JESSEFEFFER

I skimmed through and did not see an answer to this. 1) No vetran QB on the roster to start the season. A mistake fixed by signing Barkley and Anderson. 2) Not retooling OL after departures of Wood, Igcognito and Glenn. I'd argue this was attempted but was done so on the cheap due to dead cap constraints. 3) Having big targets Benjamin and Holmes as WR1 and WR3 to start the season. I'd argue that they were not the wrong type of receiver to have, just that they were not good enough at it. The overall point is that Beane has been very agressive at fixing these roster mistakes and that it may continue to be adressed early in the draft, hence Metcalf/Williams talk.

No way that Whaley and his staff were going to call the shot on the Bills' next attempt at a franchise QB. Trading down and getting more ammo for the 2018 draft was all about deferring the QB choice to the next GM. That is typically a selling point to the next GM hire. The pool of prospective GMs that would be ok with not being able to select the HC nor the QB would be tiny. Whaley was a lameduck, Beane was lined up and the QB choice was deferred. Makes 100% sense to me.

The answer to the question is yes, they can wait. But, if there is a guy they really like as an all around, do it all kind of player they might need to take him in the 3rd from what I have seen in most rankings. I have seen David Miontgomery, the RB I favor, anywhere between 40 and 90 on most of the bigboards I have seen by the semiprofessional NFL Draft aficionados. I think RB is a pretty big need for 2019 and especially starting in 2020. I hope they are serious about getting someone they think can be special.

I think the 2020 roster needs 2 new RBs so get them on the roster this year. Maybe Love gets stashed on IR and shows up in 2020 ready to go and is had pretty cheaply on day 3. I really like Montgomery's style. The OP mentioned a break-a-way threat. I want a break-a-tackle threat that has all-around ability and can move the chains. More James Conner than LeSean McCoy. In a baseball analogy, I see the running game as being the tablesetter and the passing game being the homerun hitters. A running game that moves the chains gives the team more chances for other guys to make big plays. PFF said Montgomery set some kind of record with 100+ broken tackles and that's good enough for me. That's some tough running. Only 3 fumbles in nearly 700 touches is pretty dependable too.

I read your Allen report just to see how it stacked up with what we witnessed in his first year. I think you nailed it so it earns you some credibility on the 2019 guys and it's not like your evaluations look anything like the others I've seen.

I agree with this. It should be stickied somewhere everytime Mahomes does something great and the hindsight viewers kick in. I'd also add that there is no way that Doug Whaley and his lameduck staff would be entrusted to make that pick. It was clearly better to leave that decision to the next GM. I really, really hope that Josh Allen makes this story fade away into irrelevance.

Yes, he was very focused on that 3-cone drill. He almost became McDoormat because he was so up close and personal. That scene did look meaningful.

Alpha, I like the moves but not the players as much. Irv Smith is small and unathletic compared to the rest of the TE talent. That's not top 50 worthy, imo. It bothers me that AJ Brown outplayed Metcalf at the college level, in the same offense. Wilkens and Love could be good additions at the right price.

Well, I feel like you may have teed this up, but there was one other person involved in this story who did exactly that.

He was on record as liking Josh Allen prior to last year's draft. So it's not as if that. being impressed by his 2018 play and feeling like they could be a 2019 surprise are not 3 100% compatible opinions.

And trading with Denver might keep Miami's preferred QB from them which would be ok too. This makes sense to me altough I'd put a big X-WR ahead of olb.

I really like this and I have suggested such a move as well, although I don't think the Bills can get a straight, stand alone 3rd (#71?) but maybe have to surrender one of theirs in the 4th in the deal. One goal would be to get more picks in the top 100 and this helps. The bigger goal is to convert day 3 picks into meaningful roster assets and fewer 2019 bodies. Getting the same guy at #10 as they would at #9 is a great selling point to such a deal and Sweat would be ok with me if his medicals check. If the Broncos like Haskins or Locke, then it makes sense for Elway to pull the trigger ont the cheap and try to quiet the mob of their fans upset with his post Manning QB moves. Now, if there are 3 to 6 players the Bills feel are of equal value, then trading to 13, 15 or 17 makes sense and would help their roster build even more, just as Alpha suggests. With 5 in the top 100 (an edge has to be in the top 50, imo) they could get something like: DT or DE (Sweat, Oliver, Burns, Wilkens) // WR (Butler, Harry, or which other flavor they like) or DL again if one fell // TE (Warring, Oliver, Sternberger // RB (Montgomery, Sanders, Harris, or whoever they think is best available and a likely consensus top 5) and DL (Saunders, Wren with whom they have been connected.) If their is an OT they like at any of these spots, that would be great too. Five picks in the top 100 gives them a real shot at 5 players who can upgrade their 2019 roster. Now convert other day 3 picks to franchise assets like 2020 picks, a talented player that is an IR candidate (like a RB such as Bryce Love, as Alpha suggested) and a top punter like Mitch Wisnowski (an athletic former Aussie rules player with great directional kicking ability) who gives them a 3rd chance to better their ST from last year. Next year it's likely they will need to replace Gore and McCoy and it makes sense to get them on the team this year if the price is right.

Having a 2nd year starting QB on a rookie contract is the new pathway to roster/franchise reivival. There is so much pressure on a rookie QB to transition to the NFL game that it's really unfair to expect much from them. The 2nd year is the year where everything can come together and often in spectacular fashion. Coaching stability, roster upgrades, an entire offseason of preparation and unquestioned alpha QB status is all there (++++) to help improve Josh's 2nd season performance. There's almost no way his performance can't be improved in ways obvious to all.

Considering the sum total of off season roster building and its impact on the future of the franchise, i think this year rates ahead of last year. But, last year's draft was more important than this year's so I sense from where the lack of enthusiasm originates. But, two things have helped boost my interest: The mock draft similators (never played with them much prior , they are fun and they do boost one's knowledge of what's available) and the sheer number of different players mocked to the Bills @ 9. Off the top of my head, Oliver, Sweat, Hockenson, Metcalf, Gary, Fant, Dillard, Wilkerson, Taylor, Williams (X3), Murphy. These are just the ones mocked to the Bills by the professional opinions (not that they are any better than ours.)

My goal would be to get the most out of their current picks on day 3, where the 7 players they might take can't all make the roster. They can do this by attempting the following: 1) More day 2 picks. Instead of 3 in the top 100, I would much like to see 5 taken there to really upgrade the roster with young talent. They can trade down into the middle of the first but up into the 3rd at the same time. There are so many different educated guesses as to whom the Bills might take @ 9 which tells me that many of those same players would be there @ 15 or 17. 2) Convert 2019 picks into upgraded 2020 picks. 3) Draft an talented but injured player for a redshirt year on IR. Bryce Love makes some sense because they look to have bigger RB needs for the 2020 roster. 4) Draft a punter. Maybe the best punter in the draft who they think might win the job. Some have lobbied for Mitch Wisnowski who is an interesting athletic, ex Aussie Rules player and 3 time Ray Guy finalist from Utah. Just make another move to improve their chances to have better special teams play this year and an Australian accent in the post game locker room would be awesome. Cue the Men at Work tune: "I come from a land down underWhere beer does flow and men chunderCan't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?You better run, you better take cover, yeah"

The demand for media content continues to surprise me. I remember a time, and it does not seem too long ago, where the daily dose of NFL content was either a Felser or Northrup story in that day's Buffalo News. Those were the days of the TV Guide, The Sporting News and daily newspaper boxscores as important resources for sports fans. Many more folks making a living by generating NFL related content for mass consumption, all year round. But, that's across the board in all news genres. I do not know how newspapers can survive the internet.

'll put this in here for an FYI. WNY football fans may remember that in 2014 Jamestown and Cansius met for a game following state championship seasons. One of the best players on the field that day was Stephen Carlson of JHS. He caught 5 for 126 and had 13 tackles in the game won by Canisius. He just finished his college career at Princeton and bulked up to 240 lbs. by Princeton's Pro Day in an attempt to get an NFL shot at TE. He's trying to get to 245 lbs. by the time of the draft and below are his Pro Day test results compared to Irv Smith Jrs' combine numbers. I think he'll get a FA signing at least. He's 6'4.1". 40 BP VJ BJ 3-cone 20 60 4.70 18 32.5 123 7.01 4.40 12.26 4.63 19 32.5 110 7.32 4.33 12.44

They bring 12 or more WRs to camp every year. They were plucking guys off the street at times last year during the season. Gentry was on the Bears practice squad then and had played well in the preseason for them so I do not think it was or is bad idea to see what he can do here. Maybe he makes our practice squad, someone has to. I bet he knows where to go when Josh breaks the pocket, it seems like he caught a bunch of those in 2016.

Oliver (from San Jose State) is interesting. I will look more at him. Seems to be in the same category as Kahale Warring of SDSU as far as being a 3rd/4th round guy. I would like some combination of TE/WR/RB/DL/Edge in the first 5 picks. If they can get two of their picks upgraded into the the top 100, they could actually get 5 candidates to make the roster. If not Hockensen, then a TE like Warring/Sternberger/Oliver wwould be in the mix.

I would much rather see the Bills with 5 picks in the top 100 to give them the best chance to improve their roster. They can do this by trading down in the first and have no chance to do so if they trade up.

I have been looking at the big WRs as that is what is missing from the Bills WR group and Hakeem Butler gets the most talk but Boykin is of the same type and he may be special in that role too. Anohter is Jalen Hurd of Baylor who was a 4 star RB recruit toTennesee and transferred to Baylor. It's an odd path to the NFL and a knee injury kept him from testing much at the combine. Here is how Joe Marino described him as a prospect: Jalen Hurd from The Draft Network. RED FLAGS - Procedure on knee in December kept him out of pre-draft process. It’s not often a four-star running back recruit in the SEC ends up a wide receiver in the Big Twelve and enters the NFL as a wide receiver prospect but that’s the case with Hurd. For a prospect with only one season of game experience at receiver, there are some components of Hurd’s game that looks like he’s new to the position while others that appear he’s been doing it his whole life. Developing route running nuance, particularly in his releases is critical. From a hands/ball skills perspective, Hurd is sound. In the right offense, Hurd has the potential to be a versatile offensive weapon that can handle numerous duties. Round Grade - Mid Day 3 Value

Josh Allen can play Hero Ball and plays it really well. Josh Rosen plays it not.

I say an elite 3rd down DL prospect in the first round. They are so thin there now and really thin there in 2020. The top prospects are all gone in the top 50. Then at least 3 of the next 4 picks on offense, some mix of RB, TE, WR and DL. Their FA signings look like they plan on a DL being the BPA.

Supposedly no artificial noise. There's been stories of teams piping amped up crowd noise through their PA system and the rules for that are not clear to me. I think they can't do it after the huddle breaks and the offense approaches the line (much like the boat horn or whatever that is) but teams have been accused of doing that during the play, iirc. It was different then. Stadium capacity was 80,020.