was only two years dry on his contract extension so, you know, too damn bad.

Call his bluff. Dare Diggs to miss paychecks.

This point was raised to Beane in our 1 on 1 because it’s hard to envision a Kobe-wired competitor boycotting NFL Sundays. Since then, two other contenders dug in. Both the San Francisco 49ers (Brandon Aiyuk) and Cincinnati Bengals (Tee Higgins) refused to budge and both wideouts begrudgingly reported to training camp. To those teams, chasing a Super Bowl — right now — supersedes the risk of camp drama, phantom hamstring pulls and locker-room fissures. They’ve made the calculation that dealing a talented wide receiver for a second-round pick is too damaging in the short-term surge of a Lombardi.

Trumpeting “transition,” Beane and head coach Sean McDermott instead chose to avoid potential headaches entirely by maintaining an open line of communication with agent Adisa Bakari and dealing Diggs to the Houston Texans. The player with the two most prolific receiving seasons in team history was delivered to a fellow AFC contender.

With the remaining years of his contract voided, Diggs has every incentive to go ham in 2024.

Many diehards sticking “Allen/Diggs” campaign signs in their lawns the last four years now label Diggs a malignant tumor who needed to be removed ASAP. The truth’s somewhere in the middle. Beane alluded to a list of “pros” and “cons” in our chat and it doesn’t take telepathic powers to see those bullet points in the GM’s “pro” column. The reasons to move on were both big and small.

• Money. The Bills wanted to gain financial breathing room in 2024, and beyond. Eating all of Diggs’ money in ’24 gives the Bills the chance to shop again in ’25. All while money at the position skyrockets into a new stratosphere. Hell, Christian Kirk is underpaid now.

• Scheme. Under new offensive coordinator Joe Brady, with a nudge from the head coach, the philosophy on offense is shifting.

• Playoff performance. Whereas Aiyuk’s circus catch off a cornerback’s helmet sparked a 17-point, second-half comeback win in the NFC Championship Game, Diggs dropped a 55-yard bomb in his bread basket from Josh Allen.

• Team psychology/chemistry. Crushing playoff losses take a toll. That core ran its course. As Beane told us: “You’re not walking out there with 53 guys with the same scars.” In going younger and removing such a loud, gesticulating presence, the Bills create a leadership vacuum for someone else’s voice to emerge. (Hello, Allen.)

Yet, with Josh Allen, in the QB’s prime, the pressure to win in the present should always run red-hot. There’s no telling how many realistic runs at a title you’ll get. Yet, with Josh Allen, no offense should flirt too much with power-rushing X’s and O’s. Wide receivers who make defensive backs quiver in fear should be prioritized. The game is rigged in their favor.

Out is the recipient of the Minneapolis Miracle thumping his chest, embarrassing DBs with Irish-jig footwork, screaming “I’m Him!” Out is the energy source who injected a long-suffering organization with overdue swagger.

In is a hodgepodge crew forcing oddsmakers, opponents and most everyone outside of Western New York reason to say “Yeah, but…” when it comes to the 2024 Buffalo Bills’ title hopes. The masses are fading on these Bills, and the receivers are the No. 1 reason why.

But they sure do not view themselves as knockoff brands.

WR to WR, confidence bursts.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling believes he has played with three of the best quarterbacks in this era: Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and, now, Allen. Receivers across the NFL would obviously sell their souls for such an arrangement but MVS would like to point out that such good fortune is mutual, thank you very much.

“I’ve helped them elevate their games in different facets,” says Valdes-Scantling. “I helped Aaron win a couple MVPs. I helped Pat win MVP, a couple Super Bowls. My resume speaks for itself, too. Ain’t a one-way thing, man. I put up some big numbers with these guys. Made some big plays for these guys. It all works out on both ends. And it’s not a fluke. It’s happened everywhere.”

You may still be cackling at Chase Claypool claiming he’s a top-3 receiver on a podcast two years ago. Since then, he was dumped by the Chicago Bears for a seventh-round pick, released by the Miami Dolphins and signed by the Bills with only $25,000 guaranteed.

Claypool is not budging. The take holds.

“Do I think I could be there one day? Absolutely. I still believe that,” Claypool says. “If I didn't believe that, how would I work each and every day? Am I going to work to make the team or am I going to work to try to be the best in the league? I still believe I can be there, just like every receiver in the NFL should always think he could be the best.”

Mack Hollins hates cats, which obviously speaks to high intelligence. OC Joe Brady calls the free spirit walking around St. John Fisher College in bare feet “one of my favorite people I’ve ever met.”

The Bills didn’t confine themselves to the thrift store, either, ponying up for Curtis Samuel at $24 million over three years. Samuel describes himself as “dynamic,” expects to line up everywhere, and says he’s “focused now more than ever to be who I want to be.” As Diggs evaporated from gameplans last December, Khalil Shakir emerged. His game-clinching TD vs. Pittsburgh in the wild card alone — shucking off Minkah Fitzpatrick, juking Mykal Walker — was a promising harbinger of what’s to come. And of course, there’s Keon Coleman in his puffy yellow jacket pretending to catch touchdowns in the same stadium one day after being drafted.

This is a ballsy approach.

The Bills hit reset at a premium position.

Their bet? A highly-driven group that rolls five or six deep is more valuable than the five-star No. 1. These are the chosen ones Buffalo believes can string together those four straight playoff wins. They weren’t afraid to send a driven Diggs to C.J. Stroud and Houston, nor did Beane flinch in trading the Kansas City Chiefs the draft pick that netted Xavier Worthy. For good measure? Gabe Davis, a wideout they discovered/drafted/developed, signed with another AFC foil.

Wide receivers coach Adam Henry grasps the stakes. If anyone knows the value of an eccentric, electric No. 1 wide receiver, it’s the guy who coached Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry and calls the ex-Bill Diggs “a dog” and “a special talent” who’ll be difficult to replace.

“But we got some guys,” Henry says. “We’ll get it done.”

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On the verge of camp, Henry stands inside the team’s fieldhouse. The same practice field Diggs used to elevate the team’s intensity to Code Red. He’d go full maniac mode, in a good way. His first receivers coach didn’t hold back. Chad Hall called Diggs “your alpha” and “your damn dog,” adding: “He’s tough as shit. He’s mean as shit. I’m a military guy and I’d want him in my foxhole.”

Henry had the same experience his lone season with Diggs in 2023. To him, the WR1 was “all in.” It wasn’t enough to verbalize advice. Diggs pulled teammates aside, 1 on 1, to physically show them how to run a particular route or break a stem.

Intangibles, the coach admits, that cannot be replaced.

But he doesn’t view the mission to replace Diggs as scary, as gargantuan. The veteran assistant looks and sounds sincerely thrilled to work with a blank canvas. He wants to give orders and let the players take it from there. “Peer inspiration,” he calls it. Then again, this room is objectively different than anything he’s had in a decade as an NFL wide receivers coach. The Bills do not have one obvious go-to wide receiver. Tight end Dalton Kincaid could easily lead the team in targets.

Henry is repeating five words to his wide receivers: “Straight talk is straight understanding.”  

That is, he’s informing each one individually what they can bring this Bills offense.

“If you’re fast, run fast,” Henry says. “If you catch everything, I expect you to catch everything. If you’re a route runner, then I expect you to get open all the time. So don’t try to be someone else. I believe that as a unit collectively, we have a lot of pieces that can do a lot of things and we can use those strengths. And so actually for me, it’s about playing a bunch of guys. … I’ve always prided myself on having depth and being able play a bunch of guys to get the job done.”

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On Day 1 of training camp, head coach Sean McDermott likened the group to silverware in a kitchen drawer. The Bills dealt Diggs knowing they’d need to select a certified “X” in the draft. The choice was Florida State’s Coleman, thee of 6-foot-3, 213-pound size… yet 4.59 speed. One-tenth of a second faster and the 21-year-old is likely drafted with the first wave of prospects in his class. The former hooper who averaged 33.5 points per game at Opelousas Catholic in Louisiana (highlights here) and played briefly for Tom Izzo at Michigan State was clearly athletic. And physically tough. And a worker. Henry also had intimate knowledge of his Opelousas, Louisiana roots considering his own parents grew up in the area. There’s a toughness to everyone from this pocket of the country, he says.

Football IQ was obvious. Coleman struck Henry as a wideout capable of learning, unlearning and relearning gameplans each week.

He was left with one question: “Can he run our routes?” The Bills needed to determine whether or not that dreaded Four (gulp) Five (gulp) Nine was a fatal flaw. Today’s breakneck game pukes out the slow and sluggish.

Henry played a pivotal role in answering this crucial question as the man who put Coleman through the team’s private workout in Tallahassee. The Seminoles didn’t run certain routes the Bills rely on but, in the coach’s eyes, that never means a receiver can’t do it. All workout, Henry closely studied the wideout’s “flexion” — his ability to crouch and get his shoulders over his toes at the top of deeper routes. He left convinced that Coleman can both generate speed and waste a cornerback with those decisive cuts in and out of breaks.

Henry sees a wide receiver who will dictate the terms of the route and force cornerbacks to play at his tempo.

“Because there’s a form of releasing and stacking the guy and getting my shoulder in front of his shoulder,” he explains. “If I run 4.7, then that DB that runs 4.2, he runs 4.7 now, once I get behind him. So if you don’t have the technique to be able to win off the line of scrimmage and get behind him, it doesn’t matter. He’s going to control you.”

Henry believes the Coleman’s efficiency at the stem of a route matters more than a stopwatch readout, nor did he see DBs catching Coleman from behind on tape. There will be an adjustment. The playbook has evolved from Brian Daboll to Ken Dorsey to Joe Brady, but it’s likely still one of the most complex in the league. The Bills will try to sync up Coleman’s routes with Allen’s drops, but they also liked Coleman’s numbers on improvisational, second-reaction plays. (The QB’s bread ‘n butter.)

“Big throwing to big is a great thing,” Henry says. “I like little receivers, too. But big is always open.”

When it’s time to take a shot downfield, the Bills will turn elsewhere.

There’s a good chance Allen is heaving a deep ball to one player responsible for their own playoff exit last season.

The Bills were in swell shape against the Chiefs in the AFC divisional playoff round with one minute left in the third quarter. Leading 24-20, on second and 7, they had a Double A-gap blitzed called. One defensive stop, one more touchdown drive and they could slay their captor once and for all. Instead, Mahomes activated MJ mode, connecting with Valdes-Scantling for 32 yards down to the Bills’ 16-yard line. Three plays later, KC scored what proved to be the game-winner.

Months later, as a Bill, MVS admits he was never supposed to run that route. This play was designed for Travis Kelce, not the wideout who notoriously dropped a potential game-winning, 51-yard TD on Monday Night Football vs. Philly two months prior (amongst others) and angrily slammed his helmet in the tunnel. Not the player who had become such a whipping boy for the Chiefs’ offensive malaise.

On paper, his job was to run a deep corner to clear room for the team’s future Hall of Fame tight end.

MVS lined up inside. Kelce, outside. And the quirky alignment of edge rusher Von Miller changed the Chiefs’ plans. With Miller lined up “really, really wide” and cornerback Rasul Douglas in press coverage, Valdes-Scantling says he got “sandwiched” off the line of scrimmage. He didn’t have much room at all on his inside release. Knowing he still needed to get the hell out of dodge to clear room for Kelce, he looked up, ran toward a vacant part of the field and hoped Mahomes saw him.

The Bills sent those two blitzing linebackers.

MVS had a good 1 ½ steps on Micah Hyde.

“The rest is history,” he says, smiling.

To his point, MVS and Mahomes made each other look good.

The eventual Super Bowl MVP QB deftly avoided both rushers, stepped into the pocket and laced his deepest completion of the night to an improvising Valdes-Scantling. These are the smart plays it takes to win in the playoffs. The next week, MVS stuck a dagger in the Baltimore Ravens with 2:19 left. On third and 9, he got behind the Ravens’ ballyhooed secondary for a 32-yarder that punched the Chiefs’ Super Bowl ticket.

In the Super Bowl, he then caught a touchdown.

The MVS Experience is a wild ride. (Ask Packers fans.) But in both respects — playoff performance + raw speed — he was viewed as the piece Buffalo needs to fit their jigsaw puzzle together. Valdes-Scantling had several offers but admits he was in no rush to sign with a team through March and April. He waited until after the draft.

“Quarterback is a necessity,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that I had one that could be up to par with those guys and still had the opportunity to win.”

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When Valdes-Scantling hung out with Brady and Allen at the QB’s Orchard Park home on his free-agent visit, football was barely discussed. He calls Brady “a Florida guy,” like him. Mostly, he loved how both the quarterback and coordinator viewed life and decided to sign the dotted line the next morning. Both backup QB Shane Buechele (an ex-Chief) and Douglas (an ex-Packer) supplied valuable intel on the Bills. The decision was easy.

Buffalo’s influx of youth makes sense. But in a loaded AFC, they couldn’t go full expansion team around Allen. A seven-year vet who has averaged 17 yards per reception while playing in 11 playoff games, is a bargain at $2.25 million.

A target of death threats through drops in Green Bay and KC, Valdes-Scantling has further calloused himself since we chatted in March 2021 at Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, Fla. Now, he wins the mental game. All of it is rooted in what he witnessed as a kid in St. Petersburg — stabbings, shootings, murder. Valdes-Scantling shared several stories that day, including the time he heard gunfire break out in a parking lot, took off in a sprint, hurdled a bush, dove behind a car and prayed as the bullets sprayed. Many friends are dead. Many are in prison for life. As he said: “One wrong decision and my whole life is different.”

Rodgers and Mahomes are demanding. His $17.98 million in earnings was on the minds of Chiefs fans. A drop on MNF followed by mean tweets, followed by any daytime-TV venom isn’t going to rattle him.

He feels more hardened than ever.

“I’ve been through real stuff in real life,” Valdes-Scantling says. “Obviously, everybody has to make somebody the scapegoat and obviously I was the highest-paid wideout in that room and they wanted a higher production — as did I. So, they’re not wrong for the expectations and I wanted that for myself and obviously things didn’t work out the way that we wanted them to, but I just kept my head down and kept playing and when the things needed to happen, it was always my number that got called.”

All players vow to ignore “the noise,” before then searching their name online. Valdes-Scantling insists he stuck his head last season.

“Those people are unhappy with themselves,” he says. “I appreciate the fans that are invested and want to see us win. But you don’t have to be a shitty human to say that you want the team to win. Nobody can ever tell me anything about myself that I haven’t already told myself.”

One downside to the Bills’ a la carte gamble at wide receiver could be that each receiver becomes too niche, that opposing coordinators will know the specific strengths of each utensil in that kitchen drawer.

When No. 81 is on the field, they’ll fear the deep ball. Back up.

MVS smirks.

“Just because you know the route’s coming doesn’t mean you’ll be able to stop it,” Valdes-Scantling says. “That’s the good thing about this sport. It doesn’t matter what you know. If you can’t figure out how to stop it, it doesn’t matter.”

He plans on giving this Bills insight into the Chiefs. Each playoff game between these two teams was decided by inches. One confidential scouting report on a corner, a receiver, anything could prove to be the difference if the teams meet again in January.

There’s no Davante Adams at wide receiver or Kelce at tight end. This room’s unlike any he’s joined.

But this vet sees one advantage: “A lot of guys who just want to go out and prove a name for themselves.”

The holdover is Shakir. The 6-footer out of Boise State drafted 148th overall is the only Bills wideout who has ever caught a pass from Allen in a game — 39 for 611 yards last season. After seeing only five targets through the first six games, he had at least four in nine games. The quarterback’s trust in Shakir increased as Diggs’ usage dwindled. Brady emphasized on Thursday that he doesn’t want Shakir trying to be anybody but himself.

The explosive-play quotient won’t fall completely on the shoulders of Valdes-Scantling, either.

Henry cites Samuel as another weapon capable of blowing the top off a defense. He’s a running back by trade, averaging 15.8 yards per carry as the Gatorade Player of the Year in 2013 and cutting back for a double-overtime game-winner for Ohio State vs. Michigan. Seven pro seasons in Carolina and Washington have been sullied by clumsy quarterback play and injuries, though the talent’s always been obvious. With Brady as his OC in 2020, Samuel eclipsed 1,000 total scrimmage yards.

Through two days, it’s obvious the team’s playcaller has big plans for Samuel. He’s been motioning plenty pre-snap, lining up everywhere and, on Thursday, supplied the best catch to date on an Allen missile up the seam.

Samuel might become the No. 1 wideout, not that he’s concerning himself with such a title.

“Come game day, everybody’s got to perform and whoever is playing well that game? That’s who they’re going to lean on,” Samuel says. “Our job as receivers is not to, ‘Oh, I’m trying to be the No. 1 guy!’ It’s about: ‘How can I be the best player I could possibly be to help this team move in the right direction?””

He “absolutely” had Super Bowl on the mind when signing.

Adds Samuel: “Expectations here are very high. I understand that. I’m just trying to just be a part of what they have.”

All groovy. All sensible. Beane’s correct to note that tight ends and running backs are allowed to catch the ball, too. After letting too many drafts pass by without loading up on cost-controlled assets for Allen, the GM rebounded with a tight end (Kincaid) and a wideout (Coleman) at the top of Buffalo’s last two drafts. Nor should instant fireworks be expected. Over the course of a 17-game marathon of a regular season, the Bills can afford a full month or two to work out kinks. But the bar shouldn’t be lowered. Anything less than a trip to New Orleans — with Peak Allen — is a missed opportunity. Not a banner to hang.

For this quest into the wideout wilderness to work, the Bills will need an unlikely development.

Perhaps that’s Coleman’s game somehow equaling his comedic timing by playoff time.

Or maybe it’s something more bizarre like, say, Chase Claypool getting the last laugh.

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The last time we heard from Claypool at Go Long, the Steeler was a legitimate rising star. That’s no hyperbole. His collection of physical gifts — 6 foot 4, 238 pounds, 4.42 speed, 80-inch wingspan — was similar to Calvin Johnson. (“It was never a 50-50 ball,” his QB at Notre Dame explained. “It was 90-10.”) Claypool was also a gust of fresh air in a society going soft, unafraid to offend. “I always say if the ‘Bad Boys,’ the Pistons, had social media in today’s world,” Claypool said then, “it’d be a world crisis. No one could handle that.” So, he continued to say whatever he wanted to say and ruffled feathers. This is now his fourth team and, possibly, his last chance.

Through OTAs and minicamp, he showed signs of life.

Claypool knows time’s running out and his opinion of himself has not changed. He welcomes the hate mail still trickling in from that Top 3 declaration.

“I love that shit. If anything, it’s keeping me relevant,” Claypool says. “I had two seasons where I didn’t really do too much and you would think that I’m f--king one of the top players just by the way they talk about me in terms of being in the media. And it’s a privilege to be in that situation — even if it is a lot of backlash — because that means at some point, along the way, something went well.”

Claypool agrees he hasn’t put it on tape. At the cost of a second-round pick, the Bears tried to pair the young wideout with Justin Fields. The trade backfired miserably. Claypool finished with 18 receptions and one touchdown in 10 games over two seasons.

What gives him conviction that his best days are still ahead is what nobody else saw.

Claypool doesn’t want to divulge too many details (yet), but claims the Bears forced him to play through an injury a few weeks after the trade.

“It was real bad. It was real bad,” Claypool repeats. “That shit set me back.”

Go on.

“Some of the craziest shit I’ve ever been a part of. Like, illegal. I know when I’m not the player I could be whether it’s physical hindrance or mental hindrance. That’s a part of the game, the mental performance. But if you’re physically injured, you can be mentally less confident in your ability because you’re injured and you know have to play through it.”

We can safely assume he’s referencing the right knee injury suffered in Week 13 of that 2022 season against. Green Bay. He missed two games, then returned for a pair of blowout losses to close a 3-14 season.

Claypool estimates he was at 40 percent upon returning. The soured relationship between team and player became toxic into the 2023 season, and he was shipped off to the Dolphins. Based off of his conversation with the team, Claypool thought he’d have a role in Mike McDaniel’s offense, but he understood why it never materialized. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle warranted 275 targets. His silver lining in South Florida was re-discovering a love for the sport. Claypool cherished his 102 special-teams snaps.

Driven to the fringes of the sport, he realized he’d rather be playing on a punt team than doing nothing at all.

Now, this is the best he’s ever felt physically.

Over time, he’s learned to lean into those jeers. Own it. Go full heel.

“After enough happens, you start to love that,” Claypool says. “Because you’re at the top of the pedestal and you have all these roses being thrown at you and life’s great. And then when shit doesn’t go well, and those roses turn into trash, at first it’s uncomfortable. You feel like you can’t do anything right. And then, you begin to really like having your back against the wall. I really love being in that position where ‘shit, if this is how it’s going to be, this is how it’s going to be.’ I love when people say I ‘can’t’ now. There was a transition period in which I was pissed that I would do one little thing, make a mistake, a human error, and then I would get thrown under the bus. But now, I love it.”

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When Brandon Beane traded out of the 28th pick, then out of the first round entirely, the man whose job it is to coach up these wide receivers wasn’t breaking a sweat.

“Cool, calm and collected,” Henry says.

At No. 33 overall, the Bills chose Coleman.

This assistant coach hasn’t only been coaching Pro Bowlers — he developed them back to their college days. He had both Beckham and Landry back at LSU. This day, his memory races back to those bloody bayou days. There’s always been more contact and more brawls at LSU football practices. Downright “brutal,” Henry confirms. On a defensive-minded team, Beckham was voted the offensive MVP and Landry the MVP of the entire team.

Henry’s point: the entire team respected players at a glamorous position.

Both needed to play with an element of grime. He isn’t forgetting that 2013 season in 2024.

He loves that this crew is full of belief.

“For us, we got to take on that same persona,” Henry says. “We’ve got to play with a chip and an edge. Toughness. We like toughness.”

Henry sees potential in everyone, from MVS (“wealth of experience”) to Hollins (“the enforcer”) to Samuel (“he’s the fast guy”) to his rookie out of Florida State.

Josh Allen will be empowered like never before with full autonomy to spread the ball around, week to week, and find the hot hand.

He won’t miss Diggs pining for more targets — and could become more boisterous himself as a leader — but he may miss Diggs if separation becomes a problem for Coleman. Or Valdes-Scantling drops a bomb in Week 12. Or Samuel gets dinged up. Remember, he’s had a machete in that kitchen drawer the last four years.

The Bills wide receivers still have a long way to go.

Good news is, not much matters for this team until playoff time.

That’s where Diggs was ultimately judged. That’s where this group will be judged.

“It is a challenge,” Henry says, “but for me to bring it together, I love things like this.”

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Our 1 on 1 with GM Brandon Beane, icymi:

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