This years STer that has no business playing on O/D

[Mark Vader]

5 hours ago, mrags said:

Careful. There’s too many special teams apologists here. I’m with you, unless you’re signing Dante Hall, or Devin Hester, there’s zero reason to sign anyone specific to special teams. EVER. But way too many ppl here think we’re crazy 

Who on the Bills team was signed or drafted to be a special teams only player?

[mrags]

7 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Who on the Bills team was signed or drafted to be a special teams only player?

Don’t even go there mark. This coaching staff is notorious for their STs players. 

[Mark Vader]

1 hour ago, mrags said:

Don’t even go there mark. This coaching staff is notorious for their STs players. 

?

[RoyBatty is alive]

16 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Who on the Bills team was signed or drafted to be a special teams only player?

Although I think the premise of this entire thread is ridiculous they did draft Daequan Hardy who is really a return specialist, he is too short to be an NFL starting  Conerback, in an emergency he could play defense.

[GunnerBill]

On 6/21/2024 at 4:55 PM, mrags said:

Careful. There’s too many special teams apologists here. I’m with you, unless you’re signing Dante Hall, or Devin Hester, there’s zero reason to sign anyone specific to special teams. EVER. But way too many ppl here think we’re crazy 

 

Not crazy. Just wrong.

[Rocky Landing]

6 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Although I think the premise of this entire thread is ridiculous they did draft Daequan Hardy who is really a return specialist, he is too short to be an NFL starting  Conerback, in an emergency he could play defense.

I think he has the potential to be a decent NCB.

[Beck Water]

23 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Who on the Bills team was signed or drafted to be a special teams only player?

 

It would be fair to say Tyler Matakevich was signed because ST coach Heath Farwell wanted him - though to be fair when he was younger he was a decent conventional LB

 

Taiwan Jones was signed for his ST chops

Andre Roberts was signed as a return specialist

 

I'm probably missing a couple, but those are the primary that come to mind.

 

[Beck Water]

On 6/21/2024 at 4:55 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

Yes, Jones and Matakevich are the two we have had who really had no role other than teams. Otherwise Kumerow, Lewis, Neal, Sherfield etc have all had roles as backups.

 

Eh, back in 2020 and 2021 when he was 28, 29 yrs old, Matakevich saw snaps as a backup LB and he did OK.  Pretty well in one game actually, though that may have been against a Dolphins team that was looking for the bus.  Thing is, he had to play in Overdrive the whole game to make that work, and it was pretty clear last year if not before he could no longer do that.

[Mark Vader]

11 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Although I think the premise of this entire thread is ridiculous they did draft Daequan Hardy who is really a return specialist, he is too short to be an NFL starting  Conerback, in an emergency he could play defense.

See that @mrags? @RoyBatty is alive gave an actual answer to my question.

4 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

It would be fair to say Tyler Matakevich was signed because ST coach Heath Farwell wanted him - though to be fair when he was younger he was a decent conventional LB

 

Taiwan Jones was signed for his ST chops

Andre Roberts was signed as a return specialist

 

I'm probably missing a couple, but those are the primary that come to mind.

 

I was referring to who the Bills signed or drafted THIS year.

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, Mark Vader said:

See that @mrags? @RoyBatty is alive gave an actual answer to my question.

I was referring to who the Bills signed or drafted THIS year.

Mack attack

[mrags]

2 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

See that @mrags? @RoyBatty is alive gave an actual answer to my question.

I was referring to who the Bills signed or drafted THIS year.

Yeah I was at work for 16 hours today without use of my phone. There’s no need to answer the question. McDermott lives his ST aces. He’s proved that over the years. While he doesn’t specifically draft guys to play special teams, he definitely has it in mind when taking certain players. In both draft and FA. 
 

im not arguing with you about it because it sounds like you’re one of the apologists I’ve talked about. Have a good night. 

[Beck Water]

2 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

See that @mrags? @RoyBatty is alive gave an actual answer to my question.

I was referring to who the Bills signed or drafted THIS year.

 

Oh.  Well, nominally Daequan Hardy.  In his post draft presser, Beane said something about thinking "why not look at a returner?" before taking him near the bottom of the 6th round, so I think it's fair to say that's primarily how the Bills see him.  

 

Though it's worth noting that he played Nickel, and our backup nickel (Siran Neal) is no longer with us, so I'm sure the Bills hope Hardy can grow into that role

[Beck Water]

14 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Although I think the premise of this entire thread is ridiculous they did draft Daequan Hardy who is really a return specialist, he is too short to be an NFL starting  Conerback, in an emergency he could play defense.

 

Mike Hilton (Bengals nickel, developed by Steelers) is 5'9".  

Kader Kohou, who was made to look foolish by Diggs but actually made a list of top slot corners and did ok overall, is 5'10"

 

 

 

 

[Mike in Horseheads]

22 minutes ago, mrags said:

Yeah I was at work for 16 hours today without use of my phone. There’s no need to answer the question. McDermott lives his ST aces. He’s proved that over the years. While he doesn’t specifically draft guys to play special teams, he definitely has it in mind when taking certain players. In both draft and FA. 
 

im not arguing with you about it because it sounds like you’re one of the apologists I’ve talked about. Have a good night. 

Forget to take your phone with ya? Or not allowed in the Big Hiouse

[Mark Vader]

55 minutes ago, mrags said:

Yeah I was at work for 16 hours today without use of my phone. There’s no need to answer the question. McDermott lives his ST aces. He’s proved that over the years. While he doesn’t specifically draft guys to play special teams, he definitely has it in mind when taking certain players. In both draft and FA. 
 

im not arguing with you about it because it sounds like you’re one of the apologists I’ve talked about. Have a good night. 

It's not about being an apologist, which I'm not.

[Sierra Foothills]

On 6/20/2024 at 3:55 PM, Jerome007 said:

With the new kickoff rules, the ST player profiles could be very different, yet punts remain the same. It'll be tricky to figure out. Coaches better be watching some tapes and be ready!

 

With regard to the new kickoff rules, there's no "tape" to watch and no other leagues using remotely similar rules.

 

Kickoffs are a great and vast unknown. People are imagining and hypothesizing about what they'll look like but no one actually knows.

 

On 6/21/2024 at 12:19 PM, RoyBatty is alive said:

Not to belabor this thread any more than necessary, if you want to b*tch about this then go ballistic that we spent our 2nd 6 the rd pick on Daequan Hardy, a small CB out of Penn State who is a mediocre CB but super fast spectacular return man an with the new NFL kickoff rules could be interesting but again our 2nd 6th rd pick.  Gunnerbill observation that the Bills and almost all the top teams in the NFL were in the top half of spending on special teams.

 

I agree with those who see potential for Hardy as a nickel back. But I also agree that he could be an excellent returner.

 

On 6/21/2024 at 5:31 PM, Mark Vader said:

Who on the Bills team was signed or drafted to be a special teams only player?

 

Aside from specialists (long snapper, kicker, punter, returns) there have been players as pointed out earlier but if you're confining it to this year, I think just Mack Hollins.

 

As has been pointed out upthread, with the cap crunch the luxury of allocating a high percentage of cap space to special teams is gone for the moment.

 

It'll be interesting to see how much McBeane allocate in future years or if they've modified their cap allocations permanently.

 

Edited June 23 by Sierra Foothills

[NoSaint]

8 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

Oh.  Well, nominally Daequan Hardy.  In his post draft presser, Beane said something about thinking "why not look at a returner?" before taking him near the bottom of the 6th round, so I think it's fair to say that's primarily how the Bills see him.  

 

Though it's worth noting that he played Nickel, and our backup nickel (Siran Neal) is no longer with us, so I'm sure the Bills hope Hardy can grow into that role

not to be dismissive but I think “maybe he could grow into CB5” is exactly the type of guy that mrags dislikes

 

at some point go get the CB5 and hope between about 25 athletes on the roster, one can develop into a capable returner

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, NoSaint said:

not to be dismissive but I think “maybe he could grow into CB5” is exactly the type of guy that mrags dislikes

 

at some point go get the CB5 and hope between about 25 athletes on the roster, one can develop into a capable returner

 

Oh, No argument.

 

The question was who did the Beane/McD Bills draft or sign in FA as a ST player, later clarified to "in the 2024 off season"

 

Daequan Hardy is one answer, with a "possibly" to the FA signing of Mack Hollins

 

My point was that there are a couple of Daequan-sized slot CB playing well in the league so while it's a long shot, it's theoretically possible and the Bills do have a need there with Neal's FA departure. 

It's not exactly stupid to draft a guy who might contribute on ST this season and whose college football position aligns with a roster hole he might develop to fill; teams draft late rounders with that profile all the time.  As a 6th round pick, Christian Benford contributed on D right away, but that's very much more the exception than the rule on a good team, MOST 5th round and later picks have no business playing on O or D their rookie year and need some development.

 

But yeah, he was 100% drafted for ST potential.  As a 6th rounder, though, even with roster churn, it's a long shot to make the team.  Last season we had no 6th rounder and 2 7th rounders, and neither made the final 53.  2022 6th rounders, one made the team one didn't and one was out of football for a year.

Edited June 23 by Beck Water

[akcash]

We should sign Deestroying as our punter and kick off specialist. Perfect fit.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

On 6/20/2024 at 2:41 PM, NewEra said:

It’s just an incognito “Mack Hollins- our WRs suck” thread. Don’t get it twisted 

 

I think Hollins is probably an upgrade over sherfield FWIW.  

 

I'm going to go with Hardy as PR/KR and ideally not playing a snap on defense.