Despite a 44-point outing for the Buffalo offense, it wasn’t a banner day for their wide receiver group in Week 11. Keon Coleman was a healthy scratch for disciplinary reasons. Khalil Shakir recorded one catch that lost three yards. Josh Palmer was the best of the three with two catches for 17 yards. Unexpectedly, it was second-year UDFA Tyrell Shavers who had the most productive day, racking up 90 yards and a score. So, which of the core trio can we trust against the Texans in fantasy for Week 12 lineups?
Analysis
It hasn’t been a very productive year for Buffalo’s wideouts. Of the trio I mentioned, Shakir has led the team in receiving. The 25-year-old has 46 catches on 61 targets for 454 yards and three scores. Coleman is second amongst the wideouts with a 32/330/3 line, and Palmer is third with a 16/251/0 line. Shakir has been a flex-level player in PPR formats, while Coleman is on the borderline and Palmer is a bench piece. But do we have reason to think that this can change against the Texans?
The real story here is in the snap count. With Coleman absent — a healthy scratch after missing a team meeting — it was a true wide receiver by committee approach. Five different wideouts recorded a snap share between 41% and 54%: Shakir, Palmer, Shavers, Curtis Samuel, and Gabriel Davis. That was reflected in their target shares as well, as all five recorded between three and five total targets. Shavers was the only one who had a productive day.
It’s a tough scene going into this matchup with the Texans. Houston’s secondary is a top-three unit by any metric, led by stud cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. Figuring out who is the top dog in the group is tough, and it’s a brutal matchup. If you can, I’d stay away from this Bills wide receiver core for the upcoming week and try to sort things out during the stretch run. It’s tough to trust any of these players on a weekly basis, especially against this caliber of defense.
