OldTimer1960

The thing with AJ Brown that mitigated his "OK - not great" speed was his physicality. Dude is rocked up and powerful. Addison is quite thin, but at the same time, rules don't allow too much contact with WRs except near the line. If he can get off the line, he seems to have the quickness and route running chops to get open and the hands to catch the ball reliably. Is Addison worth pick 27? Is really anybody that will be available a better option? I don't know, but I do think anyone they select is going to be sort of a consolation prize given the general weakness of the class. Thoughts? Trading down is easy to say, but you have to find someone willing to move up. Who would be so enticing that could reasonably be available that some team wants to trade back up into round 1? I suppose some team might like a QB that hasn't gone yet at that point, but who that would be I don't know. I think once you get past Anthony Richardson, I don't know that any of the remaining QBs would be enticing enough for someone to move up for, even if it meant gaining 5th year option.

Jordan Addison ran only a 4.55 40 today. Might that cause him to drop enough to make it to the Bills? I think 4.55 is still acceptable provided his slight frame isn't too much of an additional detraction. He is certainly quick, productive and seems to have very good hands.

I agree with most of this, just not sure Davis is a good candidate to be a “possession” receiver. Not sure his hands are good enough and not sure he can get open consistently like that. Maybe he can do it - I believe that he is a super hard worker.

Avila is more mobile than Torrence, but he is still huge and moving/playing in space is not going to be his best use in my view. Honestly, I watched a few games of both Torrence and Avila and, while I am no scout, Avila looked a little better to me.

FWIW, I agree on Vorhees. I watched him vs Stanford and Oregon State. I didn’t see him get beat in pass pro and he is a tenacious run blocker.

Except who is blocking for him?

Isn’t that also true for Dell who is smaller even than Downs?

I really think Gesicki is a nice TE. I don’t know why Miami stopped using him under McDaniels. I suppose that they thought it better to throw to Hill and Waddle. I suspect Gesicki will get some nice offers.

LOVED reading Buschbaum’s analysis. I think he had a lot of insider connections in the scouting community, but I also believe that he did some of his own analysis. I also used to really enjoy Russ Lande’s GM JR. Lande scouted in the NFL and, I believe took a position with the CFL Montreal Allouettes. Lande’s analysis covered a few pages for teach of the highly rated guys.

Thank you and that is encouraging. I’ll have to take a look at those guys.

I’m happy to hear that a draft expert like you thinks that there are some IOL that can be found in rounds 2-4 that could help the Bills. I just signed up for Caddy’s Cutups - which Gs do you like besides Torrence and Avila so that I can have a look?

My concern is any of them being available late round 2. Pick 59 is pretty late in the 2nd round.

Mauch is the only one of that bunch that is even a contender for round 1 and he is iffy.

I’m not saying that Schmitz is a bad prospect, but How many C are taken in round 1? Not many and Schmitz isn’t that special that he should be an exception. I think you can probably get Patterson in 3rd or 4th.

Come on, Rousseau played pretty damn well until he suffered a high ankle sprain in week 9. It also didn’t help that Von Miller got hurt on the other side. There is a logical position somewhere between “everything is perfect” and “fire everyone - they suck”. I don’t think anyone is saying that everything is perfect or that the team has had some misses and maybe ignored the offense too much in the draft, yet the team was 13-3 in a year when they suffered a lot of injuries concentrated in the secondary, lost their star acquisition (Miller) and played the back half of the season with Allen’s elbow injury. They have won 3 straight division championships, surely they deserve some credit for that. Do they need to course-correct? Sure, that is warranted and I am certain that Beane would acknowledge that as well.

No significant disagreement about that.

I agree that I would prefer OL help, but who on the IOL will be available when they pick that is worth that investment? If O’cyrus Torrence doesn’t fit their OL scheme, who do you take?

I really like Downs in that 2nd group, but I he will be gone long before the Bills’ 2nd pick. In that 2nd group only Rice is a true outside receiver, rest are really slot guys. I don’t know that Rice has the separation ability to get open consistently and , while he can show good hands, they are inconsistent. Parker Washington is interesting, but late 2nd might be a little high for him. My point wasn’t that Epenesa is great, more that there were a lot of DEs who haven’t risen to the levels “expected” of their draft slots.

I agree that they need competition for Brown, but the fact that he missed training last offseason due to his back and missed almost all training camp, as well, is an easy explanation for no development. Now, that isn’t to say that we know he’ll improve if healthy, but I think there is a reason to believe he might. Still, as you said, they need another OT in case he doesn’t.

I don’t disagree that they have invested too little on offense. I just want to recognize that, while it hasn’t worked the way they thought it would, the strategy did make some sense in attempt to counter the Chiefs’ stellar offense. Bills’ offense were not having trouble keeping up with the Chiefs’ offense. It was the defense that could not stop the Chiefs. Now, it is time to try a different tact. It is time to get some help for Allen. I’m hoping for some good and significant investment in OL and a pass catching weapon, yet where they need most help on OL (IOL) seems to be a weak draft class and they will have to be lucky to find a good WR prospect in this group - either in FA or draft. That makes the prior lack of investment in offense more frustrating, of course.

Mahomes is obviously great, but this is hindsight. He was selected 10th overall - there was no consensus that he was a slam dunk great NFL QB in waiting. Mitch Trubisky was picked ahead of Mahomes and so were Solomon Thomas, John Ross and Corey Davis (I’ll admit that I thought Davis was going to be a star). Remember, the Bills had been bad for quite some time and their plan was to build a competitive D early while they looked for a QB. Many teams missed on Mahomes. Now, I agree that it is past time to look for help on offense. Hopefully, they can find some real help at OL and WR this year, but those groups don’t look great in this year’s draft.

But, but, but I wanna be outraged! Excellent post.

Such bluster! I am not advocating specifically for a TE, but a guy like Dalton Kincaid can certainly help this passing offense. Plenty of teams use 2 TEs frequently. A guy like Michael Mayer at 265lbs can help the OL run blocking and help in the passing game, too. I think there will be an OT available in round 1 that could tempt them, but I think any of the OG or C might be a bit of a reach at 27. Some might argue Torrence from Fla is worth the pick, but Gunner and others don’t think he fits the Bills’ scheme. Problem is, waiting until late round 2 in a weak IOL class could leave you empty handed.

Epenesa has as many or more sacks than Marlon Davidson, Yetur Gross-Matos, K’Lavon Chaisson, Chase Young - ALL DEs drafted ahead of him in 2020. Chase Young was the 3rd overall pick and Chaisson went 20th. Epenesa was the 54th selection.

There are very good TE prospects in this draft. We’ve seen for a few years now how much Travis Kelce means to KC and George Kittle to SF. A really good TE can help in the run and pass game.