Remember when the Bills last had a true threat at tight end? Neither do I. The last real memories of decent production from a Bills tight end came back in the Pete Metzelaars era way back during the early 1990s.
The fact Scott Chandler is one of the better tight ends in Bills history in terms of production tells you just how little Buffalo has received for their tight ends in the passing game. But with news of the release of Chandler, and the loss of Lee Smith in free agency to Oakland, the Bills are in need of an overhaul at tight end.
There are rumblings the Bills are going to sign Miami’s restricted free agent tight end Charles Clay to an offer sheet, but they also would be wise to explore the idea of taking a tight end in next month’s NFL Draft. While the draft doesn’t offer any prospects that’ll step in immediately to give them same impact like a Jimmy Graham or Rob Gronkowski, there are a number of players who could be solid additions to the team.
1) Maxx Williams – Minnesota:
There is a very good chance the Bills won’t get a chance to select Williams, as in some mock drafts Williams is projected to be taken in the bottom of the first round. If somehow Williams does drop to to the Bills in Round 2, they’d be wise to take the tight end from Minnesota.
During his redshirt sophomore season for the Golden Gophers in 2014, Williams was the bright spot of a Minnesota passing attack that was woeful most of the time. In what was one of the better seasons in school history for the team, Williams was able to haul in 36 catches, eight of which were touchdowns. Where Williams does his damage in the passing game is in the open field, as he has good ability to make defenders miss. In 2014, Williams was able to haul in nine catches for 25 yards or more, which was the most among tight ends in college football.
Making those numbers even more impressive for Williams is he did it in an offense which was primarily run-oriented. Mitch Leidner, the primary quarterback for Minnesota last year only had 11 touchdown passes, which shows how important Williams was in the passing game for the Golden Gophers. Williams does have some holes in his game though. He can be a little sloppy in his route running, which he’ll have to improve to create separation against the top tier competition he’ll face in the NFL. He does run a little stiff as well, which could leave him vulnerable to some punishing hits.
2) Clive Walford – Miami (FL):
The Hurricanes have seen a number of solid NFL tight ends hone their craft in Coral Gables before moving on to play in the pros over the last decade-plus. Jeremy Shockey, Greg Olsen, Bubba Franks, and Kellen Winslow Jr. are just a few of the names which come to mind.Walford was a big reason why freshman quarterback Brad Kaaya was able to find the success he did during the season, as the tight end amassed 44 catches for 676 yards and seven touchdowns. Walford is a good threat in the seam and has a knack for turning his head quickly to locate the football.
While some of the strengths of Walford are his physical traits with his long arms and big hands, the hands can also be one of his biggest weaknesses. Throughout his career, Walford did have an issue with drops. Since 2012-13 Walford was credited with 10 drops. Walford might not end up being the game-changer like some of the past tight ends to come out of Miami, but he still could be of value to an NFL team. Walford is able to lineup at multiple positions and would probably find more success in two-tight end sets. Say if the Bills do end up signing Clay, they might want to entertain the idea of taking Walford if he is available.
3) Nick O’Leary – Florida State:
DId you know Nick O’Leary is the grandson of legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus? If you didn’t watch any Florida State football over the last four years you probably didn’t, but if you did tune in you definitely knew it. Honestly though, O’Leary should feel lucky to even be able to play after being involved in a couple motorcycle accidents in college.
O’Leary might’ve been overlooked at times in a Florida State offense which suffered only one loss over the last two years, but he was a key safety valve for quarterback Jameis Winston. In 2014, O’Leary recorded 48 catches and six touchdowns, following up a 2013 in which he caught seven touchdowns for the National Champions.It feels like O’Leary would be a dream for a coach, as the tight end is a team player who will do whatever he can to help the team, even though he might be lacking a little bit in terms of the physical aspects and explosiveness of the other draft prospects at tight end.
Unlike Walford, O’Leary doesn’t have the issue in terms of his hands, since he had very few drops in college, but he doesn’t quite have the big play ability you might find with Williams or Walford. Over the past three years, O’Leary only had six catches of 25 yards or more, and none of those came in his senior season.
If the Bills are looking for a good locker room guy who will give them some solid production here and there, O’Leary would be somebody to consider, but if they are looking for a tight end to make a little more impact in the offense they might to explore other options. While I wouldn’t mind the Bills having a guy like O’Leary on their team, I don’t think I’d want to use one of their second day picks on the Florida State product.
4) Jeff Heuerman – Ohio State:
Putting a guy with only 17 catches in his senior season as the fourth tight end on this list might have some people thinking I’m crazy. This might be somewhat of a “homer pick” since I’m an Ohio State fan, but that also means I’ve seen more of Heuerman than everyone else on this list.
Sure, during his senior season there wasn’t a whole lot to see, but there are a number of reasons for that. Heuerman dealt with some injuries during the season, which limited how much he was on the field, so really he might’ve been lucky to put up the stats he did. Secondly, tight end wasn’t a huge feature the past couple years of Urban Meyer’s offense. Last year Ohio State was run-heavy with Carlos Hyde and Braxton Miller. This year Heuerman’s injury issues through the year didn’t give him a whole lot of time to develop rhythm with quarterbacks J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones.
Heuerman would be more of a threat in the passing-threat tight end, since he has had some issues with run and pass blocking. Much like Williams and Walford, Heuerman does have some ability to threaten defenses vertically and his 6-5 frame could provide for a big target in the red zone.
What could make Heuerman attractive as an option is he does possess good body control to adjust to off-target throws. With some of the wild weather the Bills can see not only at home, but also in the AFC East, as well as some of the issues the Bills have had with ineffective quarterbacks, Heuerman could be a sleeper to be productive professional.
5) Jesse James – Penn State:
Are you looking for a Scott Chandler clone? If so, Penn State’s Jesse James might be right up your alley. The Nittany Lion tight end measures in at 6-7 and around 260 pounds, which makes him an outstanding target in the red zone. He has good ability to turn quickly to find the football, which makes him valuable when passing in tight quarters.
With his big size, James isn’t particularly quick off the line so he’ll have some issues creating separation in the passing game. James might think he has a little more power than he really does, since there are times when he tries to run through defenders in instances when he should try to run around them.
Comparing James to Chandler isn’t really the worst thing in the world since Chandler did put up serviceable numbers for the Bills. During his final year in a Penn State offense that suffered with a limited running game, as well as the sophomore slump of quarterback Christian Hackenberg, James was still able to catch 38 passes, with five of them going for touchdowns.
If the Bills address other areas earlier in the draft and can pick up James in the third day he might be worth a flyer, but we pretty much seen what the ceiling is for a big, lumbering tight end from the Big Ten. Hopefully the Bills have a plan in place to inject a little life into the tight end position, but they say you can’t teach size, so maybe James could turn out to be better than expected.
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