The Buffalo Bills are bordering on desperation for their wide receiver room this offseason. General manager Brandon Beane is under plenty of pressure from Bills Mafia to give Josh Allen better and more consistent weaponry.
That said, not just any wide receiver will do. Allen needs a true No. 1 wide receiver that he can lean on to pick up key first downs and to come down with the ball in clutch moments. Considering the Bills will be picking at No. 26 overall in April’s draft, there might not be a prospect on the board that fits the mold.
A recent ESPN mock draft showed Beane and co. reaching for a wide receiver at that pick, showing how, even in drafting the right position, the Bills could find themselves drafting the wrong player.
Why the Bills’ wide receiver need complicates this mock draft decision
Matt Miller’s Senior Bowl-themed mock draft to kick off February sent Texas A&M wideout KC Concepcion to the Bills. For any in Bills Mafia who may not be familiar with Concepcion, Miller’s sales pitch certainly won’t make fans perk up in excitement.
“Concepcion has average size at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, but he's shifty throughout the route tree and creates yards after the catch. The Bills could line him up in the slot and unleash him on choice routes, where he can quickly create space and be a threat unlike anything Allen has had since Stefon Diggs,” Miller wrote.
The one thing Buffalo’s receiving corps has is a solid slot receiver. Khalil Shakir is the only player in that room who doesn’t need to be replaced.
That said, Concepcion’s profile doesn’t seem to actually limit his capabilities to the slot, though his size at the NFL level might. The light comparison to Diggs can also go along with the comparison Bleacher Report made in their scouting report to Luther Burden III.
If Concepcion can prove himself as a dangerous route runner from anywhere on the field, with exceptional elusiveness after the catch, then Bills Mafia would obviously be excited. But that’s a heavy expectation to lay at the feet of the fifth wide receiver taken, as he was in Miller’s mock draft.
To that end, Concepcion’s shortcomings appear to be with focus drops, trying to turn upfield before the ball is secured. His scouting report also calls into question his abilities as a run blocker, something highly valued in the Bills’ offense.
That said, if Beane finds a true No. 1 elsewhere, whether in free agency or via trade, then a late first-round shot on Concepcion wouldn’t be a bad thing. Buffalo would surely be able to take advantage of his elusiveness in space by getting the ball in his hands in a variety of ways, and hopefully, not just bubble screens.
Just as importantly, he’d be afforded some patience in his development to get those focus drops eliminated and to improve his run blocking, too.
The last thing Buffalo really needs in a first-round receiver, barring a trade up for someone like Carnell Tate, is to draft someone at 26 and tell them to be the next Diggs. That’s a recipe for disaster.