OldTimer1960

It is true that McDermott traded down last year in hopes of having ammo to get a QB this year, they ended up winning too much and losing that bet. Their draft picks won’t be enough to get high enough for on of the top 2 or 3. Not sure they should not be content moving up just a little to take their pick of who is left after the initial frenzy.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/laremy-tunsils-pot-tweet-best-thing-to-happen-to-dolphins-since-dan-marinos-coke-rumors-8423998

Dan Marino dropped in the draft due to rumors of cocaine use.

But who is that QB? This is a deep class of QBs, but that doesn’t mean that just any of the top rated QBs are going to be good. if they aren’t convinced that Rosen, Darnold, Mayfield or Allen are nearly certain to be at least very good starters, then trading that much to get one of them is foolish. I think it might be better to sit tight and see who falls out of the top of the draft. If they think one of the remaining guys is worth going up for then (for less than the cost to get into top 5), then go ahead. If they move up, they need to think that guy can carry a team, because there is a good chance you could trade a lot to move up for Andy Dalton, Alex Smith or much worse. i don’t think any of us know which of these QB, if any, will become a super star who can carry a less talented team to success.

Rams already had a boatload of young defensive talent that had grown into a very good defense. Defense was all young and several young offensive pieces including the amazing Todd Gurley. They also brought in Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods. The Rams are. VERY talented team courtesy of many years of drafting in the top of each round and aided by being on the winning end of the Robert Griffin trade. Don’t kid yourself, Goff was a more a missing piece than “the guy” that carried a weak supporting cast to great performance. Don’t discount the positive impact that Gurley had as the 2nd leading rusher with 1300 yards, 13 TDS, and 4.7 yards per carry. If the QB can’t thrive with that support, he is on life support. The Bills are a much older (and expensive) and less talented team than the Rams were when they traded up for Goff. Briefly turn your attention to Wentz and the Eagles - clearly they were VERY talented and well-coached to have been able to make their way through a stacked NFC playoffs to win the Super Bowl with a backup QB.

Browns already own picks 1, 4, 33, 35. That is, 4 picks before the 2nd round is 4 picks old. They can get good in a hurry.

I agree, that coveted receiver traits are different than success rates on 4th down, but I do think that the point is similar. I agree that a team should always be monitoring trends and try to be ahead of the change curve. I think that is a lot of what the Eagles did this year, I think next year will be tougher for that strategy.

I respectfully think that if teams started going for it on 4th down on a regular basis that defenses would definitely adjust and the success rate would drop dramatically. I can remember when small, quick “smurf” receivers became all the rage, then defenses adjusted. Next big receivers were what everyone wanted and then defenses have adjusted. Now the tide is turning again. i just think that NFL defenses will adjust accordingly if more offenses start going for it on 4th down.

I am generally open to taking BPA, but I agree this year - if you aren’t trading up for a (hopeful) candidate to be the long-term QB, then stay put.

I agree that the likelihood of success is situational. I think that teams mainly go for it on 4th when they think they have a favorable chance or have no choice due to game situation. I really think the success rate would go down significantly if teams started going for it in those down and distances regularly.

In print media, they definitely have limited space ( I recognize that that limitation doesn’t really exist online), but I don’t understand how you think the meaning was changed by the omission. Both quotes have the same meaning to me.

How do you feel that those 10 words changed the meaning of what he said? I took both “quotes” to mean exactly the same thing: ”We respect Tyrod and think we could do worse, but like every position, will look at all options to improve.”

I think that there is a pretty good chance that the Bills won’t be able to trade up far enough to get a good QB prospect and they could get completely shutout of a QB in the first round. I think that might force them to trade both 2nds to trade up for what might be left at QB in round 2 - that *could* be Mike White and Kyle Lauletta. I hate to to be a downer, but other teams value the QB position highly, too. One or more teams that don’t appear desperate for a QB could certainly take one and disrupt the Bills’ plans.

You might be right and that would hurt, but I will admit that I wasn’t keen on drafting Mahomes. To my eyes, he was a run-around scatter-shot passer who had a great arm and top athletic ability. I thought that he got away with a lot of poor ill-advised passes that his WRs bailed him out on in college. He could certainly prove me wrong in the NFL, but it would not surprise me if he doesn’t pan out.

I am not one who thinks that quality RBs are a dime a dozen and that you can easily rely on late round draftees and UDFAs with no loss in quality, so I like that they are investigating accomplished options at RB. However, I do think that the majority of RBs have short shelf lifes in the NFL. I respect the career that Ivory has had, but I would not spend a lot on him to backup McCoy. I would be alright with a 2nd or 3rd round pick being spent on his backup as long as the draftee is a strong candidate to be McCoy’s eventual replacement. That being said, if they think that adding Ivory helps the culture and leadership that they are trying to instill, then by all means sign him up.

Do you mean trade rumors specific to trading McCoy?

Also 2 LB, extra CB, speed WR, etc. Without the takeaway-fueled 5-2 start, they could easily have been under .500

I agree and with all the high picks they have this year, I think that they will show great improvement in 2018. I think they could get to 8-8.

Here is a link to the story after his poor pro day http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000334589/article/mayock-teddy-bridgewaters-pro-day-workout-average-at-best

And there are more "good" prospects at QB this year. That year, only Wentz and Goff were considered top prospects. Interestingly, Dak Prescott looks to be pretty good and he was picked in the 4th round. In this draft, I think that Rosen, Darnold and Mayfield are a notch better prospects than Jackson, Allen and maybe Rudolph, but the latter 3 are all certainly still more highly regarded than any QB that came out with Wentz and Goff. Heck, there are years when any of Jackson, Allen and Rudolph would be the top rated QB in the draft.

Oh yeah, that's right. Same idea though, he had a bad day and his stock was damaged.

I think Teddy Bridgewater might disagree. I believe he threw at the combine and it is thought that contributed to him going later in the draft than otherwise might have been expected.

I'm with you, but I also think supply and demand has some effect on the draft value of a player. I think I can agree that Rudolph is probably a bit less talented physically than Rosen, Darnold, Allen and Jackson. I also can agree that Mayfield might have better leadership traits. However, I think it still comes down to: If the Bills feel that Mason Rudolph can become a good long-term starter for them, I would think that makes him worth pick 21 or 22. Waiting and taking the chance that they can get him in round 2 wouldn't make sense, unless they also felt that there was another one or two QBs also left that they think are as good as Rudolph (Mike White, Kyle Lauletta, for example).

Respectfully, what is a mid-second round talent? I get that it might be a player "ranked" 42- 53 or so. But what does that really mean? How do you compare a LT, DE, OLB, QB, RB, etc. and how would you rank order players that play positions of varying importance?

Every QB is drafted “too early”. Seriously, with recognition that different positions are more or less important - and QB is almost universally recognized as THE most important position, how can you question drafting a QB early? What does the “BIG BOARD” mean? How do draft analysts put together a top 50 (or 100 or ....)? How do you compare QBs, DEs, OTs, DTs, CBs, Safeties, etc? I don’t look at the “BIG BOARD” for draft value. Draft value is, at least partly determined by your team’s strengths and weaknesses. Why? Do you want them to trade for Foles? i would not give much to get Foles - tops this year’s 3rd.