Forward Progress

I would like to apologize, with the greatest of sincerity, for contributing to the decay of intelligent thought on this board.

If I'm going to draft a player who I think would perform at a higher level in another position, I'm going to risk a late round pick, where I hope to get a first round CB talent with a fifth round WR pick. There is no way that I will gamble a first round pick on a player and move him to another position with the expectation that he will contribute at a very high level during his rookie contract.

I've been having some fun with this draft simulator. I have to admit that this site does not reflect reality, but it's fun. There are lots of trade offers to consider and each time you play it, different players slip down the board, so it gets you thinking about plenty of "what if" scenarios. Here is my last run. We traded back with Miami to #13, with Miami giving up their #2 and #3 to move up. Then Quinnen Williams somehow slipped to #13, so I scooped him up. Like I said, this is more fun than realistic, so don't say you weren't warned. Here is my full draft: https://first-pick.com/ Your score is: 31851 (GRADE: A) Round 1 Pick 13 (MIA): Quinnen Williams, DT, Alabama (A+) Round 2 Pick 8: Kaleb McGary, OT, Washington (A) Round 2 Pick 16 (MIA): Rock Ya-Sin, CB, Temple (A) Round 3 Pick 10: Michael Deiter, OG, Wisconsin (A+) Round 3 Pick 14 (MIA): Irv Smith Jr, TE, Alabama (A+) Round 4 Pick 10: Mecole Hardman, WR, Georgia (A+) Round 4 Pick 29: Jachai Polite, DE, Florida (A+) Round 5 Pick 9: Bobby Okereke, OLB/ILB, Stanford (A) Round 5 Pick 20: Dexter Williams, RB, Notre Dame (A+) Round 6 Pick 8: Mike Edwards, FS/CB, Kentucky (A+) Round 7 Pick 11: Terry Godwin, WR, Georgia (A+) Round 7 Pick 14: Derrick Baity, CB, Kentucky (A+)

Hey, wait... I do that here everyday!!

I picked Sweat. He has incredible speed for an edge rusher and I see him wrecking havoc. I like Hock, since he is as well-rounded TE as you could hope to find. I just don't value the TE position as high as a game-changing edge rusher. Sweat is my guy.

I want more too, but it always comes down to supply and demand. Detroit (picking at #8) has publicly stated that they are open to trading back in the draft. Assuming this is true, teams who want to trade up have at least two teams willing to trade back, which will reduce the compensation for the trade.

This scenario is probably the worst possible scenario for the Bills. Only one QB taken ahead of them with the best prospects all taken and no trading partners. I would take Hock in this case, but agree with Aussie Joe that finding a trade partner in this case looks good with several teams about to pick needing QB’s.

Please, please tell me who the source is. I just need to know who I hate now and which charitable organization to support in his city to show him that Buffalo has better people.

I voted for the trade back to get more picks, but would take Ed Oliver at 9 if no worthwhile trade offer surfaces. To me there are so many players in the top 15 of this draft that could be strong starters on our team. I would be happy to get one of them plus some draft equity.

The most amazing part of this thread is how many people thought the OP was serious.

Are there rules related to the rookie contracts that would prohibit us from reopening the contract early? I’m not sure what the rules are.

I would say that Beane is all about building the best 53-man roster than he can without ruining our salary cap position for any year in the future. He values all eleven players on the field and wants quality depth to drive a competitive environment to get the best out of every player. Whaley's strategy was to have a few elite superstars on the roster (Mario Williams, Watkins, McCoy) with the remaining spots filled with whatever money was left. I believe that Beane's approach to building a full roster will win out in the end, as rosters with holes get exploited. The defense is as good as the weakest player, who will be exploited by the opponents offensive game plan. Offences that can't run, get receivers in double-coverage. Offences that can't pass, face eight men in the box. This offseason has been about shoring up the weakest parts of our roster, where we had back-up caliber players in starting positions. We didn't add superstars to our roster, but we have replaced back-ups with starters and it will show on the field. In the draft, Beane will stick to his word and take the best player available early in the draft and then draft more for need later in the draft when the spread from player to player is less. I am going into this draft, felling relaxed and trusting the process. If I'm surprised by the first pick, I will assume the pick is good and that the media doesn't know as much as our scouts.

What I learned from this thread is that I have more confidence in Beane and McDermott than I do in the media and the posters on this board.

That's good to hear. As long as the great tailgating tradition continues, I'm on board.

Please don't move the stadium downtown!! I have been to plenty of stadiums across the league and downtown stadiums have the worst tailgating. St.Louis was the worst that I have been to. The only thing going on outside of the stadium were street vendors peddling their souvenirs.

The timing feels like it was to give Ivory his best chance to catch on with another team. I've heard Beane talk about the importance of ending on good terms with departing players. This may be another case of this here.

I believe in our coach. I believe in our GM. I believe in our QB. When was the last time you had confidence in the three most important people with the Bills?

For those who want to know all of the scores... NFL Wonderlic Scores I have pulled out a list of QB's for the sake of reference: Player Score Position Ryan Fitzpatrick 48 QB Blaine Gabbert 42 QB Carson Wentz 40 QB Alex Smith 40 QB Eli Manning 39 QB Matthew Stafford 38 QB Colin Kaepernick 38 QB Josh Allen 37 QB Tony Romo 37 QB Andrew Luck 37 QB Jared Goff 36 QB Sam Bradford 36 QB Drew Bledsoe 36 QB Aaron Rodgers 35 QB Ryan Tannehill 34 QB Tom Brady 33 QB Nathan Peterman 33 QB Steve Young 33 QB Marcus Mariota 33 QB Kirk Cousins 33 QB Johnny Manziel 32 QB Matt Ryan 32 QB JP Losman 31 QB Trent Edwards 31 QB Phillip Rivers 30 QB Josh McCown 30 QB Matt Barkley 30 QB Josh Rosen 29 QB Troy Aikman 29 QB John Elway 29 QB Andy Dalton 29 QB Rex Grossman 29 QB Nick Foles 29 QB Matt Hasselbeck 29 QB Jimmy Garoppolo 29 QB Sam Darnold 28 QB Blake Bortles 28 QB Mark Sanchez 28 QB Drew Brees 28 QB Peyton Manning 28 QB EJ Manuel 28 QB Russell Wilson 28 QB Joe Flacco 27 QB Carson Palmer 26 QB Jay Cutler 26 QB Kyle Orton 26 QB Baker Mayfield 25 QB Ben Roethlisberger 25 QB Chad Pennington 25 QB Colt McCoy 25 QB Cardale Jones 25 QB Dak Prescott 25 QB Mitchell Trubisky 25 QB Brock Osweiler 25 QB JaMarcus Russell 24 QB Jacoby Brissett 24 QB Geno Smith 24 QB David Carr 24 QB Patrick Mahomes 24 QB Robert Griffin III 24 QB Jordan Palmer 23 QB Tim Tebow 22 QB Brett Farve 22 QB AJ McCarron 22 QB Cam Newton 21 QB Deshaun Watson 20 QB Teddy Bridgewater 20 QB Jake Locker 20 QB Derek Carr 20 QB Michael Vick 20 QB Derek Anderson 19 QB Daunte Culpepper 18 QB Paxton Lynch 18 QB Vinny Testaverde 17 QB Terry Bradshaw 16 QB Dan Marino 16 QB Jim Kelly 15 QB Vince Young 15 QB Steve Mcnair 15 QB Donovan Mcnabb 14 QB Kordell Stewart 14 QB Lamar Jackson 13 QB Vince Young 6 QB

I think New England will host KC on Sunday night. That looks like the best week 1 matchup to me.

I don’t see how we move into the top five while holding onto our second round pick, but I agree with the main point, which is we are in a position to trade away picks to move up the draft board. I see this playing out when there is player who stands out on the Bills draft board that they feel is worth sacrificing a later pick to go up and get (I.e. Edmunds last year). I don't see us trading up in the first as after the first three or four picks, as the drop off from one player to the next doesn’t appear to be huge. We could still trade back in the first, if the trade partner overpays to move up (eg Washington trading up from 15 for a QB). After the first pick, we are more likely to trade up for the players standing out on the Bills board. We don’t need 10 rookies this year, so going after quality instead of quantity makes sense to me.

This will be fun to watch. I like his determination to remold himself to find a place in the game.

I've heard of him, so he must be good. What ever happened to the Notre Dame star Rudy from the movie Rudy? I've heard of him too.

The purest in me misses the old (now considered unsafe) rules around kick-offs. I miss the excitement of the kick-off return as it used to be a big play and an impactful part of the game for teams with superstar kick returners. Kick-offs have simply become a time to hit the washroom, and reload on snacks and drinks because the play is so boring. On-side kicks have now suffered the same fate with the odds of recovery to low to justify attempting except when there is no other choice. The Bills fan in me thinks this rule change could benefit us. We have a big-armed quarterback who gets his yards in big chunks. A rule-change to the 4th and 15 model would benefit the Bills more than it would a dink-and-dunk team that moves the ball in high-percentage, low yard plays.

My first thought was yes, he holds the edge well against the run and fills the rotation well. I'd like to have him on the team. However... When I saw that his option would be in the $12M range, this becomes a cost/value assessment that isn't so easy. To pay a player, who may be the 50th best at his position the salary of the 13th best at his position is not a recipe for a competitive roster. It makes sense to either sign another player to take his place or to extend his contract for his market value. The fifth year option doesn't make sense for a player who hasn't played up to his first round draft status.