Rockinon

I think that Diggs was not a traditional X receiver and that role was more in line with what Davis did for the team. Diggs played some X but he made his money by being a move receiver. A lot of it has to do with coaching too. All receivers must have a pretty extensive route tree or they don't make it on this team. The route concepts have all of the receivers running different kinds of routes from play to play. Sometimes lining up on the opposite side, sometimes it's a bunch formation. We wanted Davis to run more routes but he seemed to only excel at deep routes and even then the consistency wasn't there. I tend to think that defenses did a great job of taking away the deep routes and forced Josh to hit shorter routes and run the ball more. Even though Diggs wasn't a tradition X, he was still #1 WR on this team. I look at receivers like Tyreek Hill, who is only 5'10" 191 lbs and he is a #1 WR. It seems today's #1s come in a lot of sizes. I believe speed is desirable along with separation ability and perhaps most importantly an ability to catch almost anything thrown their way. Doesn't matter how big they are as long as they can produce. I would love to see more seam routes for our TEs. Keep those safeties in the middle of the field covering them and leaving boundary WRs 1 on 1. Or using a TE to cut short toward the sideline while a WR is running deep over the top of him. Make those safeties guess on every passing down. Don't let them sit back and take the deep ball away all game. Make one come up into the box. I think Buffalo has some great route concepts, but couldn't expand because of limited ability. Pretty sure the draft will address some of these issues. Be prepared for a lot of presnap motion under Brady. Hope he doesn't get too gadgety....haha. At the same time, I'm anxious to see what he draws up. I'm not sure a tradition X is what gives us the boost we need. It will be a team effort though that takes us over the top. A stud X might be it or maybe not. Might be more of a Diggs 2.0, or a Hill 2.0. A big X that catches more than Davis is certainly a boost but is it a replacement for Diggs production? Going to be an interesting year for sure. Just hope whoever they get is worthy.

This about where I am at. If they don't like who is available at 28, trade back. If they like who is there at 28, go get him. Don't really like the idea of trading draft capital to move up with so many positions that need bodies. Want to see a strong influx of young talent at multiple positions. We need to get younger. Selling draft capital to get one WR is not worth it if we have to keep bringing in broken down older players to fill holes.

Um, when has Josh ever had a contested ball catcher? EVER?

The draft is the logical place to find a WR. A trade giving up draft capital and also giving up money that goes against the cap would only harm the team's long term goals. This would give us a WR who is older, and keep us is cap hell instead of giving us a fighting chance to improve the team down the road. We must get younger. I don't think trading is in the cards.

Use our 1st round pick to trade back and also get another pick. Get our WR with that trade back. Use the additional pick to trade back up into the 3rd Rnd and grab this guy. I could be happy with that. Two studs to add to the offense. Use the rest of the draft to beef up the D. Beane has a lot of options. I don't think he's going to be willing to give up a bunch of draft capital just for one WR when there will be good ones into the 2nd round.

Nobody. They trade down to the second round.

I honestly think Beane will trade this years 1st....... To move down not up.

I think the OP is pretty close to having this right. Brady was clearly trying to spread the ball around and playmakers like Cook, Shakir and Kincaid stepped up nicely. The offense needed to evolve. It could not continue as the Allen to Diggs show. I am not really buying that Stephon's talent has dropped off, but do think his production has. It became clear that the team needs other playmakers to step up because it was stagnating. Really looking forward to seeing what new wrinkles are added to make the offense more explosive. Hopefully Brady continues to improve on what, I think was an impressive start last year. It really is nice to have some young talent stepping into significant roles. The pieces are coming together and I don't think Beane is done adding even more young talent. Overall, I agree that the offense is moving in the right direction and could be even better moving forward.

I think there was a general consensus that Buffalo's offense needed to evolve. It had to become more than just the Allen to Diggs show. I can only speculate, but it feels like the coaches wanted to get reps to other skill position players and Diggs wasn't on board with having a lesser role in the offense. I'm not sure that this means he was acting like a diva as some suggest, but I do think it is something that caused some friction. To me it just seems like a decision was made to move in a different direction. The offense all ready began doing that last year and we saw the number of reps for Diggs drop off significantly toward the end of the season. I think Diggs is still a very good WR and will do well in Houston. If he stayed here, his production would have stagnated. Defenses were clearly doing everything they could to slow Diggs down and Buffalo's offense was forced to find other playmakers. Fortunately, guys like Shakir, Cook and Kincaid stepped up. The offense all ready began to evolve. I can't really go so far as to say that Diggs was too much of a drama queen. He is a great WR and every great wants the ball. The organization simply needed to move in a different direction. To me, it looked like Brady was very focused on spreading the ball around when he took over. I think his approach is the right one. I'm excited to see what new wrinkles are added to make the offense even more explosive. It seems to me that the overall philosophy pointed toward having to move on from Diggs.

I think there is a better argument for trading down and picking up another draft pick.

I like the way you think, but who is going to be willing to give up a 3rd unless it's to take one of those WRs off the board.

The thing that I like most about his skill set is when he cuts, he's creating huge separation at the moment of that cut. Not only is this bad news for the CB covering him, it also doesn't give the safety time to get there in time. Samuel consistently gets open in that 10-20yd window that Josh loves. He is a guy that will beat that 2 deep safety look, not only with crossers and V outs, he can be moved inside, outside and run a play out of the backfield. And once he has the ball in his hands, he's a dynamic runner. The Bills have consistently had a very good offense but they have not had a chess piece like this. The offense has not been good at fooling a defense, and Samuel could be the piece that keeps them on their heels more consistantly. Brady is going to move him around keeping the defense guessing and that is not only going to open up plays for Samuel, but for other skill players as well. I see the number of lethal weapons growing. Diggs, Cook, Kinkaid, Knox have all been productive. I see Samuel as a piece that diversifies what the offense can do. Opens up the play book. It is obvious that Brady's fingerprints are on this signing. A sneaky good pick-up for the Bills. Samuel is a legit WR in this league, with some impressive traits.

John Brown got vertical clearing out a safety for Beasley to do his work underneath. Sometimes he just caught some monster catches with his speed. Curtis Samuel is much more of a Swiss army knife. Can play out wide like Brown but also does a lot of stuff over the middle and out of the backfield. He runs like a running back and cuts so hard that defenders are juked right out of their socks. The only thing similar to Brown is the speed. Everyone is going to love what Curtis Samuel brings to the table. He is going to light it up with those crossing routes and V outs. Some of Josh's favorite throws. Don't rule out simply handing the ball of to him either. He is an effective RB too.

In my opinion, Josh has not let the team down in any playoff game. The defense on the hand....

It's a good thing we have 10 picks this year. Defense has the potential to be a complete train wreck if they don't find help. I wonder how much buyers remorse Beane has over the Miller signing. Sure hope he bounces back. They have some key players, but very little depth.