This coming season is important for Tyrod Taylor, who very much wants to prove that he deserves a long-term contract, from the Bills or elsewhere. Buffalo is not doing him any favors with the wide receiver depth chart, however.

The draining of said depth started Friday with the stunner trade of former first-round pick Sammy Watkins to the Rams, which left a pretty sizable hole in the WR1 spot for Buffalo. Adding Anquan Boldin earlier in the week was a plus, but Boldin will turn 37 in October, so he's not exactly a spring chicken.

The Bills had a pair of other nice moves this offseason, including the drafting of Zay Jones out of East Carolina. Jones, despite a ton of production in college, is still a rookie. 

And then there was the Friday trade to secure Jordan Matthews from the Eagles. The Bills plucked the former second-round pick from Philly and a 2018 third-round pick in exchange for Ronald Darby. As far as winning the trade, it's hard not to give the Eagles an edge there. It's even easier when Matthews is dealing with an injury. 

That sounds like the kind of injury that could linger for a while. 

All of it amounts to an obvious Fantasy downgrade for Taylor. That downgrade applies to real life, too, because the Bills pass catchers just are not that great at this point. Taylor's primary weapons are a 36-year-old veteran who operates mainly as a physical receiver, a second-round rookie draft pick and a guy the Eagles didn't want who has a chipped fracture in his sternum. 

These are interesting moves made by new general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott. You can probably argue the Bills are set up well for building a winner moving forward, but there are legitimate questions about how good this team will be in 2017.

McDermott was asked Friday if the receivers are better after the trades than before and did not give a ringing endorsement.

"Well, I know this. I know we've got -- what we're looking at is still a quality group of receivers when you talk about bringing in a guy like Jordan Matthews," Beane said. "You add him to who's already here with Anquan [Boldin], who was not even on the field last night and Zay [Jones] and then the rest of the guys that you saw last night. I know where you're going with that and we're bringing in a corner with this deal that has started games -- started a number of games. He's going to blend right in and compete and earn his right to be on this football team and start. I think we're moving in the right direction."

The young GM, asked what this means for Taylor, actually brought up the fact that he doesn't believe the Bills are going to "throw in the towel," noting that he was rather annoyed by hearing that mentioned.

"This is not a throw in the towel thing at all. Somebody mentioned that, somebody said that out there and that quite honestly, that's annoying to me because you don't know me if you think I'm throwing in the towel. We can go out there play ping-pong and whatever we're going to do and I'm not throwing in the towel," Beane said. "If we're throwing in the towel, I wouldn't have been trying to get a starting receiver back so to your question on Tyrod, it's nothing. We've got Anquan, who we added and I told you, I honestly believe he's a Hall of Famer and he still can play in this league. Jordan Matthews is a starting receiver and you look at his numbers, what he's done and those aren't to be laughed at, I guess to say. Tyrod will get every opportunity to lead this team and we're all rooting for him. It's in our best interest."

If Watkins plays half the season and struggles in Los Angeles and then becomes a contractual nightmare -- the Rams might have to franchise tag him or just hand him a huge deal this offseason -- then this will seem much less depressing for Bills fans than it does in the middle of August.

But this is a team that was considered a contender to make a run at the wild-card spots in the AFC. The division is off limits, thanks to the Patriots. Selling the departure of Watkins, who cost the team a pair of first-round picks back in the 2014 NFL Draft, is not easy. Taylor is playing the role of good soldier, but the reality is that it has become difficult to find a ton of optimism as it relates to the Bills depth chart at wide receiver.