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

[Arkady Renko]

There's Chan's waterbug!

[NewEra]

4 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

I was impressed by the videos that I found of him.  Instant acceleration.  
 

I would guess that this takes small slot-only receivers like Josh Downs, Tank Dell and maybe Zay Flowers out of play in the draft.  Would still be nice to get someone to push Gabe Davis for snaps, but I think OL, S and LB are top priorities now pending other moves.

Yeah, looks like it might move the midget WRs down our list.  
 

Rice, Reed, Tillman, Hutchinson, Mingo, Iosivas, wicks, Boutte, Palmer, Wilson, Perry, Nacua and Demus seem like good fits in rds 2-6.

 

I’m feeling a trade down in rd 1 unless Johnston or addison are there. If we can’t trade out, Darnell Wright makes the most sense followed by Broderick Jones and dawand Jones.  Brian Branch, Antonio Johnson, sanders, Simpson and Campbell are possible picks.  

[78thealltimegreat]

4 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

If Harty replaces McKenzie, he will be the only Bills WR under 6 foot.

If Harty is on the roster with McKenzie Gabe Davis is the only receiver taller than 6’1 

[MAJBobby]

Took less to come here.  per reports

[SCBills]

3 minutes ago, Success said:

For what it's worth, Saints fans seemed to love this guy when healthy (at least that's what I've seen so far).

 

I think this actually takes WR off the table for the 1st few rounds, which isn't a bad thing.  Shakir can compete for WR2, and I think they still have some faith Davis can get back to the potential we saw in '21.

 

That would be a mistake.  
 

Bills aren’t serious if their plan for Josh Allen is to hope a small guy who was hurt all last season stays healthy this season and Davis/Shakir both make the needed jumps to fill WR2 and WR3. 
 

They all could … but hope isn’t a strategy. 
 

Edited March 15, 2023 by SCBills

[Brandon]

4 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

He has more single season highlights than McKettrick has career highlights!

 

Buh-bye, lil filthy

 

Watching the highlights earlier,  he looks like a real WR to me.  He's not just a track guy who doesn't have a clue what he's doing.  He can run routes and he has good hands. He just has the unfortunate disadvantage of being 5'6".  

 

 If he can stay on the field,  I think he's likely an instant upgrade over McKenzie. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Brandon

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

8 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Im, perhaps wrongly, assuming that the Bills still have a plan for WR2.  
 

If they do.. Spending an extra 1.5M this year to replace McKenzie with a risk/reward guy who could boom in this offense is the type of move I hope Beane is always willing to make. 

 

I don't think they do. I've said it before. Change the X's and O's and not just the Jimmy's and Joe's. Spread the ball around more. Gabe can work as the #2 on the outside. But he should not be 25+ targets ahead of the player with the 3rd most targets on the team. Ideally, Gabe as the starting outside WR will be 3rd or 4th on the team in targets. Knox needs considerably more targets, maybe second on the team. And Shakir should be right around whatever number of targets Gabe gets give or take a few targets.  And the RB's need to get a ton more targets in the passing game. 

 

Also, I think Shakir is a WR that can split time between both slot and outside if needed. I don't think he is strictly a slot receiver. It might be where he is best suited on our team but he can fill in outside I think.

[Cheektowaga Chad]

Is this the guy Sean Payton and drew Brees raved about a year 2 years ago in preseason? 

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, Limeaid said:

Except McKenzie is under contract in inexpensive one.

"Birdie" is probably his agent stirring up interest.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/bills-deonte-harty-heading-to-buffalo/

 

Missed 13 games on IR with a toe injury last season.  I hope it's at least contingent on him passing a physical.

Quote

In the four contests he did appear in, Harty recorded two catches for 13 yards while compiling 137 kick-return yards. The 5-foot-6 athlete is unlikely to have much of an offensive impact with the Bills, but he could certainly carve out a significant role on special teams in 2023.

 

McKenzie is a Smurf at 5'8" 178 lb

Hardy is a SuperSmurf at 5'6" 170 lb

 

1 hour ago, NewEra said:

If we add deonte, we don’t need Dirty.  He’s serve no purpose.  We don’t need another midget

 

"The Best Ability is Availability"

Hardy has played in 14, 9, 13, and 4 games

Same stretch McKenzie has played in 15, 16, 15, and 15 games.

 

If the Bills intended to cut McKenzie this spring, it's surprising to me that they haven't already done it so he could be on the market during the first burst of FA.  That would be the usual courtesy to a guy who has gone hard for them: give him the maximum chance to get out there, but perhaps "things have changed"

 

Hardy has been most active as a KR/PR

 

[78thealltimegreat]

2 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

Took less to come here.  per reports

Ryan Talbot is one of the reporters I really trust so I can get on board with this as long as they add another in the draft 

[PBF81]

1 hour ago, NewEra said:

Just because you don’t know him doesn’t mean he’s not good.

 

I love what he brings to the field. He’s a super charged Dirty and is a good return man.  It might be more expensive than I thought we’d pay, but he’s got juice.

 

I'm curious, what do you see that he "brings ot the field?"  Here is his career gamelog;  https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HarrDe07/gamelog/

 

I'm guessing it's the kinda thing where you actually have to watch the game.  😁

 

Return man wasn't very high up our needs list given all the other needs.  BTW, he's got a 47.9 rating on PFF, which is piss poor.  While hardly the end-all-to-be-all, their methodology is sound over there.  

 

Right now I see Milano having a busy season.  LOL  Apparently until further notice his new position is OIMOLB.  LOL  

 

Seems like a stupid signing to me.  I mean really, we sign Hines as an outlet, don't use him at all like that, when he's fantastic at it.  Draft Cook for the same reason, don't use him much.  I don't see this guy catching more than 25-30 passes with all of the options that Allen has.  If I had to bet I'd say fewer than 20.  That was hardly the case in NO where they had a roster full of nothing JAG WRs.  

 

Terrible signing, waste of money, and IMO this is Beane's way of trying to recover Hodgins, thinking he's going under the wire to redeem himself.  Sounds just like Beane.  His Draft had better be A+ or he's going to sink himself.  

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by PBF81

[BillsFan2313]

7 minutes ago, Success said:

For what it's worth, Saints fans seemed to love this guy when healthy (at least that's what I've seen so far).

 

I think this actually takes WR off the table for the 1st few rounds, which isn't a bad thing.  Shakir can compete for WR2, and I think they still have some faith Davis can get back to the potential we saw in '21.

 

 

[Dr. Who]

Just now, Success said:

For what it's worth, Saints fans seemed to love this guy when healthy (at least that's what I've seen so far).

 

I think this actually takes WR off the table for the 1st few rounds, which isn't a bad thing.  Shakir can compete for WR2, and I think they still have some faith Davis can get back to the potential we saw in '21.

 

Absolutely not. You still need a bigger WR2 with speed and solid hands. Shakir is not a replacement for Davis and Davis is better counted on as a third option. If they bring in OBJ or Hopkins, then you can take WR off the table for the first few rounds, but I think they are probably better served going with youth -- the question is the caliber of wr available in the draft, which is down from the previous two years.

[ColoradoBills]

2 minutes ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

If Harty is on the roster with McKenzie Gabe Davis is the only receiver taller than 6’1 

 

Diggs, Davis, Harty and Shakir on the roster.  Definitely room for a bigger WR.  Let's hope one is available in the draft.

 

My point is replacing Crowder, McKenzie and Beasley from last year with 1 small receiver this year isn't a problem with me.

[Beck Water]

6 minutes ago, SCBills said:

That would be a mistake.  
 

Bills aren’t serious if their plan for Josh Allen is to hope a small guy who was hurt all last season stays healthy this season and Davis/Shakir both make the needed jumps to fill WR2 and WR3. 
 

They all could … but hope isn’t a strategy. 
 

 

Concur.  It's not just last season, it's that he's ended 2 of his 4 seasons on IR and has missed 2, 7, 4, and 13 games.

 

If this move is because the Bills want to hand off the KR/PR responsibilities to this guy and keep Hines focused on the offense, I'm not sure they picked the right guy.

 

I feel like half the board is hailing every signing of a small fast guy because they want to get rid of Isaiah McKenzie, their right, but this doesn't seem like it fills any of our significant needs on the team.  We have a good KR/PR in Hines.  We have a fast smurf who has far more playing experience running routes in McKenzie. 

 

We need a big-bodied guy who can't be taken out of the play by physical DBs, who can bring in jump or off target b alls, and who is available, not spending a lot of time on IR or injury report, IMO.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Beck Water

[Virgil]

6 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

Took less to come here.  per reports

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the 2023 cap hit number.  Anything over 4 mil for this guy is too much for me, with who we already have and his injury last year.  We just have other needs.  That's 4 mil that could have gone to Jeudy

[Airseven]

8 minutes ago, Cray51 said:

This guy moves better than Isiah, catches better than Gabe, and can actually run a route well.  I expect him to do very well this season if Allen learns to trust him.

You mean if Dorsey can actually incorporate him into the offense and if Allen can actually hit him in stride.

[SCBills]

Just now, Virgil said:

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the 2023 cap hit number.  Anything over 4 mil for this guy is too much for me, with who we already have and his injury last year.  We just have other needs.  That's 4 mil that could have gone to Jeudy

3.7M cap hit this year, with an out next year if it doesn’t work out. 

[Bray Wyatt]

Just now, Virgil said:

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the 2023 cap hit number.  Anything over 4 mil for this guy is too much for me, with who we already have and his injury last year.  We just have other needs.  That's 4 mil that could have gone to Jeudy

3.7

[Warriorspikes51]

1 minute ago, Virgil said:

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the 2023 cap hit number.  Anything over 4 mil for this guy is too much for me, with who we already have and his injury last year.  We just have other needs.  That's 4 mil that could have gone to Jeudy

 

it's 3.7