billsfan89

Groot and AJE aren't busts they aren't home run selections but they aren't bad players either. The only true "bust" they drafted high was Boogie. I wouldn't hate an edge rusher in round 1 or 2. My preference in the first two rounds of the draft is just get the most talented player at either side of the line or at WR. Just don't draft a safety (which while is somewhat of a need is not as pressing or impactful and I think depth can be had there later in the draft) or any other position that is not a glaring need or only a depth need like RB or CB.

Bills have plenty of late round picks, I could easily see them drafting a RB with good return ability in round 6 where they have 3 selections. It would be a place where they could roster a player (they usually carry 3 RB's but only have 2 on the roster in Cook and Ty Johnson) and a spot in the draft where you could find a back with a bit of upside and return ability. As far as the new kickoff rule I am OK with it. The kickoff in the traditional form was a very dangerous play and the last few seasons it mostly ended in touchbacks making it kind of a boring play. My only issue is that you have to declare an onsides kick which removes the element of surprise kicks and some strategy. I wish they would go with a rule where in the 4th quarter you can elect to one time instead of a kickoff go with a 4th and 20 to try to keep the ball. Seems like that would be more exciting than a declared onsides kick and make comebacks more possible.

A smaller trade up I think most fans are good with even for a WR. Moving up 10 spots would probably cost you swapping pick 60 with a mid-round selection or multiple mid round selections plus a future pick. I think the issue I generally have is you should never trade away a future 1st for a non-QB player. The risk is just far too high and the reward not great enough.

I would never trade a future first round selection for any player outside of a QB. In the NFL where injury is so volatile no draft prospect outside of a QB (who can play for 15+ years and completely turn around the fortunes of a franchise) is worth giving up a future first round pick for. From a sheer numbers perspective if you give up multiple premium picks for a WR or DE and that player gets hurt or is a bust not only did you burn a first on them but you burnt multiple selections on that player. Any player can get hurt or be a bust so the risk far outweighs the reward of robbing Peter to pay Paul so to speak. Given how Beane's philosophy is to keep the team is to sustain a winning core to keep a window for success open as long as possible and eventually you will get lucky, I don't see him "mortgaging the future" so to speak nor would it be prudent to do so.

OP has a nice mock it makes sense for each team but each teams boards vary so wildly it’s going to always pan out differently. I don’t like Franklin for the Bills but that seems to be a player the front office is high on. If there’s a trade down I can live with it but otherwise at pick 28 I would rather go elsewhere for help along the lines. Ideally I would like the Bills to trade down into the 30’s hopefully picking up a 3rd round pick swapped for the Bills 7th and depending on how far down they go a mid round pick for 2025. The the Bills can take a WR around pick 35 and a top guard/center prospect at pick 60 then with the third round pick they acquired get the best defensive linemen. Then in round 4 go defensive line and offensive line again (use a 6th to trade up a bit here). Round 5 take a corner, safety and a RB. Round 6 take a kicker and trade away a pick for a future selection. You address all your needs getting two offensive and defensive linemen, a WR, an option at kicker and depth at corner, safety and running back while getting future selections which is always prudent and will help with any trade deadline deals

As long as the Bills take the best player at either offensive line, defensive line or WR I am good with the pick. The Bills taking a DT is a need as having another big guy next to Ed for the next 4 years is a good thing and offensive help can be had at pick 60. Same goes for DE. I just don’t want to see a safety as not only do I think it’s not as premium a position anymore but as the combo they have in Rapp/Edwards I can live with. I also think the depth at safety can be addressed later on. TE, QB, CB, RB, and LB are either not needs or depth needs that can be addressed in the mid or late rounds.

He won 9 games with Tyrod at QB. I think if McD had a competent but not elite QB he is routinely a 10 win coach. His play style of playing not to lose will win a lot of games against bad and average teams. There’s not many coaches in this league that can contend for more than 1-2 years without very good QB play. So saying McD needs a QB is what most coaches need.

It’s at a point where one more playoff failure has got to put him on the hot seat. I don’t hate McD like a lot of others on here. But I think there is a saturation point where a locker room needs a new voice to get them over the top so to speak. I love everything McD has done here turning this team from the drought to a serious contender. And I don’t even think he should be fired if he fails in 2024 either but if puts up back to back playoff failures it’s a strong consideration to get someone else in there.

I do not hate the idea of using picks 28 and 60 on suring up the lines, but I think WR in round 4 or early round 5 would fill a nice need for depth and to develop longer term players for the position.

The team did sign Daquon fairly early in free agency in 2022 so it is a crap shoot. But the Bills cap situation was different in 2022 so they could have splurged early on more so than these past two seasons. I think with the current cap situation both now and going forward it’s always going to be more prudent to wait for that initial wave to be over and then sort through the second and third tier guys for good fits and good value. I loved the Poona Ford signing last off season and that didn’t really work out but it was low risk high reward so it didn’t massively impact the Bills having a subpar 5th DT. Overall I think if the Bills are going to run out a deep defensive line rotation and have Josh Allen on a big contract the Bills are going to have to find value free agents and hit on draft picks in order to keep that up. Johnson seems like a solid pickup so hopefully it works out well as a one year rental

I thought Joseph was a solid run stuffer. Right when the Bills signed him the run defense up the middle and overall improved from what I remember. He was a nice fill in for DQ’s run defense. You are right about Settle who’s a complete JAG and Poona Ford was terrible up until the end of the season when he showed a little bit of solid play. Jordan Phillips always seems to get hurt when he starts to play well. Wouldn’t actually mind bringing back Phillips if he could be a fringe roster camp body.

I think it’s important to keep the WR room stacked with good young talent while Josh Allen is QB. I would love to see the Bills first two picks be WR/G in either order. I think the defensive needs that the Bills have can mostly be filled in the mid rounds. Depth at CB and Safety scream 5th round picks while adding to the defensive line rotation can be done with the round 4 selections. So I think the focus of the top 2 picks being offense is what I would like to see. Of course whose available at what pick is going to make an impact so I wouldn’t be too dissatisfied if they got defensive line help at either pick 28 or 60

Wouldn’t hate it position wise. Solidifying the offensive line and getting more weapons, long term growth, plus depth at WR would solidify the offense and I think McD could work the mid and late rounds to add to the defense. I am not as clued into the specific prospects just looking the positions.

Last year I thought the Bills entered in with really good offensive line depth especially along the interior. In the past I have thought the Bills really attempted good offensive line depth when they had guys like Ty Nesheke and Bates on the bench. Last year Bates and Edwards were quality backups. They also had attempted better veteran depth at tackle where Quessenberry and Snell both vets were competing with Brown at RT. Obviously Snell retired and Quess was waived in favor of picking up Ifedi and mainly going with Van Denmark as a swing tackle. This year I think Van Denmark is a solid backup and Alex Anderson has potential but there's really not a whole lot on the bench and Edwards starting at LG is OK but leaves a lot to be desired.

I agree fan input can be flawed but I think a good amount of hardcore fans (the types that post here or on Reddit about their teams) can have a good feel for offensive line play. They can tell where pressure is coming from and where the team struggles to run the ball. As a big fan who watches every game and obsesses over breakdowns I feel like you can at least have a reasonable take on how good or bad an offensive line player is if you watch them play consistently. Not 100% accurate but a reasonable data point to consider.

I think they are comfortable with Rapp and Edwards at the safety and will likely bring in a rookie for depth and competition while Hamlin and Lewis are primary backups and special teams players. But I do think this team needs rotational DT's. The Bills usually carry 5 DT's with 4 active on game day. Right now the Bills have 2 on the roster. Campbell would be a great add he will be 38 but is actually coming off a solid season with 7 sacks and good advanced metrics. I think DT is going to have some depth added as I can't see them going into the draft needing to grab 2-3 bodies there.

I actually think PFF isn't a terrible oline metric even if it is flawed. That being said I tend to go by what fans who watch their teams incessantly say about the players. Chargers fans said mixed things, seems like he was filling in decently as a backup for the most part. I don't hate the signing but I do hope the Bills view him as competition for a depth role and not a key reserve.

All of these make sense except Bo Nix? The Bills are not going to draft a QB high up and Nix is likely to go at least in the first 2-3 rounds. Maybe just kicking the tires on a player?

I hope this is more of a camp body pickup. He's not highly regarded by any fans of the teams he played on even as a backup they say he was pretty bad. While he is coming off of a injury Chargers fans did say he played decently for the most part last season so that's a positive. I really hope the Bills invest at least two draft picks into the offensive line. I don't like the depth and Edwards while not a bad starter is not someone I am confident in. Outside of Van Denmark as a capable swing tackle I don't really like what the team has depth wise along the offensive line.

I tend to agree with you. The Bills fan base myself included may not like Rapp and Edwards starting but the front office probably feels ok with that situation if the value in the draft is elsewhere. Beane has stated his goal is to not go into the draft with any glaring holes and I think in the regimes mind they have accomplished that. They will likely target WR, CB, S, RB, Oline and Dline in the draft with RB and CB being primarily depth needs. I don’t think the Bills goal is to trade from the late 4th up to the 3rd. Given the need for depth and development is higher this season due to the youth movement the Bills likely are going to roster 7-9 draft picks so while they have 11 picks I think the consolidation is going to be more so moving up to the middle or early part of round 4 or sliding a few spots up in round 2 or 1 if needed.

Looking at the Bills current roster and the trend of how many and what type of players the team carries on the roster I think you are looking at the Bills likely being able to roster 9 maybe 10 draft picks. Positions where they can likely roster a draft pick or two. This is in no order. 1- WR: Bills usually carry 5-6 WR’s they have 3 players who are locks in Diggs, Samuel and Shakir and they have another player who is strongly likely to make it in Hollins. Justin Shorter is also there and will likely be given a good chance to make the roster. The Bills could add a 6th WR both for added depth and to develop an heir apparent for Diggs. Also I don’t think Shorter is enough of a quality WR that they shouldn’t pass on taking additional depth there. 2- RB - Cook and Ty Johnson are a solid 1-2 combo but the Bills usually roster 3 RB’s and probably could use depth and special teams help by filling this RB3 role in the draft. 3 and 4 Offensive Line - The Bills usually carry about 9-10 offensive line players. Dawkins, Edwards, McGovern, Torrence and Brown are the starters while Van Denmark and Alex Anderson are the current depth. Right now they could easily roster two picks here and likely should try to find a starting center or guard to take Edwards out of the starting lineup and move him to the bench. 5 and 6 DT - I am assuming they will sign at least one rotational DT but given that the Bills carry 5 DT’s they probably will have room for at least one draft selection if not two if they don’t sign more than one DT. 7- DE - The Bills DE rotation is AJE, Von, Groot, Kingsley Jonathan and Toohill. They usually carry six DE’s and can likely add a pick to pad out the rotation and help add a long term piece. 8- Safety - Bills carry about 5 safeties. Right now they have 4 with the starting combo being Edwards and Rapp. Hamlin and Cam Lewis are on the bench. They likely will want to add a young player to add more depth and long term take over one of the spots. 9- Corner - Bills carry about 6 corners. Right now they have Douglas, Benford, Taron, Elam and Ingram. Easily can at least roster one more CB if not two depending on how they feel about Ingram. I could see them spending late round picks at LB or TE to add competition for Spector and Morris but I don’t think they want to risk what happened last season where they lose draft picks to waivers. I think they could also draft a kicker or punter late but for whatever reason I don’t think they will do that. That’s my feeling. The Bills finally last season properly invested in the offensive line adding the best guard in the draft and adding McGovern to anchor the other guard spot while adding Edwards for depth. They even brought in Snell and Quessenberry to compete with Brown. But I don’t like how they gutting the line depth by cutting Morse and trading Bates and now have inserted Edwards as a starter. Ideally I would love to see the Bills address offensive line twice in the draft. But I fear they are very comfortable with what they have and will only be drafting for depth.

I don’t foresee a Bills trade up into the top 10 or even the teens. I think if the Bills trade up in round 1 it’s going to be 2-3 spots similar to last draft. I think a trade up in round 2 of 4 will happen. The Bills currently have 11 draft picks. Looking at the current roster assuming they sign 1-2 more rotational defensive linemen the Bills based on past roster trends and the standing of the current roster will only likely be able to roster 9 draft picks maybe even less if they are more active in the later stages of free agency. So the Bills are going to have to consolidate the picks a bit or trade a pick away for future considerations. I do think that unlike the past draft the Bills do have more depth needs than they have had the past few seasons entering the draft. So I do think they are going to want to make at least 8-9 selections to further solidify the depth long and short term on the roster and a trade up massively in round 1 would heavily deplete the Bills picks or massively borrow from future selections which I don’t think they want to do.

Even if Harrison dropped to pick 5 (which is probably as far as he can fall) trading up with the Chargers would probably cost pick 28, 60, 128 and a 1st in 2025 and a 2nd in 2026 and maybe some additional draft considerations. I love Harrison as a prospect but unless it is for a QB I don’t think any non-QB prospect is worth such a massive trade up. Not that a stud dynamic receiver isn’t a great thing to have but in the NFL it’s almost always a bad idea to give up so much draft capital for a non-QB simply because injuries to one player can derail all that capital. Building rosters in the NFL is more about Quantity of solid talent than it is about hitting on one elite player that isn’t a QB. You need to try to hit on as many picks as possible to build a roster around a salary cap and build a deep roster. Give me more chances to hit on good players vs putting all my eggs in one basket.

The Bills recent draft history from rounds 4-7 since 2017 under the McD and then eventually McBeane has been pretty good. Milano, Taron Johnson, Gabe Davis, Dane Jackson and Benford all ended up being productive to great starters drafted in rounds 4-7. They also found Wyatt Teller and Ray Ray McCloud both of whole went on to have good careers elsewhere. In addition to those players the Bills also found solid role players in Siran Neal, Tyler Bass and Hamlin. That being said there were about 15 misses in those rounds in that same time period. So it’s a total crap shoot.

The need for WR is more long term to get an “heir apparent” for Diggs. But a fun troll job