Not many people expected Georgia QB Jake Fromm to be available in the 5th round of the NFL draft, including the Buffalo Bills, but he was there, and the Bills made a move.
Buffalo selected Fromm with 167th overall pick in the draft on Saturday. Fromm, who skipped his senior season at Georgia to enter the NFL draft, threw for 2860 yards with 24 touchdown passes in only five interceptions last season.
According to Bills GM Brandon Beane, Fromm was not on his radar entering Saturday.
“I wouldn’t have told you going into today that he was on our radar, but we had him in a spot that you just can’t ignore, and we gave him his due,” Bills GM Brandon Beane said via a conference call on Saturday. “This guy, he’s a winner at the highest level of college. You look at all the guys that come out of the SEC…this guy came in. He’s got all the intangibles. He’s smart. When I went down to that school to watch him practice, at that point, they didn’t know if he would come out. They said he loves being the guy at Georgia, and he loves just being there. They said this guy would be there 11, 12 at night with the coaches walking out the door at the same times the offensive coaches are. Just a guy who loves everything about the game, the full process, the preparation, and that matters.
“Listen, if he had a big-time cannon arm, or he was 6-5, those types of things, he would have gone day one. He’s got all the other things. Fair question, I’ll go ahead and jump to it. He’ll have to earn a spot here, but just too good to pass up. He’ll come in; obviously, Josh [Allen] is our starter. Matt [Barkley] has been an excellent backup for us. I don’t know if he’ll be able to knock Matt off. We’ll see about that. But we could definitely go with two quarterbacks, we could go with three quarterbacks. Davis Webb has not got a real chance to show us what he can do. He’s still in the mix right now. Again, anytime you can add a good football player…. quarterbacks a premium position. I just felt like he was too good to value to pass up.”
The Bills do have Matt Barkley under contract for the 2020 season, but it seems logical, if Fromm is ready, that he could assume that backup spot to Josh Allen in the near future for the Bills.
Last season, the Buffalo Bills did what many thought they could do, and that is make it to the postseason. Buffalo finished 10-6 and made the playoffs in 2019. Unfortunately, the Bills would fall to the Texans 22-19 in OT in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
In 2019, the Bills had a very good defense, which finished third in total defense and second in points allowed. However, at times on offense, it was a struggle for Buffalo. The Bills finished 24th in total offense and were 23rd in points scored, so with those numbers; Buffalo needed help on offense, which they may have found in WR Stefon Diggs.
Buffalo sent a first-round pick, fifth-round pick, and sixth-round pick in the 2020 draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft for Diggs and a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft.
Diggs, 26, had 63 catches for 1130 yards and six touchdowns last season in Minnesota.
Today, Bills GM Brandon Beane, via a conference call, discussed the acquisition of Diggs.
Q: I know there’s been some reporting and sourcing on how exactly the Stefon Diggs trade came about. Can you just kind of give us in your own way a timeline of how things unfolded for you?
Beane: “Yeah, so it was that Monday, the negotiating period started around noon, so you know late afternoon, I don’t know exactly the time. Four or 4:30, somewhere in there. We reached out and just kind of, as we do, you know all the time we hear rumors on, some of the same rumors we heard at the trade deadline last season on guys. I think it was pretty open that we were, we were snooping around midseason to make a trade for another receiver, and we just couldn’t find a deal that worked for us. And you know, Stefon was one that we had looked into at that point, along with some other guys. And, you know, Minnesota was not willing to part with him at that point, but we checked back in, and it didn’t seem like a definitive 100% no. They just said, ‘Listen we’re not shopping him. We just agreed to a contract a little over a year ago.’ So talked to them, and they just said, ‘Listen, we’ll listen, but it’s got to be something, because you know we got to replace this guy, and he’s our number one receiver.’ And so did that. Then you know we were talking to other receivers agents, working through seeing what was available, what our options were. And then at the end of the night, I told Minnesota, ‘Hey, we’ll circle back.’ And they, they were starting to get a little antsy because they were getting pressure, you know, there were some other teams involved. And so, we worked on it probably around 9:45 or so, and I think 20 to 30 minutes later, we got it knocked out.”
Q: Why was this a move that you felt like your team needed to make at this particular time.
Beane: “Yeah, I mean, I said it at the end of season press conference. I blamed myself as much as anybody. It’s my job and my personnel staff’s job to add weapons to help run Brian Daboll and his staff, help our quarterback, help Sean. And so one of the things that I thought we still needed, hence I was referring to us snooping around at the trade deadline was finding somebody opposite John Brown to pair with Cole Beasley. And, again, the draft was is stacked with receivers as well. We’ve talked about that before. But I think it became ever-present with what’s going on around us, that we don’t know what kind of offseason we’ll have. And I just felt like it was going to be really hard, unless I trade it up really high to find a guy that I know could walk in, day one. Let’s just say it’s August before we get back to things. You know, I just felt a proven commodity was worth this. The trade value of this move probably moved us up three to four slots from 22, might of got us to 18 or 19, not as high as I thought we had to get to get one of those premier guys that I knew would walk in the door, even August 1, and be ready to roll.”
Q: Do you consider Stefon Diggs almost like your first-round draft pick? And how are you guys doing the draft preparation given everything going on in the world?
Beane: “It is one of those things where I view it that’s our first-round pick. The way I’m viewing it with the draft capital that we moved to acquire him is we moved up, let’s just say four spots. We traded up there, and we got him. And we know the player. It’s just a more proven thing right now. And again, what we’re dealing with. What did weigh into it is, I know this guy knows ball and we’ll be able to understand the verbiage of our system quicker than, a lot of this stuff in college is all signaled in. A lot of these guys aren’t in huddles, so the biggest transition for these receivers beyond the routes and the physical stuff is just hearing these long play calls in the huddle and processing in their head from as little as ‘Do I go left? Do I go right? Am I on the ball? Am I off the ball?’ Now I got to start reading what coverage they’re in to know what route they are in. You know all those things, the mental part is so hard, and that’s why I think so many receivers, we talk about all the time probably one of the higher bust rates across the league. I think it’s more mental than physical.”
In reality, when you talked about the AFC East, it was the Patriots and everybody else. New England has won the division 11 years in a row, including winning the division in 2019.
However, Tom Brady is now in Tampa, so that changes things in the AFC East, which means the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets now have a chance to win the division. The most logical choice to take over the AFC East would be the Buffalo Bills, who finished second in the division last season after going 10-6 and securing one of the wild card spots in the AFC.
According to Hall of Fame WR and Bills’ legend Andre Reed, Buffalo is the team to beat in the AFC East.
“Obviously, it opens up the door in the AFC East,” Reed told TMZ Sports about Brady leaving the AFC East. “What team now? Is it going to be the Jets with Sam Darnold. Is it going to be the Bills, who have taken that next step? I’m thinking it’s going to be the Bills to be the class of that division this year…
“You can never count nobody out, but it’s a big move for the AFC, for the league, but not for New England.”
Reed, who has watched his Bills and other teams suffer because of Brady, is happy to see Brady leave the AFC East.
“I’m sure Tom is going to be alright wherever he goes,” Reed said. “However, he finishes his career, whatever team he’s with. Just glad it’s not the AFC East anymore.”
For the first time, in a long time, what will happen in the AFC East is a mystery. If we were picking today, we would probably say the Bills. They have a solid quarterback in Josh Allen, they added Stefon Diggs, and Buffalo has a very good defense. A lot can and will happen in the next few months, but if I had a few dollars lying around, I probably would put it on the Buffalo Bills winning the AFC East in 2020.
In the third quarter of the Bills’ 22-19 loss in OT to the Texans on Saturday, Buffalo was up 16-0, and at that point, many expected that the Bills would be moving onto the Divisional Round. However, mistakes happened, and Deshaun Watson started to make plays, including spinning away from a sack in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal.
Now, the Bills go into the offseason knowing they had a very good shot at winning a playoff game. Fortunately, for the Bills, their quarterback Josh Allen is still young and getting better. Therefore, they seemed to be set at the quarterback position, but Allen, who threw for 264 yards and rushed 92 yards and caught a touchdown pass against Houston, still has some work to do in the offseason.
“He’s made a tremendous amount of progress,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said about Allen on Tuesday. “Let’s start there. Let’s recognize the work this young man has put in and the growth that he has shown. Is there still work to do? Yes, and he’d be the first to tell you that is, in fact, the case. The game did not end the way we wanted it to end, and the reason is because we didn’t play well enough in the second half in particular. We scored field goals; we needed touchdowns.
“You look back and say hey, we were up 13 I believe it was after the half there, we have a takeaway and we had the chance to go up 20 to nothing at that point. Maybe the game changes at that point, or maybe it doesn’t. There are so many things that he can do better, and there are certainly things that I can do better and our entire football team. I think if you take the right approach, that’s being accountable and taking ownership and I know Josh did that, that’s really where it starts. With that, he’ll put the work in, and you know he will be better next season. I think you’ll see another step this offseason into next season.”
At times on Saturday, Allen tried to do too much. Whether it’s taking a bad sack late in the fourth quarter or trying to lateral the football in the open field, the second-year quarterback was just doing too much, something McDermott acknowledged on Tuesday.
“I think it all comes back to, for Josh, just trying to do too much,” McDermott said. “That’s been something we’ve talked about, and that’s something he has to continue to handle as he moves forward and continues to grow in his career, and I’m confident that he will do that. I think that’s the next step for Josh, is that awareness, maturity; however, you want to phrase it.
“It’s the understanding that I don’t have to do it all myself. I’m a tremendous generator and playmaker, but I have pieces around me. As we continue in all honesty, to build the roster, that’s what we have to do. We have to continue to give him pieces that he trusts in addition to the ones he already has.”
Allen got his first taste of playoff action, which should help him moving forward. While he contributed to the lost, Allen had his moments against the Texans, and in 2019, Allen set career-highs in passing yards, touchdown passes, completion percentage, and passer rating, so to McDermott’s point, Allen has made progress in 2019.
The Buffalo Bills(10-6) are back in the playoffs, and the man that led the way is QB Josh Allen. The second-year quarterback and the Bills will travel to Houston on Saturday to face DeShaun Watson and the Texans(10-6).
The Bills are in the playoffs for the second time in three years, but for Allen, who led all quarterbacks with nine rushing touchdowns in 2019, this will be his first taste of playoff action.
“I think everybody knows what we’re playing for, both sides included, it’s win or go home,” Allen said on Tuesday. “It’s the playoffs, it’s what we wanted, what we worked for. Now we gotta go out there and play a game on Saturday.”
The last time Allen played the Texans in Houston, he left the game early with an elbow injury. Allen, who was a rookie at the time, felt that situation helped him grow as a player.
“Obviously going through that game there’s not great memories,” Allen explained. “No one likes getting hurt, but having the opportunity to have Derek [Anderson] and Matt [Barkley] come in, learning from those two guys, it was a blessing in disguise. But having that experience of playing there, seeing a familiar stadium — the crowd’s going to be hyped up a little more being a playoff game, but kind of having a feel for that is experience we can take into that game.”
Fortunately for Allen, he will be backed by an outstanding Bills’ defense. Buffalo ranked second in total defense and second in points allowed, so Allen does not have to do it all for the Bills to be successful against Houston. However, Allen, who set career-highs in passing yards(3089), touchdown passes(20), completion percentage(58.8), and passer rating(85.3) this season, believes he has to lead the way for the Bills.
“I don’t have to be the best quarterback out there, I have to be the best quarterback for this team to help us win a football game,” Allen said. “Regardless of the circumstances that may go on during the game, I’ve got to lead this team and be able to find a way.”
Allen believes the Bills, as a team, will do everything in their power to move onto the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
“I can tell you this, we have a bunch of guys that play for each other,” he said. “We want to win, we don’t want to go home, and we’ve got a bunch of guys that are willing to fight for each other. I love this team, I love this squad, and we’re going to try and do everything in our power to extend our season.”
While the Buffalo Bills are officially in the playoffs and have had a lot of success in 2019, this is still a reasonably young football team, especially at the quarterback position with second-year QB Josh Allen.
The 23-year-old Allen continues to grow and learn what it takes to be a good quarterback in the NFL, and it’s plain to see that he is making progress. After a slow start in 2019, Allen has thrown 15 touchdowns with only two interceptions in the last ten games. Furthermore, he has the best touchdown to interception ratio(8:0) in the fourth quarter in the league this season.
Last week, the Bills traveled to Foxboro to battle the Patriots, and anytime you face Bill Belichick and the Patriots, it’s not easy, especially for a young quarterback, and last Saturday night in their 24-17 loss to New England, Allen struggled at times but had Buffalo deep in Patriots’ territory late in the contest with an opportunity to tie the game up, but Buffalo would turn the ball over on downs.
On Tuesday, Allen talked about the things he learned from playing the Patriots last Saturday night.
“Just understanding certain types of pressures and what they are trying to do when they bring certain guys,” Allen said. “They looped their linemen, but I felt like I saw things pretty well. We went back and watched the tape, and obviously finding some completions early on and getting off to a hot start would have helped us out tremendously.
“That first and goal situation with a couple minutes left, we learned a lot there and what we can do and what we can’t do. Just more in-game experience that we are going to learn from, and I’m thankful that I got to be in that operation and had the opportunity to have that, but those are ones we have to have.”
The Bills played the Patriots tough in 2019 but lost both times to New England. However, losing tough games to good football teams is apart of the process of getting to the next level, which based on what we have seen in 2019, might not be too far away for Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
The Buffalo Bills(10-4) are back in the playoffs, which is excellent news for the fans in Western New York. The Bills clinched a playoff berth by defeating the Steelers on Sunday night.
The last time the Bills made the playoffs was back in 2017 when Buffalo needed some help to make the playoffs in the final game of the season. At that time, the Bills were in the playoffs for the first time since 1999, so they were just happy to be there, including Pro Bowl corner Tre’Davious White, who was apart of that 2017 team that lost to the Jaguars in the wildcard round.
According to White, this version of the Bills is much different than that 2017 team.
“I feel like that this team is more together. We bonded more,” White said on Wednesday. “Obviously, we have guys who have been here for three years, so we know what to expect, too. So, I feel like we have a little bit more experience. I would say that. But, I mean, things change from year to year. I feel like going into the playoffs with this team; I feel way more confident than I did in 2017, for sure.”
At this point, the Bills still have a shot at winning the AFC East, but it’s a long shot. They have to beat the Patriots on Saturday in Foxboro and beat the Jets at home. Then, this is the hard part; they have to hope the Dolphins can beat the Patriots on the road in Week 17.
Based on those scenarios, it’s safe to say that the Bills will probably be one of the two wild card teams in the AFC, which again, is still good news for Buffalo.
With six games left, the Buffalo Bills have put themselves in an excellent position to make the playoffs this season, and after defeating the Dolphins 37-20 last Sunday, the Bills are 7-3, which would put them in the playoffs if the season ended today.
The Bills’ offense woke up last Sunday, and on Wednesday, Bills QB Josh Allen was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week. Allen accounted for four touchdowns against Miami, and the team scored a season-high 37 points.
The success that Buffalo had on offense against the Dolphins is something that Allen believes can continue.
“I definitely don’t think it’s just a one-time thing how we played this weekend,” Allen said on Wednesday. “We’ve got a good sense of who we are as a team. I think we really kind of found our identities as an offense. We’re gonna continue to roll with what we’ve been doing. At the end of the day, it comes down to 11 vs. 11 on the field. Coach Bohl, my college coach, would say, “it’s a man whip man game.” How physical we are, how bad we want it, versus how bad they want it, and it’s what it comes down to. We got to go out there; we got to take it. The rest of the schedule, nothing’s gonna be handed to us. We gotta go try to find some wins.”
On Sunday, the Bills have an excellent chance to move to 8-3 when they host the Denver Broncos(3-7). According to Allen, Buffalo needs at least 10 wins to get to the postseason.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, I think you need to get at least 10 wins to get into the playoffs,” Allen said. “We’re sitting at seven. Not really sure how many games we have left. I can do the math in my head. I can (laughs). I know we got six or seven games left, whatever it is. We got to win some more games to kind of get in there.
‘Whether we have an opportunity to make the playoffs, I think we’ve got a good opportunity in front of us right now. But guys aren’t looking forward, we’re not talking about it, we’re taking it one week at a time, trying to win a football game this week.”
Winning 10 games is very doable for the Bills. Nothing is guaranteed against the Broncos, but Buffalo probably beats Denver on Sunday. So, based on what Allen said, the Bills need to win two of their final five games(@ Cowboys, Ravens, @ Steelers, @ Patriots, Jets) to get to 10, which they should be able to do when you consider that two out of their final five games are against the Steelers and Jets.
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), the Bills have a 63.4% chance to make the playoffs, so if things continue to go their way, expect Buffalo to slide into the playoffs in 2019.
Coming into their game against the Miami Dolphins, many were questioning second-year quarterback Josh Allen. However, on Sunday, Allen answered some of those questions. Allen completed 21 of 33 passes for 256 yards and tied a career-high with three touchdowns passes, and he ran for 56 yards and another score, as the Bills defeated the Dolphins 37-20.
“I think he showed his personality, honestly,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said on Monday. “He’s a highly competitive young man. Got a lot of confidence in that young man. He competes at a high level, whether he’s having a one of his best days or he’s not.
“And, yesterday I thought was one of his better days and he’s only going to get better. Much like Tremaine [Edmunds], just in the middle part of his second year with a lot of reps under his belt but also, still young and still learning the game. I just thought overall, great team effort and all the guys I thought really just they showed their true personality yesterday.”
The 37 points the Bills scored against the Dolphins was a season-high for the team, and while Allen has had some issues in 2019, especially with the deep ball, Bills OC Brian Daboll sees a player that competes week in and week out.
“I think Josh is a good football player,” Daboll said. “He’s a good leader. He’s a good leader for our offense. He’s a good leader for our team, puts in a ton of work, has respect of his teammates, and goes out there every week and competes his tail off.”
This was a game the Bills were supposed to win, and they have done that all season long. At 7-3, Buffalo is off to its best start after ten games since 1999, so whether it’s against a good team or bad team, a win is a win, which is good news for the Buffalo Bills. Next up? The 3-7 Denver Broncos, who the Bills should beat.
At 6-3, the Buffalo Bills, if the season ended today, would be in the playoffs, which would lead to happy times in Buffalo. However, the Bills have lost two out of their last three games, including last week’s 19-16 loss to the Browns. While Buffalo is in a good spot in terms of the playoffs, things are not all good.
Currently, the Bills have the number three ranked defense in the NFL. However, offensively, the Bills are struggling. The Bills rank 23rd in offense and 25th in scoring. Also, their second-year quarterback Josh Allen(1919 yards, 10 TDs, 7 INTs) has struggled as well. He is near the bottom in terms of starting quarterbacks in yards and touchdowns. Allen knows that he has to improve, and according to Allen, he is working hard to do just that.
“I’m looking to improve each and every day,” Allen said on Wednesday. “I think if you ask any quarterback in the league, they’d say the same thing, that they don’t want to become stagnant where they’re at, they’re always trying to look for ways to improve, and that’s no different for myself. Obviously, I know there’s a lot to work on.
“I know I’m nowhere near where I need to be, nowhere near where I want to be. And, where I want to be is higher than where I need to be. I hold myself to a very high standard, and I’m going to continue to work hard, and my goal is to get where I want to be.”
In fairness to Allen, he is a second-year quarterback, so there will be growing pains, and outside of Lamar Jackson, none of the other quarterbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft have not been much better. Allen is a tremendous runner, but for the Bills to get to the playoffs, he has to improve as a passer. Buffalo has seven games left. Three of those games are very winnable(@ Dolphins, Jets, and Broncos), and the other four will be tough(@ Cowboys, @ Patriots, @ Steelers, Ravens). The Bills have not beaten any team over .500, and to this point, Buffalo has feasted on bad teams.
Are the Bills for real? We don’t have an answer yet, but to change the perception of this team, they have to beat a good team, and that starts with Allen and the Bills’ offense.
