91 Buffalo Bills players in 91 days: WR Justin Shorter

It’s no secret that the Buffalo Bills have traded away their wide receiver group this offseason. Gone are 2023 mainstays Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, as is return specialist Deonte Harty. The Bills have a host of new faces and, as a result, there are plenty of targets to hit.

Diggs and Davis combined for 241 targets, 152 receptions, 1,929 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns last season. That’s a lot of production up for grabs, and while the Bills certainly have a young, hungry group that’s ready to step up and deliver, they have a lot of question marks at wide receiver.

On today’s edition of “91 Players in 91 Days,” we discuss a young player who was a preseason darling in 2023. He’s someone many fans are hoping can make the cut. sneak onto the roster and become a legitimate threat.

Name: Justin shorter

Number: 18

Position: W.R.

Size weight: 6’4″, 223 pounds

Age: 24 (25 on 04/17/2025)

Experience/Project: 2; selected by the Bills in the fifth round (No. 150 overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft

College: Florida

Acquired: Fifth round draft pick

Financial situation (by Spotrac): Shorter is entering the second year of his rookie contract, a four-year contract worth a total of $4,163,948. For the 2024 season, Shorter has a cap hit of $875,987 if he makes the team. The Bills will carry a $242,961 flat fee if he is released.

2023 summary: Shorter has been productive in the preseason for the Bills, and he’s been one of the most impressive targets in exhibition games. He saw 11 targets, catching six passes for 66 yards and a score. He was tied for the team lead in receptions and yards during the preseason, and he trailed Marcell Ateman by just one receiving yard to finish second in that category. Shorter was on Buffalo’s initial 53-man roster, but was placed on injured reserve (IR) on August 30 with a hamstring injury. The team opened its 21-day practice window in December once he was fully healthy, but the window closed without the Bills activating him from IR.

Positioning prospects: Shorter joins a packed reception room that features many new faces. Khalil Shakir, Tyrell Shavers, Bryan Thompson and Andy Isabella are the only other players who were on the team last season. The Bills added Keon Coleman via the draft, signed undrafted rookies Lawrence Keys and Xavier Johnson, and added veterans Mack Hollins, Chase Claypool, KJ Hamler, Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling via free agency.

2024 offseason: Shorter is healthy and has participated in some off-season work thus far.

Outlook for the 2024 season: Shorter’s future is difficult to predict. The Bills have four players who feel like safe bets for the roster: Shakir, Coleman, Samuel and Valdes-Scantling. Whether the team wants to keep six or seven receivers tells me a lot about how I feel about Shorter’s chances on the final team.

Given that Shorter contributed on special teams last preseason, that leads me to believe he has a good chance of making the team. However, he has to fend off Claypool (whose upside is huge if he can show some dedication and maturity), Hamler (whose upside is huge if he can stay healthy), Isabella (who played a handful of meaningful snaps for the Bills last season). ), and Hollins (who likely has the inside shot at WR5 given his leadership and special teams abilities).

I could see Shorter being realistically considered between WR5 and WR9. If I were a player, I’d say he probably has the edge over Hamler and Isabella, as those guys would be easier to stash on a practice squad. He’s likely behind Hollins, as a $1.1 million figure means the Bills intend to put the veteran on the roster.

This puts Shorter in a 1-on-1 battle with Claypool for that WR6 spot, as I don’t think the team will maintain seven gaps. If Claypool is anything like the version of himself who caught 121 passes for 1,733 yards and 11 scores over his first two seasons, that’s going to be hard to beat. If he’s more like the guy who has bounced between three teams over the past two seasons thanks to poor play and general buffoonery, then Shorter has a clear advantage.

This is one of those fringe battlegrounds that will take up a lot of space on this website and most other sites dedicated to Buffalo Bills coverage for much of the summer. But if it was me calling, he’d be on the list as the last wideout.