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My Off-Season Primer: Position Group: RB


MAJBobby

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I was disappointed with the Singletary pick last year because I was worried he would be too small and slow and I wasn’t sure he could catch well and man was I wrong! Great pick Beane!

 

I think another mid round pick in rounds 2-4 to pair with Motor is one of the best ways we can use our draft picks. For those 8 carries that Gore wasted in the wildcard game.

 

I love Edwards-Helaire as a runner and pass catcher. Etienne’s speed is electric and something we don’t have out of the backfield right now. Lots of options and I trust Beane to make the right choice.

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18 hours ago, aristocrat said:

i'd go with kenyan drake in free agency. not too pricey but catches the ball well and is close to a starter


I would like Drake and the reason I think I would break my budget a bit on him in terms of signing is he also returns kicks. So you have your BU RB and possibly can replace Roberts as well. 

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Stewed on this a while......I dont think its a good idea to throw the brinks truck at Henry after all

 

- DS is TOO GOOD to be sitting behind Henry.....which is exactly what would happen

- DRAFT a RB that way there is no expecations to unseat DS....but rather to compliment him

- KEEP Yeldon......and this time keep him active on game day for his receiving skills

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23 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

You are going to see Najee Harris move up in this draft. This kid has ridiculous stats. Averaged over 6 yards per carry during his 3 years. Ran right over Auburn, LSU and Michigan. It may take a late 3rd to get him but he's my target after research. Get the best WR @ 22 (Shenault/Higgins) or hope Jefferson falls to 2nd round?

Najee is the real deal and would be a perfect compliment to Singletary. 

Agreed.  I feel like Najee should be relegated to round 1 or 2 talk.  Rd 1 may be ambitious but I think there’s a better chance of rd 1 than rd 4 or 5.  He’s most likely a day 2 guy, rd 2 or 3, but I’d be shocked to see him slip to rd 3 tbh.  He’s a baller.

 

if we don’t land Henry, Harris is the guy I want.  

23 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

Is there a Henry clone in this year's draft that we could get in the 3rd round or later?

 

I'd love to see Henry (or a clone) paired with Singletary. 

 

It never felt this year like the Bills could consistently line up and impose their will. I think it's because as good as Singletary is, once he needed a breather we couldn't run the ball or it was a waste of a play. 

My feelings exactly.  Don’t see anyone With his size and speed but I Najee Harris is my runner up.  Just hope to get him rd 3, but he might not fall that far imo

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Singletary, Wade, Edwards-Hellaire and check back into the RB market in 6 years or so.

On January 8, 2020 at 1:44 PM, whatdrought said:

Random UFA to think about as just another piece of the puzzle: Matt Breida. He brings a one cut, speed element that differs from Motor. him plus someone like AJ Dillon and we'd have a pretty diverse group. 

Brenda is a good player.

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On 1/8/2020 at 12:57 PM, mannc said:

Yep.  As good as Henry is right now, I guaranty that in another year or two, he will be banged up and overpaid, like almost every running back who gets a fat second contract.  Pass.

Don't you think it's unrealistic to think you can get Henry on a two-year deal?  He's a prototype back and led the league in rushing over the past two years.  He'll want (and probably get) a Zeke Elliott type deal.   


look at zekes deal on spotrac. They have a potential out in two years if something goes south. 

6 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

Stewed on this a while......I dont think its a good idea to throw the brinks truck at Henry after all

 

- DS is TOO GOOD to be sitting behind Henry.....which is exactly what would happen

- DRAFT a RB that way there is no expecations to unseat DS....but rather to compliment him

- KEEP Yeldon......and this time keep him active on game day for his receiving skills


Damn, this is where I’m leaning now too. On the other hand I keep thinking ‘what makes the offense The absolute the best it can be next season?’

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17 hours ago, MAJBobby said:


I would like Drake and the reason I think I would break my budget a bit on him in terms of signing is he also returns kicks. So you have your BU RB and possibly can replace Roberts as well. 

 

i think we need a nice experienced guy that is like a 1a type starter which drake seems to be.  i could be down with kareem hunt too cause he catches the ball so well. gives us so much draft flex. 

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On 1/9/2020 at 12:01 PM, John from Riverside said:

Stewed on this a while......I dont think its a good idea to throw the brinks truck at Henry after all

 

- DS is TOO GOOD to be sitting behind Henry.....which is exactly what would happen

- DRAFT a RB that way there is no expecations to unseat DS....but rather to compliment him

- KEEP Yeldon......and this time keep him active on game day for his receiving skills

Completely agree.

 

Running Back does need to be addressed, but we don't have to spend big money in free agency or use a high pick in the draft for one.

 

I'm sure Beane will find what we need.

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On 1/8/2020 at 12:17 PM, MAJBobby said:

***Disclaimer*** I will not put all Names not on the Bills in this thread as it would get to long, I will keep it to a couple names in each tier (as I see them).  As mentioned from @whatdroughtI will link th ones I already have done on the bottom of this post.  Hope you enjoy the read.   Only OL and WR left on Offense 

 

Currently on Roster: (Positional Spending 3 players 2.834M Cap ranked 23rd in league) - I like this finally not putting a ton of cap space into this position.

T.J. Yeldon (UFA 2021) – Saves 1.65M against cap if Cut

Devin Singletary (UFA 2023)

Christian Wade (signed futures deal)

 

Expiring Contracts

Frank Gore (37 yrs old) (2.0M AVV)

Senorise Perry (28 yrs old) (720K AVV)

 

Possible Trade TGTS:

None - Never trade for a RB in offseason

 

My Take:

 First, I will address the expiring contracts.  I think Gore retires, but even if he doesn’t, I do not want him back (which likely means another veteran RB signed staying with the McD and Beane mentality of a veteran in every room).  Also, Senorise Perry they very well could bring him back but that is not going to happen until after the draft IMO.  He is one of those post draft, 1 year no guaranteed signings.  The expiring contracts do not hurt the room in terms of production (might help it meaning Gore doesn’t get his token touches) but what it does hurt is the Veteran Presence in the room.  I guess Beane and McD could look at Yeldon and see if he can bring that presence, but I think they will look for one.  I would rather they not as this room IMO doesn’t need it, they are RBs after all. 

 

Lets look at Singletary, first his numbers 151 Attempts, 12.6 per game 775 yards 5.1 ypc, 2TDs, 24.5% 1st down percentage, 7 20+ runs, 4 fumbles (1 lost), 41tgts, 29 Rec, 194 yards, 2 TDs, 70.7% catch rate.  Now before I continue I just want to do one thing on rushing only…..

 

Josh Jacobs 242 attempts, 1,150 yards 18.6 attempts a game.  Let’s see what Motor looks like with those attempt numbers

Motor 242 attempts 1,234 yards. 

 

Ok now that that is over let me get back to Motor.  What I like about him, I knew he had some good vision that is what was talked about since he was drafted.  However, I would like to say his vision is much better than anticipated.  I am talking Freddie Jackson type vision in his rookie year.  What I didn’t know about him is how powerful he is.  Yes, some of the broken tackles can be attributed to his low center of gravity, but man I don’t remember seeing a little back move the pile like he does, I think I can count on two hands the number of times I saw the first tackler in bring him down.  That is why I would get infuriated when Daboll and McD would force Gore in on short yardage. 

 

Where he does need to improve though is pass pro (cheap copout I know all rookies need to improve here) but it is true, he got better as the year went on, but still an issue.  4 Fumbles on 151 attempts is a high as well, so I would like for him to improve that aspect of his game as well, though near the end of the season I did see him cover the ball before taking contact, and my notes have 3 of those fumbles coming when he was fighting for yards. 

 

But to the rest of the room the talent is lacking IMO.  I know there will be people here coming pounding the table for Wade, for me it is a good story but right now that is all it is.  He had a TON to learn but do look forward to seeing if he did at camp. 

 

My UFA listing, I am about to show is going to be based on replacing Gore.  I don’t like spending big UFA money on RBs, when they can be so easily found in the draft very year.  That is my mindset on this specific position group in terms of UFA Acquisitions.

  

UFAs Possible

Tier 1

Carlos Hyde (value around 3M) – This IMO is who I would like if we are looking to replace Gore’s Veteran Presence.

Lamar Miller

Jordon Howard (might have someone overpay for him to start)

 

Tier 2

Adrian Peterson

LSean McCoy

Bilal Powell

 

Draft

Tier 1 (1st and 2nd round grades)

Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin)

J.K Dobbins (Ohio State)

D’Andre Swift (Georgia)

Travis Etienne (Clemson)

 

Tier 2 (3rd-5th round)

Chuba Hubbard (OK ST)

Cam Akers (FL ST)

Najee Harris (Alabama)

Clyd Edwards Helaire (LSU)

Zack Moss (UTAH)

Lamical Perine (Florida)

 

Tier 3 (6th – Priority UFA)

Eno Benjamin (AZ ST)

A.J Dillon (BC)

Ke’Shawn Vaughn (Vandy)

Trey Sermon (OK)

Michal Warren II (Cincy)

Tony Jones Jr (ND)

 

Final thinking in this Position group for me would be:

 

I would not go into UFA and get a Veteran for presence I think Yeldon will be fine and at this point I am thinking Singletary has picked Gore’s Brain.  Here is a thought, bring Gore back as a coaching intern if he retires.  Now that said I am not going to add to this room via UFA, So I will go into the draft.  The pick I am targeting on using for the RB would be one of the 5ths, (don’t need to go earlier as I think Singletary has shown he can be a RB1).  So that puts me in Tier 2.  Obviously if one of the top 4 drop than I would take one at 150. If not the two I would look at that would bring a different dimension in terms of Motor, but now hurt what the offense would want to do is Najee Harris and Zach Moss would be my TGTs at 150.

 

The organizational depth here is a little lacking, but that would be addressed with the draft.  You take one RB later and we are fine.  Singletary has shown he can carry the RB1 and the position should flow through him.   

 

Past Writeups

Quarterback

Tight Ends

Specialists

How is Henry not Tier 1. The Titans better hope for a hometown discount because they do not have much cap space. 2-3 year deal with the first 2 front loaded with most guaranteed. Draft Najee Harris or Jonathon Taylor if they are there for us 3rd -5th round. 

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2 hours ago, billsfan_34 said:

How is Henry not Tier 1. The Titans better hope for a hometown discount because they do not have much cap space. 2-3 year deal with the first 2 front loaded with most guaranteed. Draft Najee Harris or Jonathon Taylor if they are there for us 3rd -5th round. 

Read what I wrote about Tier one BEFORE I mentioned UFAs. I specifically said I am looking at backup RBs. 

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On 1/8/2020 at 4:49 PM, Buffalo Junction said:

I’ve been a fan of this kid for a while. I’d be perfectly content with adding him in the lay 4th or 5th. 5’11, 220 lbs and can catch. Added bonus.... watch him carry Jamal Adams 10 yards around the 2:10 mark.

 

 

Perine is a solid back, he played behind subpar run blocking this year and sometimes I question his vision at the LOS, but once he gets outside or if the hole is there he is a really good back and a good receiver.  He'd be a nice back up to have behind Singletary and could carry the load if there was an injury and pretty much bring the same skill set without modifying the playcalling much at all.  He wouldn't be that much of a change of pace or bruising big back, but that shouldn't be the goal because Tennessee has a unicorn that is dominating right now.  He was a boss against UVA in his last game, and broke some pretty big runs this year after being bottled up for large parts of games.  If you want to get excited about Perine watch the game snaps against UVA, if you want to poke holes in his game watch him against Miami this year.  Again, Florida's line was not good at all in the running game.  They even struggled running against cup cakes because they weren't getting push and couldn't open holes.  It got a bit better as the season progressed, but not that much. 

 

Their line play really hasn't been too good for many years and was one of the reason I was surprised about Jawaan Taylor being a top T prospect last year.  I'm a Florida Alum so I watch all of their games, and its hard to assess how good their skill players are with the line and QB play they've had issues with over the past several years.  Trask made a huge difference this year and they finally got a guy that could consistently make plays in the passing game and you saw the talent they had start to shine a bit, but Trask has his limitations as a passer because he has a watergun compared to Josh Allen's arm, but he does have excellent anticipation and pretty good accuracy (throws a ball like Danny Wuerfel) .

 

 

Edited by Ayjent
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On 1/11/2020 at 10:25 AM, Mark Vader said:

Completely agree.

 

Running Back does need to be addressed, but we don't have to spend big money in free agency or use a high pick in the draft for one.

 

I'm sure Beane will find what we need.

We don’t have to, but it would benefit our offense greatly.  With Singletary as the lead back the 2nd half of the year our offense sucked.  If it didn’t suck, it certainly wasn’t playoff caliber, let alone championship caliber.  Add in 2 WRs, another lineman or 2 and maybe another tight end this offseason plus player progression. Our offense will likely become playoff caliber if Josh Allen improves.  Playoff caliber offense and a championship caliber defense sounds good to me.  
 

Add Henry to the mix and it’s a championship caliber offense if allen improves.  Take into consideration there’s a chance JA doesn’t improve too much.  With Henry, our offense is still playoff caliber even if allen doesn’t improve like we would hope.  Mix that with our championship defense and the super bowl is a possibility.  
 

Henry is an expensive insurance policy at an inexpensive position.  Doesn’t sound like the best use of resources, but for whatever reason I think he is the key.  Not just any great rb, but his particular skill set and physical being.  I doubt the titans let him test the market as they’ll likely franchise him, but I can dream

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2 hours ago, Ayjent said:

Perine is a solid back, he played behind subpar run blocking this year and sometimes I question his vision at the LOS, but once he gets outside or if the hole is there he is a really good back and a good receiver.  He'd be a nice back up to have behind Singletary and could carry the load if there was an injury and pretty much bring the same skill set without modifying the playcalling much at all.  He wouldn't be that much of a change of pace or bruising big back, but that shouldn't be the goal because Tennessee has a unicorn that is dominating right now.  He was a boss against UVA in his last game, and broke some pretty big runs this year after being bottled up for large parts of games.  If you want to get excited about Perine watch the game snaps against UVA, if you want to poke holes in his game watch him against Miami this year.  Again, Florida's line was not good at all in the running game.  They even struggled running against cup cakes because they weren't getting push and couldn't open holes.  It got a bit better as the season progressed, but not that much. 

 

Their line play really hasn't been too good for many years and was one of the reason I was surprised about Jawaan Taylor being a top T prospect last year.  I'm a Florida Alum so I watch all of their games, and its hard to assess how good their skill players are with the line and QB play they've had issues with over the past several years.  Trask made a huge difference this year and they finally got a guy that could consistently make plays in the passing game and you saw the talent they had start to shine a bit, but Trask has his limitations as a passer because he has a watergun compared to Josh Allen's arm, but he does have excellent anticipation and pretty good accuracy (throws a ball like Danny Wuerfel) .

 

 

I’ve watched a fair amount of Perine, and I agree with everything you said. I honestly think he’ll be around later because he couldn’t showcase with that O line.  The uva game was an indication of his potential when the line does its job and you get him the ball in space... along with how he seems to elevate his play in big games. He’s an underrated talent that could be better in the NFL than college because of that. His pass blocking needs to improve, but he’s willing. There were a few times I saw him lead block for Trask and he looked competent. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the senior bowl. 
 

I view him as an upgrade on Gore that can sub in and not give away playcalling. Perine is a good fit without spending a ton of capital. At the very least he could take Yeldins spot. Add a guy like Shenault early along with him and this team could basically run 21 personnel and still use “5 wide” formations. 

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