An In-Depth Look at the Buffalo Bills' Most Intriguing Selection, Dezmin Lewis

After an exciting draft in 2014, general manager Doug Whaley and the personnel who comprise the Buffalo Bills' war room spent most of the 2015 event away from the limelight. Without a first-round pick, Buffalo did its best to take the best player available to them with each of their six selections, and they came away with plenty of intriguing storylines. 

The Bills will have to answer questions about the selections of Ronald Darby and Karlos Williams because of a mix of potential character issues and lack of immediate need. The selections of John Miller and Nick O'Leary are good fits and immediately plug holes not filled by free agency. Tony Steward is a solid developmental prospect as well. 

Perhaps the most intriguing pick of the entire Buffalo draft didn't happen until the very last round. Dezmin Lewis was one of the hottest small-school prospects heading into the draft as a big receiver from the University of Central Arkansas.

The Bills didn’t have a publicized need at wide receiver with the likes of Sammy Watkins, Roberts Woods and Percy Harvin in their starting lineup.

Speed and route running is certainly not an issue with this positional unit, but the Bills have failed to fill the role of a big target on the outside. The team has cycled in guys such as James Hardy and Ramses Barden with little luck of getting any consistent production. Former tight end Scott Chandler did his best to create mismatches over the middle of the field, but very few players have given the Bills a jump-ball option outside the hash marks.

Lewis was an FCS standout for the Bears and a three-time All-Southland player on the outside. He never eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in a season due to under-average quarterback play in Conway. That didn’t stop him from coming close to breaking several school records for yards in a career and receiving touchdowns.

The most intriguing part of Lewis is the moldable physical attributes that he possesses. Lewis stands at 6'4" and is just a shade under 214 pounds, which is comparable to elite wide receiver talents A.J. Green and Alshon Jeffery. That doesn't mean Lewis is as talented as either of those two, but his measureables are similar. In fact, Lewis and Jeffery ran identical 40-yard-dash times at almost the same height-weight ratio.

His physical skills lend him to being a really good receiver at the point of attack on a jump ball. The biggest adjustment for him—other than the speed of the game—will be having to battle for the ball with more athletic defenders. Lewis has above-average, but not elite hands, and he mainly relied on his ability to beat lesser-talented players over the top in college.

Highlight tapes from lower levels of competition can be misleading because they serve to show the best plays of a respective player. Still, Lewis’ tape shows a guy who clearly has the makeup to turn into a very good third option in a pro offense—his physical assets being the main reason for the assessment.

Regardless of level, accumulating 2,668 yards on 197 receptions in four years is nothing to stick your nose up at. That’s approximately an average of 50 catches for 675 yards a season.

Considering the fact that many highly touted NFL receivers don’t ever reach those statistical plateaus in their collegiate careers, Lewis obviously has the production to warrant a late selection.

It’s a minor miracle he wasn’t selected before the seventh round, as many draft forecasters saw him going somewhere between Rounds 3-5. I struggled not to put Lewis in my Day 3 mock draft, but I didn’t think he would last to the point when the Bills would have considered adding a receiver.

Another interesting note about Lewis’ time in Central Arkansas was his multifaceted usefulness in the offense. Although he was used quite a bit in the passing game over 20 yards, Lewis also excelled in the screen game. Several of his longest plays of his stellar senior season developed on a quick screen pass that he turned upfield for a large chunk of yardage.

Bills fans have clamored for a better screen game with Watkins excelling in space. Adding Harvin and Lewis this offseason will only increase the chatter about it, and offensive coordinator Greg Roman will have to find ways to get these guys in tough one-on-one situations with room to run.

Buffalo has done a great job at finding supplemental pieces to add to the skill positions, and the team hopes to have so much talent on the field at one time that it becomes a matchup nightmare.

There’s not a whole lot to be learned from his college experience outside of the gaudy stats. However, the Bills have a piece they can develop into a starter over time because of his size and arm length (32 ½").

If the Bills can get the type of plays out of Lewis like they saw at the Senior Bowl, then they could have another seventh-round steal in their midst.