Possible McKenzie Replacement Bills sign Deonte Harty (formally Deonte Harris)

[balln]

2 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 

McKenzie has not only played in a lot of games he made an impact in practices emulating opposing players and he even played defense one game when Bills were trying to rest DBs.  His play won us a playoff game.

I do not understand this at all. Bills have KR/PR and this is far too much money for him despite "market".  Deshaun Watson was paid far more than market but this does not make it a good deal.  Bills should have learned last year that they may need more money than they planned with unexpected injuries.

Yea not interested in a player worth as a scout team decoy player 

 

I want speed , yac and TDs, explosive plays 

 

unfortunately he’s small and has been banged up. Just have to hit on these under the radar players. Just like draft

[MAJBobby]

Just now, MrEpsYtown said:

 

It's DJ Chark only. But he will be more than 3.75 for sure. 

 

And Robbie Anderson. Who is still probably more than 3.75. 

Would you trade Gabe Davis if you get a deal done with Chark given where our WRs currently sit?  I think I would 

[Success]

3 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

 

McKenzie has not only played in a lot of games he made an impact in practices emulating opposing players and he even played defense one game when Bills were trying to rest DBs.  His play won us a playoff game.

I do not understand this at all. Bills have KR/PR and this is far too much money for him despite "market".  Deshaun Watson was paid far more than market but this does not make it a good deal.  Bills should have learned last year that they may need more money than they planned with unexpected injuries.

 

I think he's being brought in to be our slot, as well as returning.

 

He checks a lot of boxes:  gets great separation, great hands, great YAC, stretches the field.  Those are all things we're lacking.

 

[MAJBobby]

Just now, balln said:

Yea not interested in a player worth as a scout team decoy player 

 

I want speed , yac and TDs, explosive plays 

 

unfortunately he’s small and has been banged up. Just have to hit on these under the radar players. Just like draft

Now please look at Milanos INJ History, Morses (before Buffalo).

 

Those are mostly soft tissue and bills hyper focused on those so no issue for me

[PBF81]

36 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Maybe I’m wrong, but if this means McKenzie gets cut … just view this move as replacing 2.5M McKenzie with 3.7M Harty.  
 

Bills paying an extra 1M for a guy they think could boom in our offense.   McKenzie had his chance and it didn’t exactly work out. 
 

If they don’t address WR2, then my entire view of this signing changes.  However, I think we will. 

 

Agree with you on WR2.  But honestly, everyone was just talking about Kumerow replacing McKenzie.  

 

Seems like a lot of money for what he could bring but hasn't shown the ability to in the NFL in four seasons to date.  So he was injured last season, but in his third, not rookie or second season, in his third season he had 36 catches for 570 and 3 TDs, on a team absolutely starving for WR-ing talent.  Of his three TDs, one was a garbage-time TD in a loss and another the fifth TD in a 38-3 blowout.  Doesn't exactly spell out Mr. Clutch here.  LOL 

 

Even if he matches that here, it seems like a whole lot of money.  He did next to nothing in his first two seasons.  

 

Seems like a typical Beane reach to me.  Again, I'm guessing he's trying to redeem himself for letting Hodgins go and thinks he found the Hodgins equivalent in NO.  

 

Like everything, we'll see.  ....  LOL  

 

 

[Einstein]

4 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Yours is a very shallow opinion.  He was injured last season.  The previous season, he was VERY good in several metrics.  Top 5 WR good.  No, he’s not a top 5 WR, not even close, but he can we worth the money we paid him if used properly.

 

https://www.canalstreetchronicles.com/platform/amp/2022/2/17/22938420/deonte-harty-had-an-ultra-efficient-season

 

I'm not saying he can't help us. I was just saying it's not a contradiction to beg for a playmaker yet not be overly enthused by this move. This isn't the type of "playmaker" we had in mind when making those comments. We meant a true game breaking playmaker (which may not even be available). 

 

I think if most of us are being honest, we all knew very little about this guy before today. Now everyone is scrounging up links trying to prove that it was a magnificent signing. 

[MrEpsYtown]

Just now, MAJBobby said:

Would you trade Gabe Davis if you get a deal done with Chark given where our WRs currently sit?  I think I would 

 

I would 100%. He is not a contested catch guy, though he looks the part. I would just sign Beckham honestly. He isn't 6-2 either. 

[John from Riverside]

Stop, looking at the name on the back of the jersey look at the attributes of the player

[PBF81]

11 minutes ago, BillsShredder83 said:

Didnt need to read this far to know youre clueless, but it certainly reinforced it lol please tell me one thing these two have in common other than position

 

ill anxiously await your breath taking knowledge lol

 

LOL, ... the overreactions to this signing are hilarious.  

 

 

[Airseven]

12 minutes ago, finn said:

Now we need a tall, rangy WR or TE in the draft. 

 

What's a TE?

[Dunkirk Donski]

17 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

Go to a lot of Assumption Greyhound games in 2018 did ya.  You must live int he Worcester area.  

 

Dude had 751 yards playing for Assumption in his last season there.  LOL   I'll give it to ya, he did post great games against St. Anselm, Bentley, and American International College.  Not much different the year prior where he posted great games against Findley and Merrimack.  

 

It's the Northeast 10 Conference, that I'd never even heard about.  Not exactly the SEC.  Just sayin'.  I hope he had some great moments.  

 

 

I work for a competing college, he burned us every time, couldn’t be covered 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Unsavory Peterman

[Rico]

1 hour ago, NewEra said:

He is tiny.  He’s so electric though.  Not many slots have the juice to take a 5 yard slant the distance.  He does.  
 

We paid him more than I thought he’d get paid but mainly because he was out of sight and mind last year as he missed the seasons with turf toe.  Every time I’ve watched him play, he impressed me and left me thinking I’d like this guy on the Bills.
 

he’s a high risk (due to size), high reward (due to speed) player who’s contract won’t hurt us going forward (if he doesn’t work out).  
 

if he hits his incentives and makes the full amount…..then he produced.

Not slamming the signing, but he didn’t do anything against the Bills on Thanksgiving in 2021… having Trevor Siemian at QB probably didn’t help.

[JGMcD2]

10 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

I would really like to know how many WR in UFA are 6'2 ad run 4.3s?  And could they be had for 3.75M?

Any WR that doesn’t sign with Buffalo. 
 

I don’t normally disclose my sources, but my source in this case is TBD. 

[ColoradoBills]

11 minutes ago, Einstein said:

Hopefully our incredible training facility (it really is top notch) can fix some of the injury issues he's had.

 

Injury History

 

2019 - Harris missed 2 games with a hamstring injury.

2020 - Harris suffered a hamstring injury and missed 3 games (IR).

2021 - Harris suffered a hamstring injury in Week five’s game vs. Washington and missed 3 games.

2022 - Harris injured toe and missed 12 games (IR).

 

It's the biggest risk of this signing.  Beane rolling the dice for $3.7M is the bottom line.  Personally, I believe McKenzie won't make the 53.

So, replacing McKenzie with Harty is a $1M or so gamble.  It has a chance to pay off pretty big if he can stay healthy.

[Meatloaf63]

2 hours ago, CapeBreton said:

Nice, I did see a report that the Bills were looking for a field stretching WR in the draft, guess that won't be happening anymore but the guy was right.

 

 

More than one creates big issues, look at what HILL and Waddle create in Miami. Speed kills and we are lacking it. Lacking it with people that can catch the ball LOL

[Virgil]

40 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

I'm with you on this.  It's reported as $3.7M

Not thrilled with this.  If you aren’t cutting McK, what’s his role?

 

With a tight cap, that’s money that can go elsewhere 

[BillsShredder83]

7 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

LOL, ... the overreactions to this signing are hilarious.  

 

 

you avoided the question. how does hodgins compare to harty?

[NewEra]

3 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

I'm not saying he can't help us. I was just saying it's not a contradiction to beg for a playmaker yet not be overly enthused by this move. This isn't the type of "playmaker" we had in mind when making those comments. We meant a true game breaking playmaker (which may not even be available). 

 

I think if most of us are being honest, we all knew very little about this guy before today. Now everyone is scrounging up links trying to prove that it was a magnificent signing. 

“We” meant a “true gamebreaking playmaker”.  That’s all that you wanted?  You wanted one superstar WR?  You thought we were going to get a “true gamebreaking playmaker”?  LOL. Get real man.  I want a stud franchise LT paired with a stud all pro LG.  That’s not happening.  
 

You said it yourself-  you knew little about him.  I’ve been watching him since 2019.  I had him in a 15 team dynasty league.  
 

those that hate the signing are digging up Pff links from 2022 (where he barely played) while disregarding his 2021 Pff score where he played substantial snaps.

 

that’s what people do-  they look things up. you do it all the time.  Then you contradict yourself for all of us to see and enjoy.  

[Beck Water]

2 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

My main concern is just his injury history. If he stays healthy he looks like a big upgrade on McKenzie with only a small increase in the cap hit.

 

"Big upgrade to McKenzie" OK - What does McKenzie look like for the same time period by the same metrics, did Cover1 say?  Maybe this guy is a big upgrade.  In his 4 full years with the Bills, McKenzie saw 451, 270, 257, and 555 snaps, during which he proved himself able to stay on the field.

 

In his 4 years with the Saints, Hardy saw 66, 169, 298, and 24 snaps, during which he didn't prove himself able to stay on the field.  So Hardy only has one season of comparable #s of snaps.  The rest is a small data set.  Cover1 tried to adjust only looking 3 years back, so that takes out the smallest data set.  OK.  In the last 3 years, from available numbers I can crunch, McKenzie has more yards, more receptions, more TD and more 1D and it's not close, because he's been on the field consistently.  What about per route?  I don't know, but the bottom line, Hardy has 1 year of better production when he saw comparable snaps (298), which is great - but it's 1 year.

 

In addition to sharing your injury history concerns .... it's great that this guy has all these YAC.

 

But we all know the biggest factor in enabling YAC is a QB who can and will hit the underneath guy quickly and accurately, in-stride.

You and I have discussed this before, I believe - a big factor in our WR and RB not having good YAC has been Josh Allen hanging onto the ball waiting for something downfield to open up, then dumping off when it's clear to both him AND the defense there's no alternative so they close quickly.  There's some other things, like McKenzie has much higher 1D/tgt - but that likely again reflects the QB, Josh doesn't like to make a throw that doesn't have a chance to convert a 1D.

 

McKenzie's cap hit is $2.5M.  If this guy's cap hit is $3.7M, that's a 50% increase.  In theory, if he lives up to his best year 2021 and stays healthy AND Josh uses him appropriately, he could produce more.  But as said elsewhere, "hope is not a good plan" and neither is theory.

[NewEra]

7 minutes ago, Rico said:

Not slamming the signing, but he didn’t do anything against the Bills on Thanksgiving in 2021… having Trevor Siemian at QB probably didn’t help.

As if that means anything?  🤷🏻‍♂️ 

[MAJBobby]

Just now, BillsShredder83 said:

you avoided the question. how does hodgins compare to harty?

Harry creates seperation. Hodgins doesn’t. There easy. 

[loyal2dagame]

A mid possible lil dirty replacement gets 20+pages.

Offseason is surely in full swing. 

 

[Warriorspikes51]

4 minutes ago, Meatloaf63 said:

More than one creates big issues, look at what HILL and Waddle create in Miami. Speed kills and we are lacking it. Lacking it with people that can catch the ball LOL

Yes.  Trade for Hopkins draft Hyatt.  4 WR sets you have 2 elite WR's and 2 speed killers

Diggs

Hopkins
Harty
Hyatt
 

That offense is a SERIOUS problem to deal with 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Warriorspikes51

[NewEra]

4 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

It's the biggest risk of this signing.  Beane rolling the dice for $3.7M is the bottom line.  Personally, I believe McKenzie won't make the 53.

So, replacing McKenzie with Harty is a $1M or so gamble.  It has a chance to pay off pretty big if he can stay healthy.

Stop making sense!! This is the time we should be whining and crying about free agency!!!  

[Rico]

Just now, NewEra said:

As if that means anything?  🤷🏻‍♂️ 

You said he always impressed you, I’m just saying I was not impressed. 

[BillsShredder83]

1 minute ago, MAJBobby said:

Harry creates seperation. Hodgins doesn’t. There easy. 

no i know that. this guys saying beane only did this to "make up for letting hodgins go". clearly they are very similar players /s

[John from Riverside]

4 minutes ago, Virgil said:

Not thrilled with this.  If you aren’t cutting McK, what’s his role?

 

With a tight cap, that’s money that can go elsewhere 

I think the idea here is McKenzie doesn’t make the roster

[Meatloaf63]

1 minute ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Yes.  Trade for Hopkins draft Hyatt.  4 WR sets you have 2 elite WR's and 2 speed killers

Diggs

Hopkins
Harty
Hyatt
 

That would be sick

[Roundybout]

 

[Success]

A lot of "I've never heard of this guy, but it's a terrible signing."  

 

[PBF81]

11 minutes ago, NewEra said:

please stop what?  Using stats?  You can use a 47 Pff rating based on 5 games and 2 targets….. but then real stats are used and “please stop LOL” is your rebuttal.  Great job

 

LOL, OK then, look at his 2021 season.  I just posted this in comment above.  36 catches, 570, 3 TDs.  Of those three TDs, one was a garbage-time TD in a loss, another was the fifth of 5 in a 38-3 blowout.  All on a team completely desperate for WRs with a roster full of JAGs.  In fact, if we had their WRs then and last year, people would be calling for Beane's head.  

 

If that's the best he can do with the team screaming for a #1 WR, I don't know how this is a good signing.  It's a lot of money for something that really doesn't fill an obvious hole.  And do I need to remind us how we signed Hines to be a great option out of the backfield.  Did he even catch 10 passes?  I think he had 5 or 6.  

 

Anyway, here's his gamelogs from 2021, the only good season's he's had.  I'm all ears to hearing a statistical analysis as to how this translates to much of anything this season for us.  https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HarrDe07/gamelog/2021/ 

 

And again, here was his primary competition at WR on NO in 2021:   

Undrafted Marquez Callaway 

Undrafted Lil' Jordan Humprhey 

Undrafted Juwan Johnson 

and journeyman Ty Montgomery whose best season wasn't even 500 yards and who averaged 1.8 catches and 14.2 yards/game.  

 

I'm sincerely interested in how this guy's history demonstrates the kind of thing does anything that we don't already have.  Otherwise, he's played four seasons, that one, was injured one, and had two entirely forgetable seasons.  

 

Again, we'll see, LOL, but I'm not thinking that this is going to help Beane's slowly slipping away positive perceptions.  

 

If Beane's such a good eye for WR-ing talent, then why'd he let Hodgins go.  Same role essentially.  

 

 

 

 

[jethro_tull]

Dirty Harty caught 100% of his targets in '19 and '22.  

[Beck Water]

2 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

Again, we'll see, LOL, but I'm not thinking that this is going to help Beane's slowly slipping away positive perceptions. 

If Beane's such a good eye for WR-ing talent, then why'd he let Hodgins go.  Same role essentially. 

 

I'm really struggling with this.  Hodgins is a very very different type of WR.

 

Also, I'm kind of missing the slowly part here?

Edited March 15, 2023 by Beck Water

[PBF81]

15 minutes ago, Unsavory Peterman said:

I work for a competing college, he burned us every time, couldn’t be covered 

 

Which college, mind my asking?  

 

I mean it's the Northeast 10, again, hardly the SEC.  Tanner Gentry with Josh at Wyoming posted much better numbers.  So did Zay Jones.  

 

It doesn't seem to have translated to the NFL.  His biggest plays/TDs are in meaninless moments.  

 

In four seasons he's averaged fewer than 20 ypg and has 4 total TDs.  I'm simply not getting the optimism here.  LOL  This isn't the Northeast 10.  

 

 

[Beck Water]

2 minutes ago, jethro_tull said:

Dirty Harty caught 100% of his targets in '19 and '22.  

 

That sounds impressive until you realize he only had 6, and 2, respectively

[TheBrownBear]

I haven't been this excited for a signing since Tavon Austin.  I keed, i keed...

[Success]

3 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

 

Which college, mind my asking?  

 

I mean it's the Northeast 10, again, hardly the SEC.  Tanner Gentry with Josh at Wyoming posted much better numbers.  So did Zay Jones.  

 

It doesn't seem to have translated to the NFL.  His biggest plays/TDs are in meaninless moments.  

 

In four seasons he's averaged fewer than 20 ypg and has 4 total TDs.  I'm simply not getting the optimism here.  LOL  This isn't the Northeast 10.  

 

 

 

Has he played w/ an elite QB?

 

I'm excited to see what he does w/ Allen.  I keep reading that he has elite separation skills, and is also good at forcing missed tackles.   We do not have anyone on the roster who can stretch the field, and he fits that bill.

 

I can see Allen bringing out the best in him, and a few deep balls where Harty is 10 yards past the defender....

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Success

[Bruffalo]

I'm glad they're trying to do things at the position, at the very least.  Puts McKenzie on huge notice, they had really high hopes for him and he didn't pan out at all. 

[Einstein]

14 minutes ago, NewEra said:

“We” meant a “true gamebreaking playmaker”.  That’s all that you wanted?  You wanted one superstar WR?  You thought we were going to get a “true gamebreaking playmaker”?  LOL. Get real man.  I want a stud franchise LT paired with a stud all pro LG.  That’s not happening.  

 

We were not talking about what is real or available. You found it ridiculous that people want a gamechanger WR and yet don't love this signing. But its not ridiculous. Because he's not a game changing WR. This is simple logic.

 

14 minutes ago, NewEra said:

You said it yourself-  you knew little about him.  I’ve been watching him since 2019.

 

[PBF81]

10 minutes ago, BillsShredder83 said:

you avoided the question. how does hodgins compare to harty?

 

I read up in the thread someone said that Harty's a slot WR.  Not true?  

 

I'll be honest, I don't know much about him, but what's down isn't in the least impressive.  

 

If he's not slot, like Hodgins, then I see him getting even fewer targets.  

 

We'll see.  Again, the overreactions here to a guy that hasn't even average 20 ypg in three-plus seasons is ridiculous.  

 

We need a slot WR more than anything.  People were talking about Harty replacing McKenzie.  Not true?  I'm just going by what people have said, here, in this thread.  I don't see him being anymore than a 5WR, and that's a lot of bucks for that.  

 

What is a an indisputable fact is that Harty/Harris, whatever, was on a team entirely bereft of #1 caliber WRs.  If he were that good, I suspect he'd have done better.