Troll Toll

Sorry, didn’t realize good teams pick 9th in the draft without trading to get there.

I’m not looking for a world class supporting cast, I’m looking for a supporting cast that isn’t bottom of the league. The optics of it to me are that they got a proven center, promising tackles, some high end WR3s, old RBs, questionable at best guards and a downgrade at TE. Asking for him to have 1 receiver that can consistently get 1000 yards isn’t asking for that much. He was able to make do with the horrible O-line last year, but the WR situation was untenable. You could argue Foster was their best receiver last year and will be their best receiver going into this year. He strung together a couple good games at the end of last year, but he is far from a proven commodity. High end 2s hit 1000 yards receiving. He is a low end 2 or a high end 3.

This is now two offseasons and they still don’t have a proven top flight receiver or TE he can count on. Teams transform completely in 2-3 years. I just don’t understand how they can’t prioritize getting the guy a strong supporting cast that complements his skillset. I hope Allen doesn’t get ruined or run out of town because the team failed him.

Allen finished with 2000 yards passing last year. Receiver was a major issue (as was OL), but as the QB, Allen takes all the flak for their flaws. As far as I’m concerned this coaching staff and front office has set him up to fail over and over again. You give all the first team reps to Peterman, then throw Allen into the fire in the 2nd half of Week 1. They failed to properly address OL, WR, and TE knowing they had a rookie QB going into last year. This is now 2 offseasons where they have failed to provide Allen with an adequate supporting cast. He looked like his confidence was nearly broken at the time of his injury last year. I hate that this team is going to let last year’s **** show around him happen again. Any success he has had so far has been in spite of the players, coaches and FO around him. If Allen fails, this team fails. Every time they apply their resources to defense or the running game when we are bottom of the NFL in passing just makes it more likely Allen will struggle. We were at the bottom of the NFL last year in offense and Allen was running for his life. This offense needs a lot of help and a bunch of journeymen signings don’t inspire a lot of confidence that this unit will be much better than a year ago. Weaknesses at OG, TE, RB, WR1 and WR2 remain going into this season. Bills are set at C, T, and WR3.

That is what makes this so excruciating, all of this year’s top receivers were there for the taking AFTER we took Cody Ford. This was the perfect opportunity to trade up from Round 3 and likely get the best receiver in the class. I bet 4-5 receivers from Round 2 this year pan out in the way the Bills needed. Then they all got drafted before our 3rd round pick. It was obvious they weren’t going to make it to the 3rd round.

Juju, Cooper Kupp, Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Robert Woods are all top flight NFL receivers that were drafted recently in Round 2.

John Brown’s 43% catch percentage puts him as almost the worst in the league, Robert Foster is marginally better at 60%. Michael Thomas topped the league at 85% for reference. As I’ve said, we need someone who can finish. Our receivers couldn’t finish deep last year and that will remain an issue this year despite the optics of signing a fast guy in John Brown.

Mark my words AJ Brown will be at least as good as Jarvis Landry. Because he has failed to produce year after year. He is now on his third team for a reason.

My emphasis is on guys that can finish the play. Running fast doesn’t mean they make the play.

There was easily 1000+ yards of offense left on the field last year because we didn’t have guys that could reliably track and catch his deep passes.

That juxtaposition was intentional. Despite their differences in physical stature, they both possess the bonafide deep threat skills that our WRs don’t have. Think about it from this angle: if Allen can make an UDFA in Robert Foster look good, what do you think he could do with an actual top receiver prospect?

That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying they should have traded back into the 2nd and drafted a receiver that will maximize Allen’s talent. Brown, Metcalf, Isabella all could have done that. Foster is unreliable deep. He loses sight of the balls in the air, doesn’t have the extra gear to get his hands on the slight overthrows and bobbles every other deep pass.

Being a reliable deep threat is far more than just being fast. It does no good if you can’t track the ball, use that extra gear to accelerate on slight overthrows, and haul in the catch. Their current crew are “deep threats” in the vein that TJ Graham was a “deep threat”. I wasn’t hung up on drafting Metcalf, but look at the way he could track down deep passes that were seemingly overthrown.

I created the topic and for the typical team I would agree with you. The difference is that we have Josh Allen. He can literally make any throw on the field from anywhere within ~85 yards. He has more potential as a passer than even Patrick Mahomes. On many teams the QBs don’t have the arms to take advantage of having #1 guys. Allen would maximize a big play receivers’ potential and said receiver would help maximize Josh’s potential. #1 receiver aside, we don’t even have a reliable deep threat like Andy Isabella to take advantage of Allen’s big arm.

Beasley is not the gritty downfield threat that Edelman is. I’m not hating on Beasley, but he seems to basically just be used on 5-10 yard routes. He’s very, very good at those, but I don’t think that will allow Allen to start nearing 5000 yards passing like he is truly capable of. They fill 3 by drafting in place on the first 2 and using the second 2 to move up. That is as good as you can realistically hope for in a draft. The Bills did fine with the first 2, but they botched the 3rd.

Patriots have some all time greats in Gronk and Edelman with great options for what they do behind them. Not sure where the HoF options are on the Bills group.

It will be come playoff time. I have so much confidence in Allen. I already firmly believe they will make the playoffs this season, but this receiver corps will be exposed in the playoffs. I honestly feel that AJ Brown is potentially the difference between playoff divisional loss and Super Bowl.

I hope you’re right! Okay Cheryl Miller

I’m fine with the value they got with their first 2 picks, but they desperately needed a receiver and they were basically all available and bled out between their 2nd and 3rd pick. He would have gotten us out of trainwreck territory. So we go from trying to trade for Antonio Brown to saying our WR situation isn’t a trainwreck?

The guys they have now are all roughly #3 receivers, not even #2 guys. It was a disaster last year and it will be a disaster this year. Allen is going to have to run the ball himself again to move downfield.

He is 29 and has only caught > 50 passes once.

It is the train wreck everyone sees coming. So many of the top receivers were there for the taking with a trade up into the 2nd. Is Cole Beasly our top receiver? We have nobody that can consistently win on the outside. We don’t have guys that align with Allen’s skillset. The Titans now have Corey Davis AND AJ Brown. Allen would kill it with those guys. Buffalo definitely could have made some trade to get Brown. Instead, I don’t know if their 3rd round picks make the team in 2 years. I understand that you can’t fix a broken offense like ours was in one offseason, but I feel like they are setting up Allen to struggle... again! Allen needs someone that can track and catch his deep throws, otherwise teams will cheat towards the LoS again. It’s just frustrating knowing Allen has no shot of realizing his full potential this year.

Cardinals have to be picking DK

AJ Brown, I think he’ll prove to be the best receiver in the draft

Very interesting!