PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- By now, you most certainly know.
I'll repeat it one more time for you. The Bills, at the outset of the post-Stefon Diggs era in Buffalo, are going to spread the football around. It's a sensible and reasonably obvious point of emphasis belabored this offseason since the Diggs trade in April. It was a trade that netted Buffalo a valuable 2025 second-round selection but came with a hefty price tag of $31M in dead cap to a team already up against the ever-expanding salary cap.
Therefore, GM Brandon Beane then channeled his unrelated namesake of Moneyball fame to replace (or exceed) Diggs' production in the aggregate by venturing to the bargain bin at wide receiver. Buffalo signed Mack Hollins to a one-year deal worth $2.6 million. Chase Claypool was added. One-year, $1.225 million. Marquez Valdes-Scantling came over from Kansas City on a one-year, $2.25 million deal. Khalil Shakir's playing on an inexpensive fifth-round rookie deal.
All of Buffalo's personnel decisions at the receiver position have helped to push the "everybody eats" narrative. Well, it's those moves and the fact that offensive coordinator Joe Brady literally said those words during a press conference after offseason workouts a few months ago.
But one wideout feels different in the Bills journeyman collective at receiver, someone Buffalo believes can be noticeably more than a minor, equal opportunity contributor in 2024 and beyond, Curtis Samuel.
Nearly a month before the seismic Diggs swap with the Texans, early in free agency, Samuel and the Bills agreed to a three-year, $24M pact. By Buffalo's 2024 budget, this was buying a Range Rover. From a league perspective, a deal for a veteran receiver worth $8M average per year with $15M in total guarantees equate to essentially nothing. That $15M for Samuel ranks 39th among receivers today, and that's before inevitably lucrative deals for the likes of CeeDee Lamb, Brandon Aiyuk, and Tee Higgins.
However, Samuel's contract did feature the fourth-highest guaranteed figure given to a free-agent receiver this offseason.
Money talks everywhere, especially in the NFL. And this was a calculated relatively hefty expenditure. It hinted at what Buffalo thinks of him. The Bills had ample connections to Samuel from afar, as he was selected at No. 40 overall in 2017 by the Panthers when, coincidently, Beane was Carolina's assistant GM. In 2021, Samuel joined Ron Rivera in Washington. Of course, Beane and Bills head coach Sean McDermott worked alongside Rivera with the Panthers.
The cherry on top? In 2020, Samuel had his most efficient season, setting what today are career highs in receptions (77) and receiving yards (851) with Brady as his offensive coordinator in Carolina.
When I asked Samuel on Sunday about what he has taken from his time with Brady in Carolina, he spoke to the familiarity saying,
"Verbiage, yeah a little bit. Of course when you come to new places, some things will be the same, some things different. But I understood the plan, and that was most important."
The Samuel signing didn't stoke nationwide criticism, but it made many wonder, what the Bills would do with a sudden surplus of pass-catchers who specialize in the slot, given the presence of Shakir and promising flex tight end Dalton Kincaid.
But the Bills view the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Samuel as drastically more than a slippery slot-only weapon. While a mere 21.3% of his routes were run on the outside with Brady in 2020, in total 46.3% of his routes in the NFL have come from aligned on the outside.
And, they understand being "versatile" in today's game extends further than being able to play on the perimeter and the slot.
In Sunday's training camp practice at St. John Fisher University, Samuel was the only receiver to partake in a drill in which Buffalo's quarterbacks threw a variety of routes to running backs.
During multiple team sessions, Samuel often came out of the huddle and stopped directly next to Josh Allen in the backfield. Sometimes he stayed put. Other times he motioned into the slot or all the way across the formation to that outside position. He was thrown screens and found at the intermediate level. Earlier in camp, Allen connected with him deep down the field.
Thus far at St. John Fisher University, Samuel has been as ubiquitous as the offseason narrative that Buffalo will evenly distribute the football this year.
And, sure, it feels like Allen almost has to be more judicious with his target dispersion in 2024. Yet Samuel's contract, positional and schematic flexibility combined with an already established tie to Buffalo's offensive coordinator suggest he's the receiver weapon who'll be treated a bit differently in the Bills pass game this season.
