HappyDays

There's some truth to this post. In an ideal world Brown would be our #3 outside WR. But he's not someone we need to force out of the position. If WR is BPA, absolutely take one. It just isn't a need like it was before Diggs. We could go into the season with the WR depth chart we have now and we'd still have a top 5 unit. There are probably other players available in the 2nd and even 3rd round that will have a more immediate contribution than any WR we could draft.

We don't need to force a WR pick early but we should take 1 or 2 at some point. We need a size receiver that can compete with Duke, and someone to compete with McKenzie/backup Beasley. With pick 54 I want us to draft someone that will compete for a starting job so WR wouldn't be my first choice there. Round 3 and beyond the value will be there.

It's hard to predict how the numbers for the season would have changed, but I can say with near certainty that we would have won the playoff game. Other than Allen no one on offense was able to create plays out of nothing and across the board too many routine plays were missed. Diggs doesn't miss the routine plays AND he creates plays out of nothing. A special player like that tips the needle for us in a close game.

Which top receiver do you mean? And where do you see them fitting into our offense this year?

Eh, they don't move the needle for me either. Aiyuk I'd be okay with but I would honestly hate Hamler - the book on him is mediocre hands and no catch radius. I'm good on smallish twitchy receivers. If we want a WR that can run fast with the ball in his hands but with no contested catch or physical ability, Foster and McKenzie can compete for that role. The one piece our WR corps is missing is physical traits. Give me Shenault for sure - when I look at the best combination of pick value, positional need, and scheme fit, Shenault would be far and away our best option at pick 54. Otherwise I'm going with another position. I wouldn't mind Pittman there, we would just have to live with the fact he would barely see the field this year. He wouldn't steal time from Diggs or Brown so he would be a developmental backup who maybe we could use in specific packages in the redzone. Personally I would rather take someone at 54 that can contribute more this year, but I could convince myself on Pittman because he fills a niche that we don't already have.

I think this is one of the more overblown narratives of this draft. There is a high quantity of good WR prospects, but after Jeudy, Ruggs, and Lamb the quality is no different than other drafts. Now that being said the fact that there are three 1A WR prospects could mean that a 1B will drop to us. But my guess is there will be a run on WRs all the way through the 2nd round and by the time we're picking the value there will be gone. Diggs solves just about every problem with our pass offense last year. That's what a legitimate #1 WR does. John Brown slides into the #2 role and will now face lesser competition. With Diggs clearing the way at the intermediate level of the field, Beasley will have more room to get open in the slot. All of that means Allen will have a much easier time finding an open receiver. Which means in turn the pass protection won't have to hold up as long which means they won't be worn out by the end of the game. All of these factors will also open up our running game since defenses will have to give more attention to our receivers. Even if Allen doesn't improve at all the pass offense will be better just because Diggs is on the field. Adding another receiver to sit behind Diggs and Brown isn't going to move the needle. And of course if Allen does take another step along with the addition of Diggs, you're going to see a massive jump in the offense's production. We don't need to reach for offense at pick 54. A RB2 would be more appealing to me than a WR at that spot, but similar to what I said above I don't know if the value will be there at 54. Taylor, Dobbins, and Swift will all be gone. No other RB excites me enough to keep me from waiting until round 3 and beyond. All in all I think the value at pick 54 is going to be on defense. Edge rusher is still our biggest need IMO. LB is a sneaky need as well. And our DB depth behind White, Poyer, and Hyde is either mediocre or injury prone. I expect we go to one of those position groups at 54 and I'm sure we will still add another receiver later in the draft.

But what receivers projected to be available at 54 will fill a role on our offense? Our top 3 is set in stone. Adding Diggs means receiver went from our biggest need to one of our lowest. The only potential receiver I could see is Shenault if he drops due to injury, he would fit into this offense right away. Otherwise the potential receivers at that spot are going to be backing up Diggs/Brown or Beasley. We do need to get younger, and bigger, at the position - but I wouldn't reach at 54 just for that. We can get a size receiver or a legitimate backup to Beasley later on.

We're not going to be excited about anyone we pick at 54. The top 3 RBs will be gone by then and it's hard to find a WR in that range that fills a need. We don't really have any major needs except for RB. With that in mind I'm not going to hate any pick at 54. Unless it's a RB anyone we pick there will likely not be a starter this year. So if it's Dugger, sure. I trust McDermott with DBs. The only reason I would hate that is if someone like Shenault or Taylor ended up dropping and we still didn't take them but that's pretty unlikely.

There are people on this board who know a lot more about front office operations than I do, but I would guess this sort of thing is common. Teams are talking to multiple free agents at a time and nothing is set in stone until the contract is signed. I'm sure every team has multiple contingency plans and they have to talk to all of them simultaneously. I don't think it's any more complicated than that.

I think you're reading too much into what Sanders said. All he said is he spoke with the Bills and some kind of offer was made. It's not like they were on the verge of finalizing anything. The Bills had been talking with the Vikings about Diggs throughout the day, and supposedly had spoken with them last year too. The more appropriate interpretation is that they wanted a plan B ready to go in case Diggs fell through and Sanders was the plan B.

Absolutely. Verbal agreements have been called off for much less. We know they tried trading for AJ Green and Diggs last year. They've been trying to get a 1A receiver for a while. Sanders agreeing in principle to a one year deal wouldn't mean they'd give that up.