{"id":148138,"date":"2025-06-21T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/148138\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T19:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T19:00:11","slug":"elijah-moore-not-likely-to-land-on-bills-roster-bubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/148138\/","title":{"rendered":"Elijah Moore Not Likely To Land On Bills’ Roster Bubble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brandon Beane gave a notable post-draft interview taking exception to radio criticism of his team\u2019s wide receiver depth chart. The Bills may not have a true No. 1-level wideout post-Stefon Diggs<\/a>, but they did do some work at the position this offseason.<\/p>\n

Buffalo signed Josh Palmer<\/a> early in free agency<\/a>, and while the ex-Charger\u2019s contract details revealed a more team-friendly structure (three years, $29MM<\/a>) than initial reports indicated, he will be expected to play a central role in an attack that will see heavy involvement from Keon Coleman<\/a> and the recently extended Khalil Shakir<\/a>. Curtis Samuel<\/a> remains on the team as well, as the ex-Panther is tied to a guaranteed 2025 base salary ($6.91MM).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After the draft, though, the Bills made a modest investment in a fifth wideout. They signed Elijah Moore<\/a> to a one-year, $2.5MM deal that came fully guaranteed<\/a>. That figure would not make Moore bulletproof on cutdown day, but Moore does not appear in danger of being a quick cut. The ex-Jets and Browns contributor is \u201cclose to a lock\u201d to land on the Bills\u2019 53-man roster, The Athletic\u2019s Joe Buscaglia notes<\/a>, adding that Samuel will be a lock to make the team.<\/p>\n

Moore landing in Buffalo is interesting given the QB hands the former second-round pick has been dealt. Arriving in New York a round after the Jets chose Zach Wilson<\/a>, Moore ended up in Cleveland as Aaron Rodgers<\/a> (feat. then-GM Joe Douglas) pieced together a depth chart that included ex-Packer wideouts Allen Lazard<\/a> and Randall Cobb<\/a>. The Browns did not have a reliable quarterback targeting Moore, as it turned out, with Deshaun Watson<\/a> becoming a spectacular trade bust. Cleveland slogged through a 3-14 2024 season, and Moore did not generate too much free agency interest.<\/p>\n

The Browns still applied a rarely used UFA tender to Moore before<\/a> the late-spring deadline. This came before Cleveland\u2019s Diontae Johnson<\/a> signing, but the Browns\u2019 Moore move ended up pertaining only to the 2026 compensatory formula after the slot weapon\u2019s Bills signing. Moore is part of an interesting Buffalo receiver depth chart that now includes three slot types (along with Shakir and Samuel), while Palmer has some slot experience as well. Despite this heavy commitment to inside playmakers at the position, it appears the Bills \u2014 who did not re-sign Amari Cooper<\/a> and saw Mack Hollins<\/a> sign with the Patriots \u2014 are prepared to roster Moore and use him as a tertiary option.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Open Score metric ranked Moore 22nd in separation in 2021 and 37th in 2023. His other two seasons, marred by Wilson (and a clash with the Jets\u2019 staff) and then the Browns starting four QBs, brought much worse rankings here. But the Ole Miss alum still produced 538 yards in 11 rookie-year games and then a career-high 640 in a mostly sluggish (pre-Joe Flacco<\/a>) Browns attack in 2023. Going from this collection of QBs to Josh Allen<\/a> could give the Bills an interesting weapon and provide Moore with a chance to boost his value for a 2026 free agency bid, though how the Bills divvy up playing time and targets to their bevy of slots \u2014 in an offense that also features receiving tight end Dalton Kincaid<\/a> \u2014 will be an interesting subplot to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandon Beane gave a notable post-draft interview taking exception to radio criticism of his team\u2019s wide receiver depth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,306,6084,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-148138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-curtis-samuel","13":"tag-elijah-moore","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114722899645961069","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}