ngbills Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 Looking around the league there are a ton of productive TE's. What do the Bills do here? I like Knox but the drops are alarming. Kroft seems to be a flop and contract we will be getting out of in the offseason. Looking at the past drafts you have a high correlation of 40 time and NFL success. This includes Engram, Fant, Howard, Kittle as the 5 fastest in the past 5 drafts. Slightly lower you have guys like Hockenson, Smith, Andrews, Samuels, Goedert, Gesecki, Njoku, Everett, Hooper, Henry, Higby. Point is seems easy to hit on a fast TE being successful than a fast or tall WR. Tons of good TE's have come out and still dont see how Kittle was a 5th rounder...one of the best blockers in the draft and a 4.5 40 time. Upcoming draft: Albert Okwuegbunam Missouri Jared Pinkney Vanderbilt Hunter Bryant Washington Mitchell Wilcox South Florida NFL combine fastest TE's here 1
Nester Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 i like our current young TE's and i think we should let them develop. Knox will be a beast, but its only his first year. 12 1 1 2
Nick the Greek Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 Knox need to make catches. He single handedly killed a couple drives yesterday. Those could have been game changers. 8 1
bigK14094 Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 I still have hopes Croom will return and win a job next year....he is the receiving TE we don't have this year. 5
Process Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 (edited) Kroft is useless and should be cut this off-season. That signing was a head scratcher from the beginning. Knoxs drops are a huge concern. Even if he ends up getting over it and becoming a good player for us, plenty of teams use two TEs. Bills should go all out for Hooper this off-season. Sign Hooper, sign a young RB, draft a WR in the first round. Offense set. Edited December 10, 2019 by Process 1
Mr. WEO Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 7 minutes ago, Nester said: i like our current young TE's and i think we should let them develop. Knox will be a beast, but its only his first year. Can't catch. Can't block. He can develop behind a better TE. 2
Poleshifter Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 6 minutes ago, Nester said: i like our current young TE's and i think we should let them develop. Knox will be a beast, but its only his first year. Again, Knox is a rookie so we need to cut him some slack. He was primarily a blocker at Ole Miss, and he really seems to kick butt as a blocker. Yes, the drops are annoying, but when he catches it, he has shown some beast mode after the catch. Belichek wanted Knox during the draft, so that tells me a lot about Knox's abilities. 2
GregPersons Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 Knox can stay. Kroft needs to go. Don't wait until the offseason. This position is in bad shape and we need reliable TEs to be productive on offense. Let's see Duke Williams line up off tackle, and run a hook up the middle of the hash. Just... try it. 1
White Linen Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 I'd apologize to him and resign Charles Clay in the off season. 3
Apocalypse Nuts Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 15 minutes ago, Nester said: i like our current young TE's and i think we should let them develop. Knox will be a beast, but its only his first year. This. Seems utterly ridiculous to throw out Knox based on a few drops in his ROOKIE season. Seems just as utterly ridiculous to give up on the whole lot at this point as well. When everyone at the position is new to Buffalo, I think it's best to give some of them a season to acclimate.
Bob in STL Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 (edited) The drops have reached a point of concern but if you look at how little he saw the ball in college it should not surprise. Work, work, and more work is what Knox needs. He has size and he had some speed too. He blocks well and he gets open. Yesterday he dropped a ball and then he made a brilliant one handed catch. He can be a beast running in the open field and he has blown up a few DBs this year. I like him and I say keep on developing him. I’m not impressed with Kroft or Smith. Sweeney has done ok in his limited reps. I would not hesitate to take a TE if the right one is there. Edited December 10, 2019 by Bob in STL 8
djp14150 Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 It’s a combination of grass is greener and fantasy football stat lines.... 1
billsfan89 Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 I like Knox but I think he is still super raw and will likely need at least another year to develop into a starting caliber TE. Sweeney in my opinion is nothing more than a decent backup, maybe he can develop into a quality backup or at best low end starter. Lee Smith is a blocking TE a niche player. Kroft was supposed to be the veteran stop gap while the young guys developed but he has been often hurt and should be cut. I would heavily support brining in another vet TE to help alleviate the pressure on Knox. But I do think Knox has a bright future.
Formerly Allan in MD Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 Cease the knock on Knox. He's a rookie with little college experience. He's shown a significant upside along with a "rookie downside." If he doesn't show development thru next year, yes, I'll reconsider. 2
Beast Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 16 minutes ago, Distorted One said: This. Seems utterly ridiculous to throw out Knox based on a few drops in his ROOKIE season. Seems just as utterly ridiculous to give up on the whole lot at this point as well. When everyone at the position is new to Buffalo, I think it's best to give some of them a season to acclimate. Knox will be back and competing next season but to not look for an upgrade would be silly. Lots of drops and he was manhandled on the Allen fumble. The kid should get better but you can’t just assume that’s a sure thing. 1
CincyBillsFan Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 I think we need to differentiate between Knox as he is today and what can be expected over the next few years. I agree with others here that like Allen was a raw QB, Knox is a very raw pass catching TE. He has shown me enough this season to be confident that he will be a very productive TE going forward. At the same time the reality TODAY is that we get very little production from our TE's in the passing game. As others have pointed out Kroft seems to be the odd man out here. Smith will have value as a blocker. If Sweeney can develop in the off season as a pass catcher then we could go into next season with an excellent compliment of TE's (Knox, Smith & Sweeney). If we're that lucky we can put resources behind the O-line and at WR's/RB instead of TE. This would be an ideal outcome.
ngbills Posted December 10, 2019 Author Posted December 10, 2019 (edited) I don’t think you give up on Knox. Kraft is a different story given his cost. Still think you you need to add either an upgrade or complement to Knox. Most teams have at least two solid TE’s. Look at Bal and NE with Gronk and whoever for years. Been a strong position in the college ranks as of late. Talk to scouts, high school and college coaches. Kids want to play TE now and it is turning into your best athlete. Edited December 10, 2019 by ngbills 1
Solomon Grundy Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 (edited) 51 minutes ago, Nick the Greek said: Knox need to make catches. He single handedly killed a couple drives yesterday. Those could have been game changers. And in prior games 46 minutes ago, Process said: Kroft is useless and should be cut this off-season. That signing was a head scratcher from the beginning. Knoxs drops are a huge concern. Even if he ends up getting over it and becoming a good player for us, plenty of teams use two TEs. Bills should go all out for Hooper this off-season. Sign Hooper, sign a young RB, draft a WR in the first round. Offense set. I'd use Kroft, Lee Smith and Murphy money to re-sign Shaq Edited December 10, 2019 by the skycap 1 1
Rob's House Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 Is catching ability something that typically improves significantly with time? It seems like it could, but I'm struggling to think of an example of someone with consistently bad hands who turned it around. 1
Solomon Grundy Posted December 10, 2019 Posted December 10, 2019 Go straight to Stanford and get a TE
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