Tyrell Shavers

A host of experienced players accompany Keon Coleman in the Bills’ wide receiver room. Joshua Palmer is a roster lock, and Elijah Moore — who has seen plenty of work in place of an injured Khalil Shakir this month — has been viewed as fairly safe. One other veteran does not appear to be on steady ground.

Once Shakir recovers from the high ankle sprain he suffered earlier this month, the recently extended receiver will reprise his role as Buffalo’s top slot option. Coleman and Palmer will join him as regulars, leaving questions about how the Bills round out their room. One player needing to make a late push appears to be Curtis Samuel, who has two seasons remaining on a three-year, $24MM deal. Further complicating the situation: Samuel’s 2025 base salary ($6.91MM) is guaranteed.

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But the Bills are not certain to keep the former second-round pick, The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia notes. Samuel battled back from a hamstring injury to log a full practice for the first time this week, per Buscaglia, who adds the eighth-year veteran’s lack of involvement on special teams complicates his path to a second Bills roster.

Buffalo has Laviska Shenault in place as a return option, with third-year UDFA Tyrell Shavers and low-cost free agency addition Kristian Wilkerson also in the mix for back-end roster spots. Shavers (three career games played) is among those who impressed in Samuel’s absence, Buscaglia adds.

Samuel, 29, did not impress much in his first Bills season; he caught 31 passes for 253 yards and one touchdown before adding two more TDs in the playoffs. Ex-Panthers old enough to have been in Charlotte under Brandon Beane and/or Sean McDermott have been popular commodities in Buffalo, as the Shaq Thompson addition reinforces, but Samuel’s guarantee is not locking him into another Bills plan just yet (the Panthers drafted Samuel during Beane’s final draft with the team; Samuel also overlapped with OC Joe Brady in Carolina).

If Buffalo were to cut Samuel, a lofty dead money hit ($8.64MM) would await this year. Another $3MM-plus would be part of Buffalo’s 2026 payroll, per OverTheCap, due to the post-June 1 timing of a release. Samuel also looms as a potential trade candidate, Buscaglia adds.

Considering the ex-Panthers and Commanders slot weapon’s inconsistency, the Bills would undoubtedly need to pay some of his base salary to facilitate a swap. Teams are looking, however, as the Jets and Vikings — and perhaps still the 49ers, even after their Skyy Moore acquisition — are among those on the hunt at receiver.

Shifting to the battle to back up Josh Allen, Buscaglia notes Mitch Trubisky holds a lead on Mike White. Outplaying White in the joint practice with the Bears, Trubisky winning the job would merely mean holding off a player who spent last season on Buffalo’s practice squad. But the Bills did extend White via his reserve/futures deal, giving the ex-Jets starter a chance to vie for the QB2 gig.

Neither Trubisky nor White impressed much in the Bears’ 38-0 win over the Bills last week, and determining a backup has not been a Bills issue — due to an Allen games-played streak that stretches back to his rookie year — in a while. But the former No. 2 overall pick, who is heading into his age-31 season, may be moving closer to hanging onto the job he held in 2024 (and before that in 2021). Trubisky has a $1MM salary guarantee and is tied to a $3.25MM cap number; White is at just $1.2MM on Buffalo’s cap.