OldTimer1960

I think Stetson Bennett will be a middling backup, but I have been wrong about a lot of QBs.

Safety or CB isn’t exciting, but look at the receivers in this division - Miami has Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle along with a good TE and RB. If they had Tua, they would have won the Wild Card game. Jets have Garrett Wilson who killed the Bills this year. I think likely they add another WR early and will have the immortal Breece Hall at RB (if healthy).

This is likely going to be the problem with taking WR at 27. At that spot, you are likely taking a compromise WR for need over better players at other positions. Maybe someone like Rashee Rice will show that he deserves a late round 1 selection, but as of now looks like they won’t get a sniff of the two top prospects in Johnston and Addison. I love what I’ve seen of a couple slot receivers, but can you really take a slot only guy that early and think that is a better plan than an OT or other premium position player that can be more versatile?

See Spencer Brown. He is exceptionally tall with long arms too, but so far has not been very good at pass blocking. I am still hopeful that Brown, who had basically no offseason strength training due to his back, can make a big jump next year - if his back is healthy. That being said, I would not be opposed to an OT early - especially one who could play G if Brown improves or play RT if Brown doesn’t.

Isn’t Allen’s contract brand new? Probably not a lot of room to do too much.

He is good, but I would not put him on Barry Sanders’ level. The Bills currently don’t have the OL to take advantage of Robinson’s talent.

Singletary is one of my favorite players. I love the shiftiness and hard running for his size, but if any team offers him a substantial amount, Bills will have to let him leave. They have to be very careful with how the spend cap money now that Allen’s big contract is kicking in.

It’s a highlight video, of course most of the passes shown are right on the money.

Additional help for the offense helps make everyone better. There are many ways to help the offense. Most want a receiver to challenge Gabe Davis - I agree with that, but if you can’t get one of those an OL would help by providing better pass protection to allow the receivers they already have more time to get open. OL help would also possibly allow the RBs like Cook and Hines to go into pass patterns instead of staying in to help block. The idea of this massive TE who can help pass and run block also would help the offense.

Depends how well he shows he can move. He is HUGE, but can he move well enough? He is probably too tall to move to G.

This would be nice.

Zay Flowers measured in at just over 5’9” and a solid 182lbs. I’d seen him listed taller and lighter. Can’t really believe measurements until events like the Shrine and Senior Bowls and the combine.

From the limited videos I have seen, he doesn’t play like a guy who runs away from corners and that is against mostly modest competition. Rice has very good size and seems to have good hands and contested catch ability. Is he better than Davis? Further, again limited videos review, he seems to have a lot of his success from the slot.

I agree with the sentiment, but I think you are missing a big possibility. It can be that late 2nd and 3rd round picks are generally not as good as early 2nd and 3rd round picks. I think many people really exaggerate the ease with which it is to draft an "impact player". The draft is hard. You are drafting young men who have played against a wide variety of competition and trying to "rate" each against players who play different positions, played against different competition levels and, generally different circumstances. For example, players on dominant teams tend to play against the best competition (like the SEC), however, because the talent on those teams is so good, they may not stand out statistically. Further, some players are older and some are younger. Some have more room to physically develop and others are "maxed out". We don't often have access to information about a player's work ethic and football intelligence, both can be significant factors in pro success.

Well, there are maybe a handful to 10 people interviewing for HC jobs, so not a surprise that one of the 64 coordinators in the league is not interviewing. Head Coach interviews tend to be "hot names", usually meaning guys whose O or D was highly ranked. People and owners forget that players have a great deal with success. Yes, coaches can make a difference, but there are few coordinators or position coaches that are so good that they can make a good unit out of lesser players.

Agreed. Looking at the NFL receiving leaders shows that many of the leaders were not 1st round picks and that the leader board is not dominated by ultra fast guys. Not a lot of undersized guys there, either. Now, Tyreek Hill is both fast and smaller, but he is an exception on that list. https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/category/receiving/2022/post/all/receivingreceptions/desc I do think recent trend is more receiver being picked early - reflection on the emphasis on passing today.

I love Downs and Flowers. I just don't know if you take a small slot WR at pick 27. I would love to see either in a Bills' uniform. Addison and Johnston will both likely be gone before 27th pick, but small chance Addison makes it to the early 20s which might make a trade up semi-feasible (still, not much draft capital to play with). Hyatt is quite a wild card - his speed means someone might nab him mid-first, but reported need for route running development could push him back from there. Rashee Rice would seem to me to be a consolation prize at 27, but he probably goes first 10 picks of 2nd round so not a terrible reach at 27.

Good discussion- I love draft talk!

Really like that Hyatt was productive against SEC competition. His hands seem good and speed looks high end. I understand that few college players come into the league fully developed, but man Hyatt might have a long way to go in route running and we really don’t know if he is willing to make catches in traffic or shake a guy with a good route.

Totally aligned that Bills need WR and OL help. Not sure yet that I think Hyatt or Rice are good value at 27. I would not rule out OT there, especially one who could move to G temporarily or permanently.

How about Parker Washington for slot 5’10” 212? He can catch and run after the catch.

Coming out of the draft with all the players you list would be nice. If you want Flowers, have to take him in round 1, but can he play anywhere except the slot at 5”10” 172? I think Hyatt will go pretty early because of speed and production in SEC, but right now is a one-trick pony. I don’t think the WR group is top heavy - I just don’t think it is nearly as stacked as past few years. Isn’t Wan Dale Robinson 15-20 pounds heavier than Dell? Not against Hyatt, but he will need a lot of development beyond “just go long”.

That is cherry picking. Of course in many drafts someone finds a star later, but that doesn’t make it a high probability to occur. If any teams knew that the examples you cite were going to be as good as they are, they would have been picked sooner.

And that might be the right play if Miller is going to miss a lot of next season. Premium position and clearly the don’t have a premier pass rusher. Still, picking as late as the Bills selected Epenesa and Basham, you aren’t likely getting the next Bruce Smith. somewhere in the thread above someone was lamenting the impact for “top 100” picks. Really you get past the top half or so of round 1 and you are doing well to get solid players. If all top 100 picks became top level stars, there would be a lot more stars in the league. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t stars picked late in the draft or as UDFA, but those guys are pretty rare. Sometimes you hit on guys like that (Milano, for example).

Which is also affected by where in each round you are picking. The Bills have been picking late in each round for the past several years. That obviously has an impact on the quality of players left to choose from in each round.