The Bills selected Zay Jones early in the second round. Hopes were high, with him having caught a record 158 passes last year at East Carolina. (That’s 158 catches in one season.) All three of Buffalo’s most productive wide receivers last year are now playing in the NFC West – Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin.
But it just hasn’t happened. The Bills have tried to force-feed him into the lineup, but he’s clearly not ready. I saw a couple of decent catches in the preseason (including the one in the Philadelphia game that’s pictured). But Jones has been a disaster in the real games.
The Bills have thrown 32 passes in his direction, and only 7 of them have been completed – 7 of 32. And it’s not as if he’s been running primarily deep routes, trying to catch 50-yard bombs (those kind of passes are harder to connect on). His 7 catches have gone for only 83 yards.
Buffalo picked up Deonte Thompson (released by Chicago) last week, and less than a week after joining the team, he’s been more productive than Jones. Thompson caught all 4 passes thrown his way last week, for 107 yards.
| WIDE RECEIVER CATCH PERCENTAGES | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD | Tgt | Pct |
| Danny Amendola, NWE | 29 | 324 | 11.2 | 1 | 36 | 80.6% |
| Golden Tate, DET | 36 | 363 | 10.1 | 2 | 47 | 76.6% |
| Jermaine Kearse, NYJ | 27 | 328 | 12.1 | 4 | 36 | 75.0% |
| Randall Cobb, GNB | 28 | 261 | 9.3 | 1 | 38 | 73.7% |
| Tyreek Hill, KAN | 36 | 515 | 14.3 | 3 | 49 | 73.5% |
| Adam Humphries, TAM | 25 | 271 | 10.8 | 0 | 35 | 71.4% |
| Doug Baldwin, SEA | 36 | 376 | 10.4 | 2 | 51 | 70.6% |
| Tyrell Williams, LAC | 21 | 298 | 14.2 | 1 | 30 | 70.0% |
| Larry Fitzgerald, ARI | 45 | 494 | 11.0 | 3 | 65 | 69.2% |
| Nelson Agholor, PHI | 24 | 366 | 15.3 | 5 | 35 | 68.6% |
| Allen Hurns, JAX | 26 | 345 | 13.3 | 2 | 38 | 68.4% |
| Michael Crabtree, OAK | 28 | 328 | 11.7 | 6 | 41 | 68.3% |
| Julio Jones, ATL | 34 | 466 | 13.7 | 1 | 50 | 68.0% |
| Jarvis Landry, MIA | 45 | 365 | 8.1 | 3 | 68 | 66.2% |
| Adam Thielen, MIN | 43 | 530 | 12.3 | 0 | 65 | 66.2% |
| Kelvin Benjamin, CAR | 29 | 436 | 15.0 | 1 | 44 | 65.9% |
| Michael Thomas, NOR | 35 | 403 | 11.5 | 2 | 54 | 64.8% |
| Mohamed Sanu, ATL | 22 | 228 | 10.4 | 1 | 34 | 64.7% |
| Tyler Lockett, SEA | 20 | 224 | 11.2 | 0 | 31 | 64.5% |
| Stefon Diggs, MIN | 23 | 395 | 17.2 | 4 | 36 | 63.9% |
| Jamison Crowder, WAS | 19 | 149 | 7.8 | 0 | 30 | 63.3% |
| Eric Decker, TEN | 23 | 226 | 9.8 | 0 | 37 | 62.2% |
| Jordy Nelson, GNB | 26 | 303 | 11.7 | 6 | 42 | 61.9% |
| Antonio Brown, PIT | 52 | 765 | 14.7 | 3 | 84 | 61.9% |
| A.J. Green, CIN | 35 | 545 | 15.6 | 3 | 57 | 61.4% |
| Robert Woods, LAR | 27 | 381 | 14.1 | 0 | 44 | 61.4% |
| Odell Beckham, NYG | 25 | 302 | 12.1 | 3 | 41 | 61.0% |
| Brandin Cooks, NWE | 28 | 537 | 19.2 | 3 | 46 | 60.9% |
| Kenny Stills, MIA | 20 | 248 | 12.4 | 4 | 33 | 60.6% |
| Pierre Garcon, SFO | 38 | 483 | 12.7 | 0 | 63 | 60.3% |
| Demaryius Thomas, DEN | 30 | 389 | 13.0 | 0 | 50 | 60.0% |
| Devin Funchess, CAR | 31 | 346 | 11.2 | 3 | 52 | 59.6% |
| Chris Hogan, NWE | 28 | 378 | 13.5 | 5 | 47 | 59.6% |
| Emmanuel Sanders, DEN | 25 | 266 | 10.6 | 2 | 42 | 59.5% |
| JJ Nelson, ARI | 19 | 312 | 16.4 | 2 | 32 | 59.4% |
| Brandon LaFell, CIN | 19 | 136 | 7.2 | 1 | 32 | 59.4% |
| Mike Evans, TAM | 34 | 459 | 13.5 | 4 | 58 | 58.6% |
| DeAndre Hopkins, HOU | 37 | 382 | 10.3 | 6 | 65 | 56.9% |
| Rishard Matthews, TEN | 27 | 393 | 14.6 | 1 | 48 | 56.3% |
| Donte Moncrief, IND | 18 | 271 | 15.1 | 1 | 32 | 56.3% |
| Davante Adams, GNB | 30 | 351 | 11.7 | 5 | 54 | 55.6% |
| T.Y. Hilton, IND | 27 | 512 | 19.0 | 1 | 49 | 55.1% |
| Terrelle Pryor, WAS | 18 | 223 | 12.4 | 1 | 33 | 54.5% |
| Brandon Marshall, NYG | 18 | 154 | 8.6 | 0 | 33 | 54.5% |
| Ricardo Louis, CLE | 21 | 250 | 11.9 | 0 | 39 | 53.8% |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 36 | 487 | 13.5 | 1 | 68 | 52.9% |
| Marqise Lee, JAX | 24 | 363 | 15.1 | 0 | 46 | 52.2% |
| DeSean Jackson, TAM | 22 | 360 | 16.4 | 2 | 43 | 51.2% |
| Amari Cooper, OAK | 29 | 356 | 12.3 | 3 | 58 | 50.0% |
| Marvin Jones, DET | 20 | 280 | 14.0 | 3 | 40 | 50.0% |
| Martavis Bryant, PIT | 18 | 234 | 13.0 | 1 | 36 | 50.0% |
| Jaron Brown, ARI | 20 | 311 | 15.6 | 1 | 41 | 48.8% |
| Dez Bryant, DAL | 28 | 327 | 11.7 | 4 | 58 | 48.3% |
| Alshon Jeffery, PHI | 26 | 354 | 13.6 | 2 | 54 | 48.1% |
| Marquise Goodwin, SFO | 20 | 349 | 17.5 | 0 | 43 | 46.5% |
| Robby Anderson, NYJ | 21 | 331 | 15.8 | 2 | 46 | 45.7% |
| Rashard Higgins, CLE | 13 | 136 | 10.5 | 0 | 30 | 43.3% |
| John Brown, ARI | 13 | 174 | 13.4 | 2 | 31 | 41.9% |
| Kamar Aiken, IND | 12 | 98 | 8.2 | 0 | 31 | 38.7% |
| Zay Jones, BUF | 7 | 83 | 11.9 | 0 | 32 | 21.9% |
—Ian Allan