For those that question what Andre Roberts has brought to the Bills.

[Punching Bag]

4 hours ago, chongli said:

 

Or Steve Tasker from Jim Kelly, for that matter.

 

Not as many as Jim would have liked for he was asking Tasker to be included in WR sets but Marv said no most times for he was too important to special teams.   He played more WR later in career and in a few games he showed what he could do.  One game vs Jets I was at he was destroying the them until a player with a hit using a helmet.

[Utah John]

Roberts fits the McDermott style perfectly.  An above average talent, who seldom makes mistakes, and gives a solid result every play.  That's exactly what the Bills are doing right.  They have only one star (White, not Lotuleilei) on a defense that's third in the league.  That's OK -- their defense was responsible for most or all of their wins this year, stars or not.  

[bigK14094]

5 hours ago, Charles Romes said:

Not having heart palpitations every time your KR fields a kick is a huge plus 

I felt the same way.  He might break one, and, I know he won't make a bonehead play back there.  No more Ray-Ray back there......

[Rochesterfan]

3 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

cant count total rerun yards though since in most cases touchback is a given. That’s why netting the 25 is relevant.

 

but I hear the counter point. I’ve just viewed KR as a depth payer for another spot too. Roberts for whatever reason was not good at all as a wr 

 

A touchback may be relevant, but if teams think you have a poor return man - you are going to get high and short - forcing a return and then those yards matter..  
 

You also need to consider punts which rarely result in a touchback, but it vital and provides positive yards - ask Carolina before cutting Ray Ray after 2 fumbled punts cost them a game early in the season before their slide began.

 

I will also point to a team like KC - their 3rd string receiver Hardman was their returner and did well - plus he netted them 26 catches for 500 yards - exactly what people are asking for, but you know what.  KC still had 2 additional lower tier WRs active in most games.  One was active in all 16 and the other was active in 13.  The provided 12 and 9 catches respectively for the year.  So even though their return specialist was a primary receiver - they still had to activate 2 “bodies” for wr that provided nothing. 
 

The only differences is that on the Bills one of those 2 “bodies” provided the Returns rather than the 3rd WR.  
 

It is really just arguing about where the production comes from as you were still going to have the same number of WRs active whether it was McKenzie or Roberts returning the kicks.  The difference is the Bills saw value in a return specialist that could fill in at WR in a pinch.  This is the same approach over half the league took.  The other half used a top end guy such as a 3rd WR or 3rd RB as their returner and still activated additional WRs and RBs that sat the bench in case of injuries and provided what Roberts did as a WR.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Good pick up by Beane.  Isn't great but is perfectly fine for 2020 returner.  He will be the 6th WR next year.  

 

[BobbyC81]

14 hours ago, Gambit said:

I feel like people like you are missing out on the most important thing he does. He always catches the damn ball. How many times in the past have we had people drop the ball on returns, especially Punts? Yet with Roberts I'm always calm cause I have zero doubt he will catch it. To top it off he has a solid avg. Why make a hole we do not need?

 

Yes, he catches kicks confidently.

[DCOrange]

12 hours ago, MAJBobby said:

Really shall I name the roster spots taken by guys that contributed Nothing let alone on KO and Punt return yardage 

Having other players that are a waste of a roster spot doesn't change whether or not Roberts is also a waste of a roster spot. At the end of the day, just looking at the WR position alone, we had 6 of them and basically 4 of them were worthless this year. That's obviously a pretty big problem, of which Roberts is a part of.

[MAJBobby]

22 minutes ago, DCOrange said:

Having other players that are a waste of a roster spot doesn't change whether or not Roberts is also a waste of a roster spot. At the end of the day, just looking at the WR position alone, we had 6 of them and basically 4 of them were worthless this year. That's obviously a pretty big problem, of which Roberts is a part of.

And NOT looking at WR alone, because he was not brought into be a WR he is productive and does his job. And does it well at only 1.5M. 

[GunnerBill]

13 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

whether he was playing offense or defense, he was helping the team

 

Slater doesn't play offense or defense. He plays Special Teams.

11 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

And NOT looking at WR alone, because he was not brought into be a WR he is productive and does his job. And does it well at only 1.5M. 

 

Correct. He should almost be listed with the specialists on the depth chart because that is what he was on this roster for. The Bills carried 5 receivers and a return specialist. So long as that return specialist does punts and kicks (and Roberts does) he is absolutely worth a roster spot.

[DCOrange]

45 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

And NOT looking at WR alone, because he was not brought into be a WR he is productive and does his job. And does it well at only 1.5M. 

We both agree he does his job well. We'll have to agree to disagree on whether or not his job is relatively worthless.

[machine gun kelly]

He was worth the investment.

[Dopey]

13 hours ago, Hurricane said:

For the money we pay him, he can be replaced by a 5th rounder ...

Isaiah McKenzie was our returner in 2018 and he wasn't any good. That's why we brought in Andre. He stabilized our return game. Guess where Isaiah was drafted? Yep, 5th round. It's not that easy. 

[buffaloboyinATL]

18 hours ago, Buffalo619 said:

His return does not equal the investment...

I have no idea how to interpret those charts, but if he is getting us better field position compared to the league average, it is worth the investment. simple as that in my opinion.

[buffaloaggie]

The chart is questionable. I'm sure the analyst considers a lot, but when I see Chicago averaging a yard and a half more in KO and Punt returns, but he has us basically equal on the chart, I have to say there's a flaw in the ratings. Roberts wasn't even responsible for our TD, Hyde was. Still, he's only here one more year with a $2 mil cap hit. Relatively speaking, it's not bad. He's the #4 kick returner and #10 punt returner. Definitely above average.

[Gray Beard]

Roberts going to Pro Bowl?

 

 

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2020/01/buffalo-bills-kr-andre-roberts-appears-to-be-pro-bowl-bound-following-afc-championship.html

[The Frankish Reich]

On 1/15/2020 at 3:44 PM, John from Riverside said:

And the security of knowing you have a player that can actually catch the punt...not fumble it....and give the other team great FP

This strikes me as correct. I can't find the stat, but I know it exists and I know that teams use it: Win Probability Added. In other words, add up all the positive and negative return plays from a punt/kick returner and their effects of win probability. A truly awful return man -- think "those Chiefs players who muffed consecutive punts in the playoff game" -- may cost a team dearly in win probability (it was Mahomes and the Chiefs, so no worries as it turns out). A truly great return man will have almost no negative return plays/decisions and a bunch of highly positive ones. Roberts was good mostly because he avoided negative plays and exercised sound judgement on when to return a kick/punt and when to let it roll. He wasn't as exciting as we'd been promised (not much in the way of breakaways), but he was more than solid. But setting aside those "let it come back for a touchback" decisions, it's still only 53 returns total for him, or about 3 per game, so the impact overall is pretty modest.

[JoPoy88]

I see no problems with Roberts. As sure-handed a returner as you can find. Made several long returns this season. I think delusional duke syndrome affected a lot of the hate thrown his way. Roberts is well worth the money they paid him.

Edited January 21, 2020 by JoPoy88

[thunderingsquid]

On 1/15/2020 at 12:03 PM, BigBillsFan said:

NO ONE I mean NO ONE signals fair catch better than he has. All-pro in fact.

Not sure...there is that one guy for the Texans ?

[MAJBobby]

And Now goes to the Probowl again. Yeah I think his value is there and hard to deny. 
 

 

Edited January 21, 2020 by MAJBobby

[Royale with Cheese]

Named to the Pro Bowl!

 

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/andre-roberts-named-to-the-pro-bowl

[WMDman]

Congrats Andre!

[2003Contenders]

Like many have said, I did not have any issues with Roberts as the primary returner. He was a reliable professional back there, who made smart decisions with the ball -- and we always had complete confidence that he was not going to turn the ball over. I know he rarely had any big returns -- but some of that could be attributed to lackluster blocking. I remember a 2-3 game stretch in the middle of the season where it seemed like every kick was called back due to a penalty. I think that as the overall roster talent continues to improve (and become more consistent/stable), the Special Teams units we see on the field will also improve -- maybe back to the days when Bobby April was here and had say-so on the talent that was brought in.

 

While I do not have issue with the roster spot that Roberts occupies being strictly for returns (with an occasional appearance as a WR5 thrown in), the real issue is the presence of McKenzie/Foster/Roberts all active each week and filling in the WR3/4/5 spots. Adding Duke (who was only occasionally active) to that mix, I think what we come away with is that the McKenzie/Foster/Roberts/Foster foursome needs to be upgraded with 2-3 of those players replaced via the draft and/or free agency.

[123719bwiqrb]

I think the problem is he takes one of 6 WR spots.  Delete one of the TE/FB spots and carry 7 WRs and nobody would complain about Roberts.

[MAJBobby]

Just now, ScotSHO said:

I think the problem is he takes one of 6 WR spots.  Delete one of the TE/FB spots and carry 7 WRs and nobody would complain about Roberts.

 How often are 6 WRs on the field.

 

The Problem is very other WR outside of Beasley and Brown are NOT NFL WRs.  So of course the ONE guy that gets signed to NOT be a WR, gets thrown into that mix.

 

IF Andre Roberts is lining up at WR you have one of three problems

 

1.  You are injury Riddled 

2.  All your other WRs do not belong on the Roster

3.  You are resting starters.

 

I think it is easy to find out why Roberts took snaps at WR

Edited January 21, 2020 by MAJBobby

[17islongenough]

15 minutes ago, ScotSHO said:

I think the problem is he takes one of 6 WR spots.  Delete one of the TE/FB spots and carry 7 WRs and nobody would complain about Roberts.

The Patriots have 6 WRS on their roster.  The 6th WR is Matthew Slater whos last catch on offense was in 2011.  i bet most teams have this special teams guy on their roster. 

[Chandler#81]

Congrats, Andre!