Is Khalil Shakir a legit #2? 

Most successful NFL rosters have at minimum, five things: a good offensive line that doesn't shift all that often, a competent QB, at least two good linebackers, one stud defensive end and a clear #1 and #2 wide receiver. Think about the (ugh) Chiefs. Decent offensive line, Patrick Mahomes, Nick Bolton and Willie Gay, George Karlaftis, Rashee Rice and in this case, Travis Kelce because if we're being honest, he's more of a receiver than anything.

Now look at the Bills roster. All of those things are there. Except a legit #2 receiver. I don't think it's a mystery as to why having a dedicated #2 receiver is necessary for a team's success. Look at the Dolphins with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. The Chargers with Mike Williams and Keenan Allen and of course, the Bengals with Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd. Having a dedicated #1 and #2 (and in the case of the Bengals, #3) receiver can open up the offense in tons of different ways. I know that this is obvious, but the more dangerous players that defenses have to focus on, the more dangerous your offensive attack is going to be.

That being said, did the Bills have any receivers beyond Diggs that were warranted as being a "danger?" In this writers opinion, not really. Sure, Gabe Davis had 746 yards, but that was on 45 receptions out of 81 attempts meaning he had a paltry 55% completion rating. The chance of him actually catching the ball was about as good as a coin flip. As a defensive coordinator, are you going to allocate additional resources to cover Gabe Davis? I certainly wouldn't.

Now I know what the draft pundits say; the Bills should go after a wide receiver with their first round pick. I don't disagree with them drafting a receiver, but I disagree as to where they draft their receiver because I think there is a player already on the Bills starting roster who is capable of filling that #2 spot and he showed it consistently throughout the season. I know the title gives it away, but I think Khalil Shakir could be that #2 receiver. But why do I think a guy who only had 611 yards should be the #2 receiver? Well, if Moneyball was about football, Jonah Hill's character would have said, "because he catches balls."

Before I go into numbers let me make it clear that I understand that mathematically, it is easier to go, 5-5 as opposed to say, 10-10 and so on. The more times an attempt is made, the higher chance that something goes wrong. This is why a 70% QB completion rating is considered good in the NFL. That being said, Khalil Shakir boasts a catch percentage of 86% which is the highest among receivers in the whole league (#7 amongst all players.) Not only is it the highest, but there isn't even another receiver on the list until #26. Does that in itself make him #2 receiver worthy? Well, no not on its own. But here is where we insert some Moneyball type of numbers that reveal why Shakir has the potential to be a #2 WR.

Last season Shakir was 39 for 45 in catching (We've already established that is 86%) Ok, well what happens if we take that 45 attempts and turn it into 75 attempts? If we're extrapolating 1-1 that means Shakir would be catching 69 (nice) passes and if he maintains his average yards per reception from 2023 (16.1) that's a massive increase of yards from 611 to 1,207. Is this realistic though? Probably not

So lets do this. What if we drop Shakir's completion numbers from 86% to a much more "realistic" 70%. What do those numbers look like? Well, 70% of 75 is 52. Multiply that by the roughly 16 yards per reception and that's 837 yards. This is well within the range of a "standard" #2 receiver. Taking a look at teams that made it into the playoffs, here is the breakdown for every #2 WR from most to least yards with the projected numbers for Shakir if they were to shake out as calculated.


Philadelphia Eagles -  Devonta Smith - 1066 yards 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Chris Goodwin - 1024

Miami Dolphins - Jaylen Waddle - 1,014 (over 14 games) 

San Francisco 49ers - Debo Samuel - 842 yards 

Buffalo Bills - Khalil Shakir - 837 yards

LA Rams - Cooper Kupp - 737 (over 12 games) 

Pittsburgh Steelers - Diontae Johnson - 717 yards

Houston Texans - Tank Dell - 709 yards

Dallas Cowboys - Brandon Cooks - 657 yards

Green Bay Packers - Romeo Doubs - 674 yards

Cleveland Browns - Elijah Moore - 640 yards

Detroit Lions - Josh Reynolds - 608 yards 

Baltimore Ravens - Odell Beckham Jr. -  656 yards

KC Chiefs - Did not have  a #2 receiver because Travis Kelce is a thing.