Why hasn't the Samuel signing worked?

[billsfan89]

I think the turf toe injury really got him off to a slow start and then with the addition of Cooper and the emergence of Coleman on the outside and Shakir in the slot Samuel is now WR4 despite now being a lot healthier. And as you saw in the KC game when they do need him he's now healthy and has produced a lot better. You can play through turf toe but in order to be 100% you need several weeks worth of true rest in most cases. I think Samuel getting a week off in week 7 plus a bye week has led to him finally getting a lot closer to 100%. He had a really nice game against KC when Kincaid/Coleman were out and Cooper was hurt. 

 

He's a good luxury and depth player to have as a WR4. He can be a true supped up gadget player which is pretty big. 

[Sojourner]

27 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

To quote @Beast, the book ain’t closed at all. 

Still early days. 

Early days? Don’t think he’s getting 300-500 yards in the next 3 games lol

[NoName]

Samuel looked good in one game earlier in the season.  I think more than anything, he has been the odd man out.  I think he if we were really banged up again and he we had to start him and rely on him, he would have solid production.  As in 3-5 catches, 50-70 yards.  I think of him as an overpaid #4 receiver.

[DCofNC]

3 hours ago, T.E. said:

He was always a slightly-above average player who was constantly hurt with Carolina and especially Washington. Seemed like a panic signing just to get a veteran wideout on the roster.

I don’t think it was a panic thing, they could have gone him or Hollywood Brown, both have flashed in the past and both came “cheap”.  I think they genuinely didn’t think they needed anybody to take the outside role/stretch the D, which proved to be wrong.  Thankfully, Coleman came around as a decent outside threat, then they got Cooper ( who clearly is allergic to the football in this O), now it’s a numbers game and he doesn’t have Josh’s trust bc of missing so much time early and there are 6 guys in front of him for touches.

[GASabresIUFan]

3 hours ago, HOUSE said:

McD is hiding him on the roster hoping no team will notice. Obviously you did

Maybe Brady is saving the "Samuel" game for the playoffs like he did with Ty Johnson against Detroit.

27 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

Early days? Don’t think he’s getting 300-500 yards in the next 3 games lol

He will probably get more looks than he has all season as the coaching staff works to keep the starters healthy.

[GASabresIUFan]

18 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

I don’t think it was a panic thing, they could have gone him or Hollywood Brown, both have flashed in the past and both came “cheap”.  I think they genuinely didn’t think they needed anybody to take the outside role/stretch the D, which proved to be wrong.  Thankfully, Coleman came around as a decent outside threat, then they got Cooper ( who clearly is allergic to the football in this O), now it’s a numbers game and he doesn’t have Josh’s trust bc of missing so much time early and there are 6 guys in front of him for touches.

I didn't mention this in the OP, but I wonder is the original off-season plan was to have Samuel play the slot and move Shakir to Diggs' job.  Shakir has developed into a great slot, but his combine numbers and physical traits are nearly identical to Diggs including height weight with Shakir being slightly faster.  However, once MVS, Claypool and Samuel got hurt in camp, the plan changed and Shakir moved back into the slot to give Josh a go to safety net. 

[JohnNord]

3 hours ago, Jerry Jabber said:

Samuel has been dealing with foot issues all season long. 

 

That is not true .  He was battling turf toe very early in the season and recovered.   He had no injury diagnosis and was at full health.

A few weeks ago he hurt his shoulder and might have reactivated it again on Sunday.

 

So yeah injuries have slowed him a bit but not the same one 

2 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

Right.  Turf toe injuries just linger like the scent of a dead woodchuck under the porch.

I that injury is much overstated. 

[skibum]

Because the Bills are so stacked that even proven players like Samuel can't get snaps. 

[thenorthremembers]

Gonna go out on a limb and say he just may not be that good.   He has some name recognition from being a former 2nd round pick but even in his best year he had 77 receptions, 851 yards and 3 touchdowns.

 

He's going on 29 years old and has never eclipsed 1000 yards in a season, and rarely been over 11 yards a reception.     I think the Bills probably thought they could get more out of him playing with a great quarterback.  The likelihood is they overpaid for potential and will have to live with it through next season.

Edited December 18 by thenorthremembers

[DCofNC]

48 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

I didn't mention this in the OP, but I wonder is the original off-season plan was to have Samuel play the slot and move Shakir to Diggs' job.  Shakir has developed into a great slot, but his combine numbers and physical traits are nearly identical to Diggs including height weight with Shakir being slightly faster.  However, once MVS, Claypool and Samuel got hurt in camp, the plan changed and Shakir moved back into the slot to give Josh a go to safety net. 

Plausible explanation, I would actually think Shakir would be more likely to be pressed outside based on the team needs through camp. 

[BigAl2526]

The Bills seem to have pigeon holed Samuel into the role of a gadget player, but the one game in which he made a significant positive contribution to the offense was the game where the Bills were very shorthanded at WR.  This forced Buffalo to play Samuel in more of a traditional receiver role.

Edited December 19 by BigAl2526

[Mat68]

Preseason injury.  Kept him out of the lineup early.  Left him out of the game plan later.   

[Riverboat Ritchie]

5 hours ago, mushypeaches said:

I think the main reason is that Samuel has lost a good part of the speed element that made him unique.  Without that, he’s not awfully useful in this offense

Agree. I think he is still hurt also to a degree. I’ve never had it but I believe turf toe is one of those lingering injuries.  

[NoSaint]

5 hours ago, WotAGuy said:

Didn’t he get a 3-year deal?  Wonder if they will keep him or let him go. It seems like he is a poor fit for what they are doing because when he does get a target, it’s seldom downfield. 

if nothing else, shocked he’s not seeing some of those Ty Johnson/James cook/shakir looks out of the backfield that go downfield 

1 hour ago, thenorthremembers said:

Gonna go out on a limb and say he just may not be that good.   He has some name recognition from being a former 2nd round pick but even in his best year he had 77 receptions, 851 yards and 3 touchdowns.

 

He's going on 29 years old and has never eclipsed 1000 yards in a season, and rarely been over 11 yards a reception.     I think the Bills probably thought they could get more out of him playing with a great quarterback.  The likelihood is they overpaid for potential and will have to live with it through next season.

yea, but there’s still a pretty large gap to that low ceiling even if you believe it’s the ceiling. 

[gonzo1105]

I think he's got the turf toe thats been bugging him all year and that zaps his speed like others have said which is his main strength. He is also rather injury prone his whole career so I'm not sure how much that changes in the future. We have a lot of different weapons that we seem to utilize and it seems like he has kind of fallen out of favor for injury or otherwise.

 

He will be a Buffalo Bill next year as his contract really cant be gotten out of until 2026. Even at post June 1st next year is out of the question. We're stuck with him for another year hopefully they can find a better way to utilize him.

 

I think the renegotiation of Allen's contract will be good reason to free up  cash for next year because there are not a lot of contracts that are easy to get out of without taking a hit so lowering Allen's cap hit is the easiest way to do that and extending him also makes a ton of sense.

[L Ron Burgundy]

Saving him for the playoffs!!!!

 

No chemistry for some reason. 

[Jerry Jabber]

9 hours ago, JohnNord said:

 

That is not true .  He was battling turf toe very early in the season and recovered.   He had no injury diagnosis and was at full health.

A few weeks ago he hurt his shoulder and might have reactivated it again on Sunday.

 

So yeah injuries have slowed him a bit but not the same one 

I that injury is much overstated. 

According to Sal C. from WGR550, his foot/toe have been hindering Samuel for a majority of the season. This topic has been brought up numerous time on WGR550.

[Steptide]

Personally, I think they haven't figured out how to utilize him yet. I think he'd be great on jet sweeps and plays like that. 

[dave mcbride]

10 hours ago, Sojourner said:

Early days? Don’t think he’s getting 300-500 yards in the next 3 games lol

3 year contract.

[Doc]

15 minutes ago, Jerry Jabber said:

According to Sal C. from WGR550, his foot/toe have been hindering Samuel for a majority of the season. This topic has been brought up numerous time on WGR550.

 

This.  Hopefully they sit him for the remainder of the regular season now that the rest of the WR room is more or less healthy.