Tag: bills draft

How Keon Coleman could become the Bills’ next No. 1 receiver in time

The Bills are currently rolling without a true No. 1 receiver, but they’re hoping that rookie Keon Coleman can become one over time.

The Buffalo Bills are in a bit of a soft rebuild right now on both sides of the ball. That’s certainly true with the receiver corps, as there are more new faces than now. Gone are Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis as the team’s former alpha dogs. Now, it’s nearly about all the new receivers — Curtis Samuel, Marques Valdes-Scantling, Chase Claypool, Mack Hollins, and KJ Hamler are among those who are trying to get the hang of catching frozen ropes from Josh Allen in Joe Brady’s passing game… which, by the way, is Brady’s or a full season for the first time in Orchard Park.

While it should be expected that tight ends Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid will be big parts of the passing game — Knox has a four-year, $52 million contract extension going with $31.2 million guaranteed, and Kincaid was the team’s first-round pick in 2023 out of Utah — it could also be said that when it comes to having a true alpha receiver — whether you think teams need one or not — that may come in the person of Keon Coleman, the Bills’ first pick of the 2024 draft. Buffalo got Coleman with the first pick in the second round because they saw him as a big, fast, ball-winner with those primary attributes.

“I think his play style (is) what we needed in our offense,” Allen recently told the NFL Network. “Talking with our offensive coordinator (Joe Brady), our quarterbacks coach (Ronald Curry), (general manager) Brandon Beane, and, obviously, coach (Sean) McDermott, a guy that’s a big-bodied guy and can go win one a back-shoulder fade and not afraid to be a physical wide receiver.

“I think you pair him with some of the guys we have in our room right now, I think Mack Hollins has been such a great addition so far to that room with his mentality, his mindset is infectious to others. Curtis Samuel, he’s been showing up every single day ready to work. … You start pairing those guys up with Dawson (Knox) and Coleman in this mix now, we’re gonna have a pretty solid group that works together.”

As he made clear to me when I spoke with him recently, Allen is not shy at all about praising the rookie.

When you watch Coleman’s 2023 Florida State tape, and even his tape at Michigan State in 2022, it’s clear why the Bills are excited. Allen is a quarterback who loves to extend the play in and out of the pocket for the promise of a big downfield reward. Last season, Coleman caught eight passes of 20 or more air yards on 24 targets for 257 yards and four touchdowns, and he did that in an offense where the deep ball wasn’t a feature. Florida State’s quarterbacks completed just 23 deep passes all season long, per Pro Football Focus.

But when a guy with Josh Allen’s arm is throwing the ball? Yeah, you could see some stuff like this right away.

This could also work in Allen’s favor. Everybody knows that Allen has one of the NFL’s best deep arms, but it takes two to tango. Without a prominent, consistent deep receiver last season, Allen was able to complete just 29 deep passes on 82 targets for 962 yards, eight touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a passer rating of 73.4.

And though Coleman isn’t the fastest straight-line receiver in this draft class — his 40-yard dash time of 4.61 seconds at the scouting combine was 17th percentile among receivers since 1999 — his 10-yard split of 1.54 seconds was great for his size, and you see some of that short-area separation on tape.

Of course, all that fancy stuff goes right out the window when you have a ginormous receiver who can just go Godzilla on any cornerback in press coverage — which is become more and more of a thing in the NFL.

Of course, Coleman will have to work on some of the nuances of the game — his route palette was limited mostly to hitches, screens, go balls, and the occasional corner or over route — but that can be expanded over time. But it’s easy to see in the abstract why the Bills are so interested in Coleman’s potential.

If you thought of Coleman as a potential D.K. Metcalf-style player who could leverage his unusual physical gifts for production in the short term, and become that dude that nobody wants to deal with over time once the little things are all plugged in, that might not be too far off the mark.

2021 NFL draft: The Buffalo Bills select Wisconsin CB Rachad Wildgoose No. 213 overall

The Bills select a Badger CB

The wait is over for former Wisconsin cornerback Rachad Wildgoose. He was selected 213th overall by the Buffalo Bills on Saturday afternoon.

The former Badger was the second Wisconsin player off of the board. Isaiahh Loudermilk went earlier to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wildgoose was followed by Badger offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen being taken by Green Bay at No. 214.

Buffalo got a late-round steal from Jim Leonhard’s defense:

Eric Burrell and Garrett Groshek are Badger names to watch as the draft comes to a close.

Contact/Follow us @TheBadgersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin news, notes, opinion and analysis.

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2021 NFL Draft: Bills deepen playmakers in 3-round bye week mock

Buffalo Bills 2021 NFL mock draft during their 2020 bye week.

The Buffalo Bills are looking forward to their next six games as they sit on their hands during the bye week.

Much, much beyond that the Bills will have the 2021 NFL Draft to look forward to. Of course, we’re very far away from that… the sun hasn’t even set on the regular season yet.

But again, it’s the bye week… so let’s have some fun. Our friends at Draft Wire recently released their latest three-round mock draft… and in this upcoming rookie extravaganza, Buffalo does have a first-round pick as well, unlike 2020.

So what do the Bills do in this recent mock? Address a couple of playmaker spots on both sides of the ball. Here’s who D/W’s Luke Easterling pegs for the Bills:

28. Jaycee Horn | CB | South Carolina

59. Chris Olave | WR | Ohio State

91. Victor Dimukeje | EDGE | Duke

In Horn, the Bills would add a big-framed defensive back at 6-foot-1 that has experience playing in a zone scheme like Buffalo runs. Olave has decent size for the wideout position at 6-foot, but he has a highly-praised route tree. Dimukeje had 8.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss in 2019.

Positionally, all three prospects are very interesting picks for the Bills. It can be argued at all three positions on the Bills’ current roster are deep… but a case can be made for each.

At cornerback, Levi Wallace, Cam Lewis and Josh Norman will add be free agents after the 2020 season. While Wallace has been a solid performer in his career, the Bills have continually brought in competition for him, perhaps indicating they want a longer-term solution at the No. 2 cornerback spot across from Tre’Davious White.

In the wide receiver room, the only pending free agents are Isaiah McKenzie and Andre Roberts, who’s mostly a kick returner. But if Buffalo did move on from the pair, that’d open up roster spot for a guy like Isaiah Hodgins, a current rookie who has been injury all season, and perhaps another fresh face like Olave.

Looking even further in the future, John Brown will be a free after the 2021 season while Cole Beasley sees his dead cap hit drop to $1.5 million. If the Bills wanted to get younger at the position at that time, they’d have the option to do so. Although, these two do clearly have plenty left in the tank at this time.

Dimukeje might actually be the most interesting selection considering Buffalo’s second-round investment in AJ Epenesa in 2020, however, Trent Murphy will be a free agent after 2020.

Regardless, this is all an exercise in fun for now and food for thought. Plenty of dust needs to settle before any of these guys can be pegged for Buffalo.

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Former Georgia QB Jake Fromm receives new jersey number from Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills have announced the new number for former Georgia football QB Jake Fromm.

Living in the bitter cold of Buffalo, New York, just on the border of Canada will definitely take some getting used to for the fishing, hunting country kid that is Jake Fromm.

Fromm was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills with the 167th pick.

The Bills announced the jersey numbers for their new incoming rookies on Thursday.

Fromm will wear #10 for Buffalo next season, saying goodbye to the #11 that’s been with him throughout his Houston County and UGA days.

#11 currently isn’t taken by anyone on the Bills. It will be fun to see Fromm in a new uniform with a new number, starting a new chapter of his career in Buffalo.

BillsWire grades Buffalo’s selection of Georgia QB Jake Fromm

BillsWire gives Buffalo’s draft selection of Georgia QB Jake Fromm a grade.

Bills Wire has graded all of the team’s draft picks, including their round 5 selection of former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm.

Fromm was selected 167th, sliding a little bit further than expected. He was ranked as the top available player for be drafted for a while but was passed on due to specific positional needs for many teams.

The Bills pick came as a bit of a shocker, considering they likely have their franchise quarterback in Josh Allen, who is entering his 3rd season coming off of an AFC Wild Card loss.

BillsWire gave Buffalo a B for the Fromm pick.

They said his draft stock might have fallen a little bit due to his combine performance, but his in-game intelligence, solid career numbers and winning drive is what could make him look like a more attractive backup than Matt Barkley, who is signed through next year.

Bills GM on Jake Fromm: ‘He’ll have to earn a spot’

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane says former Georgia football QB Jake Fromm will have to ‘earn a spot’.

The Buffalo Bills selected Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm with 167th pick in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, which was not expected by many.

Fromm remained the best available player on the board for a while, but many teams needed other positions filled rather than a quarterback and passed on him.

The Bills were thought to be one of the teams who would pass on Fromm, with a rising star quarterback in Josh Allen on their roster, but Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane just couldn’t pass on Fromm so late.

“I wouldn’t have told you going into the day that (Fromm) was on our radar. But we had him in a spot that you just can’t ignore,” said Beane.

“He’s a winner at the highest level of college. He’s got all the intangibles.”

Allen just came off his sophomore season, throwing for 3,089 yards, 20 touchdowns and 9 interceptions on 58.8% completion percentage.  He led the Bills to the playoffs on a 10-6 season, where they lost in the AFC Wild Card game to the Houston Texans 22-19.

On top of that, Buffalo has also recently extended its backup QB Matt Barkley.

“He’ll have to earn a spot,” Beane said. “I don’t know if he could knock Matt Barkley.”

It will be interesting to see how the situation with Fromm unravels in Buffalo, but it is obvious the organization sees something they like in him.  Fromm will have an equal opportunity to earn his spot and only time will tell what happens, but the Bills stole a great QB late in the draft.

Bills fans, get to know your new QB Jake Fromm

Former Georgia QB Jake Fromm is officially a Buffalo Bill. Now it’s time for Bills fans to get to know their new QB.

It’s official Buffalo fans, University of Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm is a Bill.

Now it’s time for Bills fans to get to know their new quarterback.

Jake Fromm is from Warner Robbins, GA where he played high school ball at Houston County High School.  Fromm was also a member of the Warner Robbins little league baseball team that came within two games of the 2011 Little League World Series Championship.  He had 3 home runs, 8 RBIs and 11 strikeouts as one of the best players in the tournament.

Fromm has had an illustrious three years at Georgia, but decided to forgo his senior season in hopes for NFL glory.

He stepped in for the injured former Dawgs quarterback Jacob Eason (drafted 122nd in the 4th round of the 2020 draft by the Colts) in 2017, then going on to win his first start in South Bend, IN against Notre Dame.  That game instilled trust in Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who named Fromm QB1 for the remainder of his career in Athens.

Since then, Fromm has helped the Dawgs win a Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, an SEC Championship and come one defensive play away from winning a College Football Playoff National Championship.

If that under-three-year resume doesn’t impress you, I’m not sure what will.

Fromm finished his career at Georgia 4th all-time in passing yards (8,236), 2nd all-time in touchdown passes (78), and completed 63.3% of his attempts, all in just three seasons.

He was named co-newcomer of the year by the Associated Press as well as the 2017 SEC Freshman of the Year.

A humble, hardworking player Fromm is… and the Buffalo Bills just got an amazing draft steal in him.

The Buffalo Bills select Georgia Bulldogs QB Jake Fromm

With the 167th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills have selected Jake Fromm, quarterback out of the University of Georgia.

With the 167th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills have selected Jake Fromm, quarterback out of the University of Georgia.

Fromm finished his career at Georgia 4th all-time in passing yards (8,236), 2nd all-time in touchdown passes (78), and completed 63.3% of his attempts, all in three seasons.

He led the Bulldogs to Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl and SEC Championship victories, and came just short of beating Alabama in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship.  It also should be noted that he led Georgia to 3 straight SEC Championships, something no other quarterback in Georgia history has ever done.

Fromm silenced the critics today and will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever do it at Georgia.

Congratulations to Jake on an amazing moment in his life.  We wish him nothing but the best on his NFL journey in Buffalo.

Bills have pre-draft meeting set with WR Lawrence Cager

According to Draft Wire, the Bills had a pre-draft meeting set with Georgia wideout Lawrence Cager. 

In at least one respect, the Bills are still considering adding some size to the wide receiver room even after adding Stefon Diggs.

According to Draft Wire, the Bills had or have a pre-draft meeting set with Georgia wideout Lawrence Cager.

Diggs is a fantastic route runner and makes contested catches look easy. Exactly what the Bills needed. But Diggs is just about 6-feet in height. He’s not overly large, not like the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Cager, at least.

For the Bills, such numbers likely stand right out, and apparently have, as they’ve had some sort of meeting with him following the combine. That could have been in-person, or perhaps just a video chat with the team with the ongoing pandemic, depending on when it was scheduled.

In Cager, the Bills would get a player that would likely fit into what they’re currently doing at the positional group. Diggs, 26, joins two 30-plus players in John Brown and Cole Beasley, a pair that could take any pressure off of Cager to come in and produce immediately.

Slated as a likely late pick at the 2020 NFL Draft, Cager has reliable hands and flashed improved speed during his college career, but due to a broken ankle, he did not partake in anything but interviews at the combine.

In 2019, the raw prospect in Cager played in nine of 14 games, with six starts and had 33 catches for 476 yards and four TDs.

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Georgia football RB D’Andre Swift to meet with two AFC East teams at NFL Combine

Georgia football RB D’Andre Swift is scheduled to meet with two AFC East teams at the NFL Combine.

Georgia running back D’Andre Swift is viewed as a first round pick in April’s NFL Draft.

He’ll likely be the first running back taken off the board, and there’s two AFC East teams that he is scheduled to meet with this week – the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills.

The Dolphins hold both the 18th and 26th pick in the draft with the Bills having the 22nd pick.

If Swift does go at 18, 22 or 26, he would be the highest taken running back out of Georgia since Gurley went No. 10 in 2015.

Sony Michel went 31st to New England in 2018 and Nick Chubb went 35th to the Browns.

But Swift has been viewed as a higher draft choice thanks in large part to his versatility.

In terms of what a guy can do with the ball in his hands, there’s nobody who has a wider range of skill than Swift.

Not only can he run you over, but he can blow past you with his speed and he has one of the nastiest arsenals of jukes, spins and cuts that you’ll see from a college running back.

But what really sets him apart is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and make things happen. It’s something that Georgia fans may not be too familiar with — and that’s not because Swift could not do it, but because the coaches would not cut #7 loose and let him.

“There are a lot of great backs in this class, but I think I’m the most versatile,” Swift said during his interview session on Wednesday.

“I think I’m a three-down back, and I can do whatever I’m asked to do. God gave me a lot of ability. I don’t take that for granted. I work hard every day, and I’m a leader.”

If Swift does go to the AFC East, that would put him, Chubb and Michel in the same conference. Furthermore, it would place Michel and Swift in the same division, meaning there would be at least two Michel/Swift battles annually.

The NFL Draft begins April 23rd.