HappyDays

He went on a media circuit for a couple weeks after the Bengals divisional loss and publicly criticized the team and our inability to get over the hump. This is why I never understood people that tried to hand wave away his behavior. It wasn't a secret, he was very open about his displeasure on multiple occasions.

To be fair every reporter withholds certain information that they learn. If they didn't, they'd lose access to the team. The people who should feel a bit sheepish right now are those on here and in the Bills media world who tried to claim that 1) Diggs has never been a distraction and the media drove all of the controversy, and/or 2) Diggs' contract made it "impossible" for him to be traded. On the first point, a lot of people deliberately buried their heads in the sand and came up with various excuses to explain away Diggs' obviously distracting behavior. On the second point, I hope people have learned by now that NOTHING is impossible in the NFL.

We can probably just agree not to use the Chiefs as a comparison. They won a Super Bowl four years after drafting a RB in the 1st round, with a below average LT, and without a WR1. That doesn't mean we should draft a RB in the 1st round, jettison Dawkins, and stop trying to upgrade the WR room. It just means that the Chiefs coaching staff is like two tiers above any other coaching staff in the league, and several more tiers than that above our own. That plus an elite QB plus the GOAT TE means they can violate the usual standards of championship team building and get away with it. They are the new Patriots, unfortunately. We are only going to beat them through sheer accumulation of offensive talent.

With the 53rd pick, the Philadelphia Eagles select Malachi Corley, WR, Western Kentucky. Cleveland @BarleyNY is on the clock. Howie Roseman is too smart a GM not to take advantage of a strong WR class. With no 3rd round pick, it's now or never. I don't mind admitting Roman Wilson or Ricky Pearsall would have been the pick at #50, but alas they came off the board just a couple picks beforehand. So we are dipping into the next tier of WRs to make sure we get one without reaching too far down our board. WR is a sneaky need for the Eagles. Yes we have arguably the best top 2 duo in the league, but behind them it is the dregs. Our 3rd WR last year (Olimade Zaccheus, who Bills fans may remember in heartbreaking fashion) collected just 164 receiving yards. We need much better depth at the position. Corley profiles as someone that can immediately play out of the slot and out of the backfield as a Curtis Samuel-esque or Deebo Samuel-esque weapon. Pairing an X factor like him with AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith will give nightmares to defensive coordinators.

Has he caught a single outside vertical route? I can't recall one.

With the 50th pick, the Philadelphia Eagles select Payton Wilson, LB, NC State. Pittsburgh @julian is on the clock. This is the 2nd time this draft where BPA and need happen to match up perfectly for us. Our LBs have been dreadful in recent years and a clear weakness on the team. Devin White signed a one year prove it deal but who knows how that will turn out. Nakobe Dean was on IR twice last year. It is just a position that we haven't been able to get right. Payton Wilson has the profile of a modern sideline to sideline coverage LB. Speed, movement skills, fluid hips, ability to blitz. Maybe he won't hold up against the run but we own the (unofficial) Guinness World Record for heaviest interior DL so we'll keep him clean.

It's interesting because Florio & Simms are the only talking head duo I regularly watch and they almost never get heated like this. That's why I watch them, they aren't pro wrestlers creating fake drama. When they do argue like this it's because they genuinely disagree. Just my two cents.

Kupp's route running was special. Shakir's route running is pretty good. He creates space after the catch, not before the catch. If anything Puka Nacua is the stylistic comp you're looking for, although Nacua is 2 inches taller and his arms are 2.5 inches longer. If Shakir can be the poor man's version of what Nacua was last year that's more than satisfactory.

It's not a 1:1 comparison but this was the pro-Gabe Davis narrative after 2020. As we found out, yards per target doesn't automatically scale like that. Some players' skill sets shine better when they are low target players. I'll gladly eat crow if I'm wrong but I think Shakir is one of those players. I see people compare him to Beasley but I think they're almost total opposites. Shakir isn't nearly as sudden as Beasley was on his route breaks which means his success against man will always be limited. If you can't regularly beat man you can't be a high volume target, simple as that. I still love Shakir in his current role though. Strong hands + great YAC is an extremely valuable complementary skillset.

This WR class isn't equivalent to those years though. Almost everyone who analyzes players agrees that MHJ, Nabers, and Odunze are each worth a top 6 pick any year. Ja'Marr Chase is the only person on that list of 1st round WRs who's comparable to the caliber of prospect we're talking about here. It would be a stunner if any of these players fell out of the top 10. This just happens to be a year where there are 3 absolutely elite WR prospects. I'm still against trading up for one because I think it just costs too much and I think we can still get a superstar WR if we double dip in the top 100. But let's at least be honest about the conversation - the debate is not about if the top 3 WRs are likely to be successful, it's about the cost/benefit analysis of trading up for one elite prospect versus staying put and being able to draft multiple very good prospects.

Houston way overpaid for him to be honest, especially with the news that just came out that Diggs will become a free agent after this season and won't even qualify for a comp pick. They got a one year rental of an aging WR for the value of approximately a late 3rd. Better WRs have been traded for less in recent years. A lot of Texans fans are actually unhappy with the trade.

He is projected to go late 2nd/early 3rd so I'm surprised we're bringing him in. I really don't want a RB before day three this year, too many other needs to fill.

Even if we could afford it I wouldnt be interested. We already tried the route of trading a 1st for a WR1 instead of picking from a WR rich class. It undoubtedly went very well but we had to give him a big contract extension before long and now our cap is a mess. Plus now Allen is on a franchise QB contract which means we need to be stingier. This time around just take the best WR available with our first pick. Then take another one by the end of day two. And then next time a DeAndre Hopkins becomes available in free agency don't stupidly let him get away. We don't need some crazy blockbuster investment in the WR room. We just need to make a real effort to invest at the position every single year.

I'm all in on wanting two WRs by the end of round 2. I would understand a big trade up for one of the top three WRs but it wouldn't be my preference. My ideal plan is trading back with Washington to #36 and getting pick #100 in exchange. Draft Legette with #36. Then trade back up into the top half of the 2nd round using one of our 2025 2nds. Draft Troy Franklin. After that we still have a 3rd, two 4ths, three 5ths, two 6ths, and a 7th to fill out the rest of the roster. I would also sign Michael Gallup to a very cheap one year prove it deal just to give us a baseline outside WR. Assuming we keep 6 WRs, this depth chart is looking really nice: Xavier Legette Troy Franklin Curtis Samuel Khalil Shakir Michael Gallup Hollins/Shorter/late round rookie Now we have two WRs that can play outside, get vertical, and pick up YAC, but each with a different way of winning. Two young studs with physical traits to grow under Allen's leadership. Gallup takes the 2020 Gabe Davis role, less explosive but a nice complementary piece to the better weapons on the roster and in a pinch he can fill in outside in case of injury. Samuel is our gadget and our X factor. Shakir picks up where he left off last year. The 6th guy plays special teams and gets maybe 15 targets the entire year. Where do I sign??

Remember when Diggs himself said "where there's smoke there's fire" in response to a question about trade rumors, and half the people in this thread said that that was nothing to worry about? Just the media inventing a controversy, apparently.

In a way, trading Diggs makes the draft easier. A WR in the 1st round is a no brainer. Personally I think their goal now will be to draft two complementary WRs by the end of day two. Something like Legette/McConkey or Franklin/Polk. We need a starting X and a starting Z out of this draft. Two young studs to grow with Allen as he enters the back half of his career. I could see us trading one of our 2025 2nds to move up in this year's 2nd and come away with two top 50 WRs.

And then there were two

A LT to protect their new franchise QB. Unless I'm forgetting something they don't have a starting caliber LT on their roster. Plus they have another 2nd at #40 and two other 3rds (#67 & #78) so they have picks to burn. Getting a franchise LT on a 1st round rookie contract, and jumping KC in the process to make sure they get their guy, would be good motivation to trade #100 and move up IMO.

Going to be a good one. Can't wait to hear what he says about Will Clapp.

I think my preferred option would be trading back with Washington to get their 3rd rounder this year. Take best WR available at pick 36, then use one of next year's 2nds to trade up in the 2nd round for another top 50 WR. Come away with two of these players - Legette, Franklin, Coleman, Mitchell, Worthy, McConkey. That looks amazing on paper. Depending on how the rookies perform it's decently possible we would immediately have a better WR room than we had last year.

Especially with the first #2 being Minnesota's. Decent chance that is a top 5 pick IMO. So in Beane's mind it will still likely be one top 35-40 pick plus our own 2nd rounder. That isn't so far off from what it would be normally. That definitely opens the door for trading next year's 1st if one of the top 3 WRs gets low enough. I think Odunze getting to #9 would be the trigger.

I give it a C. It's simply what needed to happen, no more no less.

Hilariously, we scored a TD on that first drive out of halftime while Diggs watched from the sidelines. We dialed up a deep shot to him on the first play of the next drive to try and get his head back in the game, but Allen overthrew him.

Reposting this because it's going to get lost in the thread: The Bills kept the issues under wraps for the most part. But anyone who knew someone close to the team was aware of his constant distractions, both in public and behind the scenes.