Wide Receiver Train Full Speed Ahead- CHOO CHOO!

[gonzo1105]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea, this is my point. Better, cheaper, slightly deeper.... but still needing a dominant difference maker. 

 

And I have Felton at 11 so also not miles apart. I feel like that is closer than we have been on some other receiver classes which might speak a little bit to the depth of quality in this class compared to others. 

Im going to be honest with ya, it doesn’t have the top guys of last years class for sure but I really really like the depth options in this draft. There are slot guys, vertical guys, route runners. Most of these guys are going to take a couple to establish but I could argue in rounds 3-5 especially that the WR class this year is better than last year 

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

Im going to be honest with ya, it doesn’t have the top guys of last years class for sure but I really really like the depth options in this draft. There are slot guys, vertical guys, route runners. Most of these guys are going to take a couple to establish but I could argue in rounds 3-5 especially that the WR class this year is better than last year 

 

I agree 3 to 5 is where the meat of this receiver class is. Contributors and developmental guys rather than guys I think you are going to get coming in, starting and being big pieces of offenses as rookies. 

[Mat68]

Bring one in or draft one.  Fully support adding a Wr.  

[LEBills]

5 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I'll repeat here for reference for those interested the conversation gonzo and I were having in his mock thread with our respective pre-combine top 10s at wide receiver.

WR Top 10s

	@gonzo1105	@GunnerBill
1	Tet McMillan, Arizona	Tet McMillan, Arizona
2	Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State	Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State
3	Matthew Golden, Texas	Matthew Golden, Texas
4	Luther Burden, Missouri	Luther Burden, Missouri
5	Tre Harris, Ole Miss	Isaiah Bond, Texas
6	Jayden Higgins, Iowa State	Tre Harris, Ole Miss
7	Xavier Restrepo Miami	Jayden Higgins, Iowa State
8	Tez Johnson, Oregon	Tez Johnson, Oregon
9	Tai Felton Maryland	Xavier Restrepo Miami
10	Isaiah Bond, Texas	Jalin Royals, Utah State

 

Assuming Harris and Horton medicals are ok:

1. Tet McMillan

2. Tre Harris

3. Emeka Egbuka

4. Isaiah Bond

5. Tory Horton

6. Jayden Higgins

7. Matthew Golden

8. Ricky White

9. Luther Burden

10. Tez Johnson

[MiracleAtRich1393]

18 minutes ago, LEBills said:

Assuming Harris and Horton medicals are ok:

1. Tet McMillan

2. Tre Harris

3. Emeka Egbuka

4. Isaiah Bond

5. Tory Horton

6. Jayden Higgins

7. Matthew Golden

8. Ricky White

9. Luther Burden

10. Tez Johnson

Interesting, Bond way ahead of Golden. Don't personally know much about either but most lists I've seen have it the other way around. Anything in particular you'd call out that's different than most?

[GunnerBill]

24 minutes ago, LEBills said:

Assuming Harris and Horton medicals are ok:

1. Tet McMillan

2. Tre Harris

3. Emeka Egbuka

4. Isaiah Bond

5. Tory Horton

6. Jayden Higgins

7. Matthew Golden

8. Ricky White

9. Luther Burden

10. Tez Johnson

 

Interesting. I think that is too high for Harris myself, but there you go. I do like Horton he is in my next group outside my top 10... haven't done White yet.

[FireChans]

Every class is different but id like to point out the top WR’s from the drafts AFTER historic WR drafts:

 

2021 

Chase 5

Waddle 6

Smith 10

Toney 20

Bateman 27

Moore 34

R Moore 49

Eskridge 56

Atwell 57

Marshall 59

Palmer 77

Dynami Brown 82

 

2015 -

Cooper 4

Kevin White 7

Devante Parker 14

Agoholor 20

Perriman 26

Dorsett 29

Devin Smith 37

DGB 40

Funchess 41

Lockett 69

Strong 70

Conley 76

Sammy Coates 87

 

Obviously the league has changed a lot and more talented athletes are playing WR, but there’s a lot of disappointing players after the top few when the class prior had an excess of WR talent.

[LEBills]

13 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Interesting. I think that is too high for Harris myself, but there you go. I do like Horton he is in my next group outside my top 10... haven't done White yet.

Recommend watching White’s 2023 film. More consistent QBing and variety of routes. UNLV got very run heavy and had White run much more basic routes in 2024. Horton was another guy limited by his offense. Great hands and hit 22 mph (or 33.5 km/h haha) on the field, he just didn’t get to show his speed a ton.
 

Big fan of Harris. He isn’t much of a route runner bc of the system but physically he is dominant. 

 

19 minutes ago, MiracleAtRich1393 said:

Interesting, Bond way ahead of Golden. Don't personally know much about either but most lists I've seen have it the other way around. Anything in particular you'd call out that's different than most?

I think Bond’s speed is special. He had a rough 2024 due to injuries which ceded touches to Golden. Prior to Bonds injury in Week 5, he was much more productive then Golden. Watching him at Alabama he was going to be the next guy up until Saban retired.

Edited yesterday at 06:02 PM by LEBills

[GunnerBill]

11 minutes ago, LEBills said:

 

Big fan of Harris. He isn’t much of a route runner bc of the system but physically he is dominant. 

 

 

My take was he definitely dominates lesser competition. I worry against good opposition he doesn't get any separation and then his hands are not as good as I'd want them to be for a guy who is going to have to make a lot of contested catches. As a #2 opposite a route running separator #1 I think he will have success. Like a Gabe Davis to a Stefon Diggs or an Alan Lazard to a Devante Adams. I think more talented than those two but that's how I saw him.

[MiracleAtRich1393]

19 minutes ago, LEBills said:

I think Bond’s speed is special. He had a rough 2024 due to injuries which ceded touches to Golden. Prior to Bonds injury in Week 5, he was much more productive then Golden. Watching him at Alabama he was going to be the next guy up until Saban retired.

How would you comp his profile coming out to 1.) Xavier Worthy and 2.) John Brown

[LEBills]

28 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

My take was he definitely dominates lesser competition. I worry against good opposition he doesn't get any separation and then his hands are not as good as I'd want them to be for a guy who is going to have to make a lot of contested catches. As a #2 opposite a route running separator #1 I think he will have success. Like a Gabe Davis to a Stefon Diggs or an Alan Lazard to a Devante Adams. I think more talented than those two but that's how I saw him.

Yea I think that is short changing him a bit. I get why you feel that way, the Ole Miss offense didn’t put him through many routes where he had to get separation. But I think there are moments against his SEC competition that flash whether it’s a screen pass, running away from a defender or stacking a few defenders for a long catch. So I think he has it in him to become a good separator for his size.

 

46 minutes ago, MiracleAtRich1393 said:

How would you comp his profile coming out to 1.) Xavier Worthy and 2.) John Brown

Brown came out of a small college so I never watched him in college even though I’ve been following the draft since 06. 

 

Worthy is a good comparison because Bond basically filled his role in the Texas offense. Worthy is faster, but I think Bond is a better receiver than Worthy was. Worthy made plays but he would also make some mistakes (fumbles, drops, not being disciplined on the sideline). Bond has his own drops but I think he does some of the smaller stuff better. I think if you could use him like Zay Flowers in Baltimore that would be an awesome role for him.

[gonzo1105]

2 hours ago, LEBills said:

Assuming Harris and Horton medicals are ok:

1. Tet McMillan

2. Tre Harris

3. Emeka Egbuka

4. Isaiah Bond

5. Tory Horton

6. Jayden Higgins

7. Matthew Golden

8. Ricky White

9. Luther Burden

10. Tez Johnson

I love Harris and his upside is more than Egbuka but Egbuka is such a smooth does everything well operator. Harris has a lot to do still . I also like Horton but there are too many questions for him to have him that high imo. If you had Horton at 8 or 9 I wouldn’t have bat an eye at you. One thing I love about Golden is he has no wasted motion. He catches, he sticks and accelerates. Too many guys juke or round turning upfield. Not Golden 

[SoTier]

On 1/29/2025 at 8:22 AM, Pete said:

Bills must get Josh WRs who can catch the ball, who can separate, who can run a route tree, who can win vertically!!!!!!

yes we need DL, CB, DE.  But we have been neglecting Josh and WR his entire career.  4 year agos we desperately needed WR, 3 years ago, 2 years ago, and last year.,  We have ignored Josh's needs.  It is obvious we need WR. For the love of God, get Josh a few talented WRs!

 

Was Stefon Diggs an UDFA or a refugee from the waiver wire???   Is the Bills OL trash????   For the love of God, STOP LYING TO ADVANCE YOUR  AGENDA.

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, SoTier said:

 

Was Stefon Diggs an UDFA or a refugee from the waiver wire???   Is the Bills OL trash????   For the love of God, STOP LYING TO ADVANCE YOUR  AGENDA.

Stefon Diggs was acquired five years ago lol.

[LEBills]

1 hour ago, gonzo1105 said:

I love Harris and his upside is more than Egbuka but Egbuka is such a smooth does everything well operator. Harris has a lot to do still . I also like Horton but there are too many questions for him to have him that high imo. If you had Horton at 8 or 9 I wouldn’t have bat an eye at you. One thing I love about Golden is he has no wasted motion. He catches, he sticks and accelerates. Too many guys juke or round turning upfield. Not Golden 

I agree Egbuka is a good receiver and better than Harris right now. Getting him at 30 would be a steal.

 

My main questions for Horton is health. If you have any others I’d be interested in look for them too.

 

Golden even at 8 is still a receiver I’d be happy with at 30. Some underrated things about Golden and his route running is he would get outside of a defender just enough that he drew a bunch of holding and pass interference penalties. He also was good in contested situations, even without being the biggest or springiest because he got himself into the best positions on the play. And he kept the Texas passing game afloat and when he was out for a bit against Georgia Texas offense just stalled.

My main reason for having him this low is he just doesn’t look like that dynamic of an athlete to me. Now I felt the same way about AD Mitchell last year and then he blew up the combine. (Ewers just seems to have that effect of making world class athletes looks sluggish). But Golden would create nice separation for himself and then get caught from behind. I think he can be really good and will probably wind up better than some of the guys ahead of him in my ranks, but when I try to factor in upside I wound up with him at 8.