NeverOutNick

I just watched the commencement speech for the first time. Am I missing something or was it a big who cares that the media again wants to blow up into something. It was boring like any other commencement speech and it was at a catholic university, so what did we expect it to be about. What did he say that is pissing everyone off? IMO, which thankfully I’m still allowed to have, he basically said he was grateful that his wife prioritized family and taking care of the home first over a career. Isn't that what we all want in our marriages? We should prioritize the home first so that our kids get some good morals in this jacked up world we’re throwing them out into. Now, he’s not the best public speaker or a wordsmith so things sound jumbled but he seemed genuine. Screw the media for attacking him. Would be nice if opinions were allowed to be had the same across the board in this country. He’s a kicker on an NFL team, not a politician running for office, let the man be. And I hate the chiefs so I'd be the first to attack if it was warranted lol

Give it a year or 2 and we’ll see if they were such head cases or if we missed out on another George Pickens because we didn’t trust our “culture” to get the most out of 2 extremely talented WRs. My point remains, even if the FO hated Mitchell and Franklin, plug in their choice, Burton, Roman Wilson, Tez Walker, etc. Let Josh have long term WR talent that’s actually worth the investment. For as how inept a franchise Cincy used to be, they get it. Year in and year out they get more young WR talent to put around their franchise QB (Higgins, Chase, Burton this year, Jones and Iosivas last year). The only difference is their QB can’t stay healthy but when he is, they make deep runs because Burrow has so many dependable options in big moments. Ideally all 3 would be ready to go week 1 but your statement applies to every position. Is Carter playing every down right away or is he sitting behind the vets, rotating in when his number is called. Even if the rooks weren’t up to speed to be every down WRs by week 1, they wouldn’t need to be. It’s a long term investment in Josh. Brady would call their number as needed until they were up to speed. It’s a good problem to have and you still have your PS filled with the Isabella’s and Claypools of the world just in case.

First off I want to say I respect Beane’s game. He always finds a way to fill holes and gives McD as much depth as possible every year to keep the team competitive. He did a great job putting make up on an ugly pig of a WR group after the draft. BUT what if we went all in on surrounding Josh with as much young cheap talent as possible. What if Beane didn’t play it safe year in and year out with high character dependable players and went with some potential home run hitters. Humor me and lets play this out, let’s reverse time back to this epic 2024 WR draft. AD Mitchell and Troy Franklin may have had some character flaws that dropped them a bit in the draft but their talent is undeniable. In a year where even before we lost Davis and Diggs we needed another young WR, let’s pretend that we did something unconventional and actually took 3 WR in the first 3 rounds! 🤯 Now how would this play out? Pick 33 is still Coleman and we got some draft capital pick 51 or higher (trade a 5th this year and a 3rd next year) AD Mitchell Pick 95 Troy Franklin The rest of the draft stays the same BUT wait we don’t have Bishop at safety or Carter at DT whatever will we do!?! Hmmm maybe this year we let McD get a couple FAs to plug and play. Maybe we don’t go dumpster diving for leftover WRs and instead grab a couple veteran defensive players instead. Why not sign Justin Simmons and Calais Campbell and then next year when it’s a better defensive draft you can address the DT spot Josh now has Coleman, AD Mitchell, Troy Franklin, Khalil Shakir, and Curtis Samuel…oh and McD can have his special teams WR with the last spot too in Hollins, Shavers or Shorter. You know you’d love that WR corps and so would Josh for the next 4+ years Again, Beane did a great job making the best out of a bad situation with his WR room but man what could’ve been if he just leaned into helping his franchise QB out long term instead of short term bandaids.

I love Josh Allen. My favorite bill since Fred Jackson. I know this will be an unpopular pov but man McD and Beane don't deserve Josh. He's got to pimp himself out for WR scraps lol

He’s really diving into the Chris Pratt doppelgänger role lol

Where is it? Lol

Don’t forget Bub Means and Ainais Smith. But yes late 6th and 7th most of the speed guys were gone. Still not sure why Brendan Rice fell so far. I am pulling for Hamler because he offers something we don’t currently have and honestly he’s still young enough to develop into an every week starter unlike most of the guys we signed to prove it deals. Ideally Claypool finally gets his head out of his butt and overtakes MVS for the big vertical threat, Hamler is fully healthy and is a RAC superstar, returner and Vertical threat and the last spot will be won by whomever proves to be the special team guy they want. I hate that we have to waste a WR spot for a guy like that and would much rather keep Cephus if he is as sure handed a possession WR that he was in Wisconsin, but Hollins probably leads the way as the guy. Shavers, Isabella and Shorter are all easy PS holdovers and honestly who cares if they got picked up (hopefully I’m wrong and shavers or shorter kills it this camp)

Agree to disagree on the draft class. I believe it was it was amazing throughout. 3 top WRs that would’ve been top 10 picks in any draft class and then at least 20 guys after them that will be good NFL pros. You don’t get that most years. Maybe you’re right on Hamler being able to hide on the PS. He did have the heart scare that I’m sure a lot of teams wanted to do their due diligence with. He’s got unbelievable upside so personally I wouldn’t risk putting him on the PS again especially since I believe if healthy he will be one of the top 5 WRs on this team. But we will see soon enough

True enough on the QB play but eye test clearly shows Pearsall as an actual dependable WR who runs the route tree and catches the ball with his hands. Shorter looks like a WR in shorts but doesn’t play like one I’d draft in the NFL. All I’m hoping for is that it’s truly an open competition with no agendas to keep a guy just because Beane drafted him. Who cares. Just get the 6 best WRs for Josh to depend on game day even if it’s some 26 year old Joe Shmoe who was delivering pizzas a week prior lol

I don’t think your statement is true at all about Hamler. If not for the injury last year he would’ve been a hot commodity due to his skill set as a burner and returner. Isabella is a much lesser version of him that has proven he’s not much of a difference maker on game day so I agree he would be fine on the PS. I also don’t think teams will go out of their way to roster Shorter either. This was an amazing WR draft class that shorter might not have even been drafted in. Hopefully Beane and McD truly make this an open competition because the contracts reflect that it should be. 100% agree. He’s the guy with the most potential out of the group Exactly. Teams that wanted WRs just drafted them in a deep and talented draft class. Why roster a guy who body catches everything and did nothing when his QB was Anthony Richardson

This is great! Really puts the open competition in perspective. Not one guy is leading right now imo based on the contracts. I believe Hamler has the most upside and easily would be the guy to be poached quickest now that he’s healthy off the PS so I hope he makes the team. After that game on

We have an elite Josh Allen in the playoffs. Everyone else on the offense has been average at best in the playoffs with a lot of mediocre and sucks mixed in. We can’t depend on an “elite” defense because it’s been 7 years of McD investing in the defense and it never shows up against KC in the playoffs. Josh needs elite weapons. Hopefully Kincaid is that guy and Coleman/Shakir get there soon as well

I think you are underselling Shakir. I have a feeling he’ll be our best actual WR this year. He’s the closest thing to Nakua we’ve got and gets better every year

I don’t agree with all of this Green Bay WR room comparison. GB drafted young WRs and let them develop. They also have one of the best offensive minds in the game leading them in Lafleur. We have a bunch of retread players that didn’t hack it as top WRs on any of their previous stints. Shakir and Coleman are the only promising upcoming talents we have. The rest we are just crossing our fingers on

While I do agree with your take on Beane missing out on future starts for retreads, I am happy that he sees we had a need for vertical threats in our offense and is giving it some competition in Claypool, Hamler and MVS. The former two have incredible upside if they could either stay healthy or in claypools case focus on his craft and MVS, although he has a tendency to drop the ball, he also has made some big plays throughout his career (He’s our faster Gabe Davis). To get our new Gabe Davis in a WR5 mold instead of WR2 is an improvement if he makes the team at all

I agree with all of the bolded. I believe the only roster locks are Coleman, Shakir and Samuel. I would love for the next 3 to be MVS, Claypool, and Hamler because they can all stretch the field but it’s likely at most only 2 of them make the team with Hollins, Shavers, Shorter, etc fighting for that 6th spot/Special teams gunner/blocking WR role. Still holding out a little hope for Cephus too since he’s got some nice hands as a possession WR. My guess is our final 3 comes down to this: WR 4/returner: Hamler (please 🙏) or Isabella WR5/Big WR with vertical upside: MVS or Claypool WR6/Special teams/Big blocking WR: Hollins/Shavers/Cephus/Shorter

Logically makes sense to me brother but MVS and Hollins aren’t locks to make the team. Honestly think outside of the top 3 no one is safe for the other spots. I’m really pulling for Hamler. He’s got the most potential if he stays healthy.

I wouldn’t say he’s “better” than Cephus or Hamler. Cephus has more dependable hands but is not a vertical threat. Hamler is a big time vertical threat but is never healthy. At least MVS has had moments as a proven vertical threat. I’d be fine with him for a 1 year cheap prove it deal to compete with all the other never fighting for spots 4-6 on the WR depth chart

I actually agree with most everything you said, especially that we should’ve just inked Dhop last year. If we did we may have been talking about our 2nd SB adventure this year. I also agree with you analysis on DK and DJ Moore but Aiyuk I’m not sure I agree. I wasn’t a huge believer in him early on but the more I watch him, the more I think he could be a true #1. I don’t want to pay him the insane contract he’ll get though. Moore and Dk aren’t #1 WRs but they are what we are missing most to our offense in great vertical threats. But again I wouldn’t pay them WR1 money. If we could get them for the year without renewing their contract I think we could win it all. Dhop or Adams would be luxuries I’d love to have and probably wouldn’t break the bank because of their age. They’re still super clutch in big moments though so sign me up even though I can’t see Beane pulling the trigger. This was a great draft class to get a deep threat or 2 even late but it’s looking like Beane is rolling the dice that one of Hamler, Claypool or the already been there done that Isabella will be that guy If we are going to take a chance on a low risk trade to help with our glaring vertical need I could see it being DKs best bud Lockett

All great points. I just hope defenses don’t play us accordingly to what we’re putting out on the field. Just feels like we’re shrinking the field a bit. Hope Hamler stays healthy and is on the field a lot to keep the D honest.

Did Troy Franklin play a down in the NFL yet? I don’t take back a word I said about him, dude is going to be a way better WR than shorter in the NFL, I’d bet you $100 on that right now. And Brendan Rice was rated as my 16th best WR and even in my write up I stated it’s more about what he can be (Jerrys son is hard to bet against) and he runs a lot of off script routes probably due to his QBs play. I definitely would’ve taken him over Shorter AND Rice fell to the 7th (which proves my point that shorter wouldn’t have been drafted in this class). So “no disrespect” but until Shorter touches the field and proves he’s worth anything more than camp fodder, I’ll stick to my opinion and track record of knowing what works at WR in the NFL. Hopefully I’m wrong on Shorter since he’s a Bill (for now) BTW proof would be finding players I’ve missed on 2-5 years ago that haven’t panned out. Yes we all miss here and there but more often than not, I’m very good at analyzing WR talent while sitting on my couch lol…I bet alot of us wish we could sit in and talk to these kids in person like real scouts. And that could be a reason some of these guys slip. If you want to plant your flag in Shorter I’ll come back here and apologize if I’m wrong. And maybe you can do the same for me when Franklin lights it up 🤔. I’ll say it again, outside of Beane pushing an agenda with not owning up on a missed pick (and who really cares Beane, he’s just a 5th rounder, not like you could’ve had Nakua lol jk it’s really not that big of deal to miss on late rounders). I hope he lets the 6 best WRs have an even shot to make the roster (Coleman, Samuel and Shakir are the only locks). If Beane is true to letting all chaos break loose and we get the open competition, I believe if healthy, Hamler will be #4 because he’s got the speed we’re lacking and has the talent to live up to his second round grade. I have no idea who the other 2 will be. Because the Bills prioritize special teams and his past work ethic is awful, I’d bet claypool is on the outside looking (even if he’s a great talent and I’m pulling for him). I want to like Isabella but at this point he seems like he’s a great practice player that doesn’t do much to move the needle on gameday. I’ve always liked Cephus as a possession WR with good hands coming out of Wisconsin but he’s slow and we’ve got a lot of that already. The last spot will be that special teams gunner/outside WR guy and that probably means Hollins/Shavers/Shorter. Just my opinion 😉

Proof? Most of my analysis is pretty on point. Last year I told all the doubters that Zay Flowers was the best WR in this class

I honestly don’t think Justin Shorter would’ve been drafted at all in this years class of WRs. I’ve said it multiple times, the guy looks like he’s built to be an NFL WR but body catches everything, can’t get separation and is clunky in his route running. Hopefully he turns into the phenom he was projected to be coming out of HS but outside of Beane trying to make a statement that he’s keeping his 5th round WR from last year, I don’t see him making the team

Lol It’s not that much of a burden when the expectations have been minimized by everyone involved.

Honestly looking back at the moves this offseason at WR I’m still confused on the direction. I totally understand letting Gabe walk and I get Diggs needed to be traded for some value and this was the last opportunity to get high compensation in return for him. The pre-draft acquisition of Curtis Samuel doesn’t fill either hole our 2 WRs filled. In fact it makes it a more crowded room at what our 2 best remaining “WRs” do in Shakir and Kincaid, eating up the middle of the field and working the slot. Samuel is a fine player but he’s never been the best WR on his own team and for all his speed he’s not a great deep threat because he doesn’t track the ball very well. He’s going to be used well under Brady but still a head scratching start to our reworked WR room when you did have a boundary vertical threat like Hollywood brown available and multiple receivers in the upcoming draft to fill that role. Next we go into the draft still not having any proven outside threats. We grab maybe the guy with the best hands in this draft but even though he’s a heck of an athlete and person at best he’s an upgrade over Gabe Davis who doesn’t have Gabe’s vertical game. We are all happy with the move during the draft and think we have to be going after one or two more WRs to compete for the other outside spot right? I mean it’s the 2nd round and AD Mitchell and Troy Franklin are still on the board…Day 2 goes by and man we missed on Mitchell but I get it McD is the coach and he wanted to load up on D but it’s ok because tomorrow we can get Franklin or Walker who both show great burst off the line and work the intermediate and long game very well. Whoa whoa what’s going on here a RB run, don’t do it Beane. Well ok he looks like he could be really good and even though we missed out on Mitchell and Walker there are still some speedsters left in Ainais Smith, Malik Washington and man that Bub Means guy looks like he has potential as an outside big bodied deep threat. Oh well at least he looks like a starting caliber center that was good value, wait we traded our 5th rounder for next years 4th but the WRs…LB and pass rusher 🤦🏻‍♂️…welp we’ve got a couple late picks maybe to take a chance on Jerry’s kid ooph maybe those linemen will develop. Sorry for the run on but got caught up lol. I wouldn’t have taken this same approach in giving Josh every opportunity to crush it this year in a draft class loaded with potential at WR. At the very least I would’ve given more competition to outside WR instead of going with a bunch of retreads that never were in the NFL (Claypool, Hollins, Shrever, Isabella, Hamler). I hope one of those guys works out to play opposite of Coleman (my money is on Hamler) while Shakir, Samuel and Kincaid eat up the middle of the field but I am skeptical in the direction they went in the receiver room this offseason.