Josh Allen Camp Update — August 31: Five Receivers Left Standing
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 31
Cut day left Josh Allen a two-quarterback room and five wide receivers, two of whom have not been reported back at practice since injuries earlier in camp. Kyle Allen won the backup job — Shane Buechele was released three days after going twenty-six of thirty-eight and leading the game-winning drive in the finale.
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Cut day answered the one open question in Josh Allen's room and it answered it against the man who won the finale. Shane Buechele started all four quarters Thursday, went 26 of 38 for 196 yards and led the game-winning drive in the 28 to 27 comeback over Pittsburgh, per Mike Maynard on the team site — then was released Sunday, per the team's official transactions. Kyle Allen is the only quarterback on the initial 53 behind Josh Allen, per Alec White on the team site. Brady had said days earlier that "both of them played really good football, and I have such confidence calling the game, knowing them," per Maynard — and after the finale gave Buechele the send-off version: "Shane's the one quarterback that hasn't got as much preseason time through the years." Allen himself did not play; Brady ruled him out before the game, per Mike Moraitis at Bills On SI.
The more material cut-day fact for this profile is what Allen throws to. The initial 53 carries only five wide receivers — Keon Coleman, DJ Moore, Joshua Palmer, Khalil Shakir, Skyler Bell — with Tyrell Shavers placed on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list, per the team's own roster release. Two of those five have not been reported at a practice in weeks: Coleman, who went into a walking boot in mid-August with a sprained right foot, per NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe, and Shakir, whose absence head coach Joe Brady would describe only as "injury related." No accessible report since puts either back on a practice field. Meanwhile every depth receiver who produced in August went out the door: Trent Sherfield, who caught all seven targets thrown his way this summer, per Ralph Ventre at Bills On SI; Dante Pettis, who converted a third-and-14 on the winning drive and caught the two-point conversion, per Randy Gurzi at Bills On SI; Mecole Hardman, whose third preseason drop preceded his release; and Ja'Mori Maclin. The one riser is the rookie: fourth-round pick Skyler Bell, in his debut after a groin injury, led the Bills with seven catches for 49 yards and scored on a 28-yard jet sweep, per White on the team site.
For anyone new to this watch: the June preview called Allen the most reliable per-game profile at the position because his value rides on rushing, the quarterback trait that repeats — untestable in August, untouched by cut day. Last week's episode wondered whether the tight-end production in Berea previewed where the ball goes if the wideout injuries lingered into September. They lingered through cut day, and Buffalo kept four tight ends against five receivers, per Ross Johnston at A to Z Sports — an inference still, but the roster shape now leans the same way it did. We'll see what the picture looks like as Houston gets closer.
_Data via nflverse._
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