Perfect offseason trade Bills must make after losing in Divisional Round to Broncos

The Buffalo Bills will have a different look when they take the field in 2026 and will almost certainly have a new game plan. After losing in the divisional playoffs to the Denver Broncos in heartbreaking fashion, the Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott after years of falling short in the postseason.

While McDermott is considered a solid all-around coach, his inability to come through in the late stages of the most important games he coached led to the end of his tenure with the Bills.

No matter who is coaching the Bills next season, the Bill will need to make some personnel changes. They may have the most explosive quarterback in the NFL in Josh Allen, but he does not have an elite crew of receivers. General manager Brandon Beane has been hesitant to bring in top receivers in the past, but that has to change. The Bills have to help Allen out by bringing in an elite receiver — or perhaps more than one — to get the most out of their talented roster.

The Bills did not have the kind of wide receivers that left opposing defensive coordinators or cover men concerned that Buffalo was about to change the game with a big play. That’s completely unacceptable for a team with Allen at quarterback.

Bills’ wide receiver crew fell woefully short

The Bills have tried to show off their dominance with Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman and Josh Palmer as their wideouts for the majority of the season. This trio is not in the first rank of receivers and they are not game-changing players. Shakir led the Bills in receiving with 72 receptions for 719 yard and 4 TDs.

He was the 44th-leading receiver in the NFL during the regular season and that is not good enough for a team that has Super Bowl aspirations

A look at the most productive receivers makes the comparison even worse for the Bills. Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seattle Seahawks and Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams were the two leading receivers in the league in terms of yardage.

Smith-Njigba had 1,793 yards, and he exceeded Shakir’s total in Week 7 of the season. The Seahawks wideout caught 8-123-1 that game against the Houston Texans and that gave him 819 receiving yards, 100 more than Shakir had for the season.

Top receivers like Smith-Njigba, Nacua, Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals, Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings and Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions are not going to be available under most circumstances as the Bills prepare for the 2026 season. That should not stop Beane from making inquiries.

However, there are other excellent receivers that Beane will be able to look at and possibly acquire in a trade.

Bills should trade for Brown, Lamb or Higgins

A.J. Brown of the Philadelphia Eagles, CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys and Tee Higgins of the Bengals would provide the Bills with a huge upgrade. Acquiring any one of those receivers would allow Allen to have a receiver with special abilities to make the toughest catch and provide a player who can snatch victory from defeat.

Brown was quite unhappy with the Eagles offense last season and he did not feel that unit did everything it could to defend the Super Bowl title it won a year ago. Most of his complaints had to do with the lack of creativity on the offensive end. He caught 78 passes for 1,003 yards and 7 touchdowns in a less than stellar year. He could become an All-Pro if he was playing in the Bills offense.

Lamb got off to a slow start with the Cowboys and he has been supplanted at the No. 1 receiver in the Dallas offense by George Pickens. Nevertheless, Lamb caught 75-1,077-3 with the Cowboys. He had some drops early on and both the Cowboys and Lamb would be better served if he was in another uniform at this point. He could rise dramatically if he was paired with Allen.

Higgins is the No. 2 receiver for the Bengals behind Chase, but he is one of the faster wideouts in the NFL. The Bengals value him, but he would be more valuable as the No. 1 receiver for a team like the Bills. He caught 59-846-11 last season. His receiving yardage could exceed 1,250 yards with a quarterback like Allen throwing him the ball.

Bills have other needs, particularly on defense

The Bills have multiple needs besides the WR position. They are going to have to address their defense, because that unit was quite ordinary. The Bills were a middle of the pack defense as they gave up 21.5 points per game and that ranked 12th in the NFL.

Greg Rousseau led the Bills with 7.0 sacks and Joey Bosa followed with 5.0 QB traps. Rousseau is a good player, but that sack total is not enough for an edge rusher. The Bills can do much better than the inconsistent Bosa, although he is often at his best when the game is on the line.

The needs on defense are significant, but the key moves have to be made at the WR position. That unit simply dragged the Bills down last season.

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