OldTimer1960

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.

I guess that is right, but I think it would be interesting to see if they had to trade more than the value of that 7th pick just to get there. Probably not egregiously different, but I would not be at all surprised if they had to “overpay” in that trade. I’m not as down on Beane as many here and I do think his preference this year will be for offense, but it looks like a poor to middling draft class for WR and interior OL. Maybe there will be an OT worth taking in the first or they could consider a TE as that class looks strong and deep.

The article doesn’t seem to take into consideration the draft picks traded to get into position to draft Allen. It also doesn’t seem to account for the picks traded for Stephon Diggs.

Beyond the Allen pick, I fault him for the Cody Ford pick - that was certainly a miss, but show me a GM who hasn’t missed like that. I think the Rousseau pick, Edmunds pick and Oliver pick are defendable and none of them can be classified as “misses”. I can agree that we’d like better from Epenesa and Basham, but a 6.5 sack season in a rotation from Epenesa isn’t really far below par for a 2nd round pick. I also think that it is too soon to declare Basham a bust. I don’t see how anyone can argue that Singletary hasn’t lived up to his draft status. Now, Moss, that’s a different story. I guess we have different views of what is realistic to expect of draft picks. Again, I don’t think there is a GM that hasn’t missed on picks - even early first round picks aren’t immune to whiffs.

Point 3 is spot on. Mahomes is great and he did it with average receivers (but a great TE).

He did maneuver into position to take Allen and he did select him - to discount that is not a fair assessment. QB hit rate in the league is poor and he succeeded.

I rate the RBs as good, not great. LB was fine with Edmunds and Milano, but a weakness if Edmunds leaves. I share the frustration with OL - they’ve tried to address that with older FA and they have not worked out as well as hoped. I hope they can address it this year. I suspect that an OL will be among the better players available at pick 27 - we’ll see.

No doubt the OL is a weakness.

Of course, they didn’t need to pick a DT at 9 when they took Oliver. My point is that Oliver is as good as the other players, regardless of position, that we’re picked around that spot. If your argument is that they should have spent the pick on another position for a roughly equal talent, then I won’t argue that point. But, to say Oliver isn’t “9th pick good” absent the context of who else was available is just an opinion. Likewise, you’re right, they didn’t have to trade up and they didn’t have to take a LB when they selected Edmunds, but Edmunds does compare well to others picked around that spot. Is he absolutely better than everyone picked after him? No, but that is true about almost every player ever drafted. I am only saying that I don’t think Beane is “bad” at drafting. He may not be the absolute best, but he is not a slouch.

I think most of us agree with that assessment. I think there is still an outside chance that Davis improves his hands - as Knox and Zay Jones did after having problems with drops, but best not to count on that. I’m not sure that there are great options available in FA - at least that the team can afford. As far as the draft, I think the team will need luck in how the draft falls in order to address WR early this year. I think this is a mediocre WR class, but views of prospects can change at the combine next week. I fear that any WR left at 27 will be at least a minor stretch for that pick and I won’t be very surprised if the to 10 WRs are off the board before the Bills’ 2nd pick. Last year’s class seemed stronger than this year’s, but 13 WRs were selected before pick 59. Of course, that doesn’t mean they can’t find a good WR prospect, just that it won’t be easy.

Edmunds has been a multi-year starter on statistically very good defenses and made 2 Pro Bowls. Players selected right after him included: Derwin James, Jaire Alexander, Leighton Vanderesch, Frank Ragnow, Billy Price, Rahsaan Evans, Isaiah Wynn. Most of them good to very good players like Edmunds - you might argue that you like one of them better than Edmunds, but Edmunds fits pretty well in that group. Ed Oliver has been a very good starter and has made impact plays. I agree that he isn’t a complete game-changer, but he isn’t embarrassed by the group picked right after him : Devin Bush, Jonah Williams, Raschan Gary, Christian Wilkins. Rousseau played with a high ankle sprain from week 9 on - those are tough to deal with. Further, if the benchmark for draft success is a guy whose play isn’t impacted when another very important player (Miller) is lost, then that is a very high bar. Does Rousseau stand out as a bone-head pick among the 5 or so players picked after him? Devin Singletary has been fine for the 74th pick in a draft. Picked right after were: Jake Sternberger, Terry McClaurin, Chase Winovich, Michael Dieter, David Long. McClaurin is arguably better, but Singletary was a good productive pick in that spot. You can only pick from the players that are available when your pick comes. Is Beane’s draft record perfect? No, I am not arguing that, but Beane has built a very good team and his drafting has been much better in my view than you see it.

I disagree that none of their early picks have met expectations. Greg Rousseau is really coming on as a complete DE and he is still very young. Edmunds, for all the complaints on this board about him, is about to get paid a lot by some team because he is better than fans see him as. Harrison Phillips is a starter for the Vikings. I know that Ed Oliver isn’t Aaron Donald, but he is a good starting DT who is as good or better than many others picked around that time in that draft. I concede that Cody Ford was a whiff and that Epenesa and Basham haven’t met what we might expect for 2nd round picks, but I haven’t written either off. Epenesa has shown flashes as a pass rusher and I still think that Basham will be a decent pro. Of course, I think we can all agree that Josh Allen has exceeded the expectations for his draft position.

Eliminating half the players in the draft from consideration probably isn’t the best strategy.

I think that many people, fans and media alike, overestimate what impact it is reasonable to expect with the X-th pick. Would it be great if every 1st and 2nd round pick, regardless of being early, middle or late in the round, turn out to be stars? Of course, but that isn’t how it always works out and no team is immune from disappointing outcomes for many reasons.

only 1 team out of 32 does not get bounced out of playoffs or earlier. Of course, we all want them to win a championship, but realize it is VERY hard to do.

Your points are true, but I think it would be foolish to just flat not consider half of the players in the draft because they play defense. That, I think, would be a recipe for reaches and disappointment. I understand and agree that if there are relatively equal options available at any given pick on offense and defense that we'd prefer they lean offense, but I think it looks likely that at some of their picks that there could be better options on defense available than on offense. For instance, I think that there could be a better pass rusher available at pick 27 than the options remaining at OL and WR.