Training Camp practice 7/29

[RiotAct]

3 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

Beasley - S

 

Allen - L

 

Brown - XXXL

[ColoradoBills]

18 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

Me neither.

 

Did everyone see how he did last year with the Saints?

 

Sanders is going to be a big help to our offense.

 

Last year Brees was a shell of his former self and injured to boot.  No one can say "he played with Brees" and deny that.

Sanders still had a good year.  Not great but good.

For years before that he has played with bad to fair QBs.  He will be the #3 target and get catches.

 

He is here to get another ring and will put the work in to get it!

[TheBrownBear]

12 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

The back end of this WR room seems like a hell of a fight.

Don't you miss the days of David Nelson, Naaman Roosevelt, Ruvell Martin and Donald Jones?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

22 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

The back end of this WR room seems like a hell of a fight.

 

From the Parrino story on McKenzie:

Quote

4. Isaiah McKenzie might be the best back up in the NFL

It was just a few plays but McKenzie always finds a way to show up at practice. It’s the little details that stand out about him, too. His route running is exceptional. He’s made it a point to credit Beasley for helping him develop his game, but at this stage he may be just as dangerous as his mentor. The production he had last season was eye-opening and he made a few big catches today, including a contested catch ball where he took a shot on a throw from Trubisky.

Poyer joked that the Bills defense hates it when he makes plays because they have to hear something about it. McKenzie is a jokester and said on the Bills Instagram story yesterday that he’s the face of the franchise. While that’s not quite accurate, his value is immense. He’s currently the favorite to be the Bills’ return specialist after Andre Roberts departed in free agency. Poyer said McKenzie is so good because of how he can make guys miss after he catches the ball.

“He’s so shifty. He’s so quick. Believe it or not, he’s actually pretty intelligent,” Poyer joked. “He’s able to go out there and read coverages and run his choice routes, run his option routes. He’s a fun player to watch. He’s out there talking a lot of mess and it’s always fun to compete against him.”

 

Did anyone have "Sportswriter describes McKenzie's route running as exceptional" on their Bills Preseason Bingo?  I had commented that last year, McKenzie seemed to have taken a good step in his route running, but if Parrino is seeing accurately, potentially sounds like another. (Parrino can be a bit of a "fanboy")

 

7 minutes ago, TheBrownBear said:

Don't you miss the days of David Nelson, Naaman Roosevelt, Ruvell Martin and Donald Jones?

 

There's only one response to that:   ***** NO!

[K-9]

2 hours ago, warrior9 said:

Yeah, thats the one I mentioned... 

 

I mean, there are MAYBE two QBs in the league that can make that throw and one is on our team. 

So true. Take a look at his TD pass to Yeldon vs. the Titans last year. That kind of throw shouldn’t be humanly possible. Amazing. And he’s ours.

[H2o]

1 hour ago, Big Blitz said:

Diggs

Beasley 

Sanders 

Davis

McKenzie 

Kumerow 

 

That's going to be the 6 WRs.  And it's nasty.  So what happens to Hodgins and the others in this scenario?

 

 

How do you not keep the guy Rodgers is telling you is very good?  

Don't be surprised to see Stevenson on the roster. He's a homerun hitter in the WR group and he was a good returner in college, taking one to the house on every 11 attempts if I'm not mistaken. Roberts is gone and will need to be replaced. 

[CSBill]

36 minutes ago, TheBrownBear said:

Don't you miss the days of David Nelson, Naaman Roosevelt, Ruvell Martin and Donald Jones?

David Nelson. I always like that kid. Wonder what he’s doing now?

[LeGOATski]

6 minutes ago, H2o said:

Don't be surprised to see Stevenson on the roster. He's a homerun hitter in the WR group and he was a good returner in college, taking one to the house on every 11 attempts if I'm not mistaken. Roberts is gone and will need to be replaced. 

Yeah, it's gonna be tough to choose who rounds out the group. It really depends on how Stevenson and Hodgins progress through camp/preseason.

 

Stevenson grabbed a deep ball from Fromm where he got good separation. If he keeps doing that, it's gonna be hard to try to hide him on the PS.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, wjag said:

 

From that camera angle, it doesn't look very special at all.  I wonder what he saw that I can't see?  Must be he threaded over and between defenders.

 

Edit:  So this is what we can't see from that camera angle.

 

"

“But I mean that throw in terms of just zip on his ball and the accuracy and the catch by Cole, it was a beautiful play,” Sanders said.

The play came as the Bills were in their second 11-on-11 session of the practice, which was moved indoors because of the rain. Allen waited patiently in the pocket and let Beasley get into his route down the middle of the field and then fit a perfect, blistering spiral in between safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde. It hit Beasley in stride and the slot receiver went untouched into the end zone."

 

Sal Capaccio had this to say:

 

 

[HappyDays]

 

[Mark Vader]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I have to think the Bills like Jaquan Johnson.  They let Dean Marlowe walk in FA.  At safety, we have Poyer and Hyde, Jaquan Johnson, Josh Thomas, and two rookies: a 6th round draft pick and an UDFA.

 

Meanwhile they've got 9 or 10 CBs on the roster.

 

You got to think if they didn't like Jaquan, they would have made more of a push to bring in FA safeties.

 

 

I tend to agree with you on this. Beane/McDermott give the players they drafted a real fighting chance at making the team.

 

This is a big year for both Jaquon & Daryl Johnson as this is their 3rd seasons in the league.

[LeGOATski]

It's hard to think of a better pass than that one against SF and this gets me really excited.

 

What is Josh's ceiling? Is there even a ceiling?

[billybrew1]

5 hours ago, Blainorama5 said:

Looks like plenty of room still left on the roster for Ertz.  😉

Yes!!!!!  Ertz is another blue-chip offensive player that can keep the O moving if (when) we run into injuries.

 

I have my doubts about our TE room and our bottom WRs if we were to call upon him under the big lights.

(then again, I'm not exactly sure Ertz can still do that.)

 

The point is last season we absolutely ran out of weapons and failed Josh. You just don't do nothing the following season and hope for the best; you build depth. Some will say we signed Sanders and that is sort of an upgrade I agree because JB was really out most of last season. So it is an upgrade. However, Diggs, Sanders, and Beasley don't strike me as the most iron men we could get. One could even argue that the reason we have them is because they are slender. With Beasley and Sanders anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to have them both and I think Sanders is our true #2 WR this year, he is very good.  I just don't want to run out of weapons again..... Maybe Beane takes a close look at our current TEs and bottom receivers over the course of preseason and determines we have the guys we need. That we could replace a Beasley if need be. Or a Sanders? Maybe both?  I don't think we could really replace Diggs as he is our money man. I think every great offense has players they cannot lose....

Does anyone think the Bills season could go on to the Super Bowl minus Diggs?

 

I also wanted to mention I have this sneaking suspicion that we are going to miss Daboll more than most think.

I think the wide-open TDs might go away without him..... He definitely schemes most of them..... Although you have to credit Diggs for attracting so much coverage. Beasley at times draws a steady double (once Allen hits him a couple times.) 

It seems Daboll stays away from Beasley often I think Daboll doesn't want to tempt fate with injuries. He is just so small.

Beasley can beat almost anyone fairly easily one on one....with today's rules it is just so easy for a guy like Beasley super, super lightning quick. Beasley simply reacts to the DB feet and goes the other way and it is too late for him to recover, Beasley is open by five yards. He is a great modern day slot WR. Sanders is more valuable to me as he can get open playing on the line. That's a lot harder to do. When we go four-wide this year and if we iron out our OL deficiencies we should absolutely lay waste to all defenses in the league. Put Singletary or Moss in the backfield....let 'er rip! That 4-wide ought to really kick-ass between the twenties anyway. Josh will also get his fair share of TDs from outside the red zone as well. It could be Davis, Sanders or Diggs going deep. Knowing Daboll, it could even be Beasley. Beasley gets some deep passes from Allen from time to time. I don't think many TDs though....maybe this year?

 

I still haven't rewatched the AFC title game and I still feel reluctant to do so....

[CorkScrewHill]

Parrino reported that Jacob Hollister hurt his back and is day to day

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Stevenson grabbed a deep ball from Fromm where he got good separation. If he keeps doing that, it's gonna be hard to try to hide him on the PS.

 

I can always be wrong, I often am, but it seems to me that Bills fans often overstate the desires of other teams to poach our late round and UDFA draft picks.  Didn't we go through this with Foster in 2018 where he was SO FAST and made those impressive downfield catches, he couldn't possibly be cut and put on the practice squad because other teams would immediately poach him off waivers?

 

Stevenson was drafted with pick 203, meaning other teams passed on Stevenson at least 5x, either because they liked their WR rooms or because they had other WR in the draft they graded higher.  Many of those teams will be cutting WR who are already familiar with their systems, whom they'd just as soon keep.

 

If Stevenson shows improved release and route running skills during preseason and seems to have mastered the playbook, or if he is the clear winner of a KR/PR battle, he'll make the roster, and deserve it.  But I don't think we have room for a "deep ball" specialist on the roster and while Lance Zierlein is far from infalliable, I find myself rereading his scouting reports a couple years later and nodding with fair frequency.  When he describes a guy as "needing to match his play speed with his true speed" and "lacking the ball tracking and physicality to win contested catches as an outside receiver", the practice squad sounds like a great place for the guy.

 

[billybrew1]

26 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Yeah, it's gonna be tough to choose who rounds out the group. It really depends on how Stevenson and Hodgins progress through camp/preseason.

 

Stevenson grabbed a deep ball from Fromm where he got good separation. If he keeps doing that, it's gonna be hard to try to hide him on the PS.

Stevenson is going to fall victim to an unfortunate accident fairly soon.....

[Royale with Cheese]

I thought Allen’s best throw was the sideline route to Beasley in the Rams game.  Fitted it perfectly over the top of the corner and in front of the safety….on a rope!

[Hapless Bills Fan]

11 minutes ago, CorkScrewHill said:

Parrino reported that Jacob Hollister hurt his back and is day to day

 

Oh, man!  Tough development for him.

 

Injuries seemed like they really hampered his chances with the Patriots in 2018 and perhaps led to him being traded to Seattle.  He stayed available in 2019 and 2020.  Hopefully something he can recover from quickly.

 

 

 

In other developments....it appears the Bills are not happy with the plethora of OLmen they already have on the roster, as they have just signed two more

 

[billybrew1]

Could Mitch Tribusky become a brand new type of QB in the NFL?

 

More of a 1-B so we remove wear and tear and avoid injury to our #1?

 

I mean things like mopping up games a little earlier than in the past or possibly giving him starts vs. the jets and Falcons at the end of the year?

 

Maybe?

 

Josh took a lot of hits mopping up Miami, etc..... I think Mitch could do that (mop up the fish) .

 

Yes, it sez here we sweep the East once again. Our competition is much better especially in NE and Miami but we are much more mature and prepared to handle upstarts missing key components.... (see: QB). I think the Bills are ALSO better this year. Along the offensive and defensive lines particularly. On O, LG will be upgraded no matter who the starter is he will be better than last season. Our new(er) OL will also learn how to run block more effectively over the summer AND we are already superb pass blockers (could be better at LG).

[LeGOATski]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I can always be wrong, I often am, but it seems to me that Bills fans often overstate the desires of other teams to poach our late round and UDFA draft picks.  Didn't we go through this with Foster in 2018 where he was SO FAST and made those impressive downfield catches, he couldn't possibly be cut and put on the practice squad because other teams would immediately poach him off waivers?

 

Stevenson was drafted with pick 203, meaning other teams passed on Stevenson at least 5x, either because they liked their WR rooms or because they had other WR in the draft they graded higher.  Many of those teams will be cutting WR who are already familiar with their systems, whom they'd just as soon keep.

 

If Stevenson shows improved release and route running skills during preseason and seems to have mastered the playbook, or if he is the clear winner of a KR/PR battle, he'll make the roster, and deserve it.  But I don't think we have room for a "deep ball" specialist on the roster and while Lance Zierlein is far from infalliable, I find myself rereading his scouting reports a couple years later and nodding with fair frequency.  When he describes a guy as "needing to match his play speed with his true speed" and "lacking the ball tracking and physicality to win contested catches as an outside receiver", the practice squad sounds like a great place for the guy.

 

I probably am overvaluing him, but it's all speculative based on the best case scenario.

 

That part I bolded is where it gets tough. McKenzie, Kumerow, Hodgins, and Stevenson may all look roster-worthy by the end of preseason. And they all have different skill sets. In today's pass-happy league, a guy with Stevenson's skill set is at much greater risk of getting poached.