The type of wide receiver Josh needs

[The Firebaugh Kid]

1 hour ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

Ladd McConkey was there for the taking...

Nothing we can do about it now but yeah I would’ve taken Mitchell or him over Keon any day

[machine gun kelly]

One word.  SPEED.  As long as they have hands and a willingness to grow their route running skills.

[Kelly to Allen]

Elijah Moore or Darius slayton are underrated and still young in fa

Edited 11 hours ago by Kelly to Allen

[The Jokeman]

4 minutes ago, Kelly to Allen said:

Elijah Moore or Darius slayton are underrated and still young in fa

Slayton is on my radar as don't think he cost much and he can give us an element of speed and fits in as an outside #2/3 WR. I'd love to add him if can't bring Cooper back. 

[Goin Breakdown]

32 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

One word.  SPEED.  As long as they have hands and a willingness to grow their route running skills.

I think it's been years that we've all wanted speed and here we are telling slow jokes and hoping for growth next year with Coleman. Speed was there. I'm just not convinced that is the brand football this front office wants to play. 

[Kelly to Allen]

19 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

Slayton is on my radar as don't think he cost much and he can give us an element of speed and fits in as an outside #2/3 WR. I'd love to add him if can't bring Cooper back. 

 

I think slayton is sneaky good. He's better than cooper at this point in their careers. 

[Pete]

1 minute ago, Goin Breakdown said:

I think it's been years that we've all wanted speed and here we are telling slow jokes and hoping for growth next year with Coleman. Speed was there. I'm just not convinced that is the brand football this front office wants to play. 

Beane said Buffalo averaged 7 points more per game when Amari played.  Just the threat of speed keeps defenses honest.  D cant load up box and play Cover 1

And it has been obvious to the most of this board for years that we need a speed WR. 

 

[Old Coot]

You can always use a speedy receiver who has good moves and can take the top off a defense.

 

One point about Josh's accuracy on deep balls (& no not bashing Josh--I'm sure he's aware of what I'm about to say): He needs to work on his "bucket" throws; that is, those looping throws that :drop into the bucket."

 

Josh's amazing deep completions mostly have a flatter trajectory. Example: The TD to Hollins at the end of the 1st half against KC. Itwasn't completely flat but is wasn't the "drop in a bucket" loop. 

 

Nothing is more disappointing than to see Josh miss an open receiver with a looping throw. The misses tend to be overthrows.

 

I see other QBs not as talented as Josh but who can drop a dime into the hands of a WR running a fade with the CB right behind him. Those kinds of throws are unstoppable.

 

This offseason he should buy a motorized trash can, get out on the field and practice dropping throws into the can  over and over and over, until he masters that technique.

[Goin Breakdown]

22 minutes ago, Pete said:

Beane said Buffalo averaged 7 points more per game when Amari played.  Just the threat of speed keeps defenses honest.  D cant load up box and play Cover 1

And it has been obvious to the most of this board for years that we need a speed WR. 

 

This is just my opinion but I think Cooper is more of an established and respected vet rather than speed threat. That was enough to get some DBs off our other WRs. 

[2003Contenders]

Here is what I will say... There are entirely too many times where Josh has dropped back to pass and is unable to find anyone open. Replays often show all the receivers bracketed in coverage. I just want someone who can consistently get OPEN!

[quincy]

I will use this thread to ask about coaching.

 

I seem to remember Chad Hall was really popular amongst the players previously when he was here and I appreciate that every WR has left from the 2022 team, Shakir aside, who was a rookie that year.

 

Given there is a new HC in Jacksonville, do you think he is retained there?

 

Is Chad Hall a better WR coach than Adam Henry? 

 

Hall made a lateral move to Jacksonville, would the be any interest in a return? I assume he left on amicable terms? I also assume that Henry remains under contract.

 

I just want to see what others think, thanks.

 

PS - Are there any other WR coaches that the Bills should investigate?

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by quincy
Further question

[GASabresIUFan]

21 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

Depends how fast he runs,  Arian Smith from Georgia could be available with one of our 2nds. Yet I'm not one to put WR as a top 3 need.

Arian Smith is a 5-6th rd draft pick.  Lots of speed, mediocre route running and terrible hands and I'm writing this as a UGA season ticket holder.  He is someone you take a late round flier on and hope it works out.  No way a team uses a premium draft pick on him.  

Edited 8 hours ago by GASabresIUFan

[RyanC883]

On 2/3/2025 at 4:15 PM, Buffalo716 said:

 

 

There's a lot of debate about what type of guy Josh needs... A big physical freak like DK... A Jamar Chase etc

 

Look what Josh did with John Brown.. arguably our offense , passing wise has never been the same since Brown left 

 

He was much better than Gabe, reliable hands good route runner and burner 

 

DeSean Jackson mold is the exact type guy we need to get Josh.. whether it's in the draft or getting a chase like guy 

 

I made a thread here years ago about wide receiver nuance in the route running.. about how the best have varied speeds in the route running.. they don't just all run full speed throughout the route that's easy to actually stop 

 

Need nuance, change of pace, leverage 

 

Watch DeSean Jackson in the clip up top.. going through multiple speeds in his route... Setting up and leveraging the safety just to go from 12 miles an hour to 22 in an instant 

 

That's real savvy route running with great speed 

 

A prime DeShaun Jackson would turn Josh unstoppable... I definitely would take Chase over DK because of route saviness and I hope we get get Josh a savvy route runner with some Wheels because that will take our offense and josh to another level

 

 

 

McConkey would have been ideal.  Not sure who is most similar in this draft. 

On 2/3/2025 at 4:50 PM, quincy said:

Stevie Johnson urges Bills to pursue 6-time Pro Bowl WR in free agency

 

Stevie is lobbying for Keenan Allen -  last year yielded 15 starts and 744 yards and seven touchdowns for the Bears.

 

 

 

this would be a sneaky good pickup.  Slayton also as others have suggested. 

[NoName]

I think it’s more about offensive design than a particular type of receiver.

 

i think a lot of people feel that this was Allen’s best year.  So maybe the everybody eats philosophy with a strong running game, is best for Allen.

 

i think Brady needs to get the tight ends invoked more.  Remember the beginning of the year when Knox was a forgotten player?  Then the later part of the year Kincaid saw few opportunities for catches,

Edited 6 hours ago by NoName

[DaVinci]

who did Mahomes have when He beat us this time?

[Rubes]

4 hours ago, 2003Contenders said:

Here is what I will say... There are entirely too many times where Josh has dropped back to pass and is unable to find anyone open. Replays often show all the receivers bracketed in coverage. I just want someone who can consistently get OPEN!

 

I've often wondered how much of this is WR skill vs. passing game scheme. I've just seen too many instances where WRs of ours who aren't particularly fast or awesome at route running (or at least, not as fast or good as they used to be) still get wide open on long passes. Gabe Davis somehow made some of the longest catches in recent years. Diggs was wide open several times on deep routes in recent years, on many of which Josh couldn't connect with him. Same with some other less-than-impressive receivers we've had.

 

I think I just don't understand offensive and defensive schemes well enough to understand the issue or answer the question. But plenty of other teams manage to get WRs who aren't superstars wide open at times. Why can't we do that more?

 

[The Jokeman]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Arian Smith is a 5-6th rd draft pick.  Lots of speed, mediocre route running and terrible hands and I'm writing this as a UGA season ticket holder.  He is someone you take a late round flier on and hope it works out.  No way a team uses a premium draft pick on him.  

The old adage you can't teach speed and a thirsty team for it might over draft him.

[Richard Noggin]

5 hours ago, quincy said:

I will use this thread to ask about coaching.

 

I seem to remember Chad Hall was really popular amongst the players previously when he was here and I appreciate that every WR has left from the 2022 team, Shakir aside, who was a rookie that year.

 

Given there is a new HC in Jacksonville, do you think he is retained there?

 

Is Chad Hall a better WR coach than Adam Henry? 

 

Hall made a lateral move to Jacksonville, would the be any interest in a return? I assume he left on amicable terms? I also assume that Henry remains under contract.

 

I just want to see what others think, thanks.

 

PS - Are there any other WR coaches that the Bills should investigate?

 

 

 

I recall a lot of noise suggesting Hall left on less-than-amicable terms. Not necessarily open hostility, but there was talk of him feeling passed-over and also maybe not aligned with McDermott's vision for offense? His going to Jacksonville WAS a lateral move following the Bills' promotion of a different offensive coach, after all. 

 

2 hours ago, NoName said:

I think it’s more about offensive design than a particular type of receiver.

 

i think a lot of people feel that this was Allen’s best year.  So maybe the everybody eats philosophy with a strong running game, is best for Allen.

 

i think Brady needs to get the tight ends invoked more.  Remember the beginning of the year when Knox was a forgotten player?  Then the later part of the year Kincaid saw few opportunities for catches,

 

Agree with the bolded to an extent. Allen definitely took a huge step forward with respect to on-field maturity/decision-making. But the Bills also seemed unwilling OR UNABLE to leverage all this intentional offensive physicality and balance into aggressive shot plays for the majority of the season. Part of that might have been the lack of WRs who could reliably get behind defenses. Part of that might have been Allen missing a handful of those plays when they were there. Part of that might have been conservative coaching philosophy. Difficult for us to see it clearly. 

 

*agree completely on the tight ends. The duo of Knox and Kincaid should be a menace in some way each week. Knox and Allen have always had a decent chemistry, and Kincaid is now entering year three. Time to see it on a consistent basis. 

 

**does anyone still have lingering questions about Brady's passing concepts? Route concepts and spacing? Curious if our smarter contributors can weigh in on this point.

 

***SUPER unpopular question: is Josh Allen kinda relatively meh at those ULTRA FAST/RPO type decisions post-snap? Seems like he's not with the Elite level guys on quick game/option-heavy plays. With Daboll he had some obvious success for stretches with a shotgun, spread, quick passing attack, but in 2020, defenses were far less muddled and variable and away game crowd noise didn't exist...I don't know

 

[GASabresIUFan]

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

The old adage you can't teach speed and a thirsty team for it might over draft him.

That's fine, the Bills can add him to the practice squad when he gets cut 3 games into the season for dropping 6 balls.