Skyler Bell Fantasy Football Outlook With Buffalo Bills
Justin Carlucci broke down the fantasy football outlook after Skyler Bell was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The Bills just bet on a late bloomer at pick No. 125 on Day 3 of the NFL Draft. Skyler Bell spent three years at Wisconsin, transferred to UConn, broke out and reportedly turned down a $500K NIL offer from Michigan.
The Bills added Bell to a 2026 draft haul that also includes Clemson’s T.J. Parker and Ohio State’s Davison Igbinosun.
Bell’s late-breakout curve is the story. He's 24.2 years old on draft day. The clock is a factor for long-term keeper league and dynasty managers.
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Skyler Bell Fantasy Football Outlook With The Buffalo Bills
I’m speculating that the Bills were interested in Omar Cooper in the first round before the Jets sniped him. Now, they’ve addressed the wide receiver position by taking Bell on Saturday.
Bell is 6-foot, 192 pounds, with a 4.40 40-yard dash and a 41-inch vertical, per Dwain McFarland's Rookie Super Model scouting report. There's surely some athletic ability here.
Lance Zierlein cited in McFarland's feature that there might be "field-stretching speed that might be untapped.” Can the Bills unlock that trait for bazooka-armed Josh Allen?
The production profile is a two-year window, and that window is good. McFarland flags a 2.16 RYPTPA in Year 4 and a 2.83 RYPTPA in Year 5 with 99 yards per game — breakout numbers.
Bell also posted a best-season target share of 33% and a 26% career TPRR, the kind of usage rate that suggests he earned targets once the offense funneled through him.
Bell couldn’t have found a better quarterback to play with, but the receiver room might have to be reshuffled before September for him to be relevant in standard leagues this season.
Should You Plan to Draft Skyler Bell this year?
Redraft: leave him on the wire in most formats. McFarland had Bell as a Day 3 projection, a 70 Super Model rating and a WR5 fantasy profile. In his comp tier (65-75 rating), only 17% of WRs have hit a top-36 finish by Year 3 since 2018.
Keon Coleman is somehow still on the Bills’ roster. I’d monitor that situation, and if he’s dealt, that could ever-so-slightly open the door for Bell in 2026. Buffalo traded for DJ Moore last month and still has a few serviceable depth pieces behind him and Khalil Shakir.
Rookie drafts and dynasty are where Bell gets interesting. His closest Rookie Super Model comps in McFarland's piece are ironically Shakir and Jalen Royals—both guys who went later than their talent suggested and eventually found fantasy relevance in the right spot. Perhaps Brandon Beane was drawn to Bell’s Shakir-type traits.
2026 Scouting Report For Skyler Bell
Bell is a short-area target earner with combine-tested athleticism that hasn't fully shown up on film yet. Dwain lays out a balanced target distribution with a 10.1 career aDOT — 17% behind the line, 40% at 0-9 yards, 21% at 10-19, 22% on deep balls. He was above average at the two ends of the field and below average in the intermediate bucket.
The YAC work is the standout. McFarland has Bell at 6.4 yards after catch per reception, 1.4 above expected, given his target depth. Pair that with a 33% best-season target share, a 26% career TPRR and a 2.83 RYPTPA in his final season, and you see an offense that trusted him and a player who produced when it did.
Bell's 7% drop rate is the fourth-highest in the 2026 class. The late-breakout curve is the other one—Year 4 is when the RYPTPA showed up, which hurts his model grade.
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