Sammy Watkins/Mike Evans Saga

[Albany,n.y.]

Let's stop with the no Sammy, no Josh stuff.  The Bills were originally going to trade picks 12 & 22 & a 2nd to Denver for the 5th pick.  If Tampa had demanded the same trade, does anyone really believe that the Bills would have risked losing Josh?  I don't. 

[Brand J]

10 hours ago, Kaenon said:

No, Von went #2 to Denver after Cam and we picked 3rd.

 

I've watched some Von videos prior to him signing with Buffalo and he talked about thinking he was going to be a Bill leading up to the draft until he got the call from Denver.

😢

Haloti Ngata said the same. He was convinced he’d be a Buffalo Bill and was hurt when they passed on him. 

[EasternOHBillsFan]

12 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Yes, this is hindsight and discussed ad nauseum, but here we are, 11 seasons later and that decision continues to linger.

 

They traded up to draft Watkins when they could’ve stayed where they were and taken Evans.  Sammy has been out of the league for 2 seasons now while Evans continues to put up 1,000 yard seasons with double digit touchdowns.

 

What could’ve been!

 

Are you familiar with the quarterbacks we started from 2014-2017?

 

2014    Kyle Orton (12) / EJ Manuel (4)
2015    Tyrod Taylor (13) / EJ Manuel (2) / Matt Cassel (1)
2016    Tyrod Taylor (15) / EJ Manuel (1)
2017    Tyrod Taylor (14) / Nathan Peterman (2)

 

In what universe would a receiver thrive having them as QBs??? He would have signed somewhere else for sure.

[peterpan]

Cameron Heyward is still playing at an all pro level for the Steelers.  JJ watt and Cam Jordan also taken after Darius.  How long ago was Darius cut from this team? Lots of old draft mistakes still hurt.

[The Jokeman]

10 hours ago, US Egg said:

Why is it that only the Bills miss on draft picks?

They don't but we as Bills fans over dramatize our hits. Look at Miami imagine passing on Hebert and taking Tua 😆

[The Jokeman]

27 minutes ago, peterpan said:

Cameron Heyward is still playing at an all pro level for the Steelers.  JJ watt and Cam Jordan also taken after Darius.  How long ago was Darius cut from this team? Lots of old draft mistakes still hurt.

Dareus was traded to the Jags which became Wyatt Teller that helped us get Diggs and then got us the Vikings 2nd in 2025.

[Straight Hucklebuck]

13 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Yes, this is hindsight and discussed ad nauseum, but here we are, 11 seasons later and that decision continues to linger.

 

They traded up to draft Watkins when they could’ve stayed where they were and taken Evans.  Sammy has been out of the league for 2 seasons now while Evans continues to put up 1,000 yard seasons with double digit touchdowns.

 

What could’ve been!

Khalil Mack from UB.

 

Could have added him to an already loaded defense. 

[djp14150]

We could have drafted devonte Adams….

[Freddie's Dead]

 

[Comebackkid]

15 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

Confucious say one who look ever backwards is bound to run into things.

not if your walking backwards 😃

[Chicken Boo]

Sammy had the goods.  I'd love to know how he interviewed.  Were there signs that he wasn't all the way in on football?

[BillsFanForever19]

8 hours ago, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

Are you familiar with the quarterbacks we started from 2014-2017?

 

2014    Kyle Orton (12) / EJ Manuel (4)
2015    Tyrod Taylor (13) / EJ Manuel (2) / Matt Cassel (1)
2016    Tyrod Taylor (15) / EJ Manuel (1)
2017    Tyrod Taylor (14) / Nathan Peterman (2)

 

In what universe would a receiver thrive having them as QBs??? He would have signed somewhere else for sure.

 

Beyond Evans being here something that would never happen without hindsight or a time machine - there's this as well.

 

If we Drafted Mike Evans - he wouldn't be here today. He'd have floundered having to work with the EJ Manuel, Kyle Orton, and Tyrod Taylor. We probably wouldn't have even been as good as Tampa Bay was when they had Evans with Jameis as QB.

 

And when Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott came in? He'd have been traded as part of the rebuild just as Sammy Watkins had.

 

As good as Mike Evans is, he wouldn't have made EJ Manuel or Tyrod Taylor a Franchise QB. He wouldn't have turned the Offense into something so powerful that we'd have overcame all the other inadequacies across the team - that led to the rebuild and us trading away what little valuable assets we had.

Edited January 9 by BillsFanForever19

[LABILLBACKER]

17 hours ago, Fixxxer said:

That year, my  saga would have ended pairing up Kyle Williams with Aaron Donald....

Could you imagine having Donald in 2020 and 2021 going up against KC in the playoffs?  Might have brought some bling to Buffalo?

[Richard Noggin]

17 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

So you’re saying it was the nazis who attacked Pearl Harbor? 😉

 

[BobbyC81]

On 1/8/2025 at 5:20 AM, dave mcbride said:

That analogy doesn't work because Evans was drafted before the Bills’ original pick. The whole premise of this thread is based on an incorrect memory of the original draft order.

Hey, I’m getting old.  Memory isn’t what it used to be.

 

What were we talking about again?

[JGMcD2]

On 1/8/2025 at 7:56 PM, peterpan said:

Cameron Heyward is still playing at an all pro level for the Steelers.  JJ watt and Cam Jordan also taken after Darius.  How long ago was Darius cut from this team? Lots of old draft mistakes still hurt.

You’re right… teams should just get their crystal ball out each draft and ask it to make the pick. 

[GunnerBill]

11 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

You’re right… teams should just get their crystal ball out each draft and ask it to make the pick. 

 

There are some picks that yo can legitimately at the time question for the strategic thinking behind them. There are others where hindsight simply demonstrates you took the wrong player.

 

I don't profess to be an expert in what the view of Dareus was at the time I was still in 2011 just someone who tuned in to day 1 of the draft as a spectator rather than a draft nerd but my memory is he was seen as an absolute blue chip prospect and until the train really got rolling with Cam Newton later in the year there was even some talk he could be the 1st overall pick. So I don't think strategically that was a mistake that you can call the team out on. Whether they ought to have known more about Dareus's personality at the time is a fair question, definitely a fair question before Whaley extended him, but leaving that aside and focussing just on the prospect talent level, in terms of taking him ahead of JJ Watt etc... sure hindsight proves that was wrong but I think most teams at that spot would have done the same thing. 

[oldmanfan]

Every team in the league can point to picks they should and shouldn’t have made.

[BobbyC81]

On 1/10/2025 at 4:19 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

There are some picks that yo can legitimately at the time question for the strategic thinking behind them. There are others where hindsight simply demonstrates you took the wrong player.

 

I don't profess to be an expert in what the view of Dareus was at the time I was still in 2011 just someone who tuned in to day 1 of the draft as a spectator rather than a draft nerd but my memory is he was seen as an absolute blue chip prospect and until the train really got rolling with Cam Newton later in the year there was even some talk he could be the 1st overall pick. So I don't think strategically that was a mistake that you can call the team out on. Whether they ought to have known more about Dareus's personality at the time is a fair question, definitely a fair question before Whaley extended him, but leaving that aside and focussing just on the prospect talent level, in terms of taking him ahead of JJ Watt etc... sure hindsight proves that was wrong but I think most teams at that spot would have done the same thing. 

The pick of CJ Spiller was dumb, as was deciding to pick a QB (EJ Manuel) in the draft with arguably the worst QB class of this Millenium.  

[Dan Darragh]

On 1/8/2025 at 2:20 PM, BobbyC81 said:

What could’ve been!

EJ would be in Canton

Edited January 13 by Dan Darragh