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D'haquille aka Duke Williams, Bills' newest WR better than any draft prospect


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15 minutes ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

...thought I read he is in his third trimester now.....

 

14 minutes ago, JohnC said:

That sounds like Kirby's favorite receiver, D'Rick.:ph34r:

: )
lol

seriously though

Those nice reports coming from his CFL  "HC" sounded like he is a tad more motivated than our future "once was a Bill " HOFer D'Rogers

Edited by 3rdand12
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Going to be hard for him since 

A. You cant get a running start like he does.

B. The end zone isn't 30 miles long.

 

Interesting point. I've racked my (admittedly feeble) brain trying to recall receivers who successfully made the jump from CFL to NFL, and all I got was Joe Horn. . Anyone have other  examples of success?

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2 minutes ago, 3rdand12 said:

 

: )
lol

seriously though

Those nice reports coming from his CFL  "HC" sounded like he is a tad more motivated than our future "once was a Bill " HOFer D'Rogers

I also liked the pickup. There is a good probability that the Bills won't have a genuine #1 receiver. If that's the case then you can still upgrade the unit with good #2 receivers. Sometimes these little and obscure deals turn out to be big hits. If not, so what? You then move on. I applaud the organization for scouring the market to improve the team. 

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44 minutes ago, Lurker said:

 

And yet, his college stats were nothing to write home about.   

 

In 2014, he was second on his team with 730 receiving yards  (# 8 in the SEC) and five TDs.   In 2015, he played only four games, catching 12 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown.   That doesn't sound like a lot of experience against quality DBs, even if they were from the SEC...

 

His 2014 season was padded by a few cupcakes like Arkansas, Kansas State and Mississippi State, although he did have a good game against Alabama.

 

2014 Game Logs 

  Receiving Tackles
Rk Date School   Opponent   Rec Yds Avg TD Solo Ast Tot Loss Sk
  10 Games         45 730 16.2 5 1 1 2 0.0 0.
1 2014-08-30 Auburn   Arkansas W 9 154 17.1 1 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
2 2014-09-06 Auburn   San Jose State W 4 60 15.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
3 2014-09-18 Auburn @ Kansas State W 8 110 13.8 1 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
4 2014-09-27 Auburn   Louisiana Tech W 2 33 16.5 1 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
5 2014-10-04 Auburn   Louisiana State W 2 28 14.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
6 2014-10-11 Auburn @ Mississippi State L 6 108 18.0 2 1 0 1 0.0 0.0
7 2014-10-25 Auburn   South Carolina W 3 34 11.3 0 0 1 1 0.0 0.0
8 2014-11-01 Auburn @ Mississippi W 3 71 23.7 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
9 2014-11-08 Auburn   Texas A&M L 1 11 11.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0
10 2014-11-29 Auburn @ Alabama L 7 121 17.3 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0

 

 

Kansas St finished 2014 ranked 18th. 

Arkansas was 7-6 but only 2-6 in the SEC. Those two wins however were over LSU ranked #20, and Ole Miss ranked #8 at the time.  Add a 1 pt loss to #7 Alabama as well.  Mississippi St. was 10-3, 6-2 in SEC, and finished 11th in the AP poll and was ranked #1 overall at one point in the 2014 season.

 

The informed and more correct interpretation of his 2014 season would be he had his best games, many on the road, against some of the best teams in the country.  

 

None of that means he can play in the NFL. 

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1 hour ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Yup.  If anyone can find us receivers, it’s the guys who put together Jordan Matthews, Zay Jones, Jeremy Kerley, Anquan Boldin, Kelvin Benjamin, etc.

 

i kid but man have they sucked At receiver evaluations.

 

Thats a horrible perspective...

 

horrible because it’s hard to argue anything other than they aren’t good at evaluating WRs. Maybe the new WR coach can help ?‍♂️ ?‍♂️ 

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2 hours ago, Mark80 said:

All the talent in the world.  Can he keep it together mentally though?  That is his issue.

I watch every Eskimos game. He’s really been a good citizen and has worked his ass off.

 

I still think he’s a long shot, but dude hasn’t talent no doubt.

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So are we saying we picked him up?  Not living in Buffalo anymore, I haven’t seen an article, so I’m guessing either we picked him up as not having to follow free agent rules, or everyone just wants him.

 

if anyone can clarify, I’d appreciate it so I can dive in once I know he’s conditionally ours.

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1 minute ago, machine gun kelly said:

So are we saying we picked him up?  Not living in Buffalo anymore, I haven’t seen an article, so I’m guessing either we picked him up as not having to follow free agent rules, or everyone just wants him.

 

if anyone can clarify, I’d appreciate it so I can dive in once I know he’s conditionally ours.

He’s ours. Bills signed him awhile back. 

 

 

Edited by YoloinOhio
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16 hours ago, Mark80 said:

All the talent in the world.  Can he keep it together mentally though?  That is his issue.

 

 

My Dad and I have this discussion/argument all the time, but we come from very different athletic backgrounds. He played/plays a ton of hockey still, good but not great. I lived at the Olympic training center for a number of years in a different sport.l, and coached a few national championships as well 

 

If you ask me every time in sports, I take the physiology over the brain. You can coach the brain, you can’t coach DNA. 

 

However to be truly great, or at least better than/on par with your peers in pro sports, you need both. (This is the argument). You can’t will a 4.3 40. No matter how hard you train, some guys can do it and some guys can’t. It just is. 

 

 

Hopefully Duke works out. There have been a ton of grinders who lack the genetics, and a few genetic freaks who could never harness it. It is what it is. 

 

 

Edited by Mango
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I am hopeful for Duke, he looks like he can really help our WR situation.  If he is legit, Foster, Zay, Duke, is workable.  WR would not be the pressing need that is Oline, TE and Edge.  There is much WR value rounds 2-4.  So that behoves us to go BPA at 9, and gives us option to trade down, landing additional picks 2-4 and allowing us to fill starters and depth at those positions 

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2 hours ago, Lieutenant Aldo Raine said:

Could he actually be the answer to TE?  He looks big but not overly fast for a WR but probably fast for TE.   As a TE he could really be a difference maker I would think - especially if he could block.

I am much higher on him than the average poster on TBD but one knock on him in college was his reluctance to block. Maybe he improved in the CFL, but there really are very few running plays in the CFL.

 

summary: you will not be getting Robert Woods 2.0

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3 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

I have REALLY high hopes for Robert Foster.....and I hope we are aggressive on pass catcher's in the draft which might not be great but it is deep

The did find Robert Foster :)

 

1) he was at Alabama.  Not exactly a JUCO program.

 

2) they cut him

 

based on his college production and his preseason performance, they got very lucky with Foster and he will have a lot to prove since he will be more known this year.  But it’s sometimes better to be lucky than good so hopefully he turns into something.

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3 hours ago, Logic said:

I was excited that the Bills signed Williams, and I have high hopes that he can find a way to make the roster and contribute. HOWEVER...

We need to temper our expectations a bit. All the jump-ball and high-point ability in the world won't do squat if he can't separate from defenders. For evidence of this phenomenon, go watch some James Hardy or Dez Lewis "highlights".

 

I don't know about that. Not much separation goes on in the Red Zone, not enough room. But jump-ball and high-point ability certainly mean more than squat in that area. Why some guys with those abilities succeed while others don't is a fair question, but I'm not sure James Hardy for instance, would have had a CFL career nearly as successful as Williams.

 

I don't really expect much from Williams, but it will be great if he can contribute.

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He is by no means better than projected first or early second round WRs in this year's draft. He's not DK, Harry or Butler. He is Juwan Johnson with an edge and probably somewhat better hands, so a third round equivalent prospect. Having successful pro experience, albeit not NFL, is also a plus. Having seen some of his Eskimo games I think he makes the roster, but that's JMO. I think it's also fair to leave open the possibility that he pleasantly surprises. He is talented and nasty (in a good way). Anyway they picked him up for nothing and if he works out kudos to McBean. Absolutely worth a hard look. 

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Camp body at this point,  big, slow, unathletic, poor blocker. Good hands and high points the ball, unfortunately at 6'2" with only a 30" vertical leap his high point is lower than most. I hope he surprises me and exceeds expectations but people thinking the Bills have found their #1 and together with Jones and Foster, Josh Allen now has the weapons he needs is just laughable imo. The Bills still need to bring in a veteran in fa and draft one in the first 3 rnds. 

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4 hours ago, Logic said:

I was excited that the Bills signed Williams, and I have high hopes that he can find a way to make the roster and contribute. HOWEVER...

We need to temper our expectations a bit. All the jump-ball and high-point ability in the world won't do squat if he can't separate from defenders. For evidence of this phenomenon, go watch some James Hardy or Dez Lewis "highlights".

This guy can play.  He had problems but seems to have turned it around for the last couple of years.  Sometimes it takes a young guy a while to figure it out. Some never do.  He does what the Bills had hoped that Benjamin would do. He runs better than Benjamin (I know that ain't sayin' much).  The ability to separate is necessary either through speed, quickness, or running great patterns.  He should be an excellent complement to Foster, Jones, et al..  

 

We'll see what he does in camp and preseason.  The Bills have virtually nothing invested and nothing to lose.

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