Isaiah Mckenzie Re-signed!!

[Buffalo_Stampede]

7 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I agree with you.  None has emerged yet.   I also think great teams have only a few stars.   Bills have two in Allen and Diggs.  They need a couple of others to emerge.   Oliver is still a candidate.   They could use a standout on the oline.

 

But the other thing to remember is that McBeane aren't running a star system.  They're running a system like Belichick runs the Patriots.   It's a lot of good football players doing their jobs.   Other than Brady, the Pats didn't have a lot of studs.  Wilfork, I suppose.  And the  collection of shutdown corners.  But by and large, the people who looked like stars in New England were just good players in a great system.  Free agents who left New England rarely proved to be stars elsewhere.  

 

McBeane are trying to do the same thing.  They believe they don't need Oliver to that guy the Rams have, they don't need Edmunds to be Dick Butkus, they don't need Hyde to be Polamalu.   They believe in having a lot good players and together being a great team. 

Time is now for Oliver. Oliver is a top 10 pick. The excuse for Oliver playing out of position may be valid but it's the same thing that was said about his college production. 

 

As for the Pats, Wilfork and Seymour were studs. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Buffalo_Stampede

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Time is now for Oliver. Oliver is a top 10 pick. The excuse for Oliver playing out of position may be valid but it's the same thing that was said about his college production. 

 

As for the Pats, Wilfork and Seymour were studs. 

Two studs, plus a couple shutdown corners in 20 years of NFL dominance.   It's not a lot of stars.  Belichick didn't run a star system, and McDermott isn't running one, either.   Our expectations, as fans, are going to go unmet.  McBeane intend to be drafting in the 20s and 30s every year, and they aren't going to get stars in the draft, except by accident.  

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

[YoloinOhio]

 

[4merper4mer]

2 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Yes. What's the argument? He's top 5-7 at his position. Who else is? 

I'm not saying anyone is a bad player or even being critical. Beane has drafted starter quality players. We need someone to step up and be more than starter quality. 

Lol.  Can you see why it might be a little easier to get a top 5-7 kicker in the 6th round than maybe a top 5-7 DE, OT, WR, etc., in say the third?

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

 

 

[BigBuff423]

6 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

 

 

 

I think he's great for that locker room and he seems to be a genuinely good person who loves this team. I also think we ALL hope he earns a bigger role in the Offense because he seems to have the athleticism for the Slot WR role. I hope he can put it together and he and Cole can either rotate out without losing productivity or they can put them in 4 WR sets with he and Cole across the middle and it work well. I also hope more of his Punt Return duties look like the last one against Miami. 

[FLFan]

13 minutes ago, BigBuff423 said:

 

I think he's great for that locker room and he seems to be a genuinely good person who loves this team. I also think we ALL hope he earns a bigger role in the Offense because he seems to have the athleticism for the Slot WR role. I hope he can put it together and he and Cole can either rotate out without losing productivity or they can put them in 4 WR sets with he and Cole across the middle and it work well. I also hope more of his Punt Return duties look like the last one against Miami. 

I am not concerned about him earning a bigger role at WR.  The Bills are deep their. If he can become a reliable returner along with his occasional speed role in offense he is more than worth having on the team. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

55 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Lol.  Can you see why it might be a little easier to get a top 5-7 kicker in the 6th round than maybe a top 5-7 DE, OT, WR, etc., in say the third?

You guys are over thinking this because it's not about praising Beane. If you think Beane's draft picks are maxed out potential wise and we don't need them to be more than what they are then ok. If you don't think that then why are we debating this? 

 

I'm simply saying that we need recent draft picks to step up, I never said they couldn't or won't. 

 

 

[Bob in STL]

He is a football player. Versatile and possibly a very good return man.  He makes plays.  I’m surprised he didn’t get offers?  
 

Tough environment for free agents for sure.  

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

12 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

Anyone else feeling like Isaiah McKenzie is being criminally undervalued by the entire league?

 

I'm really stunned by the deal he just signed. Genuinely thought there would be a market for his skillset/potential. Is it a product of the cap pinch and consequent novel devaluation of FA WRs in particular? I'm not the only person who thought Li'l Dirty was headed for a much bigger payday than 1-yr/1.15M deal.

 

I'm curious where Spotrac projected his market value heading into the offseason? Anyone make note of that prior to his signing? Buffalo Rumblings actually nailed his value in this article: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2021/2/15/22283858/2021-contract-projection-for-buffalo-bills-free-agent-receiver-returner-isaiah-mckenzie. Scary accurate. So maybe homerism is clouding my judgment. 

 

Maybe I'm biased by my beliefs that the Bills offense operated best when incorporating lateral pre- and post-snap motion and play-action (usually through #19), and that his disappearance (due to injury, primarily) in the playoffs played a major role in the offense's struggles. 

 

Admittedly, his career production is not impressive. But his potential on offense AND SPECIAL TEAMS is valuable. I'm relieved he re-signed.

This is a big part why I pound the table for McKenzie. It's design like that which got Mcveigh gladhanded in LA, and is an excellent tool for a growing QB because the reaction from the defense offers cues on the coverage they are running. When defenses start to cheat and ignore him he's a home run waiting to happen.

[LEBills]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

 

Such a fun press conference. They asked McKenzie if calling Milano his favorite player was an inside joke and McKenzie was like nah and listed all the amazing plays he watched Milano make. 
 

He also said that he is gonna meet up with our new punter next week, remind him about week 17 and get to work on the punt returns. He is gunning for that job.

 

here is the press conference if people want it 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Sure, there are lots of things to consider, but if I'm McKenzie, I'm beginning to see my ceiling and even the end of my career.   I've had four seasons in the league, and I haven't been able to force my way into a starting lineup.  If I want to start, I have to go someplace where there's less competition.  I start weighing what's important to me:  starting, winning, money.   Everyone weighs that, of course, but as I begin to see the end of my career coming, what's important to me starts to become clearer.   For some guys, it's money.   My agent and my financial planners are telling me how much money I need for the rest of my life, and their telling me if they can find me a contract to get that money.  For others, for the kind of guys that McBeane want on the Bills, winning, the team experience, personal self-improvement are what matters most.  

 

McKenzie seems to be saying that no one was offering enough additional money to make it worth giving up something that he values a lot.  He hasn't earned enough money to retire for life, and he almost certainly won't earn that much, wherever he goes. 

 

Logic's point really is that in the past, there was no reason to stay in Buffalo for any amount less than what someone else was offering.  Now there is.  

 

I agree with the point that "there was no reason to stay in Buffalo for any amount less than what someone else is offering.  Now there is".

 

My point was, that you can hear a big-number contract, and you don't really know what, if anything, is actually guaranteed to go into the player's pocket.

 

That's the cold hard reality of contracts in the NFL: they can sound great, but with so little guaranteed, the details matter.

 

Say McKenzie was offered a contract that would be reported as "3 years, $6M dollars".  That sounds great!  He must really love the culture in B'lo to come back for so much less!  Then we find out that $1.5M of that are various incentives.  Now it's a 3 year, $4.5M contract with a $200k signing bonus and nothing else guaranteed.  The salary is structured so that it's $1 M, $1.4M, $1.6M salary and $50k of workout and per-game roster bonuses each year. 

 

The team can cut him at the end of August and he takes home $250k, which isn't bad money by ordinary humans' standards but it ain't what we think when we hear "3 years, $6M"

 

Whether he gets the $1M that will guarantee day 1 of the 2021 season is going to depend on how well the offensive system and ST suit him, his competition, how well he clicks with the coaches and QBs, and so forth.  He knows all that with Buffalo.

 

Buffalo says "if you want to bet on yourself, we can give you a better guarantee -$350M - and same the first year salary."  We'll give you the chance to earn the KR/PR job.  If you make good you can set yourself up for a bigger payday next year, either here or elsewhere."

 

The point is, he could be reported as turning down a big contract to stay in Buffalo but when it came to the nuts-n-bolts of what's likely to be earned, he could still have had as good or a better deal for the next season here.

 

4 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

I think he is a mediocre receiver, and the league knows it.   If he were a good receiver, he would have played a lot more snaps while Brown was struggling, or he wouldn't have let Davis take snaps from him.   I don't think he's a good route runner, and I think he has bad hands.  He doesn't make many difficult catches, and he drops routine balls.  

 

I think you're selling McKenzie way short here.  He had 1 drop on 34 targets last season.  By that standard, what would you say about some of our other guys, like Gabe Davis who had 3 scored drops on 62 targets?  Not to mention Knox....

 

McKenzie didn't join the Bills as a great route runner, and his route running visibly improved between 2019 and 2020, to the point where he was regularly asked to run routes, and not just used as "gadget boy".

 

McKenzie's main problem is that he's 5'8" and weighs 173 lbs.  He's never going to be offered the chance to make the "You or Me, and it's gonna be ME" contested catches Allen is willing to throw at 6'2", 216 lb Gabe Davis.  Neither is he gonna be able to block like Gabe Davis showed he can, because in blocking, other things being equal, mass and momentum matter.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

 

And how could the Bills backfill for this?

 

 

(originally posted on Mario Addison's Instagram)

[Rochesterfan]

18 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

And how could the Bills backfill for this?

 

 

(originally posted on Mario Addison's Instagram)

 

I think things like this and just how much he allows others to be loose - joking around with the kid sized uniform, not being afraid to be a butt of a joke and getting back at others - that kind of stuff can be vital in building a strong team.

 

It goes unnoticed general fans, but it really seems his teammates appreciate him and how excited they were for him in that Miami game with the TDs.  Those things are critical and are easy to lose, but bringing a guy like that back into the fold can allow some of that to carry over and remind guys that this is a game and we are a band of brothers.

 

He was and is an important member of the team and it goes way beyond just his play on the field. 
 

Glad he is back!

[djp14150]

9 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Sure, there are lots of things to consider, but if I'm McKenzie, I'm beginning to see my ceiling and even the end of my career.   I've had four seasons in the league, and I haven't been able to force my way into a starting lineup.  If I want to start, I have to go someplace where there's less competition.  I start weighing what's important to me:  starting, winning, money.   Everyone weighs that, of course, but as I begin to see the end of my career coming, what's important to me starts to become clearer.   For some guys, it's money.   My agent and my financial planners are telling me how much money I need for the rest of my life, and their telling me if they can find me a contract to get that money.  For others, for the kind of guys that McBeane want on the Bills, winning, the team experience, personal self-improvement are what matters most.  

 

McKenzie seems to be saying that no one was offering enough additional money to make it worth giving up something that he values a lot.  He hasn't earned enough money to retire for life, and he almost certainly won't earn that much, wherever he goes. 

 

Logic's point really is that in the past, there was no reason to stay in Buffalo for any amount less than what someone else was offering.  Now there is.  

 

 

I think he is a mediocre receiver, and the league knows it.   If he were a good receiver, he would have played a lot more snaps while Brown was struggling, or he wouldn't have let Davis take snaps from him.   I don't think he's a good route runner, and I think he has bad hands.  He doesn't make many difficult catches, and he drops routine balls.  

 

I look at McKenzie more of a slot receiver given his height .  Thus not in competition with Davis.

[YoloinOhio]

If you have time to kill here is a really long but fun interview that McKenzie did with Rico on Buffalo Fanatics. He’s been on that podcast a couple times.

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/buffalo-fanatics-daily-buffalo-football-podcasts/id1431321970#episodeGuid=8c65a5b2-0af0-42b1-8a7e-66073e4a7b16

[Warcodered]

38 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

If you have time to kill here is a really long but fun interview that McKenzie did with Rico on Buffalo Fanatics. He’s been on that podcast a couple times.

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/buffalo-fanatics-daily-buffalo-football-podcasts/id1431321970#episodeGuid=8c65a5b2-0af0-42b1-8a7e-66073e4a7b16

 

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, djp14150 said:

 

I look at McKenzie more of a slot receiver given his height .  Thus not in competition with Davis.

He can't hold a candle to Beasley, so he's not getting a lot of playing time in the slot.  Point is, I'm not sure he's all that marketable.   Good multi-purpose guy with good speed, but no one is signing him to rejuvenate their passing game. 

[YoloinOhio]

I have no doubt that McKenzie loves Buffalo and his teammates and coaches. But I think the main reason he took the deal here is because he trying to get a more lucrative  contract  next year. This is the easiest path because he has a specific role and knows the offense and the playbook already. This is the place he’s most likely to put up numbers. He did account for 8 TDs last year in a limited role. Whether here or somewhere else in 2022, this is an ideal place for him to develop especially if he can lock down the PR job. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by YoloinOhio