OldTimer1960

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.

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.