Grading the Buffalo Bills at their bye week. We continue with the wide receivers:
Sammy Watkins: Should Watkins be docked for not being targeted as much as he would like? Probably not. Should he get credit for drawing attention from the defense and allowing other players to get open? Probably. Have calf and ankle injuries made it tougher to grade Watkins' first half? Absolutely. The second-year receiver has been a source of frustration for Bills fans and fantasy owners because his production hasn't been in line with his talent. He has played only two full games (Weeks 1 and 2); during that span he had 60 receiving yards, ranking 101st in the NFL and fifth on the team behind Percy Harvin, Robert Woods, LeSean McCoy and Charles Clay. Those are all good players, but Watkins was supposed to be a "generational talent," as the Bills said when he was drafted. That might be true, but the results haven't shown it and that's not entirely Watkins' fault. Grade: B-minus
Percy Harvin: Harvin was one of the Bills' most consistent players during the first five weeks of the season until his lingering hip injury caught up to him, causing him to miss the past two games. Harvin averaged 43.6 receiving yards per game through Week 5, ranking 78th in the NFL but first on the team. Harvin could work on improving after the catch; his 4.84 average yards per catch ranked 173rd in the NFL through the first five weeks. Right now, however, the question is when -- or even if -- he returns. He's frustrated about his hip and knee injuries and did not make the trip to London with the Bills last week. Grade: B
Robert Woods: With an average of 5.14 targets per game, he has been the Bills' third-most targeted pass-catcher behind Clay (7.14 targets) and Harvin (5.80 targets). He's also catching more passes thrown to him (72.2 percent of his targets are receptions) than Watkins, Harvin or Clay. If Woods had produced in the first six games like he did Sunday against Jacksonville (nine catches for 84 yards and a touchdown), his grade would move into the "A" range. However, he has had some quieter games -- he was held without a catch at Tennessee when Watkins wasn't playing -- so his grade gets docked slightly for that. Grade: B-plus
Chris Hogan: He's temporarily a starter in this offense and is producing numbers one would expect from a fill-in player. His six catches for 56 yards in London were a season high and the fifth-best game of his career. However, drops have been a problem. He has dropped 6.9 percent of his targets, worst among Bills pass-catchers and tied for seventh among NFL wide receivers with a qualifying amount of targets. The Bills will never ask Hogan to be their No. 1 receiver -- although they were an injury away from doing so last week -- so the expectations for Hogan are lower, and he's meeting them. Grade: B
Marcus Easley: Easley ranks fifth on the Bills in special teams tackles after leading the team each of the past two seasons, a slightly disappointing stat for a highly regarded special teams player. He also has two special teams penalties, including a costly offsides on the opening kickoff against the Titans that nullified a Tennessee fumble. Easley caught a 58-yard touchdown in Sunday's loss to the Jaguars, but his contributions on special teams seem to be lacking this season. Grade: C
Denarius Moore: The obvious place to start with Moore, whom the Bills signed three weeks ago, is his fumbled punt return against the Titans that was turned into a Tennessee touchdown. He also had a head-scratching fair catch at his own 4-yard line against the Bengals on a punt that should have been allowed to bounce into the end zone. For a player who has been asked to essentially do one thing for the Bills -- return punts -- that is an issue. Grade: D-plus
