Zay Jones: The numbers show that he is a #2.

[The Bills Blog]

At 50 receptions, he's at #44 among WRs. That puts him clearly in the #2 WR camp. I think we've seen that he can't cut it when teams play him like a 1, but he should be good as a 2.

[Freddie's Dead]

Zay is indeed #2.

[TroutDog]

He’s in his second year and will improve to a solid number two. It has been discussed in all of the Zay threads that the switch to the NFL for receivers typically takes a number of years. 

 

We we must be patient. 

[SoCal Deek]

Just think where he’d be if he actually caught the balls that were thrown to him!

[Beast]

But....he is a #1 right now (I think) and only has that number. What if he was looked at as a #2? What would his catch total be? What has it been the last four weeks or so with Foster’s emergence?

 

IMO, Zay is a borderline 3/4 receiver. Dime a dozen guy that belongs nowhere near the top two.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

I think it just boils down to needing 1 really good outside WR. I think in the common way that people view these “#1/#2#3” WRs;

 

Foster is the other outside guy. The “second” option from an outside WR perspective. Probably the “Z” in most common formation terms. Can stretch the field but also can be the presnap motion guy with the little pop passes and creative ball in space stuff. Probably better as the guy on the opposite of the “go to.”  Foster will benefit from single coverage and make a team pay for doubling the other WR. Foster has become a very nice find and can be very important to this offense going forward.

 

In my eyes Zay has always been better suited to be an inside guy. The slot WR.  A high catch volume, underneath catch and run guy. The closer to the qb the better. Forget trying to play him on the outside. It’s not working. 

 

McKenzie is the first guy off the bench that can probably play inside or out. He also can be used in several trick plays and jet sweeps. The jack of all trades guy that you keep and find ways to get in space.

 

What we need now is a true #1 outside WR. A go to guy that can be a cornerstone of this offense for a decade and beat double teams. We need an AJ Green type player to complete this set of WRs. We have some pretty solid pieces in place. A true #1 outside option will put us in amazing shape. Looking at the Free agent class, we will have to find one in the draft or Via trade. I’m not in the camp of us needing a ton of WRs. I think we need 1 guy that will start. Then there will be a need for that 5th guy that is mostly used as a STs guy. That won’t be hard to find and I’m figuring one of the guys currently on the bottom of our depth chart can handle that. Probably Bolden.

[Captain_Quint]

Zay needs to get off the LOS better if hes going to be a slot possession receiver. 

[jrober38]

1 hour ago, Binghamton Beast said:

But....he is a #1 right now (I think) and only has that number. What if he was looked at as a #2? What would his catch total be? What has it been the last four weeks or so with Foster’s emergence?

 

IMO, Zay is a borderline 3/4 receiver. Dime a dozen guy that belongs nowhere near the top two.

 

Agreed. 

 

He can't get open against Man Coverage. Hard to call him a #2 guy when he does all his damage against zone coverage. 

 

One on one on the outside he's been useless all year. 

 

He has 50 catches because we don't have anyone else, but having 50 catches doesn't make him a #2 WR. 

Edited December 29, 2018 by jrober38

[Ronin]

2 hours ago, The Bills Blog said:

At 50 receptions, he's at #44 among WRs. That puts him clearly in the #2 WR camp. I think we've seen that he can't cut it when teams play him like a 1, but he should be good as a 2.

 

He's a garbage-time specialist.  He was in college too.  

 

The only reason why he has as many receptions as he does is entirely due to lack of options. 

Edited December 29, 2018 by TaskersGhost

[Happy]

Zay will end up being a decent receiver, but no where near JuJu in Pittsburgh or Cooper Kupp in LA.  McD blew that pick.

[Thurman#1]

5 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

Zay will end up being a decent receiver, but no where near JuJu in Pittsburgh or Cooper Kupp in LA.  McD blew that pick.

 

 

Nonsense. There's almost always someone better you could have picked. Picks aren't judged as to whether you got the best possible guy in hindsight. They're judged by whether you got good value. Looks like Zay will turn out to be good value at that spot. 

[Ronin]

6 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

Zay will end up being a decent receiver, but no where near JuJu in Pittsburgh or Cooper Kupp in LA.  McD blew that pick.

 

No he won't.  He'll always be a depth option.  

 

His predecessor from East Carolina was so much more prolific than he was, better scoring, far more reliable when games were actually still in play or on the line, better overall numbers over four years, not merely in one season as a garbage-time specialist in a spread offense often featuring 5 WRs.  

 

Justin Hardy is that player, he's on Atlanta with Ryan throwing him the ball, a team that until they drafted Ridley hasn't had a reliable #2 while Hardy's been on the team.  

 

Let's face it, schools of that caliber rarely field top players in the NFL.  

[CaptnCoke11]

He’s a number #2 on this team trapped in a #5s body 

[Thurman#1]

2 hours ago, The Bills Blog said:

At 50 receptions, he's at #44 among WRs. That puts him clearly in the #2 WR camp. I think we've seen that he can't cut it when teams play him like a 1, but he should be good as a 2.

 

 

 

Yup. It's his second year and he's been thrown to by four different QBs, none of who are very good at this point. He's the best WR on the team and thus gets more focus from the defences. He's still developing and will likely continue to get better.

 

Yup, 52nd among WRs in yardage,  44th in receptions, tied for 26th in TDs. He's a #2 right now, though not one of the better #2s. But again, he's a 2nd year man with issues at QB and OL. He'll almost certainly improve.

[BillyWhiteShows]

3 hours ago, The Bills Blog said:

At 50 receptions, he's at #44 among WRs. That puts him clearly in the #2 WR camp. I think we've seen that he can't cut it when teams play him like a 1, but he should be good as a 2.

 

Unfortunately the majority those balls were caught during garbage time

[Thurman#1]

9 minutes ago, TaskersGhost said:

 

No he won't.  He'll always be a depth option.  

 

His predecessor from East Carolina was so much more prolific than he was, better scoring, far more reliable when games were actually still in play or on the line, better overall numbers over four years, not merely in one season as a garbage-time specialist in a spread offense often featuring 5 WRs.  

 

Justin Hardy is that player, he's on Atlanta with Ryan throwing him the ball, a team that until they drafted Ridley hasn't had a reliable #2 while Hardy's been on the team.  

 

Let's face it, schools of that caliber rarely field top players in the NFL.  

 

 

The fact that you have to go back to his college days proves how poor your point is. College ceases to matter once you're on an NFL roster. Zay's stats - in the NFL - do show he's a #2.

[MJS]

35 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

Zay will end up being a decent receiver, but no where near JuJu in Pittsburgh or Cooper Kupp in LA.  McD blew that pick.

 

Captain hindsight emerges!

[WIDE LEFT]

I question whether Jones is even a 3. He simply cannot separate when faced with man coverage. The Pats played mostly man last week, with Gilmore on Foster and their other DB on Zay. Predictably, Zay did nothing ( until garbage time) Yes he can find a seam or breakdown in zone, but that’s not good enough.When you are that limited as a WR, you better make up for it with great hands and the ability to make tough catches. He does neither, and has dropped more balls recently than he has caught.

Most troubling is his tendency to shrink in the most critical parts of the game. In tight games and big moments he consistently fails to come up with catches that most WR can make routinely. A good guy and hard worker yes. But it takes more than that to produce in the NFL. Over the last month, Jones has virtually disappeared from Bills offense

 

 

[BlueandRed]

Yeah, he is a#2. Literally ? 

[Thurman#1]

5 minutes ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

 

Unfortunately the majority those balls were caught during garbage time

 

 

Receivers can only catch the ball when their QB throws it to them. 

 

The Bills are fifth in the league in percentage of runs per offensive play. They want to run. They throw more when they're behind, that's the kind of team they are.

 

The Bills threw 103 passes in first quarters, 115 in 2nd quarters, 107 in 3rd quarters and 145 in 4th quarters. If you're on the Bills this year and you're a receiver and they throw to you a lot, you're most likely going to have a lot of your catches late in the game.