D'haquille aka Duke Williams, Bills' newest WR better than any draft prospect

[billsfan_34]

On 2/6/2019 at 4:47 PM, Mark80 said:

All the talent in the world.  Can he keep it together mentally though?  That is his issue.

Can he do it against elite corners/safeties as well? Those corners in the CFL play like , well, little boys!

[Freddie's Dead]

This guy fulfills three important functions.  First, we have a Duke again (YOU'RE THE DUKE, A NUMBAH WAHNNNNN!!), and second, he replenishes the Williams bucket, which, with the retirement of Kyle Williams, we're woefully short on.  Third, with the apostrophe'd first name, we have a potential Key & Peele All-Star.  Dude is a triple-threat, and I haven't even seen him play a down yet.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

I hope he ends up being great. Personally I’ll be surprised if he makes the team but you never know. I think people might want to pump the breaks a little on the guy. Time will tell.

[HOUSE]

On 2/6/2019 at 5:16 PM, Bangarang said:

Drug addictions lead to bad threads and ruined lives. 

[Prickly Pete]

On 2/8/2019 at 5:29 PM, GreggTX said:

Well, we don't have another Williams on the roster. We are Williamsless, so there is that.

 

The "Williams" jokes never get old.

[FeelingOnYouboty]

If we can bang on Robert Foster and Duke Williams in back to back years not to mention the WR we will be drafting this year we might as well extend Beane's contract now

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I'm not really counting on this guy for much of anything - but i'd love it if he came out and earned a spot here.

[CEN-CAL17]

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:00 PM, Mark80 said:

 

Now just imagine adding a straight burner / agility guy like Hollywood Brown in the draft.  That would be a well balanced top 4 going into the season IMO.

I'll take Deebo Samuels all day over Brown. Samuels is like 2 inches taller and 40lbs heavier, thick build upper and lower body, looks strong, he's quick and fast as well (4.4 guy).  His hands measured at like 10.5 inches at the Senior Bowl which is insanely big and it showed, has great hands.  vs. 5'9" 165 lbs.....  Not saying Brown sucks, just saying at that size it will be a first.

[YoloinOhio]

 

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

...typical for the expert "TBD posting optimists" to have already labeled him camp fodder......welcome to Bflo son, the mecca of a pigeon stained "red carpet"......go figure....

[Logic]

On 2/9/2019 at 8:16 AM, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Because they didn't tear it down.

 

How hard is this to understand?

 

They LITERALLY kept all of the older players that we were expecting the next regime to be shopping to replace over the next couple of seasons............and got rid of the players that they had current or pending free agency decisions to make on.

 

It's hard for people to remember this but McD inherited the 7th best scoring offense in the NFL and a very talented defense............this wasn't some old-decrepit group.................it was a talented group and the narrative at the time of Rex' firing was NOT the they were in cap hell........because THEY WEREN'T.    

 

Like Jauron/Levy before them............McDermott and Beane just chose to re-set and extend their own timeline without doing a tear down.

 

My contention is that McD didn't trust his ability to take control of this kind of locker room...................he was a nobody with zero prior experience as a HC at any level.............and the toughest to win over are those in their primes with free agency leverage..........so he cleared the deck of those guys(much to the ? of talent needy contenders).    

 

Whereas guys like Pederson and McVay and Anthony Lynn immediately embraced similar roster profiles and have had prolific starts to their HC careers.......in all cases under probably even more difficult circumstances..........McD wasn't up to it.    

 

He wanted more time.

 

Hopefully it works.   

Your post completely ignores two critical points.

1.) The culture/locker room when McDermott walked through the door was awful. How many articles did we read from that time about how dysfunctional the ENTIRE Bills organization was from top to bottom? How many shouting matches between head coaches and Whaley took place in public view? Whaley built a collection of talent, but he did not build a team. I don't care that Greg Roman smoke and mirrored the Bills offense to 7th place or that they had a nice collection of names written on paper. The actual team, the team itself, in terms of functioning AS A TEAM, was not built for sustained success. There were some nice coats of paint thrown onto what was ultimately a rotting foundation. 

2.) The way that Whaley handed out and structured contracts DID get the Bills into salary cap trouble. The largest cap hits on the team belonged to guys who either underperformed (Dareus), were often injured (Glenn, Clay), or had questionable character (Dareus again). Sammy Watkins was next on the list of guys who were due a second contract. And guess what? He belonged to group 1 (under-performers) AND group 2 (the often injured). Should they have just extended his deal any way? 

It is certainly fair to say that McDermott and Beane CHOSE to tear down and rebuild the Bills. However, it is important to look at WHY they felt the need to do so. The Bills long term salary cap situation was a mess due to bad contracts. The players who WERE getting big paydays were NOT the type of guys you want to be taking up such large portions of your cap. The culture sucked from top to bottom. The Bills, as constructed, were just good enough to sneak into the playoffs every other year, but didn't have the culture, character, or talent to make it further than that. Even WITH the decision to tear down, jettison bad contracts, and rebuild from scratch, McDermott/Beane's Bills made the playoffs in year 1. Yes, they had a down year 2, but it was a year that featured lots of live reps for their franchise QB (who was obtained largely thanks to their shrewd trading away of the Watkinses and Dareuses of the world for draft capital, thank you), as well as live reps for lots of other crucial youngsters. Now, in just year 3, they have one of the best cap situations in the league and a roster full of promising young players. They are building a team to go BEYOND the occasional wild card weekend, and they are building the right way, with an emphasis on culture and the importance of a sustainable model for success.

Kudos to Beane and McDermott, and pshaw to anyone who pretends like they walked into a rosy situation that didn't need A TON of work.

[BADOLBILZ]

1 minute ago, Logic said:

Your post completely ignores two critical points.

1.) The culture/locker room when McDermott walked through the door was awful. How many articles did we read from that time about how dysfunctional the ENTIRE Bills organization was from top to bottom? How many shouting matches between head coaches and Whaley took place in public view? Whaley built a collection of talent, but he did not build a team. I don't care that Greg Roman smoke and mirrored the Bills offense to 7th place or that they had a nice collection of names written on paper. The actual team, the team itself, in terms of functioning AS A TEAM, was not built for sustained success. There were some nice coats of paint thrown onto what was ultimately a rotting foundation. 

2.) The way that Whaley handed out and structured contracts DID get the Bills into salary cap trouble. The largest cap hits on the team belonged to guys who either underperformed (Dareus), were often injured (Glenn, Clay), or had questionable character (Dareus again). Sammy Watkins was next on the list of guys who were due a second contract. And guess what? He belonged to group 1 (under-performers) AND group 2 (the often injured). Should they have just extended his deal any way? 

It is certainly fair to say that McDermott and Beane CHOSE to tear down and rebuild the Bills. However, it is important to look at WHY they felt the need to do so. The Bills long term salary cap situation was a mess due to bad contracts. The players who WERE getting big paydays were NOT the type of guys you want to be taking up such large portions of your cap. The culture sucked from top to bottom. The Bills, as constructed, were just good enough to sneak into the playoffs every other year, but didn't have the culture, character, or talent to make it further than that. Even WITH the decision to tear down, jettison bad contracts, and rebuild from scratch, McDermott/Beane's Bills made the playoffs in year 1. Yes, they had a down year 2, but it was a year that featured lots of live reps for their franchise QB (who was obtained largely thanks to their shrewd trading away of the Watkinses and Dareuses of the world for draft capital, thank you), as well as live reps for lots of other crucial youngsters. Now, in just year 3, they have one of the best cap situations in the league and a roster full of promising young players. They are building a team to go BEYOND the occasional wild card weekend, and they are building the right way, with an emphasis on culture and the importance of a sustainable model for success.

Kudos to Beane and McDermott, and pshaw to anyone who pretends like they walked into a rosy situation that didn't need A TON of work.

 

 

1) I don't remember hearing how the locker room was a mess under Rex.    The defense was upset with Rex scheme but that's it.  As far as public shouting between coach and GM........once between Marrone and Whaley?   The reality is that they were just poorly coached under Rex.   Pegula thought they should have won 10-11 games so when Rex told Terry Pegula he had better things to do a stunned Pegula pulled the trigger.   If Rex hadn't been such an ungrateful prick he might even have kept his job.

 

2) Whaley was a "scout" GM.   Those guys are rarely good with money.   They did get into "scouting" as a profession, after all.  See John Butler.  Butler stacked talent in Buffalo and SD but he wasn't good at the administrative end.   As I've said..........that type of GM wasn't a good mesh with an ownership that was utterly clueless about how to run an NFL team.    They needed more of an office GM rather than the traveling scout type that Whaley is.   Hence the more administrative Beane.   And then surrounding Beane with what they perceived was the best personnel staff they could buy because they don't expect him to have the eye of a dedicated scout.     As such he's pretty vulnerable if his scouting staffs do a poor job.......like the pro personnel team last offseason.........but also gets accolades if they do well.......like the amateur scouts did(IMO) in the last draft/UDFA. 

[MJS]

I disagree. He looks very slow to me. I highly doubt he will even make the team.

[Logic]

2 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

1) I don't remember hearing how the locker room was a mess under Rex.    The defense was upset with Rex scheme but that's it.  As far as public shouting between coach and GM........once between Marrone and Whaley?   The reality is that they were just poorly coached under Rex.   Pegula thought they should have won 10-11 games so when Rex told Terry Pegula he had better things to do a stunned Pegula pulled the trigger.   If Rex hadn't been such an ungrateful prick he might even have kept his job.

 

2) Whaley was a "scout" GM.   Those guys are rarely good with money.   They did get into "scouting" as a profession, after all.  See John Butler.  Butler stacked talent in Buffalo and SD but he wasn't good at the administrative end.   As I've said..........that type of GM wasn't a good mesh with an ownership that was utterly clueless about how to run an NFL team.    They needed more of an office GM rather than the traveling scout type that Whaley is.   Hence the more administrative Beane.   And then surrounding Beane with what they perceived was the best personnel staff they could buy because they don't expect him to have the eye of a dedicated scout.     As such he's pretty vulnerable if his scouting staffs do a poor job.......like the pro personnel team last offseason.........but also gets accolades if they do well.......like the amateur scouts did(IMO) in the last draft/UDFA. 

That's all inference on your part. And I'd be willing to bet that Beane has spent just as much time on the road as Whaley ever did. Go find me a recent interview or article with Beane where he's not either on the road, just back from the road, or just about to set out on the road. 

[Lurker]

1 minute ago, Logic said:

That's all inference on your part. 

 

Or an assumption.    And you know what those are like... 

[Shaw66]

3 minutes ago, MJS said:

I disagree. He looks very slow to me. I highly doubt he will even make the team.

I think he has seriously good ability to go get the ball.  His hands catches, albeit in a highlight real, are excellent if not outstanding.  

 

There's been a lot discussion about Zay Jones.   Duke looks like a serious threat to take Jones's job, because he looks so sure-handed.  This guy goes and gets the ball in a crowd, he doesn't seem to get outfought for the ball, he doesn't bobble it.  

[DtownB2]

2 minutes ago, Logic said:

That's all inference on your part. And I'd be willing to bet that Beane has spent just as much time on the road as Whaley ever did. Go find me a recent interview or article with Beane where he's not either on the road, just back from the road, or just about to set out on the road. 

 

Fairburn did an article last year in the Athletic of a weekend in the life of Beane going to 2/3 college games in one weekend and making it back to Buffalo for the Bills game, he definitely does his fair share of scouting & road work. As for culture, you have to be blind if you don't see a change in the culture and resulting play from the Bills.. I don't see any players being suspended for substance abuse (Dareus) and seems like everyone is on the same page about competing every day to reach the team long term goals. We knew one of these years with a new regime was going to be a down year to cut the crap from the roster/ get hopeful franchise/long term QB and it happened to be the year after the playoffs. Happy where this team is headed and can't wait for an exciting draft with a GM who goes after players he wants!

[1st&ten]

 

I like the signing & hopes he pans out. Of course the level of play is much better in the NFL compared to the CFL. Reports say he doesn't have great speed but I like how he fights for the ball & catches the ball in traffic Seems to have great hands. Can't wait to see how he looks in preseason.

[BADOLBILZ]

12 minutes ago, Logic said:

That's all inference on your part. And I'd be willing to bet that Beane has spent just as much time on the road as Whaley ever did. Go find me a recent interview or article with Beane where he's not either on the road, just back from the road, or just about to set out on the road. 

 

Apples and oranges.

 

Whaley was LITERALLY a scout for a decade in Pittsburgh before coming to Buffalo.

 

Beane started out in the office in PR for the Panthers and when he moved to personnel much of his work was administrative.........like organizing where scouts would be going etc...

 

Being good in the office is how you usually get ahead in the office............not by being a road scout...........Whaley got the gig in Buffalo because the guy hiring him,  Buddy Nix,  was the quintessential career scout.

 

You want to perceive that as a knock on Beane but it's not.

 

 He's just a different type of GM.  

 

From the PR perspective in particular.........he communicates infinitely better than Whaley and that is critical because The Pegs are awful at it.     The way they botched the public handling of the Rex firing was somehow a new low in that regard for the organization.    But then Ralph didn't mind being the bad guy or giving bad news or giving snark back to the media..............The Pegs aren't fond of the negative light and simply aren't good at negotiating thru tough questions.   Beane is.   No sweat off his back.

 

[HOUSE]