The Buffalo Bills appear to have gotten a potential difference-maker on Day 3 of the NFL Draft.
Buffalo went out this offseason and traded for DJ Moore to be the team’s No. 1 wide receiver, but the Bills were expected to add to the unit in the draft. The Bills ended up selecting Skyler Bell with the 125th overall pick, and before the draft, NFL analyst Dave Helman of The Athletic Football Show a Ja’Marr Chase lite.
“This is probably the most reckless thing I’ll say on this show,” Helman said. “This is Ja’Marr Chase lite. He’s a freak athlete, he’s explosive, but he’s very powerful and strong. And watching him, I was just like, obviously, he’s not Ja’Marr Chase. He’s not going to be a top-10 pick.
“I doubt he’s going to be an All-Pro caliber player as a rookie, but he does all that type of stuff. He can take it to the house, he can just body people out of the way. He can high point the ball. If I was trying to get Ja’Marr Chase’s skillset on late day two or even into day three, I’m all the way in on this guy.”
If Bell can come close to being Chase, it would be a home run hit for the Bills offense that needs to give Josh Allen more weapons.
Bell played two years at UConn after three years at Wisconsin. He had the best season of his college career last year as he recorded 101 receptions for 1,278 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Bell Believes He’s More Than a Slot Receiver
Buffalo selected Bell to add to the wide receiver room, and he’s excited to join the offense.
However, Bell wants Bills fans and the league to know he’s more versatile than just a slot receiver.
“I would say I’m dynamic; I’m explosive, versatile,” said Bell. “I could do a lot of different things, inside, outside, deep ball, contested catches, intermediate catches. So, I think I could do a lot of different things.”
Bills’ general manager, Brandon Beane, and head coach Joe Brady were eager to have Bell join the roster.
“We liked him a lot,” said Beane. “He can play inside and outside. He wins on contested catches.”
“He has versatility,” said head coach Joe Brady. “They asked him to do a lot of different things at Connecticut.”
Bell is a 6-foot, 192lbs wide receiver.
Bills Draft Haul
Buffalo was active on the trade front during the draft, as the Bills were often trading down, as they traded completely out of the first round.
“We didn’t have a heavy number of first-round grades and so once we saw the last player come off our board that we had a first-round grade on, we started being more aggressive with the calls,” said Beane. “We had some different opportunities to go back further at one time, but we also wanted to see how things fell before we did it.”
After all the trades, the Bills were able to select 10 players, and they are as follows:
- Round 2, Pick 35 — OLB TJ Parker
- Round 2, Pick 62 — CB Davison Igbinosun
- Round 4, Pick 102 — T/G Jude Bowry
- Round 4, Pick 125 — WR Skyler Bell
- Round 4, Pick 126 — LB Kaleb Elarms-Orr
- Round 5, Pick 167 — S Jalon Kilgore
- Round 5, Pick 181 — DT Zane Durant
- Round 7, Pick 220 — CB Toriano Pride Jr.
- Round 7, Pick 239 — P Tommy Doman Jr.
- Round 7, Pick 241 — G Ar’maj Reed-Adams
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