Serious contender for the Mack Hollins role in the receiver room, or veteran camp body?
The Buffalo Bills hope they’ve built a talented, diverse wide receiver group that can continue to help MVP quarterback Josh Allen ascend to even greater heights. Of course, the relationship between receivers and quarterbacks is symbiotic, as each helps the other to thrive in kind.
With an MVP at the helm, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that the elite quarterback will elevate average wide receivers. It’s always better to have elite players at wideout and at quarterback — and at every position, really — but sometimes, that just won’t be the case.
Not every person on the roster can be a $10 million cap hit guy or an All-Pro. Sometimes, it’s those unexpected gems, the “role players,” who need to step up and play bigger than their initial expectations.
In today’s installment of “90 players in 90 days,” we profile a journeyman wideout looking to stick with Buffalo in his first summer with the club.
Name: Kristian Wilkerson
Number: 82
Position: WR
Height/Weight: 6’1”, 214 pounds
Age: 28 (29 on 1/10/2026)
Experience/Draft: 3; signed with the Tennessee Titans following the 2020 NFL Draft
College: Southeast Missouri State
Acquired: Signed with Bills on 5/19/2025
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Wilkerson signed a one-year deal worth $1.1 million in total. That number represents his cap hit should he make the 53-man roster. If he’s released, there are no guarantees on the deal, so Buffalo would have zero dead-cap charge to carry this season or beyond.
2024 Recap: Wilkerson was on the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad last season, the second consecutive year where that was his home. In the preseason with the Raiders, he appeared in three games, starting one. He saw 13 targets and had seven catches for 69 yards and a score.
In the regular season, Wilkerson was elevated for three games. He was targeted three times in the passing game, making two catches for 18 yards and a touchdown. While he played on special teams, his role was limited and he had no tackles.
Positional outlook: Wilkerson is one of a whole host of receivers trying to make the Buffalo roster. Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Elijah Moore, Curtis Samuel, and Joshua Palmer seem destined for the roles of WR1-WR5, though not necessarily in that order. Kaden Prather, Tyrell Shavers, KJ Hamler, Kelly Akhariyi, Laviska Shenault Jr., Stephen Gosnell, and Jalen Virgil are the others in camp.
2025 Offseason: Wilkerson is healthy and participating in offseason activities.
2025 Season outlook: There just isn’t a whole lot of evidence pointing towards Wilkerson making the roster. The Bills have five players who I’d characterize as near-locks or locks, and then a group of players battling for the sixth spot who are either more talented, more versatile, or more experienced in the Bills’ system than Wilkerson. Shavers, Shenault Jr., Hamler, and Virgil are players I’d give an edge at making the 53-man roster over Wilkerson, and that’s without having seen the three rookies on the roster yet.
Wilkerson is likely auditioning for a practice-squad role, and I’d wager that he has a good shot at it if the Bills go with Virgil as their sixth wideout. Given that Virgil was the veteran who came up when injuries hit, and he spent time signed to the 53-man roster last year, too, it isn’t a stretch to think that he could be the last wideout on the roster. Virgil is a great blocker with special teams versatility, so he would fit the Bills M.O. in that last receiver spot.
Wilkerson is likely more a veteran camp body than he is a legitimate threat to make the roster, although he can change that perception with a strong preseason showing.