OldTimer1960

I don't think that there will be any trade market for Taylor. Remember he could have been a FA last offseason and his agent judged his market value so low that he took a reduced deal to stay with the Bills. His performance last year did not increase his value.

The Bills’ two picks in the second are late. Even if Rudolph doesn’t go in round 1, I’d be shocked I he made it through 20+ more picks in round 2. if the Bills don’t take a QB in round 1, they would need to trade up in the second to get anyone who is left.

If the plan is to ONLY settle for someone who is a candidate to be a HOFer, you are out of the game already. This view, I vehemently disagree with. Look at the likely HOFers who are currently playing- not one of them would have been considered as such on draft day - Rothilsberger, Brady, Brees, Rodgers. Going back a bit further, Farve would not have fit that description either.

If I were running the Colts, I would not trade for Alex Smith under any circumstances. If Luck will eventually be healthy, I’d roll with Brissett. If Luck might not be healthy, I would still not be inclined to trade for Smith as the Colts aren’t ready to compete anyway. Disagree.. scouting QBs is seriously a crap shoot. Nobody really knows who will be a good NFL QB.

Alex Smith isn’t a free agent. If the Bills want him, they would have to trade for him. It isn’t a foregone conclusion that the Chiefs won’t keep Smith. We don’t know if Mahomes is ready or good enough to take Smith’s position. Andy Reid would be fired if they dump Smith and Mahomes flops. Note that I am not saying that Mahomes WOULD flop, just that we don’t know and I’d think KC would keep Smith and make Mahomes beat him out.

I agree completely.

Dareus only tries when he feels like it, which isn’t really very often. He makes huge money for his spotty effort, doesn’t get and keep himself in shape and has missed a lot of time due to suspension and injury. Other than that, I am outraged that they traded him for a low draft pick.

I am not fully sold on Jackson, but if he is still available when the Bills pick, i think he would be worth the gamble.

This is the Chris Kelsey syndrome. Kelsey actually had a good NFL career and did what he was expected to do. He was good against the run and would get some sacks. Still, he was reviled here by “fans” who lamented that he wasn’t getting 10 sacks a year. Look around the league at left defensive ends. They are mostly good against the run and are try-hard pass rushers. This is EXACTLY why offensive RTs are valued lower than LTs. +1 Do you think they will likely find a “fine 1st down2nd down DE” with the 4th round pick they might get in a fire sale for him?

I disagree with this part of your post. Very few rookie QBs are really ready to start as rookies, let alone game 1. Think of run-of-the-mill new entry level employees at everyday jobs - even if they have lots of education from college, they have little practical experience in the "real world". Beyond that, they have no idea of the details of how your specific company does things. if a rookie QB is not ready to start when they walk in the building, I don't think it diminishes their long-term potential in any way. There may be a number of reasons that a rookie isn't ready to start, among them: - not fully physically developed - these are YOUNG guys, especially underclasssmen. - lack of experience: some of these guys have only started 1 or 2 seasons at the college level. - completely new offense to learn: even if they played a "pro-style" offense in college, their NFL team is likely running a different scheme with different players with all different terminology. - Not many veteran teammates are going to be excited about suffering through a rookie's growing pains Look back at Jim Kelly - he really wasn't ready to play as a rookie and he had played 2 years of pro ball in the USFL. Troy Aikman was awful as a rookie. Now, we can debate whether the benefits of playing (and struggling) as a rookie outweigh the potential damage to confidence and credibility among teammates.

But I don’t see a scenario where Mayfield would be available at 12. Bills, at best, are looking at choosing between Lamar Jackson and Mason Rudolph - if they are lucky.

You are over-valuing Taylor. Indy is not going to trade the 3rd pick, it will take a lot more than pick 21 and Cordy Glenn coming off an injury. I can’t envision any scenario in which the Colts would want Taylor at his current salary as a backup to Andrew Luck. i am not a Taylor hater, but realistically his current salary makes him a non-starter as a backup and only the truly desperate teams would consider him as a starter.

Too much read into the target of building a winning culture. While I don’t think that they have any shot at Baker Mayfield, I do think that he very much fits the culture that they are trying to build. They are looking for guys that football is extremely important to, guys who will put football above everything except family. They are not necessarily looking for fine upstanding church-going men.

No, I was just commenting that Taylor would really be a throw-in, at best equivalent to a 5th round pick or so - at least in my opinion. I am not saying that Taylor has no value to any team, but I wouldn't expect Cleveland to want to trade for him as a "vet bridge" for a rookie that they draft early. Rationale is that Bills don't seem to want him in that role, why would Cleveland? If they are looking for a veteran mentor, I don't think Taylor is really the guy for that given where his weaknesses are. I'd think someone like Josh McCown would be a better alternative and they may not need to trade for him.

I think you are valuing Taylor much too high. I would not expect that the Bills could get a 5th round pick for him. im not a Taylor hater, but the reason that the Bills want to replace him is why most teams would not trade for him. Maybe someone will, but I will be surprised

I get that Darnold is a good prospect, but nobody seems to mention the 13 INTs he threw in 13 games and had 11 fumbles on top of that. That is A LOT of turnovers for someone whom is supposed to be a top prospect. Again, I am not saying that Darnold isn't one of the top QB prospects. I am just surprised that nobody mentions the turnovers. I was with you right up to the point where you talked about trading Taylor to the Browns. Why would the Browns want Tyrod Taylor? They are going to draft their own QB and Taylor is not a long-term answer for any team as a starting QB.

I think that Allen will go in the first round and probably top 20. There are not many QBs with his physical talent and there are a LOT of mitigating circumstances that can explain his less than stellar collegiate stats - foremost his supporting cast was well below par for even their level of competition. Tom Brady, Satan himself, did not light it up in college and did not have near the physical gifts that Allen has. The problem is deciphering what made Brady (and Montana) great in the pros when they did not dominate in college. I don’t think anyone *really* knows, but some form of mental processing ability appears to be key since few of the truly great NFL QBs have had really exceptional physical gifts such as size, speed, arm strength, etc...

I don’t disagree agree that he is a season or two away from being really ready, but that for sure does not disqualify him for the Bills, in my opinion. First, the Bills are a far more than a QB away from being serious contenders. Second, none of these QBs is going to walk in year 1 and lead a modestly talented (at best) Bills team to the Super Bowl. For sure, if they think that they can trade up and get a QB who will be very good for 10 years, then by all means do so. BUT, don’t thinks that 1- they don’t have a LOT of other holes that will not be filled exclusively in FA. 2- most, maybe alll of these QBs are more likely to be “ok” rather than great. Who thinks any of these guys will be better than Brady, Rodgers, Brees, Roethlisberger in year one? For me, I couldn’t care less whether the QB prospect is ready to play year one. I think it is unlikely that any of these guys will be truly ready to do that. What I want/hope for is a QB prospect who has a chance to be a top 10 QB in the league eventually when the rest of the team is built around him.

I am not keen on trading 2 #1s and a 2 or more to take a shot on a good, but not great QB prospect. There are maybe 4 QB prospects that have a decent to good chance to be that elusive “franchise” QB. Everyone of them have flaws/questions that make you pause before selecting them. i know that eventually you have to Sh*t or get off the pot at QB, but trading the farm for a guy with major questions about whether he can be good, let alone great, should be considered very seriously. if they *really* like a QB prospect in this draft, I’m not opposed to trading what they need to in order to get him. However, if they are ambivalent or can’t pull off the trade to get who they want, I’d be on board with trading one 1st for a 1st in 2019 and a 2nd or 3rd this year. Stocking up on other positions this year to prepare to go all out for a QB next year isn’t a bad plan.

There are 3 maybe 4 very good QB PROSPECTS. There may be zero elite QBs. I know most understand the difference, but there is considerable risk with giving up a lot for any of these guys. Each of the "top prospects" carries some concerns: Rosen- some questions about his want-to, how important is the game to him Darnold - 13 INTs and 11 Fumbles in 13 games this year. That is a lot of turnovers for a top prospect Allen - Low level of competition that he did not dominate, poor completion percentage Mayfield - primarily height and overall size

I think that what will be required to move up for a QB will eat in to the ability to take a WR. The defense needs too many reinforcements to not address that with multiple early picks - unless they dive into FA for more help than I expect them to go after.

Mayfield being shorter than expected is about the only thing I can think of that would give the Bills any shot of drafting him. If he measures a true 6'1", he will be gone early.

I don't disagree that they need an infusion of youth. I am only saying that DT and DE are more immediate needs as there is nobody there to get by with for 2018.

Speaking of OL, now that they have hired a new OC, does anyone think they will be hiring a new OL coach as well? The line actually came together a bit later in the season, so not sure it is totally necessary. I do wish they still had Aron Kromer. He got a lot out of that group.

No argument there. I just think that tying in athleticism with ability to read the defense and deliver accurately and on time muddies the water some. So, I'd rather have someone like Andy Dalton than Akili Smith.