Alphadawg7

I wouldn’t I mean to be fair, I’m pretty sure that’s everyone’s tier 1…and if it isn’t they probably shouldn’t be ranking WRs.

This will sound like a total homer statement, but Bills have a real shot to be the best HK season ever or one of the best because the team top to bottom has fun lovable characters. From leaders and vets like Beane, Allen, Dawkins, Tre, etc to young guys like Keon and Hairston. They are a hard team to not root for or fall in love with. The guys in the locker room have a connection and brotherhood not found in most, not to this level. These guys truly hang out off the field, golf, play poker together, Catan, etc. Lot of great, powerful, emotional back stories too with some of these guys as well like Ray Davis for example. It’s gonna be a fun, good energy, Hard Knocks IMHO.

Coolio...but I really don't think it will be a "major" story line, thats not how this works on Hard Knocks. Ive got friends at HBO who run this show, that is not the format of the show. They don't beat stories to death the way fans do...Hard Knocks is more about the players and coaches as people, journey's, etc. It will focus on a couple vets...it will focus on several fringe guys and their fight to make the roster...it will feature some rookies/young guys...and it will feature the coaches/FO on how run the ship, meetings, make decisions, etc. Remember, we dont have a major camp battle at WR. Keon and Palmer are set outside, Shakir is set in the slot. There is no story there. Hard Knocks doesn't break down film and look for trouble spots or things that arent working. It is very much a story driven series of life in the NFL, they are not there to focus on strengths and weaknesses of the team and point that out. There is going to be almost no coverage about the WR talent (or lack of depending on someones point of view)...they will probably try and follow Coleman because he is young and so charismatic. But honestly, the WR coverage isn't going to be remotely cover all the things people have been beating like a dead horse here.

I can, it will showcase how close this team is, the vibe amongst the players, being around our fans, this city, etc...something our players who come here know so well. Its going to create more interest potentially in future free agents. Almost every player whose played has talked about how special and different it is, and when you are as cold as Buffalo and lack the big city appeal, increasing FA interest even a little bit is a good thing.

I get all the concerns...but can we just have one thread not fall back to the "WR's" again

Wow, RIP that’s crazy. Loss for the NFL, he was a good owner. Prayers to the family

I mean thats on Schoen, he knows hes being recorded. Again, I am not worried about Hard Knocks displaying some ugliness or what not they have been trying to shield from the world Im quite excited to see on there

What they did in the KC game sadly wasn't the Tush Push...had they done the real tush push we go to the Super Bowl most likely.

Ive yet to see a hard knocks that showed all this stuff teams didn't want you to see. If they did that teams would revolt. So, I don't think its going to be much different at all.

My wife text me to hide my ***** when the news broke. Told her this like a viagra OD, not possible. So stoked! Especially with how good Embedded always is

I think it should stay. Just because one team does it better than anyone else isn't a reason to get rid of it. Funniest part is the pushing of the tush isn't even the key to its success and is mostly irrelevant to whether the play succeeds or not. Its what happens up front and what your QB does that determines if its likely to succeed or not, and THAT is what the Eagles are better than everyone else at.

Our WRs did clutch up though. Multiple times on the final series we had receivers wide open for first downs and Allen did not get them the ball. For example, Samuel has an easy first down but Allen has his pass knocked down at LOS. Even on the 4th down, Shakir was wide open to the left for an easy first down but Allen cheated the protection to the wrong side when we were fooled by the blitz putting people in Allen’s face off the snap untouched. Additionally, Kincaid was also running wide open for a 30-40 yard gain had Allen had time to throw on same play. Instead he heaved a sky high prayer ball and Kincaid on bad knees had to stop and come back to it and try and make the catch. Now I will say you want to see Kincaid catch that, but it was not easy and harder when he’s doing it on bad knees. Point is, our WRs didn’t fail Allen in the last series, they got open and Allen wasn’t able to get them the ball for various reasons. I do agree with most of this though.

Honestly, not really. Who makes those decisions? Coaches or Beane? So no, I don’t think that makes me think Duke type WRs are Beanes “affinity” because Duke worked his way via the coaches into some playing time.

👏

Im convinced it doesn’t matter. Shakir is one of the best slot guys in the NFL and every HC would tell you the same. So what is the point of drafting a 3rd slot WR when we had no one for the outside? And when you don’t have the luxury of hindsight to make that decision at that moment in the draft either? Again, if anyone wants to gripe about last year, it should be not trying to trade up for BTJ. Ladd wasn’t the missed opportunity, that was, and it’s not close.

Shakir is one of the best slot guys in the NFL right now…so you’re philosophy was to just get rid of our best WR and replace him with a rookie still leaving the same holes elsewhere in the WR room? When we drafted Keon our WR was small too. So last year it would have been 3 slot WRs and Mack Hollins just to let Shakir walk this year so you can say we drafted Ladd? No disrespect, but I’m not sure how that makes any sense. The move last year was instead of looking to make a small trade back to recoup the 3rd we lost on Rasul, it should have been to try and make the small move up to get BTJ. If anyone wants to complain THAT is the complaint or second guess. Not Ladd, not Worthy. But last year we had massive dead cap, we had a ton of veteran turnover. It was supposed to be a mini retool year to clean the cap and age out our older guys. Which he did, so I get why he preferred trading back whether it proves to be right or wrong decision. We needed to add people to the roster. And on top of that, our WR room isn’t the group it is because of Shakirs contract which is a bargain for him. And Cook is playing still here his year, doesn’t mean we won’t or can’t still resign him. Beane has already said they will resume talks later this year after halting heading into the draft.

Do we? Keon, Shakir, Palmer, Samuel, Moore are our projected top 5. And all 5 would, or at least compete to, start on other teams right now. So, unless one of them surprises and isn’t on the roster week 1 then I don’t think we have any open spots because I doubt we keep more than 5 unless we keep one for ST, and if that is the case it will almost certainly be Shenault. So I’m not sure why people think we have a spot to fill.

I’ve watched pretty much every game Purdy has ever played in the NFL as my wife is a die hard Niners fan. 2 things I’m confident in. 1. Many people in this thread have not watched him play a lot and seem to have a lot of strong opinions based on preconceived assumptions. 2. He’s better than many are giving him credit for. Will he live up to the contract? We will see, but it’s not as egregious as it’s being made out to be IMHO.

No disrespect…But that really isn’t a fair list to show he has an affinity or type IMHO. Only Gabe and Keon were drafted to be potential long term starters and were when we had no size in the WR room. Mack was a bandaid to fill dirty work for the void Gabe left in a season we had $31M dead cap at WR alone. Holmes was a ST player, Duke was a CFL nothing invested PS player, so was Shorter. And KB was added midseason of a year we weren’t supposed to make the playoffs when we suddenly had a chance to break the drought. And there were no other WRs traded, so it’s not like he had his pick and chose KB. Almost all the actual relevant WRs to play real minutes here were smaller. We had John Brown…then he invested a first and a 4th in Diggs and gave him big money multiple times. He added guys like Sanders, Samuel, and Shakir to play outside or mix in some outside. Not to mention the rest of our WR room had guys like Cole, McKenzie, Crowder, Harty, etc. So no offense, but I don’t think his type is what you think it is. Yes went after size and toughness when Gabe left because all we had was a small WR room. We use blocking at the WR position a lot, and it’s one of the reasons we originally drafted Gabe because we had no size. Just like Keon, we had no size. It’s not a “type” it was a hole in the roster when we added Mack/Keon last year and Gabe before them. Our WR room was known as midgets prior to Gabe getting here even. Beane does have a type though IMHO…his type is, and has been, balance. Right or wrong, that’s his real type IMO. And he has added some influence and second layer into his type lately too which is toughness as we were not physical enough across the table, not just at WR. And I personally think last year was Allen’s best year playing QB, not the years throwing to small WRs and having the most turnovers in the NFL days. Again, just my opinion, but I think more people believe 2024 was his best season than don’t. Im personally excited to see what year 2 of Brady’s offense brings and how this team comes together.

Does Coleman need to improve? Yup, no question. But: On a more optimistic note instead of just recycling the same WR and Coleman rants all the time… When he got hurt week 11 he was on pace for 800-900 yards and 7+ TDs. And to add more context to that, that is with: 1 - Being a rookie 2 - Splitting reps and time 3 - Playing on an offense that saw its QB spread the ball around hitting 9-10 different targets that also ran the ball a lot. 4 - Played on an offense where due to blow out wins took the pedal off the gas for whole quarters and some halves and stopped forcing the air attack 5 - Missed the first quarter of a blow out win where the offense ran clock second half meaning he played like one or two series and caught his lone target for a long TD 6 - Was used as a blocker a lot because he was punishing people as a blocker, a major reason we didn’t try and bring Mack back. Yes he has work to do…no doubt. But some of you I think are MORE invested in him failing or validating your doubts than actually looking for positives to whether he can be a good player for us. And if you want to know the real issue…I think he is playing out of position and should play the Z and let Palmer play the X. And if we do that, and I think we might, don’t be surprised to see Keon prove some people wrong. It’s like if people don’t think he can be a top 5 WR1 he is automatically trash and a whipping boy. He can be a good player for us, even if it ultimately means it’s as a WR2 at some point. And this is coming from me who told everyone (and a lot of people argued) that Ladd McConkey was going to be one the best WRs in this draft and I had him as WR5 behind Nabers, Harrison, Odunze, and BTJ. I even said I don’t know we will take him for what they are looking for but I was terrified KC or Ravens would land him. I loved Ladd coming out…but let’s not condemn Keon for not being Ladd and just constantly pile on him before he’s stepped on the field for his second year yet. He’s a Bill…he loves it here…and Josh has publicly said Keon has been hitting him up all offseason on getting better. So he seems to be putting in the work. But man…the WR rants have been beaten to death around here. Like what more needs to even be said at this point?

I dont disagree that some guys can just fall off a cliff, but in a lot of those cases I have gone back and noticed their back end of the previous season was tailing off form their first half of the previous season. Its not an exact science by any measure, and its not always going to be the case, but more to the point Henry showed zilch in terms of slowing down. Even if he was in his prime still, I think it would be foolish to expect another 1900 yard season, those just don't happen very often. But if there is any back capable of 1200-1500 yard seasons still in that Ravens offense at ages 32 and 33 its this guy. He is on another level physically and few have the kind of off season regimen that he does, or even capable of what he does. That being said...I also wouldn't at all be surprised to see a 32 year old RB slow down, its a pretty common wall. Just saying, if there is a RB to bet on to still get a couple highly productive seasons at this age its him. The problem with that comparison though is that Rasul and Henry are not in the same league as a player, physically, or how their offseason regimen to take care of their bodies. Most RB's will fall off a cliff at this age, you don't have to convince me of that or find examples, there are many. The point was if anyone can buck that trend its Henry.

Im not as down on Bernard as some seem to be, but if there is a question/case to be made about his contract, it is would the money have benefited the Bills more being spent on Cook. And regardless of anyones opinion on Bernard or what to pay Cook, that is a legit discussion.

Usually there are signs the previous season though where you see guys maybe still have a good season total, but they were doing much more the first half than the 2nd half of the seaosn. Look at Cooper for example who still remains unsigned. But Derrick Henry rushed for 138 or more yards in 4 of his last 6 games of the season, including the final 3. Father time is undefeated, but he does lose some rounds from time to time...and if anyone can take few more rounds from Father Time its that beast Henry. And in that offense I think its plausible he will still be a problem for everyone else for another couple seasons personally.

Testament to our divisional foes being a hot mess most seasons