Underrated WR considered Bills’ ‘biggest breakout’ candidate in 2024

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane was comically astute when he compared the team’s revamped receiving corps to Baskin-Robbins’ earlier in the offseason, because the unit has a multitude of flavors.

After the departures of Gabriel Davis and Stefon Diggs, the team opted to build a diverse group that offers a wide range of skills rather than acquiring another bona fide primary target through which it can funnel its offense. Rookie Keon Coleman and free agent Curtis Samuel should be significant contributors, but third-year player Khalil Shakir may be the favorite to lead Buffalo’s receiving corps in targets, as he is the only receiver remaining on Buffalo’s roster to have caught a pass from signal-caller Josh Allen in live game action.

Shakir’s relationship with Allen improved during his sophomore season, as he became a more important player on offense, catching 20 passes for 363 yards over the final seven games of the campaign. He caught another 10 passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns in the playoffs, his rise to prominence coinciding directly with quarterbacks coach Joe Brady’s ascension to interim offensive coordinator.

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With Brady back in the role full-time, Shakir can reasonably be expected to shine again in the 2024 season. Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder agrees with that sentiment, naming Shakir as a potential star in a recent article titled “Predicting Every NFL Team’s Biggest Breakout for the 2024 NFL Season.”

“After a quiet rookie season, Shakir had a solid performance in his second year with 611 receiving yards and a couple of touchdowns,” Holder wrote. “He finished last year strong, throwing for 444 yards and a couple of 100-yard performances in the team’s final nine games to build some momentum heading into 2024. Plus, the Bills moved on from Stefon Diggs in the offseason, so there should be more targets to target. The fact that the 2022 fifth-round pick is familiar with Josh Allen will also help.”

Shakir is well-positioned to have the best season of his young professional career in 2024, as he could well be Allen’s go-to receiver in the short-to-intermediate game. With Coleman considered a big man and a threat in the red zone and Samuel introduced in an improved gadget role, Shakir could see the bulk of the chain-moving work among the receivers.

There are plenty of mouths to feed in Buffalo’s offense (especially considering second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid could realistically lead the team in targets this fall), but there’s little reason to believe Shakir won’t be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the team’s offseason shakeup. As Holder notes, the omission of Diggs and Davis leaves 241 targets unaccounted for; after a season in which he received just 45 looks, expect that number to increase significantly for Shakir in 2024.

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