Bills would be stupid to not draft WR in first round

New Bills coach Sean McDermott said Tuesday that the Bills’ No. 2 receiver is currently on the roster.

Taking a quick look at the 2016 numbers, and it’s hard to find even a No. 1 receiver on the roster. Sammy Watkins is at the top of the depth chart, but a foot injury limited him to eight games and 28 catches in 2016. No one caught more than 57 passes and the 286 the Bills caught as a team were the fewest in the league.

Robert Woods, second on the team with 51 catches, and Marquise Goodwin, fourth on the team with 29, both left in free agency. Tight end Charles Clay led the team with 57 catches and running back LeSean McCoy was second with 50. Walt Powell, who caught 14 passes, is the most productive receiver not named Watkins who is returning.

Apparently, McDermott doesn’t think the Bills have to dip into the draft to reinforce their receiving corps.

“That will be fun to watch that battle throughout the preseason and training camp,” McDermott told NFL.com. “Who that is remains to be seen, but I believe he is on the roster. A lot of times the answer is on your roster and that will be the fun part of finding out for me when we get to Phase 2 when we can get on the field for voluntary minicamp — that’s going to be an interesting three days for us.”

If McDermott comes to his senses and decides to add a draft pick to the aforementioned mix, the Bills can take a receiver with the No. 10 pick. They could draft Mike Williams, former Clemson teammate of Sammy Watkins. He led the ACC with 98 receptions last year. Corey Davis of Western Michigan set the all-time NCAA record with 5,285 career receiving yards. John Ross of Washington is the 40-yard dash record holder at the combine with a time of 4.22 seconds.

Or the Bills could ignore those impressive resumés and let Powell fight it out with Andre Holmes, Brandon Tate, Jeremy Butler, Dezmin Lewis and Corey Washington.

That doesn’t sound like quite as much fun as McDermott says.

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