Bills vs Chiefs WR investment

[Mikie2times]

Since 2021 (have to start somewhere, the Bills also invested picks in 2020)

 

The Chiefs have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years. 1st rounder, (2) 2nd rounders, 4th rounder, and 5th rounder. So fairly high value assets. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Jalen Royals, Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, Sky Moore, and Cornell Powell. 

 

The Bills have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years as well. 1st rounder, 2 (5th's), and 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder. So fairly low value assets outside of Coleman. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Keon Coleman, Kaden Prather, Justin Shorter, Khalil Shakir, and Marquez Stevenson.

 

What interests me about this question is for largely two consecutive years when I have watched Chiefs games I have said to myself this has to be the worst WR group in football. I mean, we complain about our WR's, but last week it was Hollywood Brown, Taquan Thornton, and Ju Ju. Last year it was largely the same. Mind you, Worthy could very well be something, and Rice is something, but neither looks to be the most durable. Maybe that is dumb bad luck, maybe not, but the fact remains KC is consistently fielding a horrific WR core the last two years.

 

Meanwhile back in Buffalo, we have been a bit more hesitant to invest high value here. I think it's been stated by Beane that WR is a very hard position to judge in the draft. Perhaps that is what leads to apprehensiveness. Which I largely don't agree with, however, our approach seems pretty clear. We focus this position on depth and an elevated floor vs a high ceiling, specifically with budget friendly FA acquisitions.   

 

Now one thing is for sure. We will never be running a Taquan Thornton on the field. We have good depth here. When Elijah Moore is one of your last in, that is a problem the Chiefs would love to have. But beyond the depth, you could very well argue that the returns of Coleman and Shakir rival the returns of Worthy and Rice. Rice could very well be the best of the group, but you need to play to be in the conversation. 

 

So as much as I have historically disliked our approach at WR, I think what has happened to the Chiefs is sort the reason we have that approach. I think we care more about depth and ensuring it's not a position that kills us vs reaching for the stars and missing. Further, I would argue for as much crap as we give the front office over the WR position and I still feel somewhat justifiably so, KC has done a much worse job. They have reached a critical point in talent erosion multiple years. They invested more in the draft for the same or even worse returns. Yes, a lot of bad injury luck, but nobody cares about the recipe they want to know how it tastes.   

 

[BlueRed]

Keon was a 2nd rounder

[Mikie2times]

1 minute ago, BlueRed said:

Keon was a 2nd rounder

Thats right, my bad

[Alphadawg7]

7 minutes ago, BlueRed said:

Keon was a 2nd rounder

 

6 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

Thats right, my bad

 

He will always be officially a 2nd rounder.  But it was our first round pick, Carolina slid back 1 spot to make him a 2nd rounder, but Keon was our pick at 31 and we still used that pick to acquire Keon while adding an extra pick.  So its still essentially our first round pick we used to get him.  Never understood this need to focus on it being our "2nd" rounder to imply we invested "less" into the position so many people like to do (not saying either of you are, just it happens a lot by plenty).  We still took our first pick, from the first round and flipped it into a WR 1 slot later.

Edited September 17 by Alphadawg7

[Augie]

Keon was a second rounder. 

 

[DJB]

Don’t know if anyone knows this but Keon was a 2nd rounder 

[Special K]

[Mikie2times]

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I’d bet most teams pick a WR each year. Sometimes, they’re good! Sometimes, they’re not! That’s the draft!

[TPS]

42 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

Since 2021 (have to start somewhere, the Bills also invested picks in 2020)

 

The Chiefs have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years. 1st rounder, (2) 2nd rounders, 4th rounder, and 5th rounder. So fairly high value assets. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Jalen Royals, Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, Sky Moore, and Cornell Powell. 

 

The Bills have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years as well. 1st rounder, 2 (5th's), and 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder. So fairly low value assets outside of Coleman. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Keon Coleman, Kaden Prather, Justin Shorter, Khalil Shakir, and Marquez Stevenson.

 

What interests me about this question is for largely two consecutive years when I have watched Chiefs games I have said to myself this has to be the worst WR group in football. I mean, we complain about our WR's, but last week it was Hollywood Brown, Taquan Thornton, and Ju Ju. Last year it was largely the same. Mind you, Worthy could very well be something, and Rice is something, but neither looks to be the most durable. Maybe that is dumb bad luck, maybe not, but the fact remains KC is consistently fielding a horrific WR core the last two years.

 

Meanwhile back in Buffalo, we have been a bit more hesitant to invest high value here. I think it's been stated by Beane that WR is a very hard position to judge in the draft. Perhaps that is what leads to apprehensiveness. Which I largely don't agree with, however, our approach seems pretty clear. We focus this position on depth and an elevated floor vs a high ceiling, specifically with budget friendly FA acquisitions.   

 

Now one thing is for sure. We will never be running a Taquan Thornton on the field. We have good depth here. When Elijah Moore is one of your last in, that is a problem the Chiefs would love to have. But beyond the depth, you could very well argue that the returns of Coleman and Shakir rival the returns of Worthy and Rice. Rice could very well be the best of the group, but you need to play to be in the conversation. 

 

So as much as I have historically disliked our approach at WR, I think what has happened to the Chiefs is sort the reason we have that approach. I think we care more about depth and ensuring it's not a position that kills us vs reaching for the stars and missing. Further, I would argue for as much crap as we give the front office over the WR position and I still feel somewhat justifiably so, KC has done a much worse job. They have reached a critical point in talent erosion multiple years. They invested more in the draft for the same or even worse returns. Yes, a lot of bad injury luck, but nobody cares about the recipe they want to know how it tastes.   

 

Interesting take. It's clear that Beane has been hesitant to draft WR with premium picks (1-3), rather he goes the FA or trade (Diggs) route.

Maybe Kincaid should be included since he was viewed strictly as a receiving threat?  I believe the Bills (Beane?) talked about his pov too?

[JGMcD2]

Brett Veach is really good at drafting - he misses sometimes. Brandon Beane is really good at drafting - he misses sometimes. They’re two of the best in the NFL. 
 

They both have their flaws, one has the luxury of walking into a situation with future Hall of Fame players and a Hall of Fame Coach already in the building to mask those issues. Not taking anything away from Veach, he’s really ***** good. 
 

 

[Don Otreply]

Something something, 2nd rounder, something something…., 

 

I don’t know but that’s what I heard…

[LEBills]

50 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

Since 2021 (have to start somewhere, the Bills also invested picks in 2020)

 

The Chiefs have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years. 1st rounder, (2) 2nd rounders, 4th rounder, and 5th rounder. So fairly high value assets. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Jalen Royals, Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, Sky Moore, and Cornell Powell. 

 

The Bills have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years as well. 1st rounder, 2 (5th's), and 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder. So fairly low value assets outside of Coleman. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Keon Coleman, Kaden Prather, Justin Shorter, Khalil Shakir, and Marquez Stevenson.

 

What interests me about this question is for largely two consecutive years when I have watched Chiefs games I have said to myself this has to be the worst WR group in football. I mean, we complain about our WR's, but last week it was Hollywood Brown, Taquan Thornton, and Ju Ju. Last year it was largely the same. Mind you, Worthy could very well be something, and Rice is something, but neither looks to be the most durable. Maybe that is dumb bad luck, maybe not, but the fact remains KC is consistently fielding a horrific WR core the last two years.

 

Meanwhile back in Buffalo, we have been a bit more hesitant to invest high value here. I think it's been stated by Beane that WR is a very hard position to judge in the draft. Perhaps that is what leads to apprehensiveness. Which I largely don't agree with, however, our approach seems pretty clear. We focus this position on depth and an elevated floor vs a high ceiling, specifically with budget friendly FA acquisitions.   

 

Now one thing is for sure. We will never be running a Taquan Thornton on the field. We have good depth here. When Elijah Moore is one of your last in, that is a problem the Chiefs would love to have. But beyond the depth, you could very well argue that the returns of Coleman and Shakir rival the returns of Worthy and Rice. Rice could very well be the best of the group, but you need to play to be in the conversation. 

 

So as much as I have historically disliked our approach at WR, I think what has happened to the Chiefs is sort the reason we have that approach. I think we care more about depth and ensuring it's not a position that kills us vs reaching for the stars and missing. Further, I would argue for as much crap as we give the front office over the WR position and I still feel somewhat justifiably so, KC has done a much worse job. They have reached a critical point in talent erosion multiple years. They invested more in the draft for the same or even worse returns. Yes, a lot of bad injury luck, but nobody cares about the recipe they want to know how it tastes.   

 

The Patriots were very bad at drafting receivers too. But you still need to try because aside from QB, WR and DE are the two most expensive positions. When you don’t try, you have to pay average or worse players like Samuel, Palmer and Moore almost $20 million this year. The Chiefs have Rice and Worthy under contract for 4 years each for just over $20 million total.
 

Even if you just look at production in the playoffs. Rice averaged 65.5 yards/game in 2023, Worthy averaged 65 yards/game in 2024 (excluding superbowl since it was mostly garbage time), Shakir averaged 58 yards/game in 2024 which was his best year, Keon and Samuel combined to average 34 yards/game last playoff.

 

There certainly several ways to build a winning roster in this league, but I still think the Chiefs WR strategy is smarter even if it hasn’t been a home run yet and hopefully never will be. Though I will give Beane and McDermott a lot of credit for getting a good OL coach, OL depth and an awesome running back.

[MJS]

The only reason the Chiefs keep drafting receivers is because they keep missing. If they had a really good stable of receivers, they'd be investing those draft picks elsewhere, at least somewhat. And many of their free agent acquisitions at the position have been underwhelming as well. It didn't used to matter as much because Kelce was so dominant, and he was the primary receiving threat. But he is maybe above average at best now, if even that.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

When you have a QB like Allen and Mahomes or a Brady, Manning in prior years, they can all easily make a mediocre WR look like  #1.  Adding a true #1 WR to the Bills would just mean less catches for everyone else and maybe even less running plays by Cook.  And if like many of the true #1 WR's in about 2 years adding more discontent too.

 

Look at the one year when we had Bledsoe throwing to Peerless Price and made him look great.  We were able to get a 1st round pick for him in a trade.  How'd that turn out for Atlanta?

[BillsFanForever19]

1 hour ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

 

He will always be officially a 2nd rounder.  But it was our first round pick, Carolina slid back 1 spot to make him a 2nd rounder, but Keon was our pick at 31 and we still used that pick to acquire Keon while adding an extra pick.  So its still essentially our first round pick we used to get him.  Never understood this need to focus on it being our "2nd" rounder to imply we invested "less" into the position so many people like to do (not saying either of you are, just it happens a lot by plenty).  We still took our first pick, from the first round and flipped it into a WR 1 slot later.

 

The flip side of that argument is that generally all of our 1st's are closer to 2nd's to begin with.

 

Keon Coleman was truly a 2nd Round Pick. Regardless of whether it was our first pick or not. We moved our 1st for a 2nd, 3rd, and some change.

Edited September 18 by BillsFanForever19

[BuffaloBillyG]

1 hour ago, Mikie2times said:

Since 2021 (have to start somewhere, the Bills also invested picks in 2020)

 

The Chiefs have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years. 1st rounder, (2) 2nd rounders, 4th rounder, and 5th rounder. So fairly high value assets. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Jalen Royals, Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, Sky Moore, and Cornell Powell. 

 

The Bills have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years as well. 1st rounder, 2 (5th's), and 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder. So fairly low value assets outside of Coleman. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Keon Coleman, Kaden Prather, Justin Shorter, Khalil Shakir, and Marquez Stevenson.

 

What interests me about this question is for largely two consecutive years when I have watched Chiefs games I have said to myself this has to be the worst WR group in football. I mean, we complain about our WR's, but last week it was Hollywood Brown, Taquan Thornton, and Ju Ju. Last year it was largely the same. Mind you, Worthy could very well be something, and Rice is something, but neither looks to be the most durable. Maybe that is dumb bad luck, maybe not, but the fact remains KC is consistently fielding a horrific WR core the last two years.

 

Meanwhile back in Buffalo, we have been a bit more hesitant to invest high value here. I think it's been stated by Beane that WR is a very hard position to judge in the draft. Perhaps that is what leads to apprehensiveness. Which I largely don't agree with, however, our approach seems pretty clear. We focus this position on depth and an elevated floor vs a high ceiling, specifically with budget friendly FA acquisitions.   

 

Now one thing is for sure. We will never be running a Taquan Thornton on the field. We have good depth here. When Elijah Moore is one of your last in, that is a problem the Chiefs would love to have. But beyond the depth, you could very well argue that the returns of Coleman and Shakir rival the returns of Worthy and Rice. Rice could very well be the best of the group, but you need to play to be in the conversation. 

 

So as much as I have historically disliked our approach at WR, I think what has happened to the Chiefs is sort the reason we have that approach. I think we care more about depth and ensuring it's not a position that kills us vs reaching for the stars and missing. Further, I would argue for as much crap as we give the front office over the WR position and I still feel somewhat justifiably so, KC has done a much worse job. They have reached a critical point in talent erosion multiple years. They invested more in the draft for the same or even worse returns. Yes, a lot of bad injury luck, but nobody cares about the recipe they want to know how it tastes.   

 

I think my issue is this. The Chiefs needed WRs. They drafted high. They did do well with Rice as long as he stops getting himself suspended. Worthy hasn't been around long enough to judge fairly. But they don't stop there. They go out and sign former 1000 yard receivers in Brown, Ju-Ju and last year DHop. They just keep grinding at the position when they miss.

 

Meanwhile, for us the position we do that with is the DL. We invest high picks and then turn around and have to sign pricey FAs. The PED guys, Bosa, Von. We just grind away on DL.

[Victory Formation]

You win through the trenches.

[GASabresIUFan]

2 hours ago, Mikie2times said:

The Chiefs have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years. 1st rounder, (2) 2nd rounders, 4th rounder, and 5th rounder. So fairly high value assets. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Jalen Royals (Rookie depth), Xavier Worthy (Injured -starter), Rashee Rice (Suspended -starter), Sky Moore, and Cornell Powell. 

 

The Bills have drafted a WR for 5 consecutive years as well. 1st rounder, 2 (5th's), and 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder. So fairly low value assets outside of Coleman. The results of those drafts are below. 

 

Keon Coleman (starter), Kaden Prather, Justin Shorter, Khalil Shakir (starter), and Marquez Stevenson.

 

Looks to me that the Bills have received more bang of their draft $ with 2 starters.  KC has 2 starters as well and maybe Royals will develop into one, but Rice will be gone by that time.  

[Mikie2times]

8 minutes ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

I think my issue is this. The Chiefs needed WRs. They drafted high. They did do well with Rice as long as he stops getting himself suspended. Worthy hasn't been around long enough to judge fairly. But they don't stop there. They go out and sign former 1000 yard receivers in Brown, Ju-Ju and last year DHop. They just keep grinding at the position when they miss.

 

Meanwhile, for us the position we do that with is the DL. We invest high picks and then turn around and have to sign pricey FAs. The PED guys, Bosa, Von. We just grind away on DL.

But the reality is they have still fielded one of the worst units in the NFL for a very large % of games over the last two seasons. Which I understand is in large part do to circumstances. But at the same time, this is a rather boom or bust position. Teams build around a stud WR, they don't often pursue depth, then it's a huge rug pull when that guy goes out. WR busts don't end up like AJ Epenesa, it tends to be fairly black and white. Many aren't even in the league in short order. The post wasn't to say I agree with what we have done. Especially considering guys that we could have gotten much later like Troy Franklin and Tory Horton. It's just to say the Chiefs have done what I think most people on here (largely myself included)wanted to do and yet have fielded a total cesspool of WR's for the majority of games these last two years. I think in some ways it reflects our hesitancy to invest heavily here even if its still not something you or I agree with. 

Edited September 18 by Mikie2times