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


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Duke has been given a great opportunity with the Bills. This WR corps really needs and could be much improved if it had a big nasty physical possession receiver. There is a reason the Bills were interested in Boldin even at the end of his career. That would be Duke's role on this team. But it's going to be a big challenge. Those saying that you cannot compare CFL DBs with the quality players he will be going up against in the NFL are right. None of those guys you see in his highlight reel could likely make an NFL roster, let alone start. The difference especially at those high pay grade positions is exponential. And the go routes you see him running in Canada maybe look nice on tape but that will not be his job in Buffalo. Brown and Foster do that. He will be running short and intermediate level slants and outs, curls, digs and comebacks. If he hits a seam he could have decent YAC. He's big and fast enuf.

He tracks the ball well and has strong hands. He is not a body catcher. He is capable of high pointing the ball but often his elevation, while good enuf to beat a CFL DB, is not as good as it seems, especially when he is falling away from the ball. He will also need to keep his feet under him more. All this falling down is bush league stuff. 

He needs to concentrate on what they want him to do, be humble and work hard. If he can do that he's got a chance based on raw talent. Those saying he's today's DaRick are mistaken. Whether he gets it done or not if anything he's better than that.

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He really is nothing like Da'Rick IMO.  That guy was beyond stupid, not coachable, and just wasn't the same situation as Duke IMO.  

 

I openly admit, I am high on Dukes potential because I like what he brings to the team compared to what we already have.  I still recognize he has a lot of work to do and prove, but people talk about him as if his speed is too slow for the NFL yet he's faster than Jerry Rice was, the GOAT.  You don't have to be blazing fast, there are different levels to attack.  Its going to be more about can he hit the cuts and accelerate more than his straight line speed.  Having some semi-pro experience will help in that transition too IMO.  

 

DISCLAIMER:  I am in NO WAY at all comparing our WR group to what I am about to say...talking more about how different types of WRs can be very complimentary in a passing attack.  

 

Vikings come to mind here when I think about how Duke could play a role along the sides of guys like Brown and Foster.  And I am referencing the Randy Moss and Cris Carter Vikings (BEFORE FREAKING OUT, READ DISCLAIMER ABOVE AGAIN AND SPARE ME THE REPLY PLEASE).  

 

Moss was by far that home run, big play WR.  Cris Carter was a guy who was masterful at body position, out muscling his defenders, and being a target who can be open in tight situations when most WRs cant be open.  He didn't beat them with elite speed, he beat them by being physical and positioning.  

 

Feel like people fail to read too often here...so again, in no way am I comparing our WR group to arguably the best DUO to play together in terms of talent.  Talking strictly how the two types can compliment a WR group in styles of play only.  

 

But we have guys like Brown and Foster to take the top off, and then we got a very quick and twitchy guy in Cole that is hard to cover underneath in short to mid areas but can still take off on you too.  Now add in someone like Duke who gives our big QB a big target to work with in the end zone, short yardage, 3rd downs, etc and that can be a very nice piece to allow Daboll to attack many levels of the D on any given play.  Add in Kroft/Knox and Shady out of the back field, and suddenly we may not have a tier 1 like target out there, but we got guys putting pressure all over the field.  

 

I think Duke has a better chance to make this roster than people think.  That being said, I also believe David Sills V will be someone to watch to play a similar role and push Duke in this competition.  

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  Let's put some perspective into Duke's stats playing for the Eskimos in the CFL. In 2015 their top 2 receivers had 93 catches for 1304 yds and 89 for 1110. In 2016 the same 2 guys had 120 for 1761 and 109 for 1589. In 2017 their 3rd wr from the previous year put up 109 for 1687. Then in 2018 it was Duke's turn after being jag the season before. This season last year's number 3wr will put up 100 catches and 1500+ yards.

 

  I wish nothing but the best, but I'm not expecting a hidden gem.

 

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53 minutes ago, without a drought said:

  Let's put some perspective into Duke's stats playing for the Eskimos in the CFL. In 2015 their top 2 receivers had 93 catches for 1304 yds and 89 for 1110. In 2016 the same 2 guys had 120 for 1761 and 109 for 1589. In 2017 their 3rd wr from the previous year put up 109 for 1687. Then in 2018 it was Duke's turn after being jag the season before. This season last year's number 3wr will put up 100 catches and 1500+ yards.

 

  I wish nothing but the best, but I'm not expecting a hidden gem.

 

 

He dominated at auburn and the CFL. Let’s hope he is motivated and it translates to the NFL. 

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10 minutes ago, wppete said:

 

He dominated at auburn and the CFL. Let’s hope he is motivated and it translates to the NFL. 

 

One reason I am optimistic on Duke is seems very hungry and has something he wants to prove.  And I like guys with a chip on their shoulder that come to with intensity.  Kind of really what this whole Bills team together is right now.  Being overlooked but will play with that chip to and will IMO be surprising a lot of people this year. 

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On 5/2/2019 at 12:59 PM, JustWinPlease said:

I'll believe it when I see it...but I'd bet a lot of money that at least 4-5 WRs have better seasons than Williams this year.

The 49ers signed Eric Rogers and the Colts signed Duron Carter, both of whom were great CFL WRs, and both flamed out within one year.

We'll see how it goes, but I'm not counting this guy on the 53-man roster until he makes it.

(People thought the same thing about Da'Rick Rogers and Ramses Barden, among others I'm sure.)

 

? I absolutely thought that about Da’Rick and Ramses!

 

 

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17 minutes ago, wppete said:

He dominated at auburn and the CFL. 

 

No offense, but he hardly dominated the CFL (who the hell is Brad Sinopoli?) or at Auburn:

 

CFL Stats

 

DATE NAME TEAM GP REC ATT YARDS YAC AVG LG TD 30
1 2018 WILLIAMS, D'haquille EDM 18 88 152 1579 425 17.9 95 11 11
2 2018 BANKS, Brandon HAM 14 94 129 1423 380 15.1 78 11 13
3 2018 SINOPOLI, Brad OTT 17 116 154 1376 486 11.9 38 4 5
4 2018 TASKER, Luke HAM 15 78 111 1104 396 14.2 56 11 5
5 2018 GREEN, S.J. TOR 18 83 155 1095 253 13.2 56 4 7
6 2018 ELLINGSON, Greg OTT 17 91 146 1086 300 11.9 56 5 3
7 2018 BURNHAM, Bryan BC 18 67 109 1029 205 15.4 55 9 10
8 2018 ADAMS, Darvin WPG 17 61 110 1028 224 16.9 72 10 9
9 2018 SPENCER, Diontae OTT 17 81 118 1007 424 12.4 79 7 7
10 2018 EDWARDS, Armanti TOR 18 73 110 974 266 13.3 69 4 8

 

 

College Stats

    Receiving Rushing Scrimmage
Year School Conf Class Pos G Rec Yds Avg TD Att Yds Avg TD Plays Yds Avg TD
Career Auburn         57 877 15.4 6 0 0   0 57 877 15.4 6
*2014 Auburn SEC JR WR 10 45 730 16.2 5 0 0   0 45 730 16.2 5
*2015 Auburn SEC SR WR 5 12 147 12.3 1 0 0   0 12 147 12.3 1
Edited by Lurker
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10 hours ago, Lurker said:

It would be great if Duke pans out but I just don't see it happening.   He's Da'Rick Rogers 2.0 and has a large mountain to climb, IMO.  

 

This story in the BN gives me less--not more--good feelings about him as a prospect....

 

https://buffalonews.com/2019/05/03/buffalo-bills-duke-williams-wide-receiver-viral-nfl-cfl-edmonton-eskimos/

 

Same here.  Lots of negatives about his personality, limited skills, and work ethic are mentioned in the article.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Lurker said:

It would be great if Duke pans out but I just don't see it happening.   He's Da'Rick Rogers 2.0 and has a large mountain to climb, IMO.  

 

 

 

I dunno.......you see the depth chart?

 

He's a couple(inevitable) training camp soft tissue or joint injuries away from no competition for the 6th spot.

 

He probably SHOULD have a large mountain to climb to make an NFL roster but he doesn't.   

 

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56 minutes ago, PIZ said:

 

Same here.  Lots of negatives about his personality, limited skills, and work ethic are mentioned in the article.

 

 

Right but there all in their as things he's been progressing and getting past. I mean a bunch of his teammates have all said that he's a great teammate even the guy he knocked on his ass and embarrassed in front of the world. As for limited skills and work ethic it brings up that he hadn't been playing in like what a year or two and that his limited route tree let defenses figure him out, but then it goes on to say by the next season he'd gotten in shape gotten better at additional routes and became the top WR in the CFL. How is that a guy with a bad work ethic?

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3 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

Right but there all in their as things he's been progressing and getting past. I mean a bunch of his teammates have all said that he's a great teammate even the guy he knocked on his ass and embarrassed in front of the world. As for limited skills and work ethic it brings up that he hadn't been playing in like what a year or two and that his limited route tree let defenses figure him out, but then it goes on to say by the next season he'd gotten in shape gotten better at additional routes and became the top WR in the CFL. How is that a guy with a bad work ethic?

 

Not saying he has bad work ethic now, but it mentions he had it when he showed up on his first day at the CFL.  I expected to read that he was ready to work after being humbled prior to the CFL.  Don't get me wrong... I hope he succeeds.  I'm just not as hopeful as I was before I read the article.

 

 

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30 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

Big target?  Not fast?

 

He can have Kelvin Benjamin's number.

I think that is an unfair comparison KB was overweight and lazy. He never seemed to fight for 50/50 balls which duke seems to be willing to do. I am not real high on him but i think he deserves more credit than that.

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10 hours ago, BigBuff423 said:

I could see the Bills looking to transition him to a receiving TE. His physical attributes fit that mold a bit better and as a TE,  you don't need top end WR speed. A TE needs to do the things Duke does well: use body for separation and catch / hold the ball when thrown to (and block). 

But he's not a TE. TEs have to line up in-line at least on occasion, and have blocking duties against o-linemen and LBs. 

 

He's a big WR. What you're talking about is a big WR.

2 hours ago, Lurker said:

 

No offense, but he hardly dominated the CFL (who the hell is Brad Sinopoli?) or at Auburn:

 

CFL Stats

 

DATE NAME TEAM GP REC ATT YARDS YAC AVG LG TD 30
1 2018 WILLIAMS, D'haquille EDM 18 88 152 1579 425 17.9 95 11 11
2 2018 BANKS, Brandon HAM 14 94 129 1423 380 15.1 78 11 13
3 2018 SINOPOLI, Brad OTT 17 116 154 1376 486 11.9 38 4 5
4 2018 TASKER, Luke HAM 15 78 111 1104 396 14.2 56 11 5
5 2018 GREEN, S.J. TOR 18 83 155 1095 253 13.2 56 4 7
6 2018 ELLINGSON, Greg OTT 17 91 146 1086 300 11.9 56 5 3
7 2018 BURNHAM, Bryan BC 18 67 109 1029 205 15.4 55 9 10
8 2018 ADAMS, Darvin WPG 17 61 110 1028 224 16.9 72 10 9
9 2018 SPENCER, Diontae OTT 17 81 118 1007 424 12.4 79 7 7
10 2018 EDWARDS, Armanti TOR 18 73 110 974 266 13.3 69 4 8

 

 

College Stats

    Receiving Rushing Scrimmage
Year School Conf Class Pos G Rec Yds Avg TD Att Yds Avg TD Plays Yds Avg TD
Career Auburn         57 877 15.4 6 0 0   0 57 877 15.4 6
*2014 Auburn SEC JR WR 10 45 730 16.2 5 0 0   0 45 730 16.2 5
*2015 Auburn SEC SR WR 5 12 147 12.3 1 0 0   0 12 147 12.3 1

No offense, but being the most productive receiver in a league does sort of imply something like domination. Semantics might suggest a different word, but your argument isn't helped by last year's stats. 

 

Your argument IS helped by his college stats, however.

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11 hours ago, Lurker said:

 

My concern would be Williams learning the playbook.  And since there are no running starts in the NFL and few 180 pound CBs, that play he made in the CFL (while fun to watch) is pretty irrelevant...

 

Is there any indication that he's incapable of learning the playbook? (I haven't read through this thread at all, so I have no idea if that's a legitimate concern.)

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8 hours ago, junior12thman92 said:

 

Is there any indication that he's incapable of learning the playbook? (I haven't read through this thread at all, so I have no idea if that's a legitimate concern.)

Interesting how that works on so many levels.  You haven’t read the thread.  Williams might not be able to learn the playbook.  Billy Joe Hobert didn’t bother to learn the playbook.  ?

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On 2/6/2019 at 4:45 PM, IgotBILLStopay said:

Just closely watched these highlights. The guy is arguably a more complete receiver than anyone coming out of college this year. He has speed (why did he run only a 4.72 at the combine?), separation, elevation, ability to catch in traffic and is elusive enough to rack up YAC. Almost every throw he catches at its highest point (except for the one where he was unsighted and it hits his helmet - he still comes up with it). Enjoy!! Very Very underrated signing by the Bills - could have a shot at our #1 if he has really matured from his college days.

 

 

https://www.cover1.net/farhan-lalji-of-tsn-discusses-bills-signing-of-wr-duke-williams/

 

Report from a Vancouver reporter who watched him all year. 8-10 teams wanted him - but he chose Buffalo for the fit. Highlights fit with josh Allen due to catch radius and high pointing the catch.

 

Coaches from CFL lauded his humility, focus hard work etc.

When you live in a world where our GM doesn't value any of the WR's in this draft class... then this is how low we have to stoop. Until he proves it... I just can't get my Hope's up

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11 hours ago, Scorp83 said:

When you live in a world where our GM doesn't value any of the WR's in this draft class... then this is how low we have to stoop. Until he proves it... I just can't get my Hope's up

 

 

Easily Beane's biggest weakness so far has been moves at WR.

 

First he showed a lack of awareness of a shift in the league by trying to load up on big, lumbering WR's who couldn't get open.     And even if you set aside that other teams were aware that getting WR's who create separation was becoming critical and Beane did not...........why would you give a QB like Tyrod Taylor, who would only throw the ball to open receivers, a bunch of guys that he would have to make contested throws to?    UTTER STUPIDITY that first season.

 

Then last year he got wise to the obvious trend toward WR who get open.........but still didn't land a decent one in UFA or draft one.    If he hadn't gotten incredibly lucky with Robert Foster in UDFA it would have been hands down the worst WR corps in the NFL.     This year he adds a couple back-of-career patches in UFA in Brown and Beasley but still leaves the team with one of the weaker WR corps in the league.   

 

If Bob Foster doesn't continue his trajectory.........which has to be considered a strong possibility considering his track record.............this could be a pretty awful WR corps.  

 

 

Edited by BADOLBILZ
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13 hours ago, Scorp83 said:

When you live in a world where our GM doesn't value any of the WR's in this draft class... then this is how low we have to stoop. Until he proves it... I just can't get my Hope's up

 

Why should he have?  It was a bad draft class for WR's.  That's why he went out and got Brown and Beasley, to go with Foster, who should only continue to get better.  And while there's a long thread about Zay not being here, I think he'll make a fine WR4.  If they get anything out of Duke, Sills, Easley or any other undrafted player, it will be gravy.

 

And getting WR's who can get separation is a recent trend?  Really?

Edited by Doc
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