The Buffalo Bills are fully back. They earned a wild card spot in 2019 with a 10-6 record. In 2020, they will look to take the next step and win the AFC East Division now that Tom Brady is in the NFC with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Josh Allen took a step forward last season and it had a lot to do with his group of wide receivers. John Brown finished with 1,060 yards and Cole Beasley had 778 yards. They each caught six touchdowns in 2019. The unit got even stronger when they traded four picks to the Minnesota Vikings to acquire Stefon Diggs. The Bills not have a true No. 1 receiver to go along with Brown and Beasley.
Diggs is looking to become the next great receiver in Bills' history. And there have been many. Here are the top five wide receivers in franchise history.
5. Jerry Butler
The Bills selected Butler out of Clemson with the fifth overall pick in the 1979 NFL Draft. He played 13 games as a rookie and finished with 834 yards and four touchdowns. Butler saw his career get cut short due to injuries but he was successful during his tenure with the Bills.
Over his first three years in the league, Butler eclipsed 800 yards and grew his touchdown total by two every year. Beginning in 1982, Butler began suffering injuries. He played 16 games over the next two seasons combined. Butler was forced to miss the 1984 season with a knee injury. He bounced back nicely in 1985 with 770 yards. He would call it a career after 11 games in 1986.
Butler is currently seventh all time on the Bills' all time receiving list. He is also sixth in touchdowns. The Clemson product burst onto the scene as a rookie and was extremely popular among Bills' fans.
4. Elbert Dubenion
Dubenion was drafted in 1959 and made his NFL debut at the age of 27. He burst onto the scene as a big play receiver for the Bills. As a rookie, he finished with 752 yards and seven touchdowns. Over the first five years of his career, Dubenion played in every game and started all but two.
The 1964 season with Dubenion's best. He was named to his only Pro Bowl after finishing the year with 1,139 yards and 10 touchdowns. Dubenion led the NFL with an eye-opening 27.1 yards per reception. He played just three games in 1965 before returning and logging 747 yards. Dubenion retired after playing in four games in 1968.
Dubenion is currently fourth all time in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in Bills' history. He was a true big play receiver as he leads the Bills all time with 18 yards per reception.
3. Lee Evans
The 2004 NFL Draft had some huge names including Sean Taylor, Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger. The Bills did something in this draft that, at the time, was uncommon for them. That was drafting a wide receiver in the first round. The Bills selected Lee Evans out of Wisconsin with the 13th overall pick. He was the fourth receiver taken behind Larry Fitzgerald, Roy Williams, and Reggie Williams.
Evans caught 16 touchdowns over his first two years in Buffalo. In year three, Evans emerged as a true No. 1 receiver. He was targeted 137 times and caught 82 passes for 1,292 yards and eight touchdowns. This was one of two 1,000 yard campaigns for Evans in a Bills' uniform. He spent seven years with the Bills before finishing his career with the Baltimore Ravens. Unfortunately, he is remembered more recently in a negative way. After logging just four catches for 74 yards for the Ravens, Evans dropped a late game pass in Foxborough that would have given the Ravens the lead over the New England Patriots. The drop came in the 2011 AFC Championship Game with 22 seconds left.
As a member of the Bills, Evans was nothing short of great. He is currently third all time with 5,934 receiving yards. He is also third in touchdowns with 43 and fourth in receptions with 377.
2. Eric Moulds
When the Bills took Evans in the first round in 2004, it was the first time they took a receiver in the first round since 1996. That receiver was a Mississippi State product. Moulds came to the Bills in 1996 and took some time to get his legs under him. He logged just 49 catches and two touchdowns over his first two years.
In 1998, Moulds was named a Pro Bowler for the first time. He finished with 67 catches for 1,368 yards and nine touchdowns. This began a stretch of eight straight seasons where Moulds was targeted 100 times or more. Moulds would eclipse 1,300 yards once again in 2000. The 2002 season was Moulds best of his career. He finished with 100 catches for 1,292 yards and 10 touchdowns. He eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark four times as a Bill.
After 10 years in Buffalo, Moulds spent the 2006 season with the Houston Texans and the 2007 season in Tennessee. Moulds is currently second in franchise history in all major receiving statistics. In Buffalo, Moulds totaled 675 catches for 9,096 yards and 48 touchdowns.
1. Andre Reed
The No. 1 spot on this list was pretty obvious. Buffalo drafted Reed in the fourth round of the 1985 NFL Draft. They certainly could not have expected the production they got from Reed. He quickly turned into Jim Kelly's favorite target and was apart of a Bills' dynasty that made it to four straight Super Bowls.
Reed was named to seven straight Pro Bowls from 1988-1994. He finished with over 1,000 yards four times for the Bills. Reed had his best season in 1994 when he set a career-high with 90 catches. He logged 1,303 yards and eight touchdowns. Reed spent 15 years with the Bills before spending 2000 with Washington. He would retire following the 2000 season.
Reed is one of the longest tenured Bills of all time. He has a stranglehold on all receiving records within the franchise. He totaled 941 catches for 13,095 yards. No one comes close to either one. Reed caught 86 touchdowns in a Bills' uniform which is 36 more than Moulds who is second. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2014 after being on the ballot for eight years. Reed is not only the best receiver in Bills' history, he is one of the best players to ever put on the uniform.
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