Joshua Palmer enters this Bills training camp with a clean bill of health and a fresh chance to show why Buffalo invested in him last offseason.
That opportunity never really arrived in 2025. Palmer signed a three-year free agent deal that guaranteed him $18 million, but his first season in Buffalo was derailed by injuries that hit hard and lingered even longer.
The turning point came in Week 6 at Atlanta, when Falcons cornerback Dee Alford - now one of Palmer’s teammates in Buffalo - pulled him down after a 15-yard catch. The play likely should have drawn a hip drop tackle penalty, but it didn’t, and Palmer came away with a high ankle sprain, an MCL sprain and a torn labrum.
“It was tough,” Palmer said the other day following a training camp practice at St. John Fisher University.
“It's like your whole entire side. It's difficult because you can't do what you want as a competitor.
Its something you have to accept that I can’t do what I want to do, but how could you help your team the best with what you could do?”
The answer, in the end, was not much. Palmer missed the next three games, returned for the Buccaneers and Texans, sat out the following two, then played in the final four games before Buffalo shut him down for the postseason. He finished with 14 catches for 234 yards before the injuries and only eight catches for 69 yards after them.
Bills president/GM Brandon Beane said Palmer pushed through as long as he could.
“I give him credit, he fought through it, it was tough,” Beane said last week. “That's tough mentally on you because I think with Josh, when you sign a contract that was his first big deal coming off of his rookie contract, you want to live up to it. These guys, they're prideful guys.”
The Bills tried one last time to see if Palmer could help in the playoff chase. In Week 18 against the Jets, with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback, he played a season-high 63 snaps but managed only one catch for one yard. That performance helped confirm the move to injured reserve.
“Yeah, it was the right thing to do,” Palmer said, adding that he knew his body wasn’t responding the way it needed to. “It lingered and just got worse trying to play on it.”
This year looks different, but not easier. Buffalo has added more names to the receiver room, including DJ Moore via trade, Trent Sherfield in free agency and fourth-round pick Skyler Bell. Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman are also back, so Palmer is not walking into camp with anything guaranteed.
Still, the Bills did not bring him in by accident. They were drawn to what he showed over four seasons with the Chargers, where he caught 182 passes for 2,287 yards and 10 touchdowns in 58 games. Buffalo believed in his ability to separate, something that had been a problem for the receiving group.
That part of Palmer’s game hasn’t changed. The health has.
“I’m happy with the group,” he said of the receivers. “We'll see what we all do this year.
I know we're all connecting well in the meetings on the field with Josh. We have a good relationship.”
On Saturday, Palmer flashed what Buffalo has been waiting to see. He made a strong catch over the middle on a throw from Josh Allen, then later hauled in a deep touchdown from the quarterback.
“Josh threw a great ball, I had a go route, touchdown,” Palmer said, explaining that he did not beat a specific defensive back and adding, “They were in zone and I broke the zone.”
That kind of play is exactly what Buffalo envisioned when it signed him - and what Palmer showed right away on his first offensive snap in Atlanta last season, when he got loose deep down the middle for a 45-yard gain.
Beane said Palmer’s attitude throughout the recovery reinforced why the Bills wanted him in the first place.
“He wants to let (his teammates) know, man, I came here, I want to be a part of this,” Beane said. “This offseason he was still working back from the ankle, it was still giving him some problems. That's probably the thing that lingered the most through the season that we ultimately shut him down for.
“But I think he's healthy, he's in a good spirit, and he's excited about his opportunities and hopefully something like that doesn't happen. I think if it doesn't and he can stay healthy, the ball will find him … I think he'll be able to help us.”
Palmer said the second year in a system should only help him settle in more, even if he never felt lost last season.
“I guess by nature, the longer you're in a system the more comfortable you get,” he said. “I never really felt uncomfortable last year, but I'm just getting my feet back under me after being injured. But I feel good.”
And the contract pressure? Palmer brushed it off.
“I feel like every year is a big year, but then again I also have to make sure that it's just another year. Just go out, play ball, play do what I've always been doing.
Take advantage of my opportunities and stay healthy. That's the key.
Stay healthy.”
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