Khalil Shakir, Bill for life?

Buffalo’s leading receiver in 2024 is one step closer to that reality after signing a four-year contract extension worth up to $60.2 million, the Bills announced Tuesday.

Shakir, 25, was set to enter the final year of his four-year rookie contract in 2025. His new deal with the Bills will kick in after the conclusion of that initial contract and ensures he sticks around in Orchard Park, New York through 2029.

Since the Bills drafted Shakir in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL draft, he has gradually built chemistry with quarterback Josh Allen and worked his way to prominence. The Boise State product caught 10 passes his rookie year, 39 in 2023 and led the team with 76 receptions this past season, the first year in the Bills’ post-Stefon Diggs era.

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Shakir also led all Bills pass-catchers in targets (100) and yards (821) last year. His four receiving touchdowns were tied for second-most on the team behind Mack Hollins’ five such scores.

The four-year, $60.2 million deal Shakir reportedly signed would place him 22nd of all NFL wide receivers in total contract value and 26th in average annual value (AAV). Both marks rank just behind the Broncos’ Courtland Sutton, who signed his four-year, $60.8 million contract extension in 2021.

In signing Shakir to an extension, the Bills are establishing some certainty at the wide receiver position. Fellow wideouts Amari Cooper and the aforementioned Hollins are set to become free agents when the new league year begins in a couple of weeks. Shakir would have been one of three Buffalo receivers to hit free agency next year before signing his new deal.

Shakir’s extension also sets up a viable future of a dynamic duo on the outside of Buffalo’s offense, with 2024 second-round pick Keon Coleman preparing to enter his second season in 2025.