Buffalo Rumblings
Doing so would prove exceedingly difficult and costly, but let’s analyze what Harrison brings to the fold
In early April the Buffalo Bills decided to trade wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans for a 2025 second-round pick. That, of course, came after already losing wide receiver Gabe Davis to the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency.
Bills Mafia were already wondering what the play would be to replace Davis’ role, when suddenly who Josh Allen was going to throw to gained a whole new sense of urgency. Fear not, as the Bills have a boatload of draft capital this year with 10 picks on tap.
In case you haven’t heard or paid close attention, there are plenty of exciting wide receiver prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft. But among that impressive group, three players stand tall above the rest. As such, I wanted to take some time to look at the pie-in-the-sky scenario for One Bills Drive.
That is: What if the Bills traded up in this year’s draft to select Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.? Despite some recent chatter to the contrary, Harrison is the consensus number-one receiver prospect in SB Nation’s rankings (and most other outlets) for a host of reasons. He’s a plug-and-play talent who’s going to make an offense immediately better.
Harrison put up elite production in 2023 with 67 receptions for 1,211 yards (18.1 ypr) and 14 touchdowns, adding 2 rushes for 26 yards and one touchdown — a near mirror image of his 2022 season. Let’s see what the film says about the best receiver in the 2024 NFL draft class.
Every number-one wide receiver in the NFL needs to be able to beat man coverage, particularly against the best corners. Looking at this play, Harrison ran straight ahead then beat the press by the cornerback. Harrison easily created downfield separation to make the catch for a touchdown.
Harrison brings a lot of physicality to the gridiron, standing 6’4”, and weighing 205 pounds. With this play, we see his post-catch physical prowess. Once Harrison caught the ball he used a flawless spin move on the corner. Harrison continued to run straight before using a stiff arm on another defender to follow up the run-after-catch.
Harrison showed high-level route running from the slot during this play. Once the ball was snapped Harrison headed right, then turned around and went right again. Doing so allowed him to create space against the corner. The only reason Harrison didn’t make the catch was due to the errant throw by his quarterback.
Here, Harrison shows the ability to prevent contact from disturbing his opportunity to catch the football. At the snap, Harrison ran straight at the corner who was playing off-coverage against him. The corner then jammed Harrison as he turned right to...
