Search the Community

I've said this in other posts. But this concept of "there's no way we can sneak him on the Practice Squad" makes me laugh. There are UDFA RB's across the league who have looked good late in Pre-Season games while playing against other UDFA's/Late Rounders/Practice Squad/Future Cut Players. No team that felt he wasn't worth Drafting in 7 Rounds is going to look at what he did in the 3rd and 4th Quarters of Pre-Season games after Singletary, Cook, Moss, and Johnson got their carries on another team and say "I must sign this man to my 53 man roster!" Every season, fans fall in love with a fringe roster player and work themselves up into thinking we can't sneak them on the Practice Squad. Seldom if ever are they given roster spots on other teams. It's been talked about all offseason that "difficult decisions" will have to be made given the strength of our roster. This isn't even one of them. Gone are the years of a UDFA impressing late in games and earning a spot because the open spots don't really exist on this team anymore. Every year since McDermott has been here, he's kept 3 True RB's (Singletary, Cook, and Moss), a core Special Teams RB (Jones, who isn't going anywhere no matter how hard certain fans want it), and a FB (Gilliam). Of those 3 True RB's, McDermott only dresses 2 on Game Day and the 3rd (whether it was Matt Breida or T.J. Yeldon before him) only dresses if there's an injury or poor play from one of the normal 2. So there's no way they're going to carry more than 3 when the 3rd doesn't even play. Long story short, he's earned the right to replace Antonio Williams on our Practice Squad. In the EXTREMELY unlikely chance that Blackshear was scooped up, they'd probably be thrilled for him getting a better opportunity elsewhere than he would here. They'd look to bring back Duke (who's above Blackshear on the depth chart, has looked just as good, if not better, scoring 2 TD's last week and showing Return ability) or sign another RB to the Practice Squad and not lose any sleep.

These are HOFer Bill Polian's picks as Bills GM. Every GM has his share of misses. Note the misses in bold among the 1st 5 picks. Buffalo Bills - 1992 Draft Results Round Overall Player Position School 1 27 John Fina T Arizona 2 55 James Patton NT Texas 3 83 Keith Goganious LB Penn State 4 111 Frank Kmet -- Purdue 5 139 Matt Darby DB UCLA 6 167 Nate Turner TE Nebraska 7 195 Kurt Schulz DB Eastern Washington 8 223 Leonard Humprhries CB Penn State 9 251 Chris Walsh WR Stanford 10 279 Barry Rose WR Wisconsin - Stevens Point 11 307 Vince Marrow TE Toledo 12 355 Matt Rodgers -- Iowa Buffalo Bills - 1991 Draft Results Round Overall Player Position School 1 26 Henry Jones DB Illinois 2 54 Phil Hansen DE North Dakota State 3 82 Darryl Wren DB Pittsburg State 5 138 Shawn Wilbourn -- Long Beach State 6 166 Millard Hamilton WR Clark Atlanta 7 194 Amir Rasul -- Florida A&M 8 222 Brad Lamb WR Anderson (IN) 9 249 Mark Maddox LB Northern Michigan 10 277 Tony DeLorenzo -- New Mexico State 11 305 Dean Kirkland -- Washington 12 333 Stephen Clark -- Texas Buffalo Bills - 1990 Draft Results Round Overall Player Position School 1 16 James Williams DB Fresno State 2 42 Carwell Gardner FB Louisville 3 69 Glenn Parker T Arizona 4 100 Eddie Fuller RB LSU 6 154 John Nies P Arizona 7 166 Brent Griffith G Minnesota-Duluth 7 170 Brent Collins -- Carson-Newman 7 181 Fred DeRiggi NT Syracuse 8 208 Marvcus Patton LB UCLA 9 238 Clarkston Hines -- Duke 10 265 Mike Lodish DT UCLA 11 292 Al Edwards WR Northwestern State - Louisiana Buffalo Bills - 1989 Draft Results Round Overall Player Position School 3 82 Don Beebe WR Chadron State 4 109 John Kolesar -- Michigan 5 137 Michael Andrews -- Alcorn State 6 164 Sean Doctor -- Marshall 7 173 Brian Jordan DB Richmond 7 193 Chris Hale DB USC 9 249 Pat Rabold -- Wyoming 10 276 Carlo Cheattom -- Auburn 11 305 Richard Harvey LB Tulane 12 332 Derrell Marshall -- USC Brett Young -- Oregon Buffalo Bills - 1988 Draft Results Round Overall Player Position School 2 40 Thurman Thomas RB Oklahoma State 3 65 Bernard Ford WR Central Florida 5 123 Zeke Gadson -- Pittsburgh 5 135 Kirk Roach -- Western Carolina 6 150 Dan Murray LB East Stroudsburg 7 177 Tim Borcky -- Memphis 7 184 Bo Wright -- Alabama 8 204 John Hagy DB Texas 8 213 Jeff Wright NT Central Missouri State 9 235 Carlton Bailey LB North Carolina 10 262 Martin Mayhew DB Florida State 11 289 Pete Curkendall -- Penn State 12 309 John Driscoll -- New Hampshire 12 316 Tom Erlandson Jr. LB Washington Buffalo Bills - 1987 Draft Results Round Overall Player Position School 1 8 Shane Conlan LB Penn State 2 29 Nate Odomes DB Wisconsin 2 33 Roland Mitchell DB Texas Tech 3 60 David Brandon LB Memphis 3 78 Jamie Mueller RB Benedictine 4 109 Leon Seals DE Jackson State 7 171 Kerry Porter RB Washington State 8 209 Bruce Mesner NT Maryland 9 227 Keith McKeller TE Jacksonville State 11 283 Howard Ballard T Alabama A&M 12 311 Joe McGrail NT Delaware Buffalo Bills - 1986 Draft Results Round Overall Player Position School 1 16 Ronnie Harmon RB Iowa 1 20 Will Wolford T Vanderbilt 3 77 Leonard Burton C South Carolina 5 111 Carl Byrum RB Mississippi Valley State 7 168 Bob Williams -- Penn State 7 178 Mark Pike DE Georgia Tech 7 180 Butch Rolle TE Michigan State 8 202 Tony Furjanic LB Notre Dame 9 222 Reggie Bynum WR Oregon State 10 251 Guy Teafatiller DT Illinois 11 278 Tony Garbarczyk DE Wake Forest 11 282 Billy Witt DE North Alabama 12 313 Brian McClure QB Bowling Green State 12 331 Derek Christian -- West Virginia

Much ado about NOTHING. The CFL should thank their lucky stars to have Duke Williams bring the fans a bit of joy and laughter. How dare he? @-@ geesh wacka wacka wacka lol

Duke Johnson rb, on team atm nit Duke Williams wr, who went back to the CFL after not being re signed to the Bills. Different players with same first name.

Is Tommy Sweeney this year's Duke Williams? I don't understand the obsession?

That's Duke Williams.

Anyone got the flow chart available of the preseason hype player we can't let go because they are going to be something? I thought it went something like this for the last decade: Jeff Tuel -> Bryce Brown -> Chris Hogan -> Brandon Reilly -> Christian Wade -> Duke Williams -> Blackshear?

Underdog stories, especially RBs and WRs, seem to be a tradition unlike any other for Bills fans, and probably fans of most other teams. This year is no different. In the tradition of Da'Rick Rogers, Naaman Roosevelt, Brandon Reilly, Dez Lewis, Joique Bell, Cierre Wood, Christian Wade, Antonio Williams and of course Duke Williams, this year we have Raheem Blackshear. Raheem Blackshear is a nice story. UDFA, comes in and does well in the first two preseason games, doing a lot to at least make it a tough decision on cutdown day for the Bills. But this is a story we see almost every year. Let's look at this objectively in terms of making the roster and what he could potentially provide to the team: In terms of running ability: He is not a more accomplished runner than Devin Singletary He is not a more powerful or effective short yardage runner than Zack Moss He is not faster or a better pass catching back than James Cook In terms of special teams: He is not better than Taiwan Jones He is at best in the mix in terms of kick returner but one cannot make a case that he is by far the best return man If all of that is accurate, then he is perfect for the practice squad. Remember, every team in the NFL passed on him for all 7 rounds. Sure, there are UDFAs that make it, but a good showing in preseason games vs. 2nd, 3rd and 4th stringers will not change the minds of many (any?) NFL GMs. Go to the ESPN Scores page and scroll through and see who led each game in rushing. There were a lot of Blackshear-esque performances by guys you never heard of. Blackshear is a nice story, but I expect him to be on the practice squad.

Not sure about him but Duke Williams was busy getting fined in Canada.

Looking at the Bills roster I'd classify their core aces as : T Jones, J Kumerow, T Matakevich, S Neal, & R Gilliam with Matakevich and Jones the front runners. Next level after those 5 are players like T Dodson, J Johnson, D Hamlin for starters. I do think some core specialists are needed for ST on the roster, don't take getting rid of most lightly. But also think while Matakevich and Jones are the leaders, Kumerow, Neal, and Gilliam have graduated to the point they are ready to have the baton passed to them. Keeping Matakevich and Jones just means you're delaying the inevitable another season, at some point they will be gone and some new inexperienced guys will take their place on ST. But there are enough fairly experienced players left as I named above that their absence may not be missed too much. They are not keeping 5 RB's so if Jones stays Blackshear is cut. Has Blackshear played any ST this training camp? I don't think it's a slam dunk he gets picked up by another team, though he very well may. Posters said the same thing in past years about Duke Williams and another player, (can't recall the name) and they went no where so I'm not close to 100% certain he's gone. Similarly with Matakevich, if he stays Spector goes, though do think he has a better chance at sticking on PS. So do they rip the band aid off and let Matakevich and/or Jones go this year? Really think the time may have come to move on from at least one of them. Also save a fair amount of money by letting one or both of them go. The risk in letting them go is ST play costs us a game, but no guarantee same wouldn't happen if they were here. Keeping them really makes it more of a super Bowl or bust year as potentially you're losing potential first subs in for the 2023 season and basically in the same place as you are now. So many unlucky breaks can happen in one season and this team is built for a more sustained run so don't think putting all your eggs in one basket is the right approach. If you're Tampa with Tom Brady, it's a different story. They have a kicker who can easily reach the end zone on almost all of his kickoffs (as long as the instructions get through to him) and a punter that can boom some long ones. Think I read the Bills punted the 2nd lowest times lat year. As good as their offense is getting 1 to 2 first downs per drive Araiza could easily punt for a touchback. While not ideal as strong as their defense also is, not the worst thing. Not suggesting they should do this all season, but maybe the first few games to play it safe until some of the new guys get well familiar with their ST roles. On returns the worst thing is players taking holding penalties, maybe again early in the season take a knee on kick offs and fair catches on punts. Again with strong offense not terrible starting from the 25, how often even last year did they start in better field position and how often was a run called back for a penalty. Think I've kind of changed my thinking on the ST roster make up. A month ago would have more favored keeping Matakevich and Jones, now think at least one needs to be let go and wouldn't be all that upset if it's both. Time for a changing of the guard so as to keep more of the rookies.

If you go back a couple years you'll likely find other posts that stated the same identical thing except it either had the name Duke Williams or Christian Wade in it instead. Having said that I do tend to agree he could be grabbed, but almost every year there are threads here stating the same about some player, but most often they do make it the PS untouched by other teams. Wouldn't be shocked either if you watch the 3rd and 4th quarter of other teams games you'll find similar performances.

You might be mixing up two different Duke Williams....

Dude, get your Dukes straight. The Duke Williams we drafted in the 2013 4th round was a DB, a safety, and he played for us 4 years, which is OK for a Day 3 pick. What's the point of going back 10 years? Different Sheriff in charge of the town. So we can say that in the last 4 years (Beane), he hit it solidly on 2 picks (Davis and Johnson) and traded the pick 2 times. It's clearly been a valuable pick for us. That said, if Beane and McDermott saw Elam >> Booth (or anyone else left on their board) I'm not gonna quarrel with their assessment. DB is one position where they seem to know their stuff.

Wrong Duke Williams. This one was a bad safety who is easily forgotten. Taron has been better than useful. But yea, it's him and Gabe excellent picks, Cockrell a decent 4th rounder than then two busts.

Different Duke Williams LMAO

In the last 10 years the Bills have taken 5 players in the fourth round. Often, we have traded this pick in the past. Gabriel Davis looks like a stud Taron Johnson has been useful Cardale Jones??? Ross Cockrell has a career bouncing around the league….meh. DUKE WILLIAMS STONE COLD HALL OF FAME LOCK…. According to the accolades he garners from some on here. Apparently, half the posters on here know MORE than Beane and our future has just been destroyed by him working his intel and trading this years 4th. Me, I’m going to trust him and our scouting department. Crazy talk I’m sure.

DaNorris Searcy Chris Hairston Ron Brooks Nigel Bradham Duke Williams Ross Cockrell Cardale Jones Taron Johnson Gabe Davis who are these guys? They are all of the Bills 4th round picks in the last 10 yrs Was trading a 4th rounder to get “your guy” in the 1st round really a desperate move? Time will tell. If Elam is a quality player, a 4-5 yr starter or better, it’s a good move.

4 reasons this was a bad signing 1) He is a locker room cancer 2) We already had John Brown and Duke Williams 3) Only twice broke 1000 receiving yards and once barely before coming to the Bills 4) We were "this" close to getting a superstar WR in Antonio Brown Oh well I guess we are stuck with him

!! The legend grows! Bates is approaching Duke Williams level myth-making!

Duke Preston Duke Williams S Duke Williams WR Maybe the 4th Duke is the charm.

dang... I read it wrong --I thought we signed Duke Williams!!!😁

I was hoping for Duke Williams dammit

LOL on Duke Williams As far as Kumerow - he may run the right routes and be where he's supposed to be, but when he's seen playing time I see no evidence he can separate and get open against NFL level DBs ? did injuries derail Hodgkins this past off - season? I thought he just got cut and put onto practice squad, no injuries.

Well i think we all can agree that if Beane really wanted to address the position, he'd simply bring back Duke Williams. But he hasn't so idk what that says about him. We'll see an elevated role from McKenzie but also Kumerow, lets not forget him. Howard & Knox will soak up some targets. Hopefully we can draft a burner wr who can step into a role on offense right away, ala Tyreek. Some underneath/high percentage plays that a rookie can learn quick but that go for YAC. I'm not too concerned though. Beane will figure out something. Plus with Josh Allen, he makes everyone around him better. Robert Foster cough... he can do a lot with a little