OldTimer1960

I like Murphy - I think he will be quite good in the league. Simpson is SO athletic with great movement skills and really nice size. The hope with him has to be that they pick a single position to let him learn. I think his “instinct” issue might improve with experience at one position, but there is risk it won’t.

I don’t know if I agree completely with the bolded part. I think they would have paid him, if they could have fit it under the cap without having to shed a lot of salary elsewhere. You may be right that MLB isn’t the position to spend that high of draft picks on, but the MLB is part of the mid-field pass defense. I strongly believe that Edmunds’ positive impact wasn’t really understood by many fans. I believe that in addition to the plays he made, he also deterred teams from even trying to pass over the middle.

Last year, 29 teams passed more than they ran. 10 teams passed >60% of the time and several more were very close to passing 60% of the time. I hate watching bad run defense, but the league is now more of a passing league and if you have to prioritize how you pick defenders, it seems smart to prioritize pass defense skills over run defense.

I don’t see a need for another RB with Harris and Cook on board and Hines available. Maybe late as a special teamer.

You dropped the “t”, he drops passes. I meant that to be funny, but go watch a few games of his and see if you can find many passes that he catches with his hands. He body-catches way too much and I have bad visions of Josh Allen fastballs ricocheting off his chest with regularity. If he learns to catch with his hands, he might be good.

Boy, Sanders is raw at LB having played 1 season there. I think those that like him are emphasizing his pass rush skills which are probably not going to be used much if the Bills play D as they have been recently. Now, if they want him and will use him to blitz, then I defer to their expertise. If they want an Edmunds replacement mostly for pass defense and sideline to sideline run D, I think I prefer Trenton Simpson. In the games I watched, he looks like a super-fluid and fast athlete with really good size, but while he has physical skills to be great in coverage, he is not there right now. I think Campbell is most ready to play immediately in Bills’ D, but Simpson has more upside and Sanders brings good pass rush skills. Cedric Tillman at end of round 2 - position of need, good size and hands, good competitiveness. I would not hate it. Schoonmaker at end of round 3 would be nice.

Round 1: JSN or Addison. I’d consider Flowers, but wouldn’t love it. Round 2: Josh Downs, unlikely to be available. Mingo, Tillman, maybe Michael Wilson, consider Dell, I’m not crazy about Rice, but maybe in late 2nd Round 3: Reed, Mims - any of the guys above that might be left. Maybe add AT Perry.

The days of the dominant “bell cow” RB are mostly gone. Titans tried that approach with Derek Henry - they were hard to deal with, but ultimately could not compete with the high octane passing teams. Of course, having a great RB would help any offense, but less so if that team has poor run blocking. I don’t think anyone is arguing that having a top RB would not be awesome. The argument is more about how much you should spend (draft picks, $) on a RB.

I like everything I’ve seen of JSN, yet his one big year came when he had BOTH Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson drawing the defense’s attention. He was injured this year, so he didn’t have the opportunity to show what he could do with defenses paying more attention to him. Of course, that doesn’t make him a bad prospect, but it is something I wonder about. Still, I’d be happy to take him if he were available.

I’m concerned about how thin Addison is, but I think his smooth route running and good hands outweigh his metrics. He just moves loose and smooth. I’m not pounding the table for him, but of the WRs, he is one I could live with in round 1 (assuming JSN is gone).

I’m not sure stockpiling picks in round 5-7 in this draft is prudent. How many short receivers do you want? Harty is under 5’7”, Flowers and Dell are very small, too.

Honestly in this group, nobody that they pick will make me super happy. I hope that I will just understand why they pick who they do and that they can get one decent starter (does not even have to start as a rookie) and a couple of good backup contributors.

Mostly true in round 1, IOL are not uncommon in round 2.

Seconding Dawand Jones - lacks quickness and weight concerns (would not even weigh in at pro day). Seconding Boutte - lack of production after big first year, less than stellar athletic testing and rumored to not have best attitude and work-ethic ( I know rumors aren’t fair and we don’t have any way to know). Add Jaelan Duncan before late round 3 - really disappointed in lack of aggressiveness I saw when watching him block - hard to fix that in spite of his athleticism.

I could, of course be wrong, but I hope they don’t draft: - Quentin Johnston - concerned about hands - Bijon Robinson/Jahmyr Gibbs - RB too dependent on OL and won’t commit to running enough to justify. - Brian Branch - most his experience is at sot corner, might be great S, but lesser priority position.

I know Hamlin said he intends to play, but I don’t think they should count on that. If Rapp pans out, that could give them a a potential heir apparent to Poyer or Hyde, both of whom are nearing the end and Hyde is a FA after this year. Unless they are moving Benford (or Tre White) to S, they need another young S candidate. Doesn’t HAVE to be this year, but relying on a rookie to take over next year carries some risk.

You can see athleticism in every move Simpson makes, that’s for sure. Do you think he could fit well in Bills’ scheme?

Agree, I think Davis is better than what we saw last year. Still, Ideally they will bring in legitimate competition for him.

I completely agree that separation ability (and great hands) are the most important traits for WR - quickness and route running skills/know how trump pure speed and size (IMHO). Flowers,Addison and Downs all are there, to me, but size does matter - particularly on the outside. It doesn’t matter for good sized receivers, but the fields are crowned some where sidelines are lower than middle of the field. A shorter WR out there is harder to hit on outs (granted, not as important on deep shots down sideline). Lighter WR will more likely struggle with physical play from DBs, too. Short/light isn’t a disqualifying factor, but it is a consideration and concern. Have to weigh everything when evaluating these guys.

Dante Whitner.

Do you see him as a T or G or both?

They might be able to play outside occasionally, but at 5’9” 182 (Flowers) and 5’11” 173 (Addison) they are very small for outside. I do love their route running, but either will struggle against press coverage and they won’t see that as much in the slot. I’m not saying those smaller guys can’t help this offense, but I think drafting either with the intention of playing them primarily outside would be a mistake. The average size for NFL WR is just over 6’ and 200lbs according to this article below. Flowers and Addison are significantly below that mark.

They will be lucky to get a good contributor in round 1. Expectation of 1 marquee contributor in a good draft at pick 27 is already a stretch, finding 2 in a weak draft is unlikely.

Agree. He is one of only a few WR with good size. Many of the best ones in the class are really small in both height and weight. That doesn’t mean that the smaller guys like Addison, Flowers and Downs can’t help this team, but their size/stature pretty much limits the role they can play to the slot. Mingo could be seen as competition to Gabe Davis and/or replacement for him if they can’t agree on contract for Davis after this season.

Big and fast are good, but route running and ability to catch when open and make contested catches are important as well and it is no given that those skills can be learned enough to play in the NFL. Late 4th round the gamble is probably worth it, especially in this draft, but every year there are size-speed freaks at the combine who didn’t produce a lot in college and most of them never do anything in the NFL, either. Of course, there are some exceptions.