Pro Football Focus decided to peg the league’s 32 best wide receivers in the NFL recently.
The Bills got a bit selfish.
In no surprise, the 2020 receiving leader in the league, Stefon Diggs, makes an appearance. But he’s not the only Bill listed. So is slot wideout Cole Beasley.
Diggs might’ve gotten the short end of the stick in terms of where he is ranked, but double mentions for Buffalo is awfully nice to see.
Here’s PFF’s breakdown on both Diggs and Beasley, who clock in at No. 8 and 23, respectively:
8. STEFON DIGGS, BUFFALO BILLS
After five straight years in Minnesota of very good, but not elite, play, Diggs finally earned that accolade in his first season with the Bills in 2020. He produced a receiving grade between 77.6 and 84.0 in each of his five years as a Viking, always ranking inside the top 25, but he cracked the top 10 just once.In 2020, Diggs was one of just four receivers with a receiving grade at or above 90.0 in the regular season. He remained one of the most efficient contested-catch receivers in the game, posting a 60% catch rate on such plays to bring his percentage since 2017 to 60.5% — the second-best mark in the league.
23. COLE BEASLEY, BUFFALO BILLS
Beasley is the NFL slot receiver prototype. He ran 88.4% of his routes from the slot last season, the third-highest rate in the league. On those reps, Beasley racked up 2.31 yards per route and 938 receiving yards in total while hauling in 83.9% of his targets en route to a 90.8 receiving grade — all four of which ranked inside the top three among league qualifiers.He found soft spots against zone coverage like clockwork. Beasley’s 36 such receptions in 2020 were four more than any other wide receiver.
After his breakout season which went hand-in-hand with quarterback Josh Allen’s emergence in 2020, No. 8 is a bit low for Diggs. Still, having two wide receivers listed in such a ranking shows how far the Bills have come at the position. We’re not too far removed from seeing Kelvin Benjamin lining up as the team’s No. 1 wideout. Now he’s a tight end.
Overall on PFF’s list, the Bills are part of an elite group. There are a couple of teams that have more than one wide receiver ranked.
That impressive list of talent includes the:
- Vikings (Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen)
- Falcons (Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley)
- Buccaneers (Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown)
- Browns (Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry)
- Seahawks (Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf)
- Dolphins (Will Fuller V, Davante Parker)
- Rams (Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp)
In addition to the props handed to Diggs and Beasley, Allen got his this week, too. PFF ranked Allen the sixth-best QB in the NFL.
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