PBLESS

Even though I viewed the top 4 QBs as pretty even, and Allen was not necessarily my personal choice, I think he has as good a chance to be successful NFL qb as any of the others. I did notice that the NFL GMs evidently believed that Rosen was the least of the four, as he was the last picked. There were plenty of qb needy teams who could have traded up if they believed in him and they did not----only time will tell. I would suggest patience.

Ya know-----------------it's hard to believe how little the guys who spend the whole year doing all this scouting know about these players!

This is a hard group to please. Let's say that between the few who wanted to keep TT and the group who would like a new qb but did not want to waste draft capital trading up, you have , for the sake of argument, 25-30% of the fan base. That leaves 70-75% who wanted to trade some or all of our draft picks to get THEIR choice [ not necessarily 1BD choice] of the top 4 rated gb's, then there's the relatively the low % who wanted Jackson or Rudolph. Let's say this 70-75% group was roughly evenly divided between the top four. Out of 100 typical fans that would look like this: 25% wanted to keepTT or did NOT want to trade up 3% draft either Jackson or Rudolph 18% Rosen 18% Allen 18% Mayfield 18% Darnold you could adjust those percentages any way you want, but no matter how you cut it Beane had AT BEST a chance to please about 25% of the fans. I still like HIS chances of getting it right working with a large group of professional scouts and coaches over "the pizza delivery guy"

Generally these picks seem OK. Since I believe that ANY ONE of the top 10 QBs have as good of a chance to be THE ONE as any of the others, I think we could get a good one at 12 or 22 but our biggest need at this point [ beside QB ] is MLB. I would say to decide in the first round who will be your best shot at QB and MLB. Then worry about the rest in subsequent rounds.

After looking at the various articles showing the history of QBs chosen in the early rounds [such as this https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2017/nfl-draft-round-round-qb-study-1994-2016] I'm more convinced than ever that it's a crap shoot, and trading a bunch of high picks to get an unknown is a risky idea. I think that Lauletta or even Rudolph make as good a gamble as any of the other more highly ranked QBs, and we don't have to give up any picks to get either one. To me, the only way of being relatively certain that you're getting a sure fire, star QB is to keep your cap spending down by having a lot of rookie contracts on your roster and than signing a proven NFL QB when he becomes a free agent. next year the Bills will have 100 million in cap space. By then they will also know if they already have a talented QB, after assessing whichever rookie they select plus AJ or Nathan. I'm not a GM or HC, just an original Bills season ticket holder whose job took him to Florida in 1972. But I know enough to realize they have too many holes to fill to give away valuable picks for an unknown college kid because a bunch of guys who earn a living doing mock drafts, think he's God's gift to the NFL.

Are hillbilly in-breds anything like "basket of deplorables?"

Stony, you pretty well echo my sentiments. Everyone wants a rookie QB to ride in on a white horse and take us to the promised land-----so do I! Even if we land one of the top 4, NO ONE knows if he'll be a great NFL qb, and if we give up most of our bank of picks to get him, that means he'll have to work with basically the players we have under contract right now. I don't think that'll give the kid much of a chance. If we decide to stay at 12, as has been said----we could well end up with a half dozen starters. So maybe between McCarron, Peterman [ who are to a large extent, untested] and whomever might fall to us at 12 or later Jackson, Rudolph [either of whom might be highly regarded by Beane], or even Lauletta] we end up with a very servicable QB. If all else fails, we'll have a bunch of good players, who don't cost much for 4 years and 100 Million in cap space. Then in 2019 Bridgewater [who will have been tested] and Matt Ryan are free agents and the following year it's Wilson, Newton, Keenum, Winston and Mariota. I know who wants to wait 2 more years-----but do you really xpect to win the super bowl THIS year with one of the BIG 4?

I'm in total agreement. While i'm aware that everyone posting on this board is an experienced watcher, scout, excoach, whatever, I can't help believing that between the Bills group of scouts, the GM, asst. coaches, head coach and alliances with other coaches, I HAVE to believe they have a better chance of making the correct choice than we on this forum.

All five or six of those quarterbacks have nothing but failure written all over them -----except which ever one I happen to favor, and HE can't miss. If I wasn't so sold on my ability to scout college football players, I might consider that pro scouts have better knowledge, however, I AM certain that I have it correct, and will let everyone know when I decide.

I say stay where we are at 12, hope it lands us a good qb prospect. If not we have 6 high picks to make the team a lot better than last year and looking forward to 100 million in cap space next year. The new regime can't undue the mistakes of several previous FOs in one year.

In my mind an overlooked consideration is that NO ONE really has any idea which, IF ANY of the so called big 4 or 5 or even 6 QBs that everyone wants to move up for, will be a Tom Brady or an EJ Manuel. In fact AJ McCarron might be another Keenum, Peterman had ONE tough game, [ and quite a bit that went wrong was not even because of NP]. My point is that with QBs no one really knows for a year or two if a team did the right thing by giving away valuable draft capital to get an unknown. Yes, it is true that highly drafted CBs, WRs, and LBs can also fail, but at least a team doesn't have to sell the farm to get them. If you have a team that needs ONLY a QB to get to the big dance, do what you must to get one. The Bills have MANY needs, a very successful draft this year coupled with 100 million in cap space in 2019 would allow us to get a top tier [not necessarily HOF] proven QB to go with the newly enhanced roster. I'm not say'n,---- I'm just say'n.

I agree with your post and would emphasize a couple of points: Tyrod is VERY well respected by the team and is an acknowledged leader. We ARE going to lose Eric Wood and may well lose ZO and KYLE. I don't think we want to lose most of this teams leaders who seemed very important to our locker room last year. I would hate for us to trade away are high picks that we need to build our lineup with players who won't break the bank [ Salary cap] for the next 4 years. While Tyrod isn't going to take us to a Super Bowl, I believe if our QBs were surrounded by a better crop of players and an OC who would build an offense around our strengths, and using the draft and free agency to build a defense that doesn't give up a ton of points, then we could have time to develope whatever rookie QB that falls to us at 21 or Peterman. [ who I STILL have confidence in]. I'll always wonder what would have happened in the famous 5 interception game, if Demarco had caught that perfectly thrown pass and we'd gone in to score instead of handing it to an LA linebacker for a TD. At least 2 other ints were caused by a complete breakdown of pass protection.

I also feel that we need to fill all those empty holes while we have the draft choices to do it. If we could field a well coached team with a strong defense and an offense tht can run the ball we don't need to give up a bunch of picks for a qb who could easily turn out to be another Losman or Manuel. Another consideration is that a bunch of rookie contracts for players filling those empty holes will give us the cap space to grab a proven free agent gb a yr down the road.

I thought he was justified in starting NP because OBD needs to know if they had their eventual starter on the roster before they go ahead and spend 2-3 of their valuable early picks to get a top rated QB. Also consider the fact that the Bills made the playoffs with a new head coach and both new cordinators. They came up with some rookie gems in #58, #27 and #73, they have assembled an outstanding defensive backfield, now throw in free agents #10 and #13----I believe they might be better off using all those picks for non- QBs to fill in at LB, OL and DL. Granted Tyrod is not a top 10 QB, but with a better surrounding cast, [and we should certainly have one with all those high picks] use TT's unique skill set for another year to improve on 9-7. I also think part of Peterman's problem in that game was not his fault, #42 virtually handing LA a touchdown on the first drive, and some very weak pass protection. With another year of grooming he may still be a good NFL qb. How would we feel if OBD gave up 3 picks to get one of those coveted qbs only to find he's another E.J. or R. Leaf or tears up his knee early---------now we don't have the OL or DL guys we needed and no qb either.

My feeling all along has been to move down and get an extra couple of 2 or 3's. My logic [no doubt flawed] is that at WR I think we have a number of potentially VERY good players. The problem up to now IMO, has been a QB with the talent and rep familiarity to match up with those guys. I feel we have that same type of "potential" at TE. So I would prefer not to spend a real early pick for those positions. I see our greatest need at ROT and LG then strong side LB and a full sized pass rush DE. While we are very strong at RB at the moment, we should probably begin to address this issue given contract expiration and age considerations. I believe that this draft is deep enough at most of those positions [especially OL and RB] that we can satisfy needs with a lower first round pick and extra 2 and 3s. In reality, if the Bills came away from this draft with a couple of very good additions to the OL, and if the 2 Dougs are right about EJ, they will be a playoff team. If I'm allowed an aside----- although a season ticket holder since the days of Buster Ramsey and until I moved to Florida, I'm pretty new to this board------can someone tell me why, when am typing these posts, about every 3rd or fourth character that I type does not take. I do lot of computer typing, and it does not happen anywhere else. Cn anyne tell me what I'm doig wrong------see wht I mean.

The Bills will have many good sized WRs in camp Hogan 6-1 220 Easley 6-2 217 Roberson 6-4 220 Ramses 6-6 224 Elliott 6-3 205 Stevie 6-2 205 Summers 6-5 215 Chris not Frank It seems like at least a couple of these guys should pan out well ------ plus a guy I had high hope for last year Kaufman 6-5 215 GOOO BILLS

Unless some non-qb and very special such as Mack were available at 9, I think we should go with which ever of the 3 OT's are available. Depending on how it plays out, my favorite scenario would find 1 or 2 surprises in the first eight that encouraged a team drafting at 11-12-13 to offer their #2 pick for our 9 and we still get one of the 3 OT's ----probably Lewan. Then with the 2 picks in the 2nd round go DE --TE or LB . We need a guard in Rd 4 or 5.

How about Easely----6'2" 217 lbs he's fast, obviously tackles well, and apparently gets no respect from Bills as a WR.

A Bills fan called in to the NFL station on Sirius radio and asked whoever was there, I think Brad Hopkins, what he thought the Bills should do in the draft, given who they got in free agency. I thought the answer was a little bazaar. He said to get one of the 3 top OTs, move Cordy Glen to LG and try to draft another OT in a later round to compete for RT. I know many have suggested moving Cordy to guard in the past. My opinion is that good OTs are too hard to come by and that Glen should remain at OT and Bills should get one of the 3 top OTs in rd 1 and another OG prospect in rd 4or5. In light of the fact that Spikes has only a one yr contract, and that Moats will likely sign elsewhere linebacker prospects are also essential.

We still need a very good OT to pair with Cordy. I still think this should be our first priority. It's very possible we could trade down a few spaces and find an OT plus pickup another 2nd round pick.

Back in the day, I remember thinking that Harris could throw the ball farther and harder than anyone I had ever seen.