High praise for Allen, White, Edmunds, Dawkins, and Diggs from NFL Execs, Coaches, and Players.

[Shaw66]

Yes, it is kind of amazing that someone ranked Allen 9th.  What 8 QBs are you taking ahead of him, either for one game, for one season, or for the next ten seasons.  

 

Stanky, I have a theory about the safeties.   I don't know whether either of them are top 10 - there are 64 starting safeties in the league, so top 10 is pretty elite.   And Poyer and Hyde aren't glamour guys.  The announcers rarely yack about them, because they aren't flashy like the honey badger or Buddha Baker or guys like that.  They don't have a high quotient of sensation plays.   They also aren't big hitters.   So, it makes some sense to me that others got named ahead of them. 

 

The value of Poyer and Hyde is how they understand the system and how they play together.   They are very valuable to the Bills, because they are so solid as a deep tandem, always where they need to be to be.   They blitz well and they attack the run well, but that too is evidence of solid play, not highlight reel play.  

 

They're quietly excellent.  

[MJS]

55 minutes ago, Stank_Nasty said:

 

I'm sure we'll have one more with Diggs. Wr's, Rb's, and Te's all come out this week..... i think we end up with 3 different guys ranked top 5 at their positions. Thats craziness.

And that's exactly what we didn't have in previous years: elite talent. Josh Allen has grown into an elite player. Diggs is elite. White is elite. If we could add (or develop) a top 5 pass rusher, this team would just be set for years to come and contending for Super Bowls every year. Having good depth and coaching is important for consistent winning, but having elite playmakers is what puts you over the top. It's great to see that we are finally putting all the pieces together.

[Buffalo716]

Just now, Shaw66 said:

Yes, it is kind of amazing that someone ranked Allen 9th.  What 8 QBs are you taking ahead of him, either for one game, for one season, or for the next ten seasons.  

 

Stanky, I have a theory about the safeties.   I don't know whether either of them are top 10 - there are 64 starting safeties in the league, so top 10 is pretty elite.   And Poyer and Hyde aren't glamour guys.  The announcers rarely yack about them, because they aren't flashy like the honey badger or Buddha Baker or guys like that.  They don't have a high quotient of sensation plays.   They also aren't big hitters.   So, it makes some sense to me that others got named ahead of them. 

 

The value of Poyer and Hyde is how they understand the system and how they play together.   They are very valuable to the Bills, because they are so solid as a deep tandem, always where they need to be to be.   They blitz well and they attack the run well, but that too is evidence of solid play, not highlight reel play.  

 

They're quietly excellent.  

Ding ding ding 

 

You hit the nail on the head shaw.. 

 

The sum is more valuable than the parts.. not to say that they aren't tremendous football players.. they absolutely are

 

But they don't have some of the physical traits as some of the other guys... What they do have is a nuanced understanding of the game, McDermott system, and how to play within it together

 

They are invaluable to our team absolutely

[MJS]

1 minute ago, Shaw66 said:

Yes, it is kind of amazing that someone ranked Allen 9th.  What 8 QBs are you taking ahead of him, either for one game, for one season, or for the next ten seasons.  

 

Stanky, I have a theory about the safeties.   I don't know whether either of them are top 10 - there are 64 starting safeties in the league, so top 10 is pretty elite.   And Poyer and Hyde aren't glamour guys.  The announcers rarely yack about them, because they aren't flashy like the honey badger or Buddha Baker or guys like that.  They don't have a high quotient of sensation plays.   They also aren't big hitters.   So, it makes some sense to me that others got named ahead of them. 

 

The value of Poyer and Hyde is how they understand the system and how they play together.   They are very valuable to the Bills, because they are so solid as a deep tandem, always where they need to be to be.   They blitz well and they attack the run well, but that too is evidence of solid play, not highlight reel play.  

 

They're quietly excellent.  

Announcers do usually talk about how good our safeties are, but yeah, they don't go on and on about it. Poyer actually is a pretty good hitter, in my opinion. I seem to remember Hyde having a huge hit on someone last year... anybody remember that?

[Stank_Nasty]

11 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Yes, it is kind of amazing that someone ranked Allen 9th.  What 8 QBs are you taking ahead of him, either for one game, for one season, or for the next ten seasons.  

 

Stanky, I have a theory about the safeties.   I don't know whether either of them are top 10 - there are 64 starting safeties in the league, so top 10 is pretty elite.   And Poyer and Hyde aren't glamour guys.  The announcers rarely yack about them, because they aren't flashy like the honey badger or Buddha Baker or guys like that.  They don't have a high quotient of sensation plays.   They also aren't big hitters.   So, it makes some sense to me that others got named ahead of them. 

 

The value of Poyer and Hyde is how they understand the system and how they play together.   They are very valuable to the Bills, because they are so solid as a deep tandem, always where they need to be to be.   They blitz well and they attack the run well, but that too is evidence of solid play, not highlight reel play.  

 

They're quietly excellent.  

I get your point i just dont totally agree. Poyers stat sheet has been fairly full since he arrived.... but i dont totally disagree with what you are saying.

48 minutes ago, stosh64 said:

People actually pay to read espn?

and the award for most original post of the day goes to....

[Shaw66]

10 minutes ago, MJS said:

Announcers do usually talk about how good our safeties are.

Yes, they do talk about the Bills' safeties, but it usually sounds like in their heads they're prefacing what they say with, "(For guys who aren't elite,) the Bills' safeties are very good."   "(These guys aren't stars, but) Poyer and Hyde get the job done."  

Edited July 12, 2021 by Shaw66

[Stank_Nasty]

10 minutes ago, MJS said:

Announcers do usually talk about how good our safeties are, but yeah, they don't go on and on about it. Poyer actually is a pretty good hitter, in my opinion. I seem to remember Hyde having a huge hit on someone last year... anybody remember that?

2nd jets game. beautiful clean hit down the sideline on the intended wr, but it was a "bang/bang" play and he got flagged.

[chongli]

51 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

 

 

 

 

Thank you! I guess I need to learn to read the original post in full before commenting. 😉

[Mango]

I don’t have insider. Did Poyer get disrespected that he didn’t make a top10 list for safety?! That would be criminal. 
 

I assume WR is a crowded room so no Diggs, even though he probably belongs. 

[Solomon Grundy]

1 hour ago, stosh64 said:

People actually pay to read espn?

The heck with ESPN list. Did anyone see who Jalen Ramsey listed as his top DB/WR??

[Buffalo716]

3 minutes ago, Mango said:

I don’t have insider. Did Poyer get disrespected that he didn’t make a top10 list for safety?! That would be criminal. 
 

I assume WR is a crowded room so no Diggs, even though he probably belongs. 

They haven't done wide receiver yet I know

 

I'll go and check my insider for safety

[Warcodered]

10 minutes ago, Mango said:

I don’t have insider. Did Poyer get disrespected that he didn’t make a top10 list for safety?! That would be criminal. 
 

I assume WR is a crowded room so no Diggs, even though he probably belongs. 

If the WR leading the league in yards doesn't make the top ten something is wrong with the list.

[Buffalo716]

7 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

They haven't done wide receiver yet I know

 

I'll go and check my insider for safety

 

12 minutes ago, Mango said:

I don’t have insider. Did Poyer get disrespected that he didn’t make a top10 list for safety?! That would be criminal. 
 

I assume WR is a crowded room so no Diggs, even though he probably belongs. 

No WR , RBs , TEs yet 

 

Porter and Hyde did not make the safeties list.. and neither of them was honorable mention 

 

Minkah Fitzpatrick 

Justin Simmons 

Budda Baker 

Jamal Adams 

Harrison Smith 

Tyrann mathieu 

Kevin byard  

John Johnson III 

Derwin James Jr 

Jessie Bates III 

 

Honorable mentions 

Eddie Jackson 

Marcus maye

Antoine Winfield Jr 

Landon Collins 

Darnell Savage Jr

 

It's honestly a pretty fair top 10, those guys are ballers

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Buffalo716

[Stank_Nasty]

11 minutes ago, Mango said:

I don’t have insider. Did Poyer get disrespected that he didn’t make a top10 list for safety?! That would be criminal. 
 

I assume WR is a crowded room so no Diggs, even though he probably belongs. 

Poyer wasnt even in the honorable mentions(top 15). I had a tough time with that one as well.

 

Wr's havnt been listed yet.

46 minutes ago, MJS said:

And that's exactly what we didn't have in previous years: elite talent. Josh Allen has grown into an elite player. Diggs is elite. White is elite. If we could add (or develop) a top 5 pass rusher, this team would just be set for years to come and contending for Super Bowls every year. Having good depth and coaching is important for consistent winning, but having elite playmakers is what puts you over the top. It's great to see that we are finally putting all the pieces together.

Bolded is my thoughts exactly. As i'm reading through all the lists and seeing our guys names brought up, i thought to myself, "now if we can just get a guy on that edge rusher list we're winning a super bowl"

[Mango]

6 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

 

No WR , RBs , TEs yet 

 

Porter and Hyde did not make the safeties list.. and neither of them was honorable mention 

 

Minkah Fitzpatrick 

Justin Simmons 

Budda Baker 

Jamal Adams 

Harrison Smith 

Tyrann mathieu 

Kevin byard  

John Johnson III 

Derwin James Jr 

Jessie Bates III 

 

Honorable mentions 

Eddie Jackson 

Marcus maye

Antoine Winfield Jr 

Landon Collins 

Darnell Savage Jr

 

It's honestly a pretty fair top 10, those guys are ballers

 

 

 

I get it. It’s crowded, there are 64 of them. But I thought there were games where Poyer was our 2nd best player on the team. There’s a strong argument to be made he was our defensive MVP. Ahead of Tre and Edmunds who are both on the list. 

[The Wiz]

1 hour ago, HereComesTheReignAgain said:

I hate to be negative in an otherwise fun topic, but who the hell had Allen ranked 9th?!  

I'd venture to guess someone who doesn't like dogs and American flags and skull and crossbones on our Twitter profile pics. 

[Buffalo716]

7 minutes ago, Mango said:

I get it. It’s crowded, there are 64 of them. But I thought there were games where Poyer was our 2nd best player on the team. There’s a strong argument to be made he was our defensive MVP. Ahead of Tre and Edmunds who are both on the list. 

I don't think he's anywhere near the player tradevious white is imo 

 

McDermott's scheme is really DB friendly, and him and Hyde work on an interchangeable level that make them invaluable system players 

 

They're both great football players but probably on the cusp of top 15 safeties 

 

Kevin byard is like a Jordan poyer on steroids.. He's listed like 7th

Edited July 12, 2021 by Buffalo716

[IgotBILLStopay]

2 hours ago, Stank_Nasty said:

Every year ESPN does their positional rankings. They poll execs, coaches, and players to come to their conclusions. Some of our guys came in at real nice spots. I hadnt seen this covered anywhere in here so i figured i'd toss it up. I personally think Allen, Dawkins, and white came in where they should while Edmunds maybe came in a tick high. Dawkins was just outside the top ten as the first honorable mention named but if you take out the RT's in front of him it puts him as LT #9 if i'm not mistaken. And our safeties continue to be criminally underrated. Neither one even made it to the honorable mentions lists. Anyways i'll post links to the pages and paste the writeups of our guys. Its ESPN+ plus content so i dont know that its available for everyone to see. Sorry if this is too much info for one spot. I really didnt think a thread for each ranking was a good move. Also, Wr’s, Rb’s, and Te’s havnt been ranked yet. When they are I’ll be sure to update this for Diggs slot. 

 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/31800661/ranking-nfl-top-10-quarterbacks-2021-execs-coaches-players-make-their-picks

5. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills

Highest ranking: 2 | Lowest ranking: 9
Age: 25 | Last year's ranking: Unranked

Allen wasn't much of a consideration for the top 10 rankings a year ago. Now, the majority of voters have him in their top five after a massive third season in Buffalo.

"The growth was pretty impressive," said an NFL offensive coach. "There were times when he was so in command of the offense, and when he's on top of his protections pre-snap, he's incredibly tough to beat."

Allen ranked third in the NFL in QBR (81.7) after a pedestrian 49.5 over his first two seasons, which was 27th out of 35 qualified quarterbacks. His 37 touchdown passes surpassed his previous two-year total (30).

Evaluators point to his four-touchdown performance on Monday Night Football against the 49ers and his 324 yards in the playoffs vs. the Colts as growth examples. Indy's zone defense made him escape the pocket and throw from the near-sideline, and he handled it all game.

"His biggest weakness is also what makes him so good -- his competitiveness, and wanting to make the best play," an AFC scout said. "He'll hold onto the ball a little too long or bail on the pocket too early. He often gets away with that because he's so strong and can break tackles, but against good defenses, he might press, and it gets him into trouble."

 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/31765336/ranking-nfl-top-10-linebackers-2021-execs-coaches-players-make-their-picks

8. Tremaine Edmunds, Buffalo Bills

Highest ranking: 1 | Lowest ranking: Unranked
Age: 23 | Last year's ranking: 7

Edmunds' potential is so expansive that this ranking feels too low. He is 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, with incredible downhill ability and range.

"This guy is tough -- very rangy against the pass, good instincts," an NFC coach said. "Tough for us to deal with."

Man coverage is not his strength, but Edmunds can use that 4.5-second 40-yard dash speed to diagnose short passes and wash them out. Edmunds covered 4,359 yards when traveling above 12 mph, per Next Gen Stats, the highest total of the group. And at age 23, Edmunds is still ascending.

"In zone defense where he can come downhill, he's really good," the coach said

 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/31771608/ranking-nfl-top-10-cornerbacks-2021-execs-coaches-players-make-their-picks

5. Tre'Davious White, Buffalo Bills

Highest ranking: 2 | Lowest ranking: 9
Age: 26 | Last year's ranking: 3

White is a coach's dream. He's so smooth in his fundamentals that ESPN NFL analyst and friend of the Top 10 Matt Bowen calls White the Tim Duncan of the NFL.

With 15 picks and 54 pass deflections since entering the league in 2017, White is a top-five fixture.

"Not a blazer, but very quick," an NFC coordinator said. "Instinctive, great footwork, has the ball skills you want, breaks on the ball well."

White can play man or zone equally as effective. One NFC coach pointed out that Buffalo is a team of overachievers in some ways, and White embodies that -- not a Ramsey-type athlete but can be as good as anyone with smarts and staying under control

 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/31789857/ranking-nfl-top-10-offensive-tackles-2021-execs-coaches-players-make-their-picks

Dion Dawkins, Buffalo Bills: "He's closer to elite than you'd think. He looks like he has a mediocre body, but you'll finish the game and realize he had his way in pass protection." -- AFC scout

 

 

Still waiting on Diggs (lock), Beasley (if they have a separate slot receiver ranking), Bass (shd get some votes) & Poyer / Hyde (shd get some votes). Oliver, another Olineman and a young DE (B, E or R) will get some votes next year. 

[Logic]

Thanks for taking the time to share those. I don't have ESPN Insider and wouldn't otherwise have been able to read them. 

[Saxum]

2 hours ago, Stank_Nasty said:

I actually got a chuckle when looking at his highest and lowest ranks. Somebody actually pulled the trigger and had him #1 while others left him completely unranked. lol

 

I think it is between potential and how he is used,  Bills use him as MLB because they fell he can go from there to either sideline but he has not shown the ability to be the QB of defense especially when they have 2 LBs on the field.  Those rating him high wish they had him on team but he would be playing different role.