Zay Jones. 5 of 23 is pitiful

[C.Biscuit97]

Our current situation is a QB that needs WRs to make him look good and WRs that need a QB to make them look good. The loss of Charles Clay hurts the offense tremendously

Great summary. Again, if the goal was to make the playoffs this year, we wont have traded Sammy. But it is what it is.

[atlbillsfan1975]

He is going to be fine. So many of the greats take time to adjust to the pro game. I challenge you OP to go look up stats of the games best WR's over the last 15 years. Look up their rookie season game stats. I bet you will see some pretty pedestrian numbers. Just a hunch.

[Real McClappy]

Here's a good article on the topic after the 4th game.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/football/nfl/bills/2017/10/05/buffalo-bills-zay-jones-rookie-wide-receiver-struggling-cincinnati-bengals/735045001/

[bobobonators]

 

Game action at faster speeds with results that count.

Not to mention that preseason is little pressure. Season is real. Same as preseason in baseball when batters light it up and then suck in regular season.

 

Preseason football isnt real football. Ask the hoodie.

[RoyBatty is alive]

Zay has been the biggest disappointment of the season for me. In college and ore season had had hands of glue, now he can't catch.

[mannc]

I was hoping the new regime understood that trading up in the draft is a bad idea. A lesson learned, I hope. Stay where you're at, take the best player, take as many players as you can. Rinse and repeat. Trading up for a receiver with no elite traits because of his college production at a small school was a horrible choice.

I'm certainly not ready to write off ZJ, but I agree with this. It was very disappointing to see the Bills give away picks to trade up twice in the second round, especially after trading back in the first. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. Edited October 14, 2017 by mannc

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

B U S T

[RoyBatty is alive]

Here's a good article on the topic after the 4th game.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/football/nfl/bills/2017/10/05/buffalo-bills-zay-jones-rookie-wide-receiver-struggling-cincinnati-bengals/735045001/

Thanks for posting it.

 

I must say for alleged professionals, Sal and Leo aren't very good. First 15 seconds both are talking all over each other. Some Drunks at sports bars do a better job than those 2.

[SaviorPeterman]

I think the biggest mistake this staff is making with Jones is rushing him into the starting lineup.

 

Most rookie WR's take time to develop, even most 1st rounders.

 

This is why I maintain that even with a healthy Jordan Matthews this team needs to make a move for another proven veteran option if they have serious playoff aspirations this season.

[CookieG]

The guy can clearly catch....as in 158 times just last year. He just needs to let the game slow down for him. The trouble is currently between the ears. I hope he snaps out of it soon.

 

 

Mhmm

 

He had very few drops in college despite the number of balls thrown at him..I think he dropped 6 his senior year.

 

Rookie jitters, confidence, whatever, it happens, and sometimes to some very good players.

 

I remember Jordy Nelson dropping some balls his rookie year, And his hands were as good as any coming out of college.

 

And even more surprising, Jerry Rice went through the same thing his rookie year.

 

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2006/too-deep-zone-jerry-rice-rookie-bust

 

It can happen to the best of them.

[Real McClappy]

Thanks for posting it.

 

I must say for alleged professionals, Sal and Leo aren't very good. First 15 seconds both are talking all over each other. Some Drunks at sports bars do a better job than those 2.

lol..

 

I actually missed the video prior to posting the link. Just read through the article which was much better.

Edited October 14, 2017 by Real McCoy

[transient]

He's a rookie... Eric Moulds was pretty awful his 1st 2 seasons too and he turned out OK... Marv Levy never used to let rookies play much... He always said that "the best thing about rookies is after their 1st season they become vets"... Give the kid time to adjust to the pro game...

Marv Levy's success also came mostly before the era of free agency when you had the luxury of developing players without fear of losing them.

[bobobonators]

Zay has been the biggest disappointment of the season for me. In college and ore season had had hands of glue, now he can't catch.

I wasnt expecting Zay to light it up. To me, the run game as a whole has been the biggest disappointment hands down.

 

Since the Jets game Shady is averaging yards per carry in the 2's. No touchdowns. Tyrod doesnt have a rushing TD either and his yards per carry are down a lot.

[RoyBatty is alive]

lol..

 

I actually missed the video prior to posting the link. Just read through the article which was much better.

Do you agree, i think they are terrible, Leo just keeps rambling on in monotone and Sal interrupts to keep trying to say he already said in the past what Leo is trying to say now..

I wasnt expecting Zay to light it up. To me, the run game as a whole has been the biggest disappointment hands down.

 

Since the Jets game Shady is averaging yards per carry in the 2's. No touchdowns. Tyrod doesnt have a rushing TD either and his yards per carry are down a lot.

I admit it, I was. As another poster said it must be mental.

 

The run game is a disaster because defenses have, rightfully so, next to zero respect for our WRs, now that clay is out, zero respect for the TEs as well. We are not going to fix the run game until we fix the pass game imo.

[Lurker]

Look up their rookie season game stats. I bet you will see some pretty pedestrian numbers. Just a hunch.

On catch ratio, not really. Most guys were in the 50% range as rookies and many quite a bit better...

 

Reception leader list (click on player name to get carrer/rookie stats):

 

2016: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2016/receiving.htm

.

2015: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2015/receiving.htm

 

2010: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2010/receiving.htm

 

2006: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2006/receiving.htm

Edited October 14, 2017 by Lurker

[MAJBobby]

He needs to talk to Nelson Angolour and get the same shrink Nelson did in the offseason.

 

And yes a more accurate passer helps too

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

He is going to be fine. So many of the greats take time to adjust to the pro game. I challenge you OP to go look up stats of the games best WR's over the last 15 years. Look up their rookie season game stats. I bet you will see some pretty pedestrian numbers. Just a hunch.

 

 

....I believe so bud.....a kid coming off a 160 reception season and not known for drops is getting a rough indoctrination into the NFL world, a whole different ball game versus ECU and its competition......he is playing mind games IMO....a couple of drops equate to apocalyptic failures between his ears...... dial up Andre Reed Sports Psychology tutelage to get this lad's head screwed back on....can't think of anyone better as far as guidance.....

[cj192]

He is going to be fine. So many of the greats take time to adjust to the pro game. I challenge you OP to go look up stats of the games best WR's over the last 15 years. Look up their rookie season game stats. I bet you will see some pretty pedestrian numbers. Just a hunch.

I had to reread the thread title to make sure I wasn't in the archives reading about EJ.

Edited October 14, 2017 by cj192

[The Crowing Rooster]

Zay " Can't Catch " Jones

[Kaenon]

Our current situation is a QB that needs WRs to make him look good and WRs that need a QB to make them look good. The loss of Charles Clay hurts the offense tremendously

To be fair, the offense with Clay was only marginally better.

 

Tyrod can't do anything and LeSean is averaging less than 3.5 per carry.

 

Teams don't respect the pass, focus on stopping the run and the offense is struggling as a whole group.

[Green Lightning]

He's been neck and neck with Hyde all season for catches.

I think the kid will be just fine and see no need to dump on him. That said, this is really funny.

[John from Riverside]

Zay struggling like this has been the single biggest suprise for me so far this season......

 

The guy had flypaper hands in college...huge catch radius. I thought his biggest problem was going to be getting separation in the NFL....that has actually not been a problem.

 

I still think he is gonna turn it around

[billsfan89]

It’s a huge transition for WR going from college to pros. Many great receivers have taken several years to successfully transition. If not for the sorry state of our receiving corps, he would/should be benched. It’s bad right now - not just the drops, but stumbling out of breaks, failure to run correct routes and/or gain separation etc etc. We can only hope he turns it around, sooner rather than later

 

Sometimes it is better for a young player to just keep going out there and get baptized by fire. We have no one else to trot out there so the team might as well just keep giving him the snaps and hope he figures it out. It really does show the poor construction of the roster depth wise that they didn't find another quality receiver after Boldin left.

[DriveFor1Outta5]

I'd love to add something intelligent to this conversation, but I can't. Jones has simply sucked this season. It makes Josh Reed's rookie season look spectacular. Lets just hope this isn't who Jones really is.

[NewEra]

It's the yips fellas. He'll forgive it out

[reddogblitz]

It's the yips fellas. He'll forgive it out

How long do the "yips" usually last? We're into our second month ...

[Augie]

It's the yips fellas. He'll forgive it out

No disrespect, but have you had the yips? Getting rid of the yips is ne small task! I have been the source of great laughter on the putting green since mine set in. I had to change my grip, so I putt worse than I used to, but I get less falling down laughter than recent times.

 

Things will slow down for Zay and he'll be fine. I'm quite confident of that.

[/dev/null]

It's the yips fellas. He'll forgive it out

yips seem to be the only thing he's caught lately

[The Frankish Reich]

Zay struggling like this has been the single biggest suprise for me so far this season......

 

The guy had flypaper hands in college...huge catch radius. I thought his biggest problem was going to be getting separation in the NFL....that has actually not been a problem.

 

I still think he is gonna turn it around

I don't know why anyone is surprised. He was the 37th overall pick. Curtis Samuel (40th) has 4 catches. The beautifully named Ju Ju Smith Schuster (62nd overall pick by PIT) has 12 catches. Of course, Cooper Kupp (69th/Rams) has 17 catches ... but still. It was always unrealistic to assume that a 2nd round receiver would make an immediate impact. People forget that Robert Woods was kind of the exception - a 2nd rounder who immediately produced - rather than the rule. The WR picked before Robert Woods in 2013 (in a seemingly more talented WR class) was Justin Hunter; the guy picked after him was Aaron Dobson (who? out of the NFL after 2015). When we drafted Zay I compared him to Justin Hunter. As usual, post-draft everyone is unrealistically optimistic about the quality of this year's class and the savvy of this year's GM and draft team, and I was dismissed as an idiot ...

Edited October 15, 2017 by The Frankish Reich

[DriveFor1Outta5]

yips seem to be the only thing he's caught lately

It's just frightening, because the "yips" are the only thing we've seen from Jones. I have yet to see one good quality about Jones the player.

[Augie]

yips seem to be the only thing he's caught lately

OK, that's funny...

It's just frightening, because the "yips" are the only thing we've seen from Jones. I have yet to see one good quality about Jones the player.

So, for example, you weren't impressed when he got open deep at the end against the Panthers, when the only thing they were worried about was someone getting open deep? Yes, it didn't end well, but there is a lot to like.

 

All this over reaction gets old. It's too soon to know, people. His college film and numbers say he can catch and play the game of football.

[DriveFor1Outta5]

I don't know why anyone is surprised. He was the 37th overall pick. Curtis Samuel (40th) has 4 catches. The beautifully named Ju Ju Smith Schuster (62nd overall pick by PIT) has 12 catches. Of course, Cooper Kupp (69th/Rams) has 17 catches ... but still. It was always unrealistic to assume that a 2nd round receiver would make an immediate impact. People forget that Robert Woods was kind of the exception - a 2nd rounder who immediately produced - rather than the rule. The WR picked before Robert Woods in 2013 (in an obviously much more talented WR class) was Justin Hunter; the guy picked after him was Aaron Dobson (who? out of the NFL after 2015). When we drafted Zay I compared him to Justin Hunter. As usual, post-draft everyone is unrealistically optimistic about the quality of this year's class and the savvy of this year's GM and draft team, and I was dismissed as an idiot ...

It's not just about the numbers though, it's about how bad he's looked putting up those numbers. Samuel and Shuster are on teams where they aren't expected to be the number two WR. Jones was expected to be that guy. It's not unfair to believe that Samuel and Shuster might put up better numbers if they were a number two. Mediocre WR's can put up decent numbers when they are one of the go to targets. Jones has become a go to reciever by default. He has done absolutely nothing with that opportunity. Our very own Josh Reed is a good example. He was not a good number two receiver, but he still put up numbers (albeit subpar ones) because he was the second best option on the roster. Zay hasn't acumulated any numbers, and he's look awful doing so. I'm not sure if I've ever seen an NFL reciever look more lost than Zay.

OK, that's funny...

 

So, for example, you weren't impressed when he got open deep at the end against the Panthers, when the only thing they were worried about was someone getting open deep? Yes, it didn't end well, but there is a lot to like.

 

All this over reaction gets old. It's too soon to know, people. His college film and numbers say he can catch and play the game of football.

I wasn't impressed that he fell over his feet as he does dozens of times each game. I'm rooting for the kid, but everything from his hands to his footwork have looked terrible this season. Edited October 15, 2017 by DriveFor1Outta5

[Augie]

Five games is not a career. It's a start....

 

I think he'll be very solid. Probably a #2, but solid.

[The Frankish Reich]

It's not just about the numbers though, it's about how bad he's looked putting up those numbers. Samuel and Shuster are on teams where they aren't expected to be the number two WR. Jones was expected to be that guy. It's not unfair to believe that Samuel and Shuster might put up better numbers if they were a number two. Mediocre WR's can put up decent numbers when they are one of the go to targets. Jones has become a go to reciever by default. He has done absolutely nothing with that opportunity. Our very own Josh Reed is a good example. He was not a good number two receiver, but he still put up numbers (albeit subpar ones) because he was the second best option on the roster. Zay hasn't acumulated any numbers, and he's look awful doing so. I'm not sure if I've ever seen an NFL reciever look more lost than Zay.

I wasn't impressed that he fell over his feet as he does dozens of times each game. I'm rooting for the kid, but everything from his hands to his footwork have looked terrible this season.

Well, I don't think there's any disagreement here ... Jones was "expected to be that guy" because the depth chart was depleted. The 37th overall pick shouldn't be forced into that role. That's a lot of pressure on him, and it's showing. I do think he'll turn into a useful player - again, maybe a Justin Hunter type player (more of a red zone threat than anything else), and if we're lucky, more than that. But that just wasn't likely to happen in his rookie year no matter what. I feel bad for the kid because he was thrust into a role he simply isn't prepared to handle at this point in his career.

[NewEra]

How long do the "yips" usually last? We're into our second month ...

a month or more from the 3 I remember most vividly.

No disrespect, but have you had the yips? Getting rid of the yips is ne small task! I have been the source of great laughter on the putting green since mine set in. I had to change my grip, so I putt worse than I used to, but I get less falling down laughter than recent times.

 

Things will slow down for Zay and he'll be fine. I'm quite confident of that.

Nah, don't think I ever have. When I watch him attempt to catch the ball, it looks like the yips to me. He looks bad. He's not bad. Never has he been bad. But now he just completely sucks and is the worst player in the NFL (yes, he's been that bad)? I don't buy it. Yips he's open

[billsfan714]

Im firm believer in the 3rd year WR. . Seen it enough in over almost 40 years of fantasy. Doesnt always work, but it does more often than not, People forget for a vast majority of these guys its the same as trying to make the jump to varsity in HS as a freshman as it is to making the jump to major program college football as a freshman in college. Same with the last hurdle to the majors of football. The kid has a great pedigree....old enough to remember the GOAT of wr and IMHO of alltime, Jerry Rice, struggling in his rookie year.

Edited October 15, 2017 by billsfan714

[GreggTX]

1. It's still too soon to write off either of our 2nd round picks.

2. Remember that we replaced our GM and the ENTIRE scouting/personnel staff after the draft. I'm already anxious to see how Mr. Beane does on his 1st trip to the plate? At least Whaley gave us T White before he was replaced. I think we'll see a new face there next Summer.

3. Even if Jones comes around, we will draft or sign (as a FA) someone that can keep opposing safeties honest. That's another thing that's hurting the run game.

[#34fan]

Takes time... Especially for an over-hyped young WR... If you watched a lot of him at ECU, and you knew what you were looking at, (A very raw talent) -you expected this.

[Thurmal34]

for once, in life, can we a give a rookie some time? one

freaking time?

[machine gun kelly]

This title says it all.