John Brown is the perfect second option at WR for Buffalo Bills

While John Brown may move down the depth chart with the addition of Stefon Diggs, he is a perfect fit as the second wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills.

Last year, John Brown had a career year in his first season with the Buffalo Bills with 72 receptions, 1,060 receiving yards and six touchdowns. That was the most receiving yards by a wide receiver on the Bills since 2010 when Stevie Johnson had 1,073 and most receptions since Johnson had 79 in 2012.

There was no question that John Brown exceeded expectations last year as the team’s number one wide receiver. However, this coming season he will play a different role as the team brought in Stefon Diggs to be that top receiver in this offense.

The good news for the Buffalo Bills is that Brown has experience as a number two wide receiver in an offense and has been highly productive when asked to play that role. This is something he has actually done more in his career with last season being his first opportunity as a number one wide receiver.

When looking over John Brown’s career there are two seasons that jump out that have a number of similarities to not only Brown’s expected role but also the offense he will be playing in. Even though the Buffalo Bills did add Stefon Diggs, they also added Zack Moss to the backfield and do have a mobile quarterback in Josh Allen. While the Bills may pass slightly more, this is an offense that will likely still rely on the run.

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The first season that jumps out when looking at John Brown’s career was actually his second year in the league. In 2015, as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, Brown was the number two wide receiver to Larry Fitzgerald. That year, even with Carson Palmer under center, they relied heavily on the run with the fifth most rushing attempts in the league but ranked 19th in pass attempts.

Even with the offense being run heavy, Brown still finished with 65 receptions, 1,003 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. These are numbers that are very similar to what he did last year when he was the number one wide receiver.

The other season was 2018, when he was a member of the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens offense that year finished first in rushing attempts and 17th in passing attempts. John Brown once again was the number two wide receiver in this offense, behind Michael Crabtree, and finished with 42 receptions, 715 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

While the numbers didn’t reach 2015 when he was with the Cardinals, one of the reasons Brown is perfect for this role is he has great speed that can pick up yards in chunks. He has a career 14.9 yards per reception and the two years previously mentioned were some of the highest in his career with 17 yards per reception with the Ravens and 15.4 yards per reception with the Cardinals in 2015.

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Even though John Brown is no longer the number one wide receiver, he could actually be more effective for the Buffalo Bills this coming season and is still going to be one of Josh Allen’s best targets in the passing attack.

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