The Buffalo Bills are staring down a pivotal offseason, and the message is clear: they need reinforcements at wide receiver. With Josh Allen still in his prime and the window to contend wide open, Buffalo can’t afford another year of coming up short due to a thin receiving corps.
Let’s call it what it is - the Keon Coleman experiment hasn’t panned out, at least not yet. And the free-agent swing at Joshua Palmer?
That one missed the mark entirely. Right now, Allen is leaning heavily on Khalil Shakir and tight end Dalton Kincaid - both talented, sure, but neither is built to carry the full weight of a passing attack on their own.
For a team with Super Bowl aspirations, that’s a problem.
Enter Mike Evans.
According to Pro Football Focus’ Ryan Smith, the Bills could look to address their receiver need by pursuing the soon-to-be free agent and longtime Tampa Bay Buccaneers star. Smith notes that while Evans missed time in 2025 due to injuries, he’s just a season removed from posting a stellar 90.4 overall PFF grade - third-best among all wide receivers. Even at 32, Evans has shown he can still produce at a high level when healthy.
And that’s the key: when healthy.
Evans has built a Hall of Fame résumé in Tampa Bay, but signs point to his time there coming to a close. NFL insider Tony Pauline reports that league chatter suggests Evans is unlikely to return to the Bucs, with some insiders pegging Buffalo as a likely landing spot. The appeal is obvious - Evans wants to chase another title, and the Bills are still very much in the mix as a contender.
Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has a younger trio of receivers under contract for 2026 - Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin, and Jalen McMillan - and only about $24 million in cap space to work with. Re-signing a 33-year-old receiver with a recent injury history might not be the most efficient use of resources, especially when the team is trying to build around a younger core.
Evans isn’t the same player he was in his 20s, and it’s fair to wonder how much he has left in the tank. But even a slightly diminished Mike Evans is still a serious upgrade over what Buffalo’s currently working with outside of Shakir and Kincaid. He brings size, experience, and a proven ability to win in contested catch situations - exactly the kind of presence that can help Allen stretch the field and punish defenses that load up to stop the run or blitz.
Of course, signing Evans would be just the beginning. Buffalo’s receiving room needs more than a short-term patch - it needs depth, versatility, and long-term planning. But if the Bills are serious about giving Allen the weapons he needs right now, Evans would be a strong first move.
The Bills don’t need to reinvent the wheel this offseason - they just need to give their franchise quarterback the tools to finish the job. If Evans is available, Buffalo should be in that conversation.