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Ex Bills TE Logan Thomas Quietly Having a Great Season


JohnNord

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3 hours ago, QCity said:

He was an absolute beast tonight. Played the role of safety valve most of the game but also showed off his hands downfield, and his blocking was excellent. He's really upping his game as this season goes on.


He might be, but most likely if he is on the Bills - he is not the “safety valve” that he is for Alex Smith.  Alex Smith is a short zone, west coast QB that uses RBs and TEs a lot.  He did it in San Fran and KC before coming to Washington.

 

Josh Allen is not that style of QB - he is slowly learning to use TEs and RBs, but he has been a pro style - WR driven QB.

 

I honestly believe if Thomas is on this team - he is easily beat out by both Knox and Kroft (both of whom give you more upside) and Lee Smith is still their blocking back.  His numbers in Washington not with standing - he would not be that player here.  I do think Dabol would utilize his QB skills in his trick play catalog, but as a TE - Thomas is better suited in the role he is in now and will put up more numbers because of who he has at QB than if he was in Buffalo.

 

Just my opinion, but I am happy for him and do not miss him or think what if - he is a former Bill for a reason.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Bills have been searching for a TE for the longest time and they may have had one in Logan Thomas before not resigning him a few years ago. Yesterday he hauled in 13 catches for 101 yards and has been a key target all year for WFT's quarterbacks. I couldn't even tell you the last time a Bills tight end caught 10 passes in a game?  For the year he has 62 catches, 570 yards and 5 td's.  Our 2 top guys are Knox with 19 catches and Kroft with 12 and combined they have 372 yards in a pass happy offense.  I know we could never equally look at the numbers because we have way more options than Washington and we spread the ball around a lot.  I just thought it was interesting to see Logan having a great year where he will most likely go over 70 catches and wonder if we gave up on him a little early after he transitioned from being a wide receiver.

Edited by offsides#76FredSmerlas
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1 minute ago, Offside#76FredSmerlas said:

The Bills have been searching for a TE for the longest time and they may have had one in Logan Thomas before not resigning him this year. Yesterday he hauled in 13 catches for 101 yards and has been a key target all year for WFT's quarterbacks. I couldn't even tell you the last time a Bills tight end caught 10 passes in a game?  For the year he has 62 catches, 570 yards and 5 td's.  Our 2 top guys are Knox with 19 catches and Kroft with 12 and combined they have 372 yards in a pass happy offense.  I know we could never equally look at the numbers because we have way more options than Washington and we spread the ball around a lot.  I just thought it was interesting to see Logan having a great year where he will most likely go over 70 catches and wonder was he a year away from breaking out after his transition period from being a wide receiver.  

So he’s not purely an Alex Smith artifact!  I like him, and he’s found the perfect spot. Don’t know if we could’ve carried him on the roster as he and Allen were both learning on the job. 

1 minute ago, Mr. WEO said:

Hmmmm.....intriguing topic.

Well that’s certainly more in the holiday spirit than an automated “use the search function”. That’s coming in 3, 2, 1 ...:

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Targets targets targets!!!!!

Thomas has 92 targets. 60+ catches. 
Knox 32 targets for 19 catches. 
Kroft has 16 targets for 12 catches. 
Smith is 4 targets and 2 catches. 
Gilliam is 2 targets and 2 catches. 

When a team has no weapons someone HAS to put up stats. Congrats to him for breaking out and making plays he’s gonna earn himself a nice contract, but if there’s no targets here we didn’t miss out. Pepper guys with throws and they’ll make some plays like foster did years ago. Washington is using running backs like crazy in the pass game and outside mclaurin they don’t have much else to throw to. There’s no guarantees Thomas would produce like that here. You could easily swap him and Knox and fans would be drooling over Knox making plays there. For his drops and miscues I bet with 90 targets he’d have some really flashy plays in there too. 

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They liked what they had in Knox/Kroft more. Generally speaking not sure if Thomas would have flourished here as he is a top 2 option for the WFT and soaks up a lot of targets from QB's who are constantly checking down. I think Thomas likely would have been a better player here but I don't think his numbers would be the same here. Hopefully in year 3 and to end this year Knox develops into the beast he shows potential to be.

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He wasn't going to get that many targets here. He is being featured there because they don't have much in terms of catching football.  If bills game plan around knox he will also get those yards. Bills have lot better receiving options hence you are knox catching an odd touchdown. Bills like to spread the ball 

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I disagree. Logan Thomas hasn't shown anything beyond an average TE at best. The Washington offense has nothing at receiver beyond Mclaurin, and a few passes to McKissic at RB. He is a product of being their number 2 target and you have to throw the ball to someone. Kroft or Knox would put up the same if not better in his circumstances 

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11 minutes ago, Offside#76FredSmerlas said:

The Bills have been searching for a TE for the longest time and they may have had one in Logan Thomas before not resigning him a few years ago. Yesterday he hauled in 13 catches for 101 yards and has been a key target all year for WFT's quarterbacks. I couldn't even tell you the last time a Bills tight end caught 10 passes in a game?  For the year he has 62 catches, 570 yards and 5 td's.  Our 2 top guys are Knox with 19 catches and Kroft with 12 and combined they have 372 yards in a pass happy offense.  I know we could never equally look at the numbers because we have way more options than Washington and we spread the ball around a lot.  I just thought it was interesting to see Logan having a great year where he will most likely go over 70 catches and wonder if we gave up on him a little early after he transitioned from being a wide receiver.

Without looking it up, who are the redskins WRs opposite Terry McClaurin?  Who are the redskins QBs throwing the ball?  There is your answer.

 

thomas is a serviceable TE that is getting better.  Nothing to write home about.  

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Just now, Rc2catch said:

Targets targets targets!!!!!

Thomas has 92 targets. 60+ catches. 
Knox 32 targets for 19 catches. 
Kroft has 16 targets for 12 catches. 
Smith is 4 targets and 2 catches. 
Gilliam is 2 targets and 2 catches. 

When a team has no weapons someone HAS to put up stats. Congrats to him for breaking out and making plays he’s gonna earn himself a nice contract, but if there’s no targets here we didn’t miss out. Pepper guys with throws and they’ll make some plays like foster did years ago. Washington is using running backs like crazy in the pass game and outside mclaurin they don’t have much else to throw to. There’s no guarantees Thomas would produce like that here. You could easily swap him and Knox and fans would be drooling over Knox making plays there. For his drops and miscues I bet with 90 targets he’d have some really flashy plays in there too. 

 

It is the equivalent of in the NBA a player putting up 20 points a game on a really bad team but the shot efficiency isn't that great. So the casual fan might see a guy who is averaging 20 a game and think he is good but he is only shooting 40% from the field and the team is terrible. I think Thomas has shown he can start in the league and might have been slightly better than what the Bills have but the numbers he would have had here would have been a lot lower because he simply isn't getting 90+ targets. 

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4 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

They liked what they had in Knox/Kroft more. Generally speaking not sure if Thomas would have flourished here as he is a top 2 option for the WFT and soaks up a lot of targets from QB's who are constantly checking down. I think Thomas likely would have been a better player here but I don't think his numbers would be the same here. Hopefully in year 3 and to end this year Knox develops into the beast he shows potential to be.

 

Hopefully, he can find a good hand transplant surgeon in the off season...

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5 minutes ago, ExWNYer said:

 

Hopefully, he can find a good hand transplant surgeon in the off season...

 

My hope is that his hands issues are just an experience thing. He barely played in college and now is taking live rounds in the pros, there was going to be a rough transition. Hopefully a more normal off-season allows him to work with his coaches better and get his hands right. I think it is in part a mental and timing issue. Although I doubt he ever gets to be a "sure handed" TE, I think he can be a lot better and lessen his drops considerably. 

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On 11/27/2020 at 3:44 AM, Utah John said:

Buffalo is a sort of Twilight Zone for TEs. I have no idea why.  We've had a couple of decent ones, but no threats, and it always seems that TEs who come here from somewhere else don't live up to their past, and TEs who leave here do better at their new spot. 

 

I had hopes for Dawson Knox but this season has been a complete bust for him.  But if we release him, he'll go somewhere else and turn into the guy we hoped he'd be here.

 

I remember as a kid I thought Jay Riemersma was like the best TE ever.

I don't even recall why, and I've never looked back to see if he was really any good. There was just this feeling he caught everything thrown his way in my child eyes 🤣

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42 minutes ago, Offside#76FredSmerlas said:

The Bills have been searching for a TE for the longest time and they may have had one in Logan Thomas before not resigning him a few years ago. Yesterday he hauled in 13 catches for 101 yards and has been a key target all year for WFT's quarterbacks. I couldn't even tell you the last time a Bills tight end caught 10 passes in a game?  For the year he has 62 catches, 570 yards and 5 td's.  Our 2 top guys are Knox with 19 catches and Kroft with 12 and combined they have 372 yards in a pass happy offense.  I know we could never equally look at the numbers because we have way more options than Washington and we spread the ball around a lot.  I just thought it was interesting to see Logan having a great year where he will most likely go over 70 catches and wonder if we gave up on him a little early after he transitioned from being a wide receiver.


 

Hmm - this seems familiar.

 

I’ll Bite though.

 

Ok first - Thomas is no where near the blocker of Knox, Kroft, or even Gilliam/Smith - so I don’t think he gets the playing time of any other TE in Buffalo.
 

Let’s say - just for the argument - he got the playing time of TE #1 and got their targets instead - he would be at about 30 catches based upon his catch % and the approximately 50 targets.  The exact same number of catches as Knox and Kroft - so little improvement.  
 

If you want to play the game he would get the same number of targets In Buffalo as he has in Washington - that would be about 90 + targets - which WR are you taking those 60 throws from (Diggs or Beasley).  If you think he is getting the 90 targets - that probably means Beasley - who plays that receiving TE role (safety valve) - probably only gets 30-40 targets and since he is a significantly better weapon than Thomas and his catch % is higher - Having Thomas most likely makes the offense worse - you are moving targets from a better player to a worse player.

 

I hope it helps to really understand when you have actual weapons - you do not need a TE to get that many targets - get the ball to you play makers.  Even in KC with Hill and Kelce as a great TE - the number 3 receivers are all sitting around 30 - 40 catches.  I would much prefer to see my TEs at 30 catches and 2 WRs in the 80-120 catch range.

Edited by Rochesterfan
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1 hour ago, Offside#76FredSmerlas said:

The Bills have been searching for a TE for the longest time and they may have had one in Logan Thomas before not resigning him a few years ago. Yesterday he hauled in 13 catches for 101 yards and has been a key target all year for WFT's quarterbacks. I couldn't even tell you the last time a Bills tight end caught 10 passes in a game?  For the year he has 62 catches, 570 yards and 5 td's.  Our 2 top guys are Knox with 19 catches and Kroft with 12 and combined they have 372 yards in a pass happy offense.  I know we could never equally look at the numbers because we have way more options than Washington and we spread the ball around a lot.  I just thought it was interesting to see Logan having a great year where he will most likely go over 70 catches and wonder if we gave up on him a little early after he transitioned from being a wide receiver.

To all of the guys talking targets I do understand that which is why I included what I said in the bold print.  I am not arguing the point that we have some great wide outs and not enough footballs to go around.  I was just wondering if anyone thinks we should have held on to a more athletic tight end with upside and what I think is a higher ceiling than Knox. Lets face it Knox has rocks for hands but he brings more value as a blocker along with Lee Smith.  Kroft has the best hands but he gets hurt all the time and lately has been surprisingly a healthy scratch.  I see a lot of you saying there are no other receivers for Washington but if that's the case wouldn't that mean defenses could lock more down on Thomas?  I mean all I heard before the season was how Knox was going to have a huge year this year because of all the weapons we have at wide out and how that would leave him a ton of favorable match ups.  This came from fans in this forum and also from John Brown and Cole Beasley in training camp interviews.  I love Knox when he holds on to the ball because he is tough as nails but he shows me very little to being our future tight end long term.

Edited by offsides#76FredSmerlas
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