Am I the only one who has confidence in our WR's?

[TigerJ]

In the NFL at any given position you can have proven producers.  They may be stars who have already been proven to be elite, or they might be role players who have shown they can be relied upon to produce.  Also, in the NFL, you have scrubs, players you know are not going to play a major role, but you need to have some on your team because A. there are not enough good to great players to go around, and, B. teams have a limited salary cap to work with, and they can't afford to field a team filled top to bottom with good to great players.  Then in the NFL, you have players whose ultimate ceiling you can't know yet, either because they're rookies who have done nothing in the league because they haven't been there, or because something has prevented them from proving their eventual ceiling, or even giving much of a clue.  The Bills seem  to haf a relative lack of proven good to great players at the wide receiver position, and a surplus of players whose eventual ceiling is unknown.  You've got Kelvin Benjamin whom most agree can be a good possession receiver because of his size and catch radius, but he's never going to be a star.  You've got Jeremy Kerley, who has proven he can be a productive slot receiver, but lacks the measurables for greatness. 

 

After that you've got Zay Jones, who might have a pretty high ceiling based on his college production and family pedegree, but his rookie season was essentially destroyed by injury issues and his own nerves.  He might be pretty good.  You've got Brandon Reilly, who while he only came into the league as a UDFA, looks like he could be the latest version of Chris Hogan only better.  We just don't know because he hasn't had the opportunity.  You've got Rod Streater, who has a real nice combo of size and speed, and has produced some in the NFL.  Unfortunately, injury last season prevented the Bills from being able to see what he could do for the Bills.  You've got a potential gadget WR in McCloud, and a potential young slot receiver in Proehl who has enough speed to break some big plays, and you've got a UDFA in Robert Foster who has true deep speed to go with good size, but for various reasons never got the opportunity to reach his college potential.  McCloud probably won't get many plays on the offense and ends up being the primary punt returner.

 

That is a big group of players with a high degree of uncertainty.  Not all will even make the team because there are not enough roster spots to go around.  The ones that do stick - some won't get enough playing time to do much of anything.  Austin Proehl probably won't get to see the field much, if he makes the team, because even though he has a higher ceiling than Jeremy Kerley, Kerley will be ahead of him on the depth chart because of experience and prior production at the NFL level.   Does Streater make the team and bump Andre Holmes?  Can Reilly make us forget "7-11" ? 

 

The point is, there is so much that is unknown about this receiving corps that there is room for both pessimism and optimism.  Do we have more pleasant surprises, or more disappointments,  Who really knows?

Edited May 17, 2018 by TigerJ
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[simpleman]

You call it confidence, I call it Fanfidence. An Oline and a WR core that only a mother or a fan could love.

[hondo in seattle]

Each one of our WRs has something to like.  But there's nothing in their histories that says they can stay healthy and/or produce at the NFL level.  

 

Hopefully they'll all surprise and have breakout/career years but there's no compelling reason to believe this will happen.

[Sky Diver]

Well, at least Allen is accustomed to playing with a terrible offensive line and terrible receivers.

 

It would be nice if Foster is a diamond in the rough, but we can't count on it. He certainly has the ability, whether Daboll can turn it into production is another matter.

[MJS]

I think they'll be fine, but there is no doubt that WR is one of our weakest positions. Definitely needs a boost. But you can't fix everything instantly.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

......they were usually INACTIVE every Sunday, so who knows what we have??..............

[Formerly Allan in MD]

It's a mediocre group until proven otherwise.  However, I'm more concerned with the quality of our OL than anything else.

[oldmanfan]

They're not as good as you'd like, they're not as bad as you think.

 

 

[The Now Moment]

I like how fans talk about the offense as if they know how it will produce in a new scheme, with new coaches, a new QB and a reshaped roster.  We don't know what will happen.  Heard the same grumbling last year about our safety position with Hyde and Poyer...surprise! It became one of the strongest units in the league.

[Freddie's Dead]

Short answer, yes.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, Mrbojanglezs said:

Zay Jones better make a big jump. 

 

His brother will hold him back

[Buffalo_Stampede]

The WR's have some talent. Benjamin can be a #1. Still young. Zay Jones entering his 2nd year. Kerley is a decent slot WR. Clay is a top 15 TE. McCoy one of the best receiving RB. 

 

So there is potential but a lot has to go right. 

[JohnBonhamRocks]

IF there is competent QB and OL play, then an NFL offense can most definitely produce with McCoy, Cadet, Clay, O'Leary, Benjamin, Jones, Kerley, and Holmes, among others, regularly catching passes. 

 

I am actually optimistic to see how Daboll and his NE* background go about utilizing the Proehl and McCloud waterbug slot types. Pick plays, anyone?

 

(As an aside, I just imagined a 3 & 8 conversion where Allen hits one of those smaller guys with a bullet at about 6 yards deep into the route and the ball velocity drives them past the 1st down marker. I can dream.) 

[mrags]

2 hours ago, WideRightRevenge said:

Got to say .. getting tired of all the WR negativity ... who doesn't think the QB last year had any influence on this.  We had a ton of WR injuries last year, I have confidence in Benjamin in a contract year and think Zay Jones will show up this year and Kerley in the slot and Ray Ray and flyer of Foster UDFA from Alabama (not to mention Holmes & Streater - healthy)... I'll take that along with passers this year that can look beyond the first progression (hopefully) throw to windows with anticipation and actually make throws beyond 10 yards in greater frequency.  3 Years of declining QBR and yards per attempt doesn't help your WR's look good.

 

 

The bills top receivers were Clay and McCoy (dump off receptions) ... their targets ranked 73rd and 75th in the league .. really

http://www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/receiving/sort/receivingTargets/qualified/false/count/41

 

The Bills had 20 dropped passes last year .. 5 by Clay / 4 by McCoy .. so all the comments on stone hands Zay (and trust me I was disappointed in her performance last year) but there are plenty of videos out there of wide open.  Personally, I'm more concerned about OL .. but majority of what I see is blah blah blah on our WR's.

 

In looking at some rosters .. I'll take our guys versus what some teams have for sure in 2018.

 

 

I agree OP. The people that think this WR Corp will be the worst in the league are most likely the same idiots that thought Tyrod was a good QB. 

[SDubills]

Zay Jones will need to step up. And someone will need to throw to a wide open receiver. 

 

I was at the several games last year. The Oakland game stuck out to me because I was in perfect seats to see what tyrod was seeing on multiple downs. He wasn't throwing to WIDE OPEN receivers. Like no one within 15yrds of them. 

 

I gave up on him after that game. Even though we blew them out.

[SouthNYfan]

3 hours ago, Blokestradamus said:

I carry major reservations about the WR group but not because I think they lack talent, per se. I'm a big believer in 'types', especially at WR. I prefer certain attributes for certain roles. When I look at the Bills, I just see guys that are likely going to be one place higher in the pecking order than I think suits them.

 

The lack of a true #1 WR is the difference between a solid group and a mediocre one in my eyes. There's no transformative talent among them; all have niche roles in an NFL offense but nobody owns such a versatile skill set that he's able to unquestionably carry the burden of the lion's share of the targets.

 

It's a matter of perspective.

 

Agreed.

Look at peerles price for example.

Moulds was a clear #1 receiver.

Price was a very very good #2, who excelled opposite moulds, but wasn't able to carry the #1 role on his own in Atlanta.

Very similar to Benjamin.

He would be a very very good #2 on a team like, say, Atlanta, opposite Jones, or Cincinnati opposite Green. On his own as the #1 in Buffalo, he isn't as impactful, since he is getting the heaviest coverage, without another guy to pull the load off him.

[Luxy312]

The Bills were dead last in the NFL last year with passes and yards thrown to receivers.  We're talking 96 YPG.  I honestly don't care who the receivers were or are this year.  When your QB play is THAT terrible, there's really no way to assess what what the Bills have or don't have.  With that said, there are 13 WR's and 6 TE's on the roster right now.  Those kind of numbers tell me that coaches are looking to see who might have chemistry with whomever is under center.  I'm in wait and see mode.

[SoCal Deek]

6 minutes ago, Luxy312 said:

The Bills were dead last in the NFL last year with passes and yards thrown to receivers.  We're talking 96 YPG.  I honestly don't care who the receivers were or are this year.  When your QB play is THAT terrible, there's really no way to assess what what the Bills have or don't have.  With that said, there are 13 WR's and 6 TE's on the roster right now.  Those kind of numbers tell me that coaches are looking to see who might have chemistry with whomever is under center.  I'm in wait and see mode.

Completely agree!  I'd bet if they let Shady throw the ball, he'll come up with more than 96 YPG.

[Wsam4031]

yes you are. worst wr core in the nfl. Hate to be a downer but that our biggest weakness by far

[Logic]

It's funny. In my opinion, the Bills are only a #1 receiver away from having a good receiving corps. If next year they are able to draft or sign an explosive, athletic, #1 caliber receiver, it will have the following effect:

Kelvin Benjamin slides to the more fitting #2 role.

Zay Jones moves to the slot, where everyone knows he should be to begin with.

That's a (theoretically) good starting trio right there. Explosive #1 guy, size guy at #2, and Jones working from the slot. Then you have depth guys like McCloud or Proehl or Reilly or whomever.

That being said, since a bona fide #1 receiver isn't walking through the doors of One Bills Drive any time soon, I do have some degree of confidence in the "WR by committee" approach for a year, especially in the Erhardt-Perkins offense. I think Benjamin, Jones, Kerley, Holmes, and some combination of the youngsters can hold things down for a year. You have to remember that LeSean McCoy and Charles Clay will likely be among the top three pass catchers on the team this year any way. Going forward, though, it's clear that the entire offense -- receivers, O-line, running backs, tight ends -- needs to be heavily addressed next offseason. I have faith that it will happen.