The Buffalo Bills head into offseason free agency with several needs, mostly on the defensive side of the ball. However, the team’s biggest flaw is its lack of a go-to wide receiver. The Bills could address that in the 2026 NFL Draft, but they should also look to the free agent market. That’s where they will find the solution to their problem in Indianapolis Colts wideout Alec Pierce.
The Bills' biggest offseason need is at wide receiver
As the Bills switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 under new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, they will have to add players via free agency and the draft at every level. They will need a nose tackle to anchor the middle in the base defense, standup pass rushers, middle linebackers used to playing in this formation, and another safety to pair with 2025 breakout sensation Cole Bishop.
General manager Brandon Beane will have to address all these issues this spring and summer, but they are not the team’s biggest problems.
The biggest flaw for the Bills in 2025 was the lack of a go-to wide receiver for Josh Allen. In fact, that’s been the biggest flaw since Stefon Diggs left the franchise in 2023, and really a few months before that, after Diggs quit on the team. And while James Cook, Dalton Kincaid, and Dawson Knox have all been good to excellent at times, not having a true WR1 to draw the attention of the defense has hurt.
Khalil Shakir is a good WR who has solid production in Buffalo over the last few seasons. Due to his size and skillset, though, he is a high-end WR2, not a true No. 1. Keon Coleman has been disappointing as an early second-round pick, and Bills free agent acquisitions Josh Palmer and Curtis Samuel have been below average at best. Amari Cooper did do some of the things Allen needs his WR1 to do, but at 30, he wasn’t the player he used to be.
The Buffalo receivers’ numbers speak for themselves. There hasn’t been a 1,000-yard pass-catcher in Western New York since Diggs left, and in the biggest moments of the past season, Allen had to rely on 32-year-old Brandin Cooks to try and get the job done. If the Bills want to win a Super Bowl, that simply isn’t good enough.
Why Alec Pierce is the answer in Buffalo
While Beane and the Bills could and likely will look to address the wide receiver position in the draft, they must go after a high-end free agent, too. Rookie wideouts often take a few years to develop, and this year’s WR class doesn’t seem as deep or as talented as recent years.
Alec Pierce makes a ton of sense for the Bills this offseason in free agency for several reasons. First of all, he will turn 26 in May, making him younger and with more upside than older retreads the team has tried, such as Cooper, Cooks, and Gabriel Davis. His age also puts him on the same timeline as Allen, who will turn 30 in the same month as Pierce. A 26-year-old receiver won’t have the same longevity as a 22-year-old draft pick, but we also know Pierce can play in the NFL, which you never know about draftees.
Pierce also has the physical traits to help Allen where he needs it and possibly develop into a high-end WR1. He is 6-foot-3, 211 pounds, and has speed to burn. He ran a 4.41 40-yard dash coming out of Cincinnati in the 2022 NFL Draft, and as a deep threat, he’s led the NFL in yards per reception the last two seasons with 22.3 and 21.3 yards per catch.
The free agent pass-catcher is also on an upward trajectory, going for 514, then 824, then 1,003 receiving yards in the last three seasons. And the fact that he’s done all that with Matt Ryan, Sam Ehlinger, Nick Foles, Gardner Minshew, Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco, Daniel Jones, Riley Leonard, and Philip Rivers as his quarterbacks makes is exponentially more impressive.
Think of what he could possibly do by adding Josh Allen to the end of that list.
And, ultimately, that is the biggest reason this makes so much sense. Alec Pierce is the one free agent who would fix the Bills' biggest flaw heading into the 2026 season because he is young, talented, and hasn’t played with an elite quarterback yet.
Pairing him with a sub-40-year-old, competent QB could turn Pierce into an absolute monster, and even if it costs the Bills more than $20 million per season to make it happen, the risk is certainly worth the reward at this point.
