Bills trade receiver Zay Jones; opens larger opportunity for Duke Williams

The Buffalo Bills have traded receiver Zay Jones to the Oakland Raiders opening a larger opportunity for Duke Williams.

The @Bills have traded WR Zay Jones to @Raiders for 2021 fifth round pick #BillsMafia

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) October 8, 2019

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Williams was on the field for 51 of the Bills’ 63 snaps on offence in Tennessee on Sunday — 50 more downs played than Jones, the 2017 second round pick. Jones started two games and played in five making seven catches on 18 targets for 69 yards so far in 2019.

Since being drafted by the Bills, Jones started 25 of a possible 31 games while contributing 90 catches for 1,037 yards and nine touchdowns in parts of three seasons in Buffalo. The 24-year-old fell out of favour with the current regime in Western New York, head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane.

The 6-foot-3 and 225 pounder was promoted to the active roster by the Bills for their Week 5 game against the Titans and scored the game-winning touchdown. He had a standout pre-season, grabbing the attention of quarterback Josh Allen.

Williams caught all four of his targets from Allen for 29 yards and one touchdown. Buffalo wanted to add a physical target to the offence and it’s paid dividends. The Bills won 14-7 and improved to 4-1 on the season.

The sudden emergence of Williams caused the Bills to be confident enough in the 26-year-old to send Jones out of Buffalo.

3Down Staff