HappyDays Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said: That's all great but still a stretch at 3rd. Sweeney is same size and is working well right now. No connection to rebuild. It's way too early to decide if they paid too much for him. About 1-2 years too early. Sweeney has no special traits. He is certainly dependable and has good hands which is exactly what you want from a 2nd TE. I would love for him to back up Knox for a long long time. Knox has the athletic profile to become a TE that the offense runs through (think Kelce or Gronkowski). Long way to go obviously but they're going to develop him for a couple years. He is also much better as a run blocker than Sweeney. Edited August 18, 2019 by HappyDays
Augie Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 1 hour ago, {::'KayCeeS::} said: Did you notice Sweeney last game? When he caught the second pass and he hit the ground and the ball popped out and he got it back? He was PISSED that it wasn't a totally clean catch. That's the best sign I can think of, as far as 7th round rooks go. I think that was a clean catch, and he was down by contact. But I agree, he didn’t like that ball coming out and the possibility that it could result in a bad call. I really liked his concentration while on the ground.
LeGOATski Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 3 hours ago, whorlnut said: ...will be studs. I really believe that by drafting two TEs and having Sweeney show something while Knox is out will pay huge dividends. These guys will push each other because they know that the other guy is breathing down their neck if they have a few bad plays. I’m really excited about the position for the first time in a VERY long time. Sure, okay.... But, what's a whorlnut?
{::'KayCeeS::} Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 Just now, Augie said: I think that was a clean catch, and he was down by contact. But I agree, he didn’t like that ball coming out and the possibility that it could result in a bad call. I really liked his concentration while on the ground. Yes, it seems like a small thing, but that's the kind of small thing that differentiates a winner, imho.
Trogdor Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Johnny Hammersticks said: Having Sweeney and Knox makes the Duke Williams vs McKenzie/McCloud decision easier, IMO. We do have big guys other than Duke who can make contested catches in the red zone. If there wasn’t rampant speculation and unrealistic expectations to discuss, what the hell would we do around here in the offseason? I don't think you get rid of Duke either way. He has a history of making those catches at a professional level. Ray Ray hasn't looked good to me.
CEN-CAL17 Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 Bills will keep 3 to start the season. Knox, Smith, Sweeney Kroft on IR til week 6, will miss 5 games. Bills will keep all 4 after then. Bills will keep 7 WRs, Brown, Beasley, Zay, Foster, McKenzie, Ray-Ray/Duke, Roberts. after week 6 they may let 1 WR go. Bills have ran a lot of spread empty backfields. 3-4 of those WRs are playing STs.... 2
Mr. WEO Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 6 minutes ago, HappyDays said: It's way too early to decide if they paid too much for him. About 1-2 years too early. Sweeney has no special traits. He is certainly dependable and has good hands which is exactly what you want from a 2nd TE. I would love for him to back up Knox for a long long time. Knox has the athletic profile to become a TE that the offense runs through (think Kelce or Gronkowski). Long way to go obviously but they're going to develop him for a couple years. He is also much more prolific as a run blocker than Sweeney. He was a prolific run blocker in college? Ol Miss was 72nd in rushing last season (yards per game), 11th of 14 in the SEC. Gronk had 75 catches and 16 TDs in 2 years in college. Kelce had 45 catches and 8 TDs his last year in college. Knox has 39 career college receptions, zero TDs. That doesn't make me think of Gronk/Kelce. At this point why would you love Sweeney to be Knox's long time backup when he may be a better TE right now?
HappyDays Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 24 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said: He was a prolific run blocker in college? Ol Miss was 72nd in rushing last season (yards per game), 11th of 14 in the SEC. Gronk had 75 catches and 16 TDs in 2 years in college. Kelce had 45 catches and 8 TDs his last year in college. Knox has 39 career college receptions, zero TDs. That doesn't make me think of Gronk/Kelce. At this point why would you love Sweeney to be Knox's long time backup when he may be a better TE right now? His scouting report is very similar to Kelce's: https://www.nfl.com/prospects/dawson-knox?id=32194b4e-4f49-0795-942a-0c363ee9b439 http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/travis-kelce?id=2540258 You cannot be a premier TE in the NFL if you aren't extremely athletic. Sweeney will never be that good. I'm very happy with how he's played especially for a 7th rounder. But Knox already had the starting spot locked down before his injury and Sweeney hasn't shown anything that will stop him from taking it back. I hope we can see Knox at some point in preseason but it might be too late for that. We haven't had a good look at him yet. 1
EmotionallyUnstable Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 1 hour ago, Ethan in Portland said: I would rather keep 4 TE and get rid of DiMarco. They kept 4TE's last year I think the difference is you'll see 3 on the initial 53 and then 4 once Kroft is activated from PUP 1
Trogdor Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 11 minutes ago, HappyDays said: His scouting report is very similar to Kelce's: https://www.nfl.com/prospects/dawson-knox?id=32194b4e-4f49-0795-942a-0c363ee9b439 http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/travis-kelce?id=2540258 You cannot be a premier TE in the NFL if you aren't extremely athletic. Sweeney will never be that good. I'm very happy with how he's played especially for a 7th rounder. But Knox already had the starting spot locked down before his injury and Sweeney hasn't shown anything that will stop him from taking it back. I hope we can see Knox at some point in preseason but it might be too late for that. We haven't had a good look at him yet. There are lots of fantastic athletes that aren't great football players. At some point he has to back up the hype with some sort of production. Sweeney can be very productive and is an excellent blocker.
Magox Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 4 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said: This is funny. Knox has been injured a majority of camp, yet based on his limited college statistics and media camp reports, he is going to be a stud.But don’t worry, hedge your bet by throwing in the 7th rd pick who has had a couple nice catches in preseason, and you can’t go wrong. Well, you can count me in with the kooky funny crowd because I am going to go out on a limb and say that both Knox and Sweeney will be the best TE tandem that the Bills have had in since.....well..... Forever. I'm on both their bandwagons 3
Doc Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 I don't know of any modern stud TE's who ran in the 4.8s. Hopefully Sweeney can be the first.
EmotionallyUnstable Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 Just now, Magox said: Well, you can count me in with the kooky funny crowd because I am going to go out on a limb and say that both Knox and Sweeney will be the best TE tandem that the Bills have had in since.....well..... Forever. I'm on both their bandwagons I'm more okay with this prediction more so than the OP's either Sweeney OR Knox. No doubt they're hard not too root for and get excited about. But I'm trying to temper expectations. What's a successful season for either of these guys statistically? Rec's, Yards, TD's? Our leading TE last year was Croom with 22 receptions, 250 yards and 1 TD. Go ahead and add in Clay's statistics (21, 184, 0) to form a total and you get a whopping 43 receptions, 434 yards and a TD. That is less than average as far as the league goes...collectively! Let's stop comparing our current players to past players, and start looking at them in comparison to players across the league: If either player totals this amount of yards or receptions as last years COMBINED total, you can certainly count it a success. A rookie TE with these stats (43, 434, 1) would be encouraging. But keep some perspective. If you compare this stat line to last years TE crop across the league, we'd collectively finish 19th in yards, right ahead of Jesse James but behind C.J. Uzomah (43, 439, 3).
chris heff Posted August 18, 2019 Posted August 18, 2019 There is really only one thing that counts, neither of them is Charles Clay, so I say keep both.
Magox Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 1 hour ago, EmotionallyUnstable said: I'm more okay with this prediction more so than the OP's either Sweeney OR Knox. No doubt they're hard not too root for and get excited about. But I'm trying to temper expectations. What's a successful season for either of these guys statistically? Rec's, Yards, TD's? Our leading TE last year was Croom with 22 receptions, 250 yards and 1 TD. Go ahead and add in Clay's statistics (21, 184, 0) to form a total and you get a whopping 43 receptions, 434 yards and a TD. That is less than average as far as the league goes...collectively! Let's stop comparing our current players to past players, and start looking at them in comparison to players across the league: If either player totals this amount of yards or receptions as last years COMBINED total, you can certainly count it a success. A rookie TE with these stats (43, 434, 1) would be encouraging. But keep some perspective. If you compare this stat line to last years TE crop across the league, we'd collectively finish 19th in yards, right ahead of Jesse James but behind C.J. Uzomah (43, 439, 3). I wont commit to their stats this year as Kroft will be in the picture (maybe). But I believe if Sweeney were our #1 and #2 TE's and they got the playing time that corresponds to that then I'd say between the two of them they'd get over 80 receptions their rookie years and would only get better with time. But I dont know McD and Dabol's plans, they may want Lee Smith to have a large role with his blocking ability, who knows how Kroft recovers and he could play a large role as well and of course that would have major implications for Sweeney and Knox. Even though I think it will be difficult for Kroft to get any sort of rapport with Allen, optimistically probably not until the 2nd half of the year could he become a factor. And Croom, I think his days are numbered. Over time, I do believe Sweeney and Knox will be our 1 - 2 punch from the TE spot. I'm hoping this year as I think they will be up for the challenge.
Mr. WEO Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 1 hour ago, HappyDays said: His scouting report is very similar to Kelce's: https://www.nfl.com/prospects/dawson-knox?id=32194b4e-4f49-0795-942a-0c363ee9b439 http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/travis-kelce?id=2540258 You cannot be a premier TE in the NFL if you aren't extremely athletic. Sweeney will never be that good. I'm very happy with how he's played especially for a 7th rounder. But Knox already had the starting spot locked down before his injury and Sweeney hasn't shown anything that will stop him from taking it back. I hope we can see Knox at some point in preseason but it might be too late for that. We haven't had a good look at him yet. Neither did the Ol Miss fans... 1
EmotionallyUnstable Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 8 minutes ago, Magox said: I wont commit to their stats this year as Kroft will be in the picture (maybe). But I believe if Sweeney were our #1 and #2 TE's and they got the playing time that corresponds to that then I'd say between the two of them they'd get over 80 receptions their rookie years and would only get better with time. But I dont know McD and Dabol's plans, they may want Lee Smith to have a large role with his blocking ability, who knows how Kroft recovers and he could play a large role as well and of course that would have major implications for Sweeney and Knox. Even though I think it will be difficult for Kroft to get any sort of rapport with Allen, optimistically probably not until the 2nd half of the year could he become a factor. And Croom, I think his days are numbered. Over time, I do believe Sweeney and Knox will be our 1 - 2 punch from the TE spot. I'm hoping this year as I think they will be up for the challenge. They could very well become 1 and 2 this year. However, I'd take the under on a combined 80 receptions without Kroft in the picture all day. For a measuring stick, Kroft had 42 receptions for 404 yards in 2017. You're more likely to see one of them reciprocate this than both adding up to 80.
BobbyC81 Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 3 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said: I would rather keep 4 TE and get rid of DiMarco. I agree. He was in at the goal line though when McCoy scored. I think one of the TEs could be used like an H-back instead of DiMarco. It will be interesting to see how much special teams play is considered with roster decisions. Sinoris Perry is known to be a good special teams player but hasn’t shown much as a RB and fumbled on Friday. McCloud made a nice tackle on a punt coverage and I noticed Duke Williams also out there on coverages. IIRC LeeSmith was a big part of blocking and coverage during his first time with the Bills. DiMarco we know is good, too, but if they go mainly with one back sets, he’s kind of a waste of a roster spot. Yeldon looked good this last game so decisions on the RB group could also be tough. I think they should stash Wade in that special PS slot. If he’s shown in practice as he’s shown in his few game opportunities, he can learn this year and then be ready to contribute next season when McCoy and Gore’s deals are done.
Malazan Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 I get liking them. I do too, but maybe let them take a single snap in the regular season before declaring they'll be studs?
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