JohnNord

We’ll see… as much as I love Josh, I’m not putting Allen in that tier yet. I think the way Beane handled the WR did a tremendous disservice to Josh as QB and can almost guarantee that next year we’ll be talking about trading up to draft WR’s….again.

It helps having one of the best QB’s, TE’s, and offensive play callers of all time. It’s an exception to the rule. Lack of WR talent is going to hurt the team.

To do this, he set the team up for mediocrity. Look at the WR room

Correct but they also had one of the greatest QB’s of all-time. There’s been two QB’s that have been able to succeed with subpar WR options. One is Brady, the other is Mahomes. Both of those two also had elite TE’s for the majority of their career. Josh has a way to go before he’s on that level. He should have been given better weapons

You can definitely some similarities in terms of roster building with both franchises. I do feel that Beane and McDermott undervalue WR’s and it’s the one position that has been mismanaged. They lost a number of established vets over the past three seasons and rather than re-loading, they simply doubled down on players they had on the roster (McKenzie, Davis etc) which backfired.

I would say that’s a fair range.

How does that make him one of the best QB’s in the league?

This is where I’m at as well. Some fans are delusional believing that Shakir is going to put up 100+ catches for 1,000+ yards to fill the void left by Diggs. What bothers me about the build of this team is that everyone knew they needed to improve at WR after last season. Beane spent and entire press conference talking about it. But then they essentially make the WR room worse than last season. Everyone talked about getting better at WR this past offseason and we’ll be doing it again next offseason.

No he isn’t. He’s a good QB but he’s far one of the best in the NFL and that was on full display last season in the NFCCG

100%. That’s why I’m surprised how tight-lipped the entire Bills production staff are. I’m guessing there’s a team of about 10 or so (maybe more) who have access to the raw footage and know what the true story was on draft day and at the combine. With all this war room/combine footage, it kind of makes you wonder if it sees the light of day years later.

It’s pretty amazing how NFL teams are keep so much information under wraps. Their entire production team has access to the team’s board as well as knowledge of their the draft plans which didn’t happen

Diggs.. not even close

I think from a locker room perspective it’s a net positive. Addition by subtraction. Even though it appears that Diggs lost a little, he was still an above average WR. His numbers were pedestrian down the stretch, but there were also several long throws that he missed with Allen which could have changed that story. Plus having Diggs on the field, helped open things up for receivers in the flat/middle like Cook, Shakir and Kincaid. My problem isn’t necessarily that they moved on from Diggs/Davis - it’s more that the plan to replace them doesn’t look very encouraging on paper

100% The plan to “improve” the WR room has been underwhelming. So much talk about speed at WR at the end of the season press conference - yet all they did was sign Samuel who kind of duplicates the skillset of Shakir in the slot. When Diggs was traded, I could have sworn Beane had a plan. It turns out he really only envisioned a second round draft pick. Keon might turn out to be a great WR but it’s tough to envision him having the season he’ll need for the team to be a contender. That’s why I’m in the group who believe the team is prepared to take a step back this season to take two steps forward in 2025.

The Mahomes/KC comparison is spot on. It was clear last season that both Buffalo and KC needed better weapons at WR. The Divisional playoff loss perfectly demonstrated the lack of talent at the position. But winning a SB, KC still signed Brown and drafted Worthy… clearly a net positive. Whereas Buffalo lost its two starting WR’s signed Samuel and drafted Keon. At best, the most optimistic fan will call this push. In reality, it’s more of a net negative. That’s why I didn’t care for what Beane did at WR this offseason. Seems like the only way this works is if Josh himself elevates his supporting cast even more and why I think Buffalo is looking to 2025.

Jerry Jones loves Texas players and the rumor was that Dallas was looking into Worthy. I’m guessing that KC called Buffalo because they felt there was a chance Dallas (or one of the other remaining teams) were drafting Worthy. We’ll never know who the other 3 teams would have picked. But I can’t see it going either way

Like Stefon Diggs?

Perhaps…The only thing that concerns me is that Beane said no trade is coming at his presser. The available options at WR in FA really aren’t that great either - especially when you consider what type of player the Bills need.

100%. It shocking that Coleman as a 2nd round selection is the HIGHEST drafted WR that Beane has ever selected. This is a major reason why the Bills are at the point they are at now. To his credit, Beane assembled an excellent WR room in 2021 with Diggs, Beasley, Sanders, Davis and Isaiah McKenzie. The problem was that 2/5 of that group were vets on the final seasons of their career. In 2022, when Beasley and Sanders fell off a cliff mid-year and moved on, Beane’s solution was to simply sign an aging Jameson Crowder and hope Isaiah McKenzie and Gabe Davis could take a step major forward. In 2023, Beane pounded the podium that Gabe was playing through injuries. His solution was to double down on Davis, and sign low-end FA’s like Harty and Sherfield. I’ve never been one to defend Diggs. Say what you will but the reason the Bills have a lower-end roster WR is less about Stefon and more about failure to dedicate enough resources to the position

Van Pran-Granger is a lock too. They aren’t going to cut a 5th round pick

Overall I think it was a solid haul. Unfortunately, many of us went into the draft thinking the biggest weakness was at WR. While I’m ok with the selection, I don’t feel like adding Coleman did enough to address the position. My biggest complaint was that they didn’t use the 5th round picks to move up higher to take a WR when there seemed to be several options to choose from.

I don’t see things are bleak as you do. They did try to find players that were leaders but I don’t think it came at the expense of talent. One thing is clear though - they did not want to jeopardize next year’s draft capital in any way. Overall I think this years draft was solid, though I’m a bit confused by how they drafted at WR. It seemed clear that they needed to make a big move to offset the departure of Diggs. Or to draft 2 WR’s at least come away with 2 WR’s. Instead they chose to draft 1. The “team in transition” quote is certainly interesting. It does make it seem like they are bracing for a step back next season.

I don’t think Poyer and Hyde will be that difficult to replace based on their performance last season. Poyer looked to be a step a slower at safety, until they moved him down into the box after the Milano injury. Hyde played smart and was decent but played the entire season without making any big plays that he made in the past. Together, both Hyde and Poyer accounted for just 4 turnovers in 19 games. They had 11 in 2021. I feel they will be missed more from leadership standpoint than they will be in the field. Both Rapp and Edwards are capable of filling in, though I wouldn’t hate if they threw an athletic rookie S into the mix. I’m old enough to remember when the Bills needed a series of miracles to beat the Cowboys, Chiefs, Chargers, and Dolphins

My main takeaway as well. As I said in another post, it reminded me of the CB discussion in 2022 when he tried to talk up Dane Jackson as the solution. Shorter is the only WR on the roster from last season, so it has to be him - unless he was referring to Shakir truly having a big season.

I’agree with most of your takeaways, but I don’t believe Beane as much as you do. Like most GM’s at draft time he doesn’t reveal the teams true strategy. They don’t call it “lying season” for nothing! The way he downplayed the obvious need at WR, sounds almost identical to how he discussed the CB position before the 2022 draft. Also I remember at last year’s press conference he said something about the are pool being talented but that they were probably not drafting a TE. Plus, back in 2022 he said there would be no “big ticket” signings, right before signing the ultimate “big ticket” FA in Von Miller. I do think he was being truthful about not wanting to trade away future first round picks and I think the Thomas trade scenario you posed is the most likely.