hondo in seattle

And if nothing positive comes from it, there's nothing lost. It's a worthwhile experiment. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Beautiful town... though not the kind of place that you'd expect to spawn football heroes.

Thought the same thing... except Al would have drafted Listenbee in the first couple rounds just for his sheer speed.

“If you draft me, I’m going to bring a shot of adrenaline to your defense — a shot of energy,” Striker wrote in a pre-draft article for The Players’ Tribune. “I’m a high-motor guy on the field and a high-energy guy in the huddle, in the weight room and on the practice field. There are some things you can’t teach. You can’t teach heart. You can’t teach hustle. You can’t teach having a relentless motor that never, ever quits.” http://m.newsok.com/article/5495260

Seems like a great kid.... but 227 lbs and a 4.8 forty aren't a winning combination. Maybe a pro training regimen can make him bigger, faster.

I agree with this. It's debatable if Woods is a true #2. But we have a lot of depth. Little (161), Hankerson (107), Boykin (57), and Salas (46) all have more career receptions than Goodwin (20) who DW still seems to harbor hopes for. For a run-first team, I think we'll have enough weapons for TT when he does throw.

I voted for the Bills because I'm a homer and don't care to spend my time evaluating the draft of other teams. It seemed we did a good job of respecting BPA - and not over-reaching - while meeting some of our critical needs.

I know the OP is not saying Ragland will be the next Ray Lewis. Still, it's hard for me to wrap my head around the phrase "Ray Lewis type." What is the Ray Lewis type? A LB who can dominate a game? A defensive player so good that offenses have to scheme around him? I just can't bring myself to make any kind of Ray Lewis comparison. But do I think Ragland will be a good player on Rex's D. (Incidentally, cool highlight video... but I could live without the vulgar soundtrack).

It was nice to see BPA and need were balanced. But I'm always skeptical of the fan who knowingly says, "This player will be a star," or "This player will be a bum." The draft wouldn't be so interesting if we knew that kind of stuff. Very, very few college players are NFL-ready. Many need to get stronger and/or faster and/or bigger. Almost all of them need to improve their skills to succeed at the NFL level. Some of them will, some of them won't. No one knows with perfect clarity which ones will make the leap and which won't. Keep expectations in check? We're Bills fans. We know.

I noticed that too.

Another common denominator is that PFF gives all three picks "A" grades.

So far the draft is going as expected. We all knew DW was looking for help for the front 7. He got it - in a big way. We all knew DW would take a QB at some point and DW took Cardale in the 4th. What makes me happy is what others have noted: we didn't over-reach. We seem to be getting good value with our picks. And we're not wasting picks on medical or character long-shots or getting guys where we don't have a need.

I don't love this pick because any QB taken in the later rounds is typically a wasted pick. And yet... we had to pick a QB at some point. Both our QBs are nearing the end of their contracts and TT is not a proven franchise guy. Jones is raw but has shown flashes of brilliance. Let's say Roman and Lee mold him into a quality backup. Is he still a waste of a 4th round pick? How much is a good backup QB worth?

I think this is a great thread. So often fans - with 20/20 hindsight - say we should have take this Pro Bowler or that Pro Bowler instead of the bum we actually drafted. So let's say it now. For myself, I'm going to guess this: if I had the same input from the scouting staff that DW had, I probably would have picked Shaq too. As a Bills/NFL fan who doesn't study college game tape, I agree entirely with K-9:

Maybe true... but you're on the wrong board.

Agreed. I tend to see DW as an average GM in a very competitive field. Hence our 8-8 record last year. I'm hoping though that he continues to learn and grow.

With so many other urgent needs I chose Hogan of Stanford as a mid-to-late round low risk project. Weird mechanics but accurate and smart.

I'm impressed! I couldn't have done this, and doubt if I have 1/100th of your knowledge of college players. I guess you weren't swayed when Gruden said he'd be "shocked" if Hackenberg isn't a first round pick. You've ranked him #21 on your QB list!

Does JW have inside information? Or is he making an educated guess? It's hard to disagree. Our D was worse than our O last year and some players may be miscast in Rex's D. I'm surprised some gurus are guessing the Bills to pick a WR in the 1st round. I get the concerns about Robert Woods as a legit #2, but our D needs help more than our O. And Roman likes to run more than he likes to pass. Given the team priorities & philosophy, a WR at #19 would be odd. Pretty much everyone at the NFL website agrees with JW... http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/mock-drafts

Sports media is going the way of politics, transitioning from reasonable commentary and rational debate to partisan ranting and outrageous sensationalizing... Jamie Horowitz, the president of Fox Sports National Networks, toldMichael McCarthy of Sporting News in March that he was interested in bringing a personality like Bayless into the Fox family: I look at these "opinionists" like superstars in the NBA. You can probably name the dozen superstars who are out there. It's like asking the (Boston) Celtics, "Are you interested in Kevin Durant?" Yes, we're interested in all the superstars. Of course, I'm interested in Skip. I'm interested in Stephen A. and Michael (Smith) and Jemele [Hill] and (Tony) Kornheiser and (Michael) Wilbon. Just like ESPN and Fox were both interested in Colin [Cowherd]. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2635852-skip-bayless-to-leave-espn-latest-details-comments-and-reaction?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

Monday Morning M.D. (MMMD) - never saw this before. A former team physician writing a regular column focused on NFL injuries. Apparently, he makes predictions about player recoveries. Good find.

I haven't read all 20 pages of this thread so my apologies if my argument is not a new one... There's been some speculation that the Bills go WR in the first round. This would surprise me. Based on last years performance/rankings, we need more help on D than O. That would suggest drafting a defensive player would be a higher priority than an offensive player. Roman likes to run more than pass. That would suggest drafting a player to help the run game would be a higher priority than drafting someone to help the pass game. We already have one 1st rd WR. That would suggest we'd want to help a different position with a 1st rounder this year. If a WR is truly the BPA, so be it. I'm hoping for - and expecting - something else at 19.

Good find, bad news. I'm glad now that I wasn't big enough, fast enough, strong enough to play professionally. It's a terrible price some of these guys pay.

Very detailed analysis and - to me - surprisingly positive. Nice find.

While 12 Gauge would make a certain kind of sense (a project who could sit and learn behind TT), I'm not convinced LaConfora has any inside knowledge concerning the Bills draft plans. I think like many sportswriters, he overstates his sources. He mention "buzz" about the Bills liking Jones. Is this buzz what he hears from sportswriters? What he reads in the press? What he hears from other teams that may or may not have good information and may or may not be honest with a sportswriter? Or does he actually have a good source at OBD? I don't think it's the latter.