How would you construct the 2024 Bills WR Room?

[518Buffalo]

I'm firmly in the Packers model camp of adding WR talent through the draft. I would love to draft the best WR at 28 or even trade back into the 2nd, and then pick up another in the 4th to compete with Shorter for the last active roster spot. I wouldn't be opposed to Beane getting aggressive if there's a guy he really likes and he's only giving up one of our first or MIN 2nd next year, but with the roster retool we just went through the focus should be on maximizing Josh's 2nd window which to me means putting rookie-scale WRs around him. I think even without a true #1 next year, between Kincaid/Shakir/Samuel/Cook/rookie WR there is solid enough depth for Josh to work with if he can perform at the level we expect him to. I mean hell Mahomes just won 2 SBs without a top WR.

 

Shakir

Samuel

1st or 2nd round WR

Hollins

4th round WR

Shorter/Isabella

 

 

[boyst]

8 minutes ago, 518Buffalo said:

I'm firmly in the Packers model camp of adding WR talent through the draft. I would love to draft the best WR at 28 or even trade back into the 2nd, and then pick up another in the 4th to compete with Shorter for the last active roster spot. I wouldn't be opposed to Beane getting aggressive if there's a guy he really likes and he's only giving up one of our first or MIN 2nd next year, but with the roster retool we just went through the focus should be on maximizing Josh's 2nd window which to me means putting rookie-scale WRs around him. I think even without a true #1 next year, between Kincaid/Shakir/Samuel/Cook/rookie WR there is solid enough depth for Josh to work with if he can perform at the level we expect him to. I mean hell Mahomes just won 2 SBs without a top WR.

 

Shakir

Samuel

1st or 2nd round WR

Hollins

4th round WR

Shorter/Isabella

 

 

Packers don't reach for WR. They let them come to them. And usually not in the first round. They grab a few and let them develop. Their offense is different than ours. 

 

At the same time I want a versatile WR if we need to change OC's we aren't stuck with one who can only fit one mould. 

[Lost]

If I'm GM, I'm targeting either Adonai Mitchell or Brian Thomas Jr.   Will start considering moving up for Thomas if he slips past pick 16 or also moving up a few spots for Mitchel once Thomas is off the board.   If we can sit back and land Mitchel at 28 without moving up, I'm using one of our 4th rd picks on WR too.

 

WR group

 

Mitchell/Thomas

Samuel

Shakir

Hollins

Shorter

4th Rd Pick

 

[Dillenger4]

The most realistic approach is the one the media is pushing and I agree 100%:

Beane will not sell the farm to move up. Can't afford to.

 

Ayouk (trade with SF - #28, next years Bills #2, we keep Minn #2).

Shakir

Samuel

Hollins

4th round WR

Shorter/Isabella

[TPS]

2 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Lol, it’s a different world than it was in 2014. The salary cap in 2014 was $133M. The top 10 highest cap hits for a wr in 2014 averaged $12m or 9% of the salary cap. So basically, the teams with the highest paid guys paid them 9% of the cap. In 2024, they average over $26M and 10.3% of the cap. That is BEFORE Jefferson and Chase sign their extensions. That number will be roughly 12% when they do. We need to STOP comparing situations to different generations. For perspective 3% of the current cap is almost $8m of cap space. What happened at WR in 2014 is not comparable to 2024.
 

It's not the cap that did him in.  He gambled on Watkins and (eventually) lost.  For Many reasons of course.

That said, I'd be more supportive of a move like this with last year's roster vs the current one, which is in the middle of a rolling reboot. 

I could be convinced to get behind your move though. There's more than one way to get to the big dance.

[Warriorspikes51]

1 minute ago, Dillenger4 said:

The most realistic approach is the one the media is pushing and I agree 100%:

Beane will not sell the farm to move up. Can't afford to.

 

Ayouk (trade with SF - #28, next years Bills #2, we keep Minn #2).

Shakir

Samuel

Hollins

4th round WR

Shorter/Isabella

 

You say we can't afford to sell the farm?....yet we can afford to straight up trade 28 and a high pick next year?  + pay Aiyuk 28 million a year

Why can't we trade 28 and a 2nd next year to move up to 17-19 ?   

 

[The Jokeman]

Let the draft playout, I'd prefer to keep most of our picks or if trade up do so in later rounds vs early because we need more than just a WR to come out of this draft. I'd also like a possible Edge rusher, a DT and a Safety and maybe not this order. Then after June 1st when we get our Tre White money back see if any veterans are available for a picks in 2025 (see Higgins or Ayiuk). 

4 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

You say we can't afford to sell the farm?....yet we can afford to straight up trade 28 and a high pick next year?  + pay Aiyuk 28 million a year

Why can't we trade 28 and a 2nd next year to move up to 17-19 ?   

 

The top 2 WRs taken in the 2023 draft were Quinton Johnston and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, guess what? they got out performed by guys taken after them in Jordan Addison and Zay Flowers, aka just because you draft a guy earlier doesn't necessarily make them better. Toss in think it safe to assume that Aiyuk would likely out perform a rookie. 

[Dillenger4]

8 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

You say we can't afford to sell the farm?....yet we can afford to straight up trade 28 and a high pick next year?  + pay Aiyuk 28 million a year

Why can't we trade 28 and a 2nd next year to move up to 17-19 ?   

 

We can but 17-19 gets you what? A hope.

Ayouk isn't 28 million btw.

And clearly you missed the part that we keep our draft in place this year.

[Kirby Jackson]

20 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

The most realistic approach is the one the media is pushing and I agree 100%:

Beane will not sell the farm to move up. Can't afford to.

 

Ayouk (trade with SF - #28, next years Bills #2, we keep Minn #2).

Shakir

Samuel

Hollins

4th round WR

Shorter/Isabella

This is another possible angle. They can give Ayiuk the Diggs money.

[Dillenger4]

2 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

This is another possible angle. They can give Ayiuk the Diggs money.

They are talking about in right now on NFLN, saying Ayouk camp is interested and his "deal" is more palliative than people think.

Just now, Dillenger4 said:

They are talking about in right now on NFLN, saying Ayouk camp is interested and his "deal" is more palliative than people think.

This goes down by tomorrow. Go Beaner!

[FireChans]

4 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Now that the dust has settled, how would you construct the WR room moving forward? Lay out the 6 or 7 WRs that you believe will comprise the WR room. For anyone not currently on the roster, lay out how they were acquired. There is a lot of talk in other threads about draft taargets, trade targets, guys left in FA. This is meant to talk about ALL of the WRs. Please do not use this as a place to say that we think Kincaid will see the ball more. That’s common sense. Let’s keep this strictly to WRs. How would you build out this room if you were Brandon Beane?

 

WR room:

- MHJ (Bills trade: pick 28, pick 133, 2025 1st, Minnesota 2025 2nd, Bills 2025 4th) (Arizona trades pick 4) 

- Khalil Shakir

- Curtis Samuel

- Michael Thomas (1 year $8M deal post June 1)

- Jermaine Burton (pick 128)

- Mack Hollins

 

PS (2 or 3 of):

- Shorter

- Isabella

- Shavers

- UDFA

 

We are pushing the chips in on a generational talent in MHJ. The Bills get an alpha, that has complete skills, HOF pedigree, on a rookie deal. 
 

It was hard to find the appropriate value for Arizona but if they think the Bills take a small step back & Minnesota a step back, the value is there. Those picks could be like picks 20 & 38 in 2025. Along with the mid round assets, it gets done. The Bills pay a hefty price but WRs aren’t cheap anymore.

Shakir and Samuel are sort of interchangeable in my mind. They can play inside, outside and run after the catch. Samuel will be used more for gadgets and running plays but they’re both dangerous with the ball in their hands.

 

The Bills get Thomas on a prove it deal. He’s battled injuries for a while but was once great. The “slant god” gives Allen a reliable, big body target, that can help on possession downs and in the red zone. If it works out, and he stays healthy, the Bills could consider bringing him back. If not, they move on in 2025.

 

Burton goes to the Bills in the mid rounds. I haven’t been a huge fan of his through the draft process. There are some character concerns. He isn’t a guy that I’ve taken often while doing mocks, but just feels like the right fit to take the top off the defense here. His long speed fits well with this group. He’s been a really good deep ball guy and the Bills need that.

 

Hollins is a ST guy and has been okay when targeted. He’s a rich man’s Kumerow.

 

2025 FA class is absolutely loaded at WR (at least at this point). The Bills can decide to chase a big fish (ie Jefferson, Higgins, etc..) if they so choose. The above group should be enough to be competitive in 2024.

 

To conclude: The Bills give up a lot of assets to get Harrison but immediately fill the top of their depth chart on a rookie deal. They add Thomas and Burton to add a couple of different skill sets to the roster. Overall the group has some balance and a true difference maker. 
 

How would you build the room out?

 

 

Is there anything more maddeningly consistent that the NOLA boys @Kirby Jackson and @NoSaint being in love with making can’t guard Michael Thomas a thing?

 

2019 was a long time ago. Dude was molasses then. Now he’s geriatric.

[eball]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Or for you @Kirby Jackson is it Harrison or take your chances at #28 / smaller non future 1st trade up into early 20s?

 

I know you asked @Kirby Jackson, but for me it's MJH or stay put and do some finagling to double dip on WRs.

 

[Kirby Jackson]

26 minutes ago, TPS said:

It's not the cap that did him in.  He gambled on Watkins and (eventually) lost.  For Many reasons of course.

That said, I'd be more supportive of a move like this with last year's roster vs the current one, which is in the middle of a rolling reboot. 

I could be convinced to get behind your move though. There's more than one way to get to the big dance.

But if he said “Mike Evans” instead, he won. That’s why I specifically chose Harrison of the 3. He’s the least likely to disappoint IMO. At the end of the day, he will be, at worst, a 1100 yard guy with 8 TDs. 

[boyst]

4 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

They are talking about in right now on NFLN, saying Ayouk camp is interested and his "deal" is more palliative than people think.

This goes down by tomorrow. Go Beaner!

a lot of comments on internets saying it'd be a our #28 plus a 4th this year or 3rd next year.... makes me wonder

[78thealltimegreat]

I’d call the niners about Brandon Ayuk and ask if they want that 2025 second for him.

Id see if it was realistic to get into the top 20 without going nuts to see if they could grab Brian Thomas or Adoni Mitchell. 

Id then turn around and comeback at WR in round 4 if a guy like Roman Wilson fell

Giving me

Ayuk

Shakir

Samuel

Thomas

Wilson 

Hollins 

that’s pretty damn good and still leaves you with enough Capitol to take care of other needs on defense and a couple young oline prospects for Kromer to groom 

[GunnerBill]

10 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

They are talking about in right now on NFLN, saying Ayouk camp is interested and his "deal" is more palliative than people think.

This goes down by tomorrow. Go Beaner!

 

It can't go down by tomorrow. Aiyuk is on a 5th year option at $14m. That means to trade for him we'd need to be able to absorb that contract (even if we then immediately extend him and lower the hit) and we can't. We can't extend him until he is on our roster. He can't be on our roster unless we can absorb the current contract. 

 

Could he do a 1 year extension with SF, to lower his hit to nothing this year on the basis he has a gentleman's agreement that the Bills would immediately re-do that deal again? Possible, but unlikely. 

Edited April 4 by GunnerBill

[wppete]

I have a feeling Beane will trade up for a WR in the 1st round and Dawson Knox will be included in the trade. I really hope its for Nabers. 

[gonzo1105]

Just now, wppete said:

I have a feeling Beane will trade up for a WR in the 1st round and Dawson Knox will be included in the trade. I really hope its for Nabers. 

Dawson Knox just took a big pay-cut. That’s very bad business to have a guy take a massive pay-cut and then trade them. That’s something players remember and talk about to other players. 
 

11 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

It can't go down by tomorrow. Aiyuk is on a 5th year option at $14m. That means to trade for him we'd need to be able to absorb that contract (even if we then immediately extend him and lower the hit) and we can't. We can't extend him until he is on our roster. He can't be on our roster unless we can absorb the current contract. 

 

Could he do a 1 year extension with SF, to lower his hit to nothing this year on the basis he has a gentleman's agreement that the Bills would immediately re-do that deal again? Possible, but unlikely. 

I also don’t think they’re interested in adding another massive WR 1 contract right now unless they miss out on the draft targets they want. I think they want two cheap WR contracts first and only add another 20 million dollar guy if it doesn’t work out in the draft. 

[MJS]

Too rich for me. The only position you should get crazy like that is QB, in my opinion. I wouldn't mind a trade up into the 15 to 20 range. But I think it is reckless and irresponsible to trade up into the top 10, especially when it is so important for the Bills to draft well over the next couple of years.

[Warriorspikes51]

30 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

They are talking about in right now on NFLN, saying Ayouk camp is interested and his "deal" is more palliative than people think.

This goes down by tomorrow. Go Beaner!

 

Aiyuk camp is interested in what?