Sammy Watkins/Mike Evans Saga

[jaybeezee]

People must realize something about playing in the frigid temps and winds and snow that Orchard Park offers. These players careers are cut short playing in these types of elements, not to mention many do not want to play in temperatures that OP offers. If you have ever had an injury (significant one) you would understand how much harder it is to heal in the cold than it is in warmer temps. Add that on top of also living in the cold during the season.

 

This is why building a dome was so crucial! Look at all of the city's that have similar temps... Cleveland (building a dome), Minny, Detroit, etc... They know that in order to attract players and fans alike, the new age is to have a dome where the elements and temps are controlled. 

 

I know for a fact that there have been many quality, game changing free agents that refused to come play for us, nit because of the city of Buffalo and the untrue statements about it being boring, but the #1 reason was they were not willing to risk their careers playing in our elements. Just look up several years ago, Hyde said that he recruited top flight FA's only for them to say "Naw, too cold up there".

[WotAGuy]

Thanks to Aaron Maybin, we now have Josh Allen. 

[bmur66]

I was hoping the Bills could land Evan’s as a free agent but TB wouldn’t let him get away.

[Bray Wyatt]

We could have had Haloti Ngata over Donte Whitner too!

[Rubes]

14 minutes ago, jaybeezee said:

People must realize something about playing in the frigid temps and winds and snow that Orchard Park offers. These players careers are cut short playing in these types of elements, not to mention many do not want to play in temperatures that OP offers. If you have ever had an injury (significant one) you would understand how much harder it is to heal in the cold than it is in warmer temps. Add that on top of also living in the cold during the season.

 

This is why building a dome was so crucial! Look at all of the city's that have similar temps... Cleveland (building a dome), Minny, Detroit, etc... They know that in order to attract players and fans alike, the new age is to have a dome where the elements and temps are controlled. 

 

I know for a fact that there have been many quality, game changing free agents that refused to come play for us, nit because of the city of Buffalo and the untrue statements about it being boring, but the #1 reason was they were not willing to risk their careers playing in our elements. Just look up several years ago, Hyde said that he recruited top flight FA's only for them to say "Naw, too cold up there".

 

Has the same been true for Pittsburgh and New England?

 

[jaybeezee]

Just now, Rubes said:

 

Has the same been true for Pittsburgh and New England?

 

Pittsburg gets 1/3 if even of the snow we get, and definitely run about 10% minimum warmer temps that we do. Same goes the NE. yes, they get cold in Boston, but not cold plus wind, plus 2-feet of snow on a consistent basis. Green Bay gets the similar temps that we do, but even they dont get the amount of snow that OP does. Same goes for CHI Town.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, FireChans said:

It’s kind of funny that of the first 17 picks, the only ones not to make a Pro Bowl were drafted by the Rams, Jags, Bills and Browns.

 

Who at the time were four dysfunctional franchises. Two still are. 

[without a drought]

This is fun, can we do Mahomes next.

[What a Tuel]

42 minutes ago, jaybeezee said:

Pittsburg gets 1/3 if even of the snow we get, and definitely run about 10% minimum warmer temps that we do. Same goes the NE. yes, they get cold in Boston, but not cold plus wind, plus 2-feet of snow on a consistent basis. Green Bay gets the similar temps that we do, but even they dont get the amount of snow that OP does. Same goes for CHI Town.

 

Buffalo/OP does not get 2 feet of snow on a consistent basis. Maybe twice a year.

Edited yesterday at 04:36 PM by What a Tuel

[jaybeezee]

5 minutes ago, What a Tuel said:

 

Buffalo/OP does not get 2 feet of snow on a consistent basis. Maybe twice a year.

Buffalo NY- Ranked #1 in the US for snowfall. It used to be Syracuse, but even in Rochester NY, we have missed the significant snow fall, where OP has gotten the worst of it. This has been the way for the last several years too.

[FireChans]

3 hours ago, Saint Doug said:

It’s not just draft position, there’s too many moving parts. If Evans was drafted, maybe Whaley would’ve stuck around a couple years longer. Maybe we would’ve thought we didn’t need a QB. Maybe Whaley would’ve drafted a new QB before 2018. Maybe Beane would’ve been hired by someone else. Hell, maybe we wouldn’t have even traded our 2017 1st and picked a QB there….

I think if we had Evans and drafted Mahomes in 2017, we may have 4 SB’s.

 

I love Josh and he’s been better than Mahomes lately, but denying Mahomes the Reid/Hill/Kelce triumvirate probably changes everything. Andy probably gets fired from KC after choking with Smith again.

[Sojourner]

4 hours ago, Fixxxer said:

 

exactly, that is why the worst saga was Whitner over Ngata......

 

New HC with a new (old) GM, what they chose to build the foundation of the team? a safety over a steady clog in the middle of the DL....awful...

Nah. Pick for pick, player for player this was worse man. We traded UP to get Sammy. Whitney actually didn’t do too bad for the team. He was just over drafted. 
 

Sammy was over drafted, assets given up for an only produced 2 years.
 

Pretty much every player for the next 15 picks would have been a land instead. Especially Mike Evans. 

 

BUT!
 

Like many have brought up… the only silver lining of Sammy was they traded him into a pick that we were able to essentially use for Josh Allen. 
 

No Sammy. No Josh. 
 

 

[folz]

Just for fun...

 

2014 NFL Draft

Wide Receivers Selected in the FirstTwo Rounds

 

Pick   Player                    Years     Yards     TDs      Drafting Team

#4      Sammy Watkins       9          5,384      34               Bills

#7      Mike Evans                11          12,684    105             Bucs

#12    Odell Beckham         10          7,987       59             Giants

#20   Brandin Cooks          11           9,532      60             Saints

#28   Kelvin Benjamin        4         3,021       20          Panthers

#39   Marqise Lee              5         2,184         8          Jaquars

#42   Jordan Matthews     10        3,288      22           Eagles

#45   Paul Richardson        6         1,809       12          Seahawks

#53    Davante Adams        11         11,844    103             Packers

#56   Cody Latimer             6          935         6            Broncos

#61    Allen Robinson          11          7,058       43             Jaguars

#63   Jarvis Landry              9          7,870       38             Dolphins

 

So, despite being the #1 WR off the board, Sammy ended with the 7th best stats of the class---between Jordan Matthews and Jarvis Landry. Not quite the career anyone hoped for. He ended up averaging 598 yards and 3.7 TDs per season. But, he did play really well in the playoffs for Kansas City in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, averaging 93 yards per game across 5 playoff games and earning a SB ring, so you gotta give him that.

 

[JohnNord]

9 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!

I’ve argued with Bills fans before but Sammy was an BUST of a draft pick and IMO Doug Whaley should shoulder the majority of the blame..  
 

Sammy was not injury prone in college, so some of his failure can be chalked up to bad luck.  But he also had a pizz poor attitude, bad worth ethic, and didn’t want to be Buffalo.  So for that, Sammy deserves a lot blame.    
 

But Whaley clearly was in self-preservation mode hoping to double down on his investment.  He made a move everyone said was reckless and laughed by saying “I like those odds!”

 

The problem was that he traded up for a receiver who was far less productive than Evans, OBJ, Brandin Cooks, and others Davante Adams and others selected after him.  

Also it showed Whaley’s weakness.  He took the most spectacular player of need without factoring how he would be use or whether he’d be a good fit within their culture… there was no culture!  
 

 

[thronethinker]

8 hours ago, Sweats said:

 

 

 

...........and who was our QB at the time that was "just good enough to pass on him and stick with what they had"?

 

I'll wait.

Tyrod obviously, he had Evans to throw to. Duh...

[Augie]

6 hours ago, without a drought said:

This is fun, can we do Mahomes next.

 

The mere suggestion, in my mind, is semi-worthy of consideration for a permaban. 

 

But let’s give it 36-48 hours and see if it just happens anyway…… 

[BillsFanForever19]

God, I hate this discussion and how often it comes up.

 

Yes, Watkins was taken 4th and Evans was taken 7th. But the perceived talent level and prospect ranking disparity was greater than those 3 picks. Watkins was considered in a class of his own in S Tier. Evans was A Tier. There wasn't a GM, Draft Analyst, or Draft Nerd anywhere that had Evans as someone that would or should go before Watkins. Taking Evans there with Watkins still on the board would have been one of the biggest "WHOA!" Draft moments of all time - that would have simultaneousy had people laughing at us and Draft Analyst's scrambling to find out what they didn't know about Sammy Watkins (turns out, there actually was quite a bit). 

 

Did Evans turn out better? Unquestionably. But it's a 1000% hindsight argument. The only non-hindsight discussion of the 2014 Draft I respect is the discussion of Drafting Khalil Mack instead. As there were MANY in the moment that thought Defensive End would have been more impactful at that time and wanted him to be a Bill, coming out of UB. There was absolutely no one saying we should have taken Mike Evans.

Edited 16 hours ago by BillsFanForever19

[Alphadawg7]

11 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!

 

Um...no disrespect, but this post is wrong.  Evans went BEFORE our original pick.  We could have taken Evans instead of Watkins, but that still would have required a trade up. 

 

And most importantly...why would anyone want this?  Everything had to happen the way it did for us to get Josh Allen, and nothing against Evans, but Allen is a 100 times important to this franchise than Evans ever would have been.  

[BUFFALOBART]

10 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

No Von went 2nd overall we took Dareus 3rd overall. 

 

 

If we want to play What IF I always wonder what if the Bills selected Rob Johnson in 1995 in Round 2 (he was drafted in the 4th by Jacksonville) instead of Todd Collins. 

God, we passed on a future Hall of Famer, for the laziest player, in the history of the NFL.

"Captain" Darius!

Rob Johnson, might have panned out, instead of his career being destroyed, by a 'strained ass'! 😅

[HappyDays]

11 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I wanted no piece of Ebron, Barr or OBJ.

 

Anthony Barr indirectly became a Buffalo sports legend.