Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore does not mention Bills wide receiver John Brown.
Former Bills and current Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore has continued to grow upon his productive career in the NFL. While an ex-Bills player, you’ll have to tip your cap that he’s probably the best cornerback in the league, or at least among the best.
But having said that, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year unfortunately forget to tip his cap in a respective manner himself. And it was specifically in regard one Bills player which beckons the question, did Gilmore forget wide receiver John Brown exists?
Gilmore recently named some of the toughest and most difficult receivers he’s faced in the NFL. While we know Brown maybe isn’t at the top of the list nationwide, but Gilmore seemed to forget about one moment last season because when answering that question.
“[Antonio Brown], you got Tyreek Hill just because of his speed, you got Odell Beckham’s pretty tough… Julio Jones, I would say he’s in my top five too, probably one or two, but I haven’t played against him… Michael Thomas… he’s a monster,” Gilmore said on The Bakari Sellers Podcast via Patriots Wire.
Gilmore continued: “Calvin Johnson… He didn’t cook me, but he was very tough. He’s huge. I’m like ‘this dude is huge and he can move like this. This is crazy.”
Not to suggest Brown’s a Megatron-type guy, but while the current Defensive Player of the Year was covering him, the Bills wide receiver smoked him for a touchdown. While some Patriots faithful will call it a zone coverage by Gilmore, in fact, according to Pro Football Focus, it was the only time Gilmore was beat for a score in his award-winning season.
Maybe that’s why it was so convenient for Gilmore to forget to mention Brown?
Just at the chance Gilmore stumbles upon this article, here’s that TD:
Pro Football Focus names Buffalo Bills wide receivers a top-five unit.
The Buffalo Bills set the foundation last offseason, then landed the bombshell this offseason in their wide receiver room.
Sending a first-round pick to the Vikings for wide receiver Stefon Diggs, adding him to a room with Cole Beasley and John Brown, seemed like an easy decision for that Bills. That’s because it probably was.
PFF recently released their rankings of the 32 NFL wide receiver rooms heading into next season and the guys in Buffalo are looking good. The Bills landed at fifth-overall.
Here’s the PFF breakdown on the Bills and their wideout room:
The Bills’ receiving weapons have improved drastically over the past two years, and they may boast the best trio in the league in 2020. An offseason trade for Stefon Diggs completed the trifecta, as Buffalo added one of the league’s best route runners who also leads the league with a contested-catch rate of 60.0% since 2016. He’s capable of winning at all levels of the field, and his presence helps John Brown and Cole Beasley play to their respective strengths.
Brown’s 4.34 speed makes him a downfield threat, but he’s done his best work at the intermediate (10-19 yard) level, where his 57 receptions rank 16th in the league since 2017. Beasley is one of the best slot receivers in the league, and he’s been open on 77.1% of his targets over the past two years — the best rate in the league. The top three should have distinct roles, as should Isaiah McKenzie, who ranked third in the league with 120 yards on screens last season. He adds the change-of-pace/jet sweep option that many NFL offenses covet. The Bills have one of the most well-rounded receiving units in the league.
Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane said all offseason before landing Diggs that the Bills had to start scoring more points in 2020. Enter Diggs and there’s no reason the Bills shouldn’t do that. But in bringing him in, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen will have few excuses. He once again has to look better in 2020, or else the questions will start to emerge. Look no further than PFF as one outlet that will certainly do so in that scenario.
In regard to the rest of the list, the Bills have the AFC East’s best wide receiver room by far. The Cowboys were tabbed as the NFL’s best wide recievers by PFF, edging out the Bucs, Falcons and Saints, respectively. In the division, the Dolphins rank as the second-best wide receiver team by PFF, all the way back at No. 27. Still they beat out the Patriots (30) and the Jets (31).
From last season to now, the Buffalo Bills made massive upgrades to their weapons on offense, according to ESPN.
When the biggest move your club made over the offseason was adding a top talent in this exact area, you sure better be sitting pretty. The Bills did that with Stefon Diggs and looking well in this ranking as well. The world-wide leader ranked the playmakers on each NFL offense and the Bills landed in the top-10 at No. 8 overall.
Here’s the breakdown on Buffalo’s weapons on offense:
The Bills built an entirely new core of weapons for Josh Allen last year, and in many cases, they landed on hits. John Brown played like a legitimate No. 1 wideout, averaging 2.15 yards per route run. Cole Beasley wasn’t far behind. Tyler Kroft didn’t stay healthy, but Dawson Knox emerged as a matchup problem (albeit with drop issues) as a rookie and didn’t give the job back. Devin Singletary helped lead a comeback in the opener, averaged 5.1 yards per carry, finished 13th in DVOA and was versatile enough to take over as an every-down back by Week 16, but he fumbled four times on 180 touches.
Now, of course, the Bills have added a superstar wide receiver to that lineup in Stefon Diggs, who ranked third in yards per route run among wide receivers last season. The only guy who averaged more yards when targeted was A.J. Brown. Diggs adds a dominant weapon to the lineup and pushes everybody else down a spot. The 2019 version of John Brown could be the most overqualified second wideout in football outside of Chris Godwin. If the second-year guys such as Singletary and Knox make strides in holding onto the football, the Bills could be a top-5 unit in 2021.
Overall, the Bills’ weapons actually finished very well in the AFC, third-overall, behind only the Chiefs (1) and Browns (2). However, those two were ranked very well last season, too. The Chiefs landed at second in this same ESPN list in 2019, while the Browns were in third. Over the past two seasons, the Bills were at 29th in 2018 and only 25th last season. Significant improvements.
Still, those improvements don’t come without a bit of a worry: Allen is now on the hot seat, sort of. There’s no reason to look at anyone but the QB himself if he doesn’t improve in 2020. Not only are his weapons some of the best in the NFL, his complete offensive line from last year returns, too.
The Bills’ playmakers very much out-rank the rest of the AFC East as well in little surprise. The Pats slot in second in the division at No. 21 overall, while the Jets and Dolphins are at 29 and 30, respectively.
Fitting with the Fourth of July theme, here are fourteen plays that brought out the fireworks from the Bills season.
The 2019 season had its share of standout plays from the Buffalo Bills. Fitting with the Fourth of July theme of this weekend, here are 14 plays that brought out the fireworks from this past season:
Every NFL team has at least one player whose play deserves more praise than it gets. Here’s every team’s most underrated player.
In the NFL, players are underrated for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes, they’re second banana to a superstar whose deeds take up all the oxygen. Other times, it may be that the player has to climb up the depth chart as a little-regarded contributor, and the media hasn’t caught up yet. It’s also possible that the player has an incandescent talent that’s hidden by an unfavorable scheme. And it could also be that the player has had one great season, and everyone’s waiting to see if it’s a fluke.
No matter the reasons, every player on this list has set an exceptional standard deserving of more recognition. Here are the most underrated players for every NFL team going into the 2020 season.
Arizona Cardinals: EDGE Chandler Jones
(Getty Images)
Do you know which NFL player has the most sacks since 2012? We’re kind of giving it away here, but yes, it is Chandler Jones with 96 since his rookie season. That puts him above Von Miller, J.J. Watt, Cameron Jordan, Justin Houston, Aaron Donald, and anyone else you’d care to mention. Jones also has 85 quarterback hits and 307 quarterback hurries in that time, but he’s rarely discussed when it’s time to talk about the league’s edge-rushers. This despite the fact that he led the league in sacks in 2017 with 17 and finished second to Shaquil Barrett with 19 last season. Perhaps it’s because he’s been doing his work of late with a Cardinals team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2015, but no pass-rusher deserves more praise in line with his accomplishments than Jones.
Atlanta Falcons: DL Grady Jarrett
(Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports)
Lost in the specter of the Falcons’ 28-3 meltdown in Super Bowl LI was the fact that Jarrett, the Falcons’ fifth-round pick in 2015, was a borderline MVP candidate with three sacks and four quarterback hits before everything fell apart. Downgraded out of Clemson because he was allegedly too short, Jarrett has been a remarkable interior disruptor throughout his NFL career. Whether aligned at nose tackle or three-technique, Jarrett has totaled at least 43 quarterback hurries every season since 2016. The Falcons rewarded him with a four-year, $68 million contract in July, 2019, but Jarrett still doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.
Baltimore Ravens: OT Ronnie Stanley
(Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
Who’s the best left tackle in the NFL today? Were you to poll 100 experts, you’d get several different answers. But it’s hard to argue against Stanley, who allowed just one sack and 10 total pressures in 543 pass-blocking snaps last season, and helped the Ravens put together the NFL’s most dynamic rushing attack in his 489 run-blocking snaps. The 2019 season marked Stanley’s first All-Pro and Pro Bowl nods, and there should be more of that to come. Lamar Jackson is the talk of Baltimore’s offense, but it wouldn’t go the way it does without Stanley’s presence.
Buffalo Bills: WR John Brown
(JAMIE GERMANO/ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE -Imagn Content Services, LLC)
The big news for the Bills this offseason was the trade that brought Stefon Diggs to the team, but Buffalo’s receiver corps was already pretty strong, and Brown was the primary reason in 2019. Despite the fact that he plied his trade in a new offense and took passes from erratic quarterback Josh Allen, the former Cardinal and Raven set a career high with 72 receptions and posted the second 1,000-yard season of his career. The addition of Diggs should give Brown more one-on-one opportunities to succeed — especially if Allen is able to get his GPS aligned.
Carolina Panthers: S Tre Boston
(Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)
Few deep safeties have been as adept in pass coverage than Boston over the last five season, so it has been a mystery why the Panthers cut him in 2017, and why he was unable to find more than a series of one-year deals with different teams until Carolina re-assessed its approach and signed him to a three-year, $18 million deal in March. It’s still chump change for a guy who plays as well as Boston does — he’s totaled 16 interceptions to just eight touchdowns allowed in his career — but it’s a nice bounceback for a player whose desire to protest may have cost him a more lucrative deal.
Chicago Bears: WR Allen Robinson
(Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports)
If any current receiver would be justified in filing a grievance against the NFL for lack of quarterback support, it would be Robinson, who has moved from Blake Bortles as his primary QB in Jacksonville to Mitchell Trubisky in Chicago. Hardly ideal. Still, Robinson led the NFL in touchdown receptions with 14 in 2015, and last season, with Trubisky falling apart most of the time, he still caught 98 passes for 1,147 yards and seven touchdowns. 2020 marks the last year of Robinson’s current contract with the Bears, and he’ll undoubtedly make the best of Chicago’s Trubisky/Nick Foles quaterback situation, and perhaps wind up on a team with a functional quarterback after that.
Cincinnati Bengals: RB Joe Mixon
(Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
The hope in Cincinnati is that the offense will come around with Joe Burrow at quarterback, but the Bengals are already set at the running back position, where Mixon gained 1,137 yards and five touchdowns on 278 carries last season, adding 35 receptions for 287 yards and three more touchdowns for good measure. Only five backs broke more rushing tackles than Mixon’s 52, and he totaled 14 runs of 15 or more yards last season, tied for fourth in the league.
Cleveland Browns: RB Nick Chubb
(AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Tennessee’s Derrick Henry was the NFL’s rushing leader in 2019, but it could easily be argued that Chubb was the league’s most efficient rusher. Not only did he gain 5.0 yards per carry (1,494 yards and eight touchdowns on 298 carries), but he also led the league in rushed of 15 or more yards (20), only the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs broke more rushing tackles than Chubb’s 66, and only Henry averaged more yards after contact per carry than Chubb’s 3.77. He was a one-man wrecking crew in a broken offense in 2019 — perhaps new head coach Kevin Stefanski can change that, but there’s no doubting Chubb’s status as one of the league’s rising stars.
John Brown had a lot of receiving yards when Josh Allen was under pressure says Pro Football Focus.
With 72 catches and 1,060 receiving yards in his first season with the Bills, both career highs, here’s a statement that doesn’t need much proving: John Brown is a reliable target for Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen.
But Pro Football Focus and their deep-dive into the numbers added a nice little cherry on top for wideout known as “Smoke.” According to the football analytics outlet, Brown was near the top of the NFL in one receiving number in particular.
With 384 of his total receiving yards coming while his quarterback was under pressure, that’s the third-highest among any receiver in the NFL:
Most receiving yards when his QB was under pressure last season
1. Mike Williams – 421 2. Tyler Lockett – 390 3. John Brown – 384 4. Jarvis Landry – 372 pic.twitter.com/PBfpuAis4T
The company Brown finds himself in here via Williams, Lockett and Landry isn’t a bad group to be part of, either. But this PFF stat could be forecasting one thing in 2020 for Buffalo’s offense.
Stefon Diggs comes in as Allen’s new No. 1 target. On paper, that means Brown is no longer the top man. However, these 384 yards won’t be forgotten by Allen and when the heat is on, you can beat he’ll still look for Brown down the field.
Buffalo Bills WRs John Brown, Isaiah McKenzie show of backflips.
A few years back the NFL loosened up and decided to change the mantra of the league being known as the “no fun league.” Celebration-related rules were lightened up and players were allowed to have some fun again.
Recently a video surfaced of some potential celebrations that some Bills wide receivers might dust off during 2020, or least it’d be really cool to see. Wideouts John Brown and Isaiah McKenzie nearly bounced right out of their shoes in this one.
Over the past few weeks, plenty of Bills players from offense met down in Florida to workout together. While there, videographer Joe Croom caught a bunch of the action. He’s since shared some on social media.
Among the workouts were a couple of backflips and springs the two receivers pulled off. Think they could have some touchdown celebrations in the making?
Bleacher Report ranks Buffalo Bills wide receivers the 11th best in NFL.,
Bleacher Report power ranked the NFL’s pass catchers for each team and while the Buffalo Bills have a much-improved group from a year ago, their unit slots in at No. 11 overall.
Stefon Diggs joins the Bills and will jump right to the top of this unit. A proven 1,000-yard receiver himself in recent seasons, he pushes fellow 2019 1,000-yard receiver, John Brown, to a No. 2 role while Cole Beasley still sits in the slot among the league’s best there.
But here’s B/R’s breakdown of why the Bills land outside the top-10:
At No. 11, the Buffalo Bills received a huge boost from Stefon Diggs’ arrival, propelling them over the Cincinnati Bengals. Diggs is on the rise while AJ Green trends in the wrong direction because of his recent injuries.
Furthermore, Cole Beasley deserves consideration as one of the top slot receivers in the league, registering 386 receptions for 4,049 yards and 29 touchdowns through eight seasons as a tertiary pass-catching option for most of his career.
With Diggs in the fold, John Brown, who registered career highs in receptions (72) and yards (1,060) during the previous term, projects as a solid No. 2 option.
Tight end Dawson Knox had a decent rookie campaign, snagging 28 grabs for 388 yards and two scores. The unit also has some depth with Tyler Kroft if he’s fully recovered from a broken foot and low ankle sprain that limited his workload to 244 offensive snaps in 2019.
B/R goes on to say the Bills, compared to the Bengals, have less question marks in this area. But what likely keeps the Bills out of the top-10 are their very unproven tight ends. Kroft, as mentioned, has been oft-injured in his career and that’s how his first season with the Bills was a year ago. In Knox, he had a promising rookie season, but he has plenty to improve upon, including problems with drops.
However, there’s some big silver lining here. First, the Bills are the best-ranked pass catchers in the AFC East by B/R. Buffalo edges out the everyone in the division by… a lot. The Dolphins are the next closest… all the way at No. 29. But somehow they’re still ahead of the Patriots (30) and Jets (31). Those three are actually the three-worst ranks receiver rooms in the entire AFC, as the NFC’s Redskins fall in dead-last.
With that same concept in mind on the flip side, the Bills are in 11, but at the fourth-best among AFC teams. Ahead of the Bills are the Chiefs (2), Browns (3) and Chargers (9).
Still, even with these AFC positives, other outlets had the Bills in better standing within the entire league overall. Pro Football Focus among them, who recently ranked the Bills’ receivers the fifth-best in the NFL.
The football analytics outlet ranked every NFL team’s wide receiver rooms as they currently. The Bills are in a place they haven’t been in awhile in terms of their wideouts, among the best in the league.
Per PFF, the Bills have the fifth-best receivers in the NFL:
When the Bills traded for Stefon Diggs, PFF’s Sam Monson wrote that the Bills had the best wide receiver group in the NFL. That may be debatable, but their standing near the top shouldn’t be. Diggs, John Brown and Cole Beasley all excel at creating separation, and they complement each other well, specializing in different areas of the field. That trio alone bumps the Bills into the top-five on this list. Dawson Knox will be an interesting player to watch at the tight end position in 2020. He struggled with drops as a rookie (nine compared to just 28 receptions), but he showed some big play and after-the-catch ability with six forced missed tackles on those 28 receptions.
Translation: PFF, an outlet often critical of Bills quarterback Josh Allen, is going to put him under the microscope in 2020. PFF often has considered Allen among the NFL’s worst quarterbacks, even comparing him to Bears QB Mitch Trubisky in the last few weeks. Trubisky is potentially going to lose his job to free agent signee Nick Foles before next season, while Allen is a starter.
But to PFF’s point, there really shouldn’t be many excuses left for Allen next season. He has all the talent in the world around him. Time to step up in Year 3. Brown was a 1,000-yard player for the Bills just last season, so with the addition of Diggs, there should be a massive trickle-down from that move.
Bleacher Report says the Buffalo Bills have the best skill position in the AFC East.
The Patriots lost a lot on offense. The Dolphins are young. The Jets are… the Jets.
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills added a top-tier wide receiver to their roster during the 2020 offseason, a group the club added to mightily a year ago. It comes as little surprise that the Bills’ offensive skill positions are ranked the best in the AFC East by Bleacher Report recently.
B/R breaks down the Bills’ playermakers here:
At least part of Josh Allen’s success a year ago is attributable to the improvements the Bills made at wide receiver in 2019 free agency. John Brown tallied career highs in both catches (72) and yardage (1,060) during his first year in Buffalo, while slot maven Cole Beasley pitched in a 67/778/6 stat line.
The Bills took those improvements further in 2020, dealing their first-round pick in this year’s draft to the Minnesota Vikings for wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who piled up a career-best 1,130 receiving yards while averaging almost 18 yards per catch last season.
Finally, while the Bills are young and a tad unproven at running back, there’s quite a bit of talent there. Devin Singletary averaged 5.1 yards per carry and came just shy of 1,000 yards from scrimmage as a rookie, while third-round pick Zack Moss offers depth and a physical between-the-tackles presence.
Of course, this whole breakdown comes to one player mostly: Allen. The QB improved following his rookie season, but everyone between Buffalo and Rochester and beyond wants to see the signal caller have an even better year in 2020. Allen’s stat that’s treated most critically is his completion percentage. With all these additions in mind around him, Allen should see his completion rate jump above the 58.8 percent mark next season. Diggs is among the best at making contested catches in the entire NFL, while Brown and Beasley already have a year’s worth of chemistry with the QB.
