[2024 WR Draft Class]

5 minutes ago, DCOrange said:

The only WRs in this year's class to run more routes this season were Rome Odunze and Ja'Lynn Polk. It's certainly not a lack of playing time. He just wasn't very productive. This doesn't just apply to him by the way; the same goes for Coleman, but Coleman isn't as nuanced a route runner or apparently as explosive an athlete as Mitchell is.

 

I thought you were referring to his total production... I also wonder if the amount of routes run is off for him, because as a team Texas threw fewer passes than you have him down for routes run?

[2024 WR Draft Class]

25 minutes ago, DCOrange said:

I really can't get over Mitchell's combine. I don't know what to make of it. A guy that explosive with his size and route running ability should have been dominating college competition and instead he's near the bottom of the entire draft class in a lot of the production metrics. I just revisited his film for a third time a couple days ago and now I'm wondering if I have to do it again lol. I just don't get it.

 

I think because he missed a ton of games. But he also had tons of clutch TD's in big games, including the national championship winner. 

 

 

 

 

[Best Buffalo Bills tweets on X]

14 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

I don't know after all the yelling, screaming and rage after the trade I think we'll all feel pretty bad about the traumatic brain injury that Bean would have had to have suffered to make this trade.

 

Beane would have to include himself in the deal, Beane for Poles, for it to make any sense. 

[Institutional NFL teams?]

2 hours ago, frostbitmic said:

 This could be the Chiefs future look.

 

 

I mean, how long until we see this?

 

[KC's final TD Play: Tom and Jerry]

31 minutes ago, Matt_In_NH said:

To catch up to the Chiefs

 

To pass the Chiefs!

[Potential FA Target: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Yay or Nay]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

There are way better options than him IMO. If it came to it, sure, but I'd much prefer most of the other guys. 

 

The stories I have heard he is likely walking. Winfield won't hit the market. He is the best FA safety out there. The second best is Kamren Curl IMO. I'd love him. I'm hoping his reputation not being that big will keep him affordable but I don't know. 

 

 

Imagine finding two late round safeties coming out of their first contract this year who only received moderate starting time over the last few seasons, and turning them both into all-pros? 

 

It's still pretty remarkable what Poyer and Hyde became for the Bills. Let's find two more!

[Another reason to fire McDermott]

2 minutes ago, dma0034 said:

I blame the Bears for picking Trubinsky over Mahomes

 

I often wonder what would have happened if we had selected TJ Watt over Tre White, and Cooper Cupp instead of Zay Flowers, and DK Metcalf instead of Cody Ford....

 

You should see my drought years "Hindsight is 20/20" redraft. The Bills would have won 12 out of 17 Super Bowls! 

 

I'm also able to turn $50 into $5 Trillion in just about 50 stock trades, ya know, retroactively. 

[Super Bowl commercials thread]

Omg, the second last commercial before they signed off was a commercial for Scientology. How?

[Do we make a play for Chris Jones?]

Just now, QB Bills said:

Sure. If he'll accept 15 bucks an hour 

 

20 if he shovels!

[Super Bowl LVIII game thread.]

McDuffie's arms are 1/4" of an inch too small...

[Super Bowl LVIII game thread.]

1 minute ago, Simstim said:

That's better. Bit more energy now

 

I'm somewhat surprised to be finding myself enjoying this one more than most

 

 

[Super Bowl LVIII game thread.]

1 minute ago, Einstein said:

McDuffie is so good.

 

Ugh.

 

But Elam's arms are an inch longer! 

[Best and Worst QB in Each Team's History]

26 minutes ago, Rubes said:

Fun to read article from SportsDrop on each NFL team's best and worst QBs.

 

 

Just remember, this is the guy our current coach picked to start at one point.

 

Absolutely incredible how this guy ***** the bed when he got the big chance. There have been plenty of really bad QBs for the Bills over the years, but it's hard to argue with just how bad Peterman was when he took the field.

 

Others you would argue were worse?

 

 

Peterman was 1-1 in 2017. I think a lot of guys forget (or never experienced) how bad the team was between Ferguson and Kelly.

 

Vince Ferragamo was 1-8 in 1985, with 5 TD's and 17 INT's.

 

 

 

 

[2024 WR Draft Class]

21 hours ago, DCOrange said:

I’ve gone through a handful today as well. I would probably stack them up this way (where I’d be comfortable taking them in parentheses)

1. Brian Thomas (Mid 1st)
2. Troy Franklin (1st)
3. Keon Coleman (1st)
4. Ladd McConkey (Early 2nd)
5. Roman Wilson (Mid 2nd)
6. Brenden Rice (2nd)
7. Adonai Mitchell (Late 2/Early 3)
8. Xavier Legette (3rd)
9. Jamari Thrash (Day 3)
10. Tez Walker (Day 3)
11. Xavier Worthy (Late Day 3/UDFA)

 

Some rankings have Adonai Mitchell as a late 1st/ early 2nd. 

 

What are you seeing that pushes him down to being a late 2nd/early 3rd?

 

 

 

[Browns hire Dorsey as OC]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

Good Lord, What Did I Just Listen to?

 

More evidence that he does truly have sociopathic tendencies???

[Bills interview Mike Caldwell for Open DC Job]

2 minutes ago, T master said:

 

We all saw how that worked with Rexy - meaning changing schemes to 3/4 with all 4/3 players not a real smart plan moving forward hopefully McD can see that as easily as we do or have .

 

Sending Mario Williams into coverage on a regular basis was the dumbest thing in the world. 

 

 

[2024 WR Draft Class]

Just now, DCOrange said:

You're right. I had written that down in my scouting notes but didn't do anything with the notes yet so he ended up remaining in my spreadsheet.

 

I was really expecting him to enter the draft. Think he'd be a great fit in our offense. 

[2024 WR Draft Class]

1 hour ago, DCOrange said:

I put together a spreadsheet of many WR metrics, including stats on their contested ball abilities.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12pCgsJPa9X-jjNMOZ_exJTAEfxmZOeETzEm8SNkuXec/edit?usp=sharing

 

Contested catch % tends to not be very stable, so hard to tell really. For example, these guys were all 50% or higher on contested catches this season (bolded guys that are considered to have at least a remote chance of going in the 1st round):

• Rome Odunze, Washington
• Malik Washington, Virginia
• Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Georgia
• Luke McCaffrey, Rice
• Tez Walker, North Carolina
• Tory Horton, Colorado State
• Javon Baker, Central Florida
• Jermaine Burton, Alabama
• Ainias Smith, Texas A&M
• Bryson Nesbit, North Carolina
• Ja'Lynn Polk, Washington
• Brian Thomas Jr., LSU
• Ricky Pearsall, Florida
• Dominic Lovett, Georgia
• Zakhari Franklin, Ole Miss (barely played this season, but was good at it the prior year)

But of those 14, only 3 of them even had 20+ contested targets; it's all small sample size stuff. Also of those 14, only 6 of them managed to catch 50% or higher the prior season:

• Luke McCaffrey
• Javon Baker
• Jermaine Burton
• Bryson Nesbit
• Ja'Lynn Polk
• Brian Thomas Jr.

There's also always debate about whether or not that's really something to be prioritized in the draft; it's great if they can make contested catches, but if they're being forced to make those catches in college, it's probably a sign that they'll struggle to get open in the pros. Of the 14 listed above, I would say Rosemy-Jacksaint and Luke McCaffrey should potentially be red flagged for having a high % of their targets that are contested. Tez Walker and Ja'Lynn Polk are borderline red flags IMO.

 

The consensus top 2 WRs in the class, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers, were both over 50% a year ago but were in the 40s this season. Keon Coleman was over 60% a year ago but down to 33% this year. Harrison and Coleman are potential red flags for relying too much on contested targets as well. Nobody relied on contested targets more this past season than Coleman, but he was okay in this regard the year before when he played for Michigan State. Harrison has been in the orange both of the last two years (red being bad, green good, yellow neutral).

 

I like Tory Horton a lot, I think he decided to return to college for one more year. 

 

Also like Polk. Both of those guys probably end up with 2nd round grades. 

 

I think there's going to be an abnormal number wr's with 2nd and 3rd round grades this year. 

[Bills need a hardnosed, blunt QB coach]

1 hour ago, dorquemada said:

Since it's Hot Take Monday, i think what the Bills need is a sports psychologist, someone who can diagnose and treat the Bills malady of disappearing for the 2nd and 3rd quarter every game

 

And the middle of seasons as well. 

[Ryan O'Halloran - Bills should go Defense Heavy in draft]

11 hours ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

He can’t possibly sound less intelligent than Kadarious Toney 

 

I like Legette a lot!

[Ryan O'Halloran - Bills should go Defense Heavy in draft]

5 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

He might just be Southern

For sure

[Ryan O'Halloran - Bills should go Defense Heavy in draft]

4 minutes ago, BobbyC81 said:

Must have bad hands then to be projected that low.  

 

I don't think it's his hands. He only has one year of production... But also if you watch an interview with him, he comes across a little, slow. Not quite Bubba Gump. But maybe enough to give evaluators pause on his ability to process complex offenses. 

[If we keep Brady, I’m not so sure wide receiver is going to be a top priority come April.]

11 minutes ago, Beast said:

 

 

Not disagreeing with either one of you. What I am saying is the ball started going elsewhere. Inside guys and out of the backfield. So, with that in mind, how important will wide receiver be to the Bills this season? They just took Kincaid last year. They are paying Knox handsomely, Shakir has emerged and Diggs will probably be back. 
 

There are holes all over the defensive line. The Bills took players high on the d-line when it sometimes appeared we had no need for it. Now we do have holes. Many. Is McDermott and Beane going to all of a sudden change their philosophy? I think all along a lot of us felt McDermott’s wet dream was ball control offense and win with defense.

 

I think that is what we are seeing start to form.
 

 

 

I think the short passing game was also an extension of personnel. Defenses were locked in on Diggs and playing two safeties over the top. 

 

Without a stable of fast wr's with good hands and good route running ability, the Bills had to pivot to the run and short passing game.

 

Do I think Brady will want more and better receivers like he had with Chase and Justin Jefferson at LSU? Or he'll be content with Sherfield running clear out routes and blocking? 

 

I'm going to guess he'll be just as excited to upgrade the receiver position as most Bills fans.

[Cold Showers in Visitors locker room]

23 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Ralph is cheap 

Still!!!

[If we keep Brady, I’m not so sure wide receiver is going to be a top priority come April.]

Alternatively, the emphasis to run the ball more consistently may have resulted from our personnel. 

 

I was banging the table during Dorsey's losing skid to run more consistently out of heavy sets and lean into play action out of running formations. Not bc it's inherently better, but because our personnel didn't lend itself to consistent success in a pass heavy spread sets (against good teams).

 

We're going to need to be able to do both, better, in the coming season to get over the hump. And that certainly includes revamping the receiver position with speed, route running ability and good hands.