Uncertainty looms in roles for Buffalo Bills wide receivers

When the Buffalo Bills signed wide receiver Anquan Boldin last week, many thought he would spend the majority of his time in the slot, giving second-round pick Zay Jones an opportunity to learn from a future Hall of Fame player and still receive snaps behind and next to him. Now that the Bills have acquired Jordan Matthews, another receiver who primarily works out of the slot, it has fans and the media wondering who will stay in the slot and who will be pushed to a outside role.

Head coach Sean McDermott addressed this at Sunday’s pre-practice press conference.

“You find places for good football players,” McDermott said. “When you look at both of those players production [Boldin and Matthews], there’s been quite a bit of it in the slot. But they’ve also played outside as well.”

As reported by Joe Buscagila, during practice Sunday Jones and Matthews worked the first team on the outside and Boldin worked in the slot while running in three-WR formations. In two-WR sets, Boldin and Jones were the receivers on the field.

That is only day one, and the Bills will probably do some more mixing and matching of those three players in the slot role as camp moves forward to find the best possible role for the three pass catchers.

“We’re going to put good football players on the field and also put them in a position to have success,” said McDermott.