Most talented player in Bills franchise history?

[Kirby Jackson]

6 minutes ago, Richard Noggin said:

"Talent" doesn't need extra time to be assessed. "Talent" is innate. Skills and traits, and therefore efficacy/success can be improved, but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with talent. On one hand, we can see talent defined narrowly and assessed quickly. Thus, we'd already know how Josh Allen rates against Bruce Smith, strictly with respect to "talent." 

 

Except that...more talented people have more potential for improvement (the whole "high ceiling" thing). So asking for more time to see if Allen surpasses Bruce isn't really wrong at all. And also, wtf do we mean by "talent" anyway? Obviously RAS is a big part of it, but there are many other traits and gifts and abilities that are more complicated to quantify. And the whole notion of a player's potential, or ceiling, versus floor, or bust-ability, adds layers of subjectivity and projection.

I think that someone quantified it well earlier. They used the “5 tool” example for a baseball player. RAS is a big part of it. It’s the ability to do things that others cannot physically do. It does not mean that you do it regularly. For example, Josh Allen, can do certain things that very few QBs ever could do. He is not one of the best QBs ever (at least at this point). 
 

The Thurman example is a good one. There aren’t many things that he did that most other NFL backs can’t do. He did them more consistently. That’s why he’s in the HOF. OJ, Allen, Bruce and a few others COULD make certain plays that very few other NFL players are capable of making. 

[Richard Noggin]

27 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Thurman is one of my favorite Bills everZ he was great. I’m shocked to see so many people listing him among “the most talented players in franchise history.” He was a 1nd round pick for a reason. He wasn’t fast. He wasn’t big. He was really smart and versatile. He would be on the short list of people that “did more with less” than anyone else.

 

I don’t know how accurate this is but he was a “meh” athlete. His 40 time is faster than I would have thought but he didn’t play at that speed.

 

https://nflcombineresults.com/playerpage.php?i=26190

 

While I agree that Thurman is not widely celebrated as an elite physical specimen, I will disagree that "he didn't play at that (4.47 40) speed." Go back and watch the first half of his career at least...dude was deceptively fast. I wonder if Thomas was underrated in college in the eyes of many due to his junior year ACL injury (is my memory correct: did he elect NOT to have it surgically repaired?) in an era where that was considered potentially career-threatening, as well as being the guy who kept the prodigious talents of Barry Sanders on the sideline.

 

I think maybe also he visibly lost a half step by the end of the SB runs? Noteworthy that hIs Y/A dropped more than a full yard (and stayed that way for years) after the 3rd Superbowl season.