mjt328

Browns/Jags trade was the only big surprise. So many were saying this draft was a total mystery, and nobody had ANY IDEA what was going to happen. Outside of swapping the team names at #2 and #5, the first 8-9 picks were pretty much on-point with the majority of mock drafts. I think most had Tyler Warren going as the first TE and Jalon Walker as the next DE, but nothing else was really out of line. There wasn't a huge difference in talent outside of the Top 10, so guys like Kenneth Grant could have gone anywhere in there. Grey Zabel was maybe the biggest reach. Will Johnson was the biggest faller, although I saw many people calling his drop weeks ago due to the injury. Lots of signs that Sanders was going to fall out of the 1st Round too, and that Dart had overtaken him as #2. Some were in denial and just didn't want to believe it. Teams are looking for a particular kind of personality and leadership vibe at the QB position, especially with the risk involved taking one in the 1st Round.

Had the CB options correct. Had the Giants trading back into the 1st Round. I would be curious if there were any discussions about us making a similar trade with New York.

After watching the previous 8 drafts, it's pretty clear how Brandon Beane operates. He zeroes in on our biggest need. If options on his board are dwindling down, he will attempt a small trade-up of maybe 5-10 slots. If he's got a bunch of prospects rated about the same, he will consider moving down - but only enough where he can still get one of them (see Keon Coleman last year). The only year that our 1st Round Pick wasn't completely obvious was in 2023. That year WR was our biggest need. Things looked to be falling our way, and then suddenly the four top receivers went 20, 21, 22, 23... leaving the cupboard completely bare. So Beane pivoted to Dalton Kincaid, which was about the closest thing left as a top receiving weapon for the offense. For the last month, it's been very clear that CB was our top need. Somehow people talked themselves into believing the Tre White signing would change that. Not sure why. They had multiple CBs in for visits that were expected to go late 1st/early 2nd. Hairston was one of them, along with Trey Amos, Shavon Revel and Benjamin Morrison. Barring some kind of weird run on the position or somebody really crazy dropping, one of those guys was always going to be the pick.

I want at least one Pro-Bowl impact player from this draft, preferably along the D-Line. Even if we have to trade-up in order to get one. In my opinion, the guy who best fits that bill (who is also somewhat realistic for us to land) is Kenneth Grant. If he makes it to around Pick 20-21, I think it would be worth exploring trade options to go up and grab him. Draft history tells me that Beane usually prefers quantity (more picks) over quality (higher picks). He also likes filling all of his primary holes as early in the draft as possible. Need over BPA. I think his primary goal is to land a potential CB2 and future starting DT. Next priorities are Edge Rusher, speed WR, depth at LB and a FS more in the mold of Micah Hyde (most of our current guys are better at SS)... but he will save those for late Day 2 or Day 3. Malaki Stark is suddenly a popular mock pick, and he might be the BPA at #30. But safety isn't a big enough need for Beane to use a 1st Round Pick on that position. Can't see it happening. The fact that he's called D-Line the deepest position in the draft could mean he feels comfortable waiting until Day 2 to get one. Signing Tre White shouldn't move the needle for anyone, based on how he played last season. CB is still our biggest need, and it's not a very deep class this year. My prediction is basically a repeat of last year (swapping out WR for CB). Bills fans eagerly wait until the late evening for Pick #30, only to find Beane has traded with the Giants and out of the 1st Round. Like WR in 2024, Beane has a handful of guys ranked about the same on his board. We ultimately choose the leftovers from amongst the guys who were in for visits: Maxwell Hairston, Shavon Revel, Trey Amos or Benjamin Morrison.

Probably. But you never know. I've seen Grant dropping into the 25-35 range in quite a few mocks. D-Line is pretty deep in this class and not everyone values the bigger guys (not sure we do either), so it's possible he could drop to us. The big hurdle is probably the Chargers, who need a DT and have his old coach. Amos is usually in the 35-45 range. Our first pick on Day 2 is at 56, thanks to the Stefon Diggs trade. Perfect place for a trade-up. We could probably move up 10-15 spots with one of our 4th Round picks. I've seen about 11-12 edge rushers ranked as 1st/2nd Round guys. Not unrealistic that someone we like lasts until 62. Rumors have been circling that Williams could be available in a trade. Would likely take a mid/late round pick, since he's also going to be a free agent soon. He's pretty much what we are missing in the passing game. The big issue is contract. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jameson-williams-posts-cryptic-message-on-social-media-possible-landing-spots-if-lions-trades-wr/ https://www.si.com/nfl/lions/news/jameson-williams-attends-lions-voluntary-workout Not sure if he's really available (or how much he would cost). But there has definitely been talk.

Here is my dream scenario for tonight. Round 1 = Kenneth Grant somehow falls to #30 Round 2 = Tre Amos (requires slight trade up to mid-40s) Round 2 = One of the dozen top edge rushers who happens to drop Round 4 = Trade for Jameson Williams from Detroit

Even with Josh Allen at QB, the offense has needed to adapt and change over the years. Last year, they became more balanced between run/pass. Targets started going to whoever was open, rather than force-feeding one guy. It resulted in possibly the best offense this franchise has ever put on a football field. It's time for the defense to do the same. Find ways to become versatile, unpredictable and adapt better to different opponents. Everyone knows what to expect from a McDermott defense.... where it's strong, and where it's weak. I've been pushing for years for the Bills to get better in running man-coverage, and blitzing more often. Having a huge 1-Tech in the middle is something we've never really seen in a McDermott defense. We are always undersized. Someone like Grant can potentially take those double-teams. But he's also athletic enough to move and get after the passer.

Yeah, I know they are saying he's versatile enough to play anywhere on the D-Line. 310-320 seems to be that weight where coaches experiment playing them at either. I guess I would prefer to get bigger in the middle of the D-Line. Ed Oliver is small for a DT. Terrel Bernard is small for a MLB. We are already playing heavy in Nickel.

We need a 1-Tech to takeover for Daquan Jones. That is Kenneth Grant. Most people see Derrick Harmon as a 3-Tech, which is the same position of Ed Oliver, DeWayne Carter and Larry Ogunjobi. Grant is easily my number one target in the draft. I think a big body in the middle of the D-Line would give us a huge upgrade. I would also rather trade up for one player with huge upside, as opposed to sitting back and getting two solid/safe prospects. There is a slight chance Grant falls to us. More likely we need to get above the Chargers at 22.

Abdul Carter. Part of the awe surrounding Travis Hunter is his ability to play either WR and CB. That isn't (or at least shouldn't) be happening in the pros. In the NFL, he will need to pick only one position and really try to perfect his craft. Otherwise he splits his time, and risks not being great at either side. Will he be happy focusing on just one position? Will it be the same one his coaches want him to play? Will there be division in the front office or coaching staff over where to play him? Too many questions for my taste. Give me the "potentially next" Micah Parsons, and don't look back. As a sidebar... how hilarious is it that we basically let New England beat us in a meaningless Week 18 game, and it cost them one of the two elite prospects in this draft? Ouch.

You are thinking of Ken Dorsey (who was the OC at the start of the year). But I'm not really buying that. Dorsey didn't run much 12 the previous season, and then still didn't have a plan to fully utilize both TEs in the first half of 2023 before he was fired. And even now when Brady goes heavy, it's usually a 6th O-Lineman instead of a second TE. The Bills have never had a grand strategy to get both Kincaid and Dawson Knox heavily involved at the same time. Combine that with the contract Knox got the previous September, I just think Kincaid was more of "Plan B" on draft day, rather than Beane's primary target. And unfortunately, that's how premium draft selections get wasted.

Elite prospect at #30? That never happens. Those guys are gone in the Top 5-10 picks every year. But lots of guys drafted later turn out to be elite once in the NFL. Just like some of those Top 5 elite prospects will bust. It's just a lot harder when you draft later, and requires much better scouting. Always picking in the late 20s/early 30s is only one reason we struggle to find elite talent. Personally, I think we focus too much on roster needs, instead of the best player available (particularly early). We draft heavily for pure scheme fits, rather than find different ways for coaching to utilize high-end physical talent. Beane also seems to prefer stockpiling picks and getting more swings, rather than trading up and trying for the homerun.

I've always believed that Beane had no intention of drafting Kincaid, and was fully planning on taking a WR. Then all the top receiver prospects got snatched up, and he talked himself into it... reasoning that he was still a "weapon" in the passing game. Usually it's pretty safe to assume we are going to take someone in for a Top 30 visit.

My educated guess is that Brandon Beane is targeting a CB in Round 1. He will make calls to teams 3-4 picks in front, and 3-4 picks behind us to prepare for trades. Depending on how our board looks, we could move a few spots. But I have very little doubt that CB will be the pick. Which makes me sad, because I feel like a good D-Line prospect is going to fall within a reasonable distance of us getting. But he's pretty much stuck us into a position where a corner must be chosen in the first two rounds.

Every year, there are leaks about the Bills being heavily interested in a player. It always happens a couple days before the draft. And we never draft that player. I'm convinced it's our staff purposely putting out nonsense to throw other teams off. For 3-4 years it was always a running back. Then James Cook emerged and that rumor wasn't really believable anymore. I'm just going to assume these rumors about Carson Schwesinger are the same. Drafting a linebacker that high just doesn't make sense. We play mostly Nickel, which means only two LBs on the field for most of the game. LB is a position that guys play 95-100% of snaps. We just handed Terrel Bernard a big contract. And even if Matt MIlano doesn't return to his old self, Dorian Williams played well in his place most of last year. It's hard to see a rookie getting ANY snaps in this defense. Much less any meaningful playing time.

Quick question. What date was Garcia put on the plane and sent to El Salvador? (Hint... the answer is March 15) What date did the Supreme Court rule on "facilitating" his return? (Hint... the answer is April 10) So no. Trump did not ignore the Supreme Court and deport him. He was already gone for almost a month before they issued that ruling. FYI - The court also clarified what they meant by "facilitate"... writing that it involved “taking all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede the alien’s ability to return here." So basically, if El Salvador sends Garcia back on a plane, the Trump administration can't create any obstacles to stop it. El Salvador said they aren't releasing him. Case closed.

Absolutely not. The more playoff teams a league adds, the less important the regular season becomes. Less urgency for them to win the normal games. More chance for bad teams to pull off upsets against superior opponents. There are multiple teams in the NBA playoffs right now that finished at .500 or lower. That is pathetic. Once the NFL added a 7th team to their postseason format, they were forced to drop the bye for the #2 seeded team. Teams with 12-14 wins forced to play against a team with 8-9. I don't see how this possibly makes the sport better.

None of these arguments supports why immigrants need to come here illegally. The United States has the most generous immigration policy in the entire world. We take in more refugees, asylum seekers... grant more work/student visas... and give permanent citizenship to more people than any other country. And it's not even remotely close. All we ask is that people follow the legal process, and let the U.S. vet them first. It's rude and disrespectful for anyone to feel they are entitled to just sneak into a country. Not just to the citizens who already live there, but also to the other immigrants they are cutting in front-of who are doing it the correct way.

The Trump administration doesn't want him back. No doubt about that. But they aren't ignoring the Supreme Court. They are simply doing the bare minimum required to satisfy the court's order. An offer was made to send a plane to El Salvador to take him back. El Salvador declined. End of story. Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador. Garcia is in custody in El Salvador. Just because we have a contract to return immigrants to El Salvador, doesn't mean they have to send them back. If you really think the Supreme Court of the United States can FORCE another country to send us one of their own citizens... I just don't know what to tell you. For a minute, let's just ignore the plentiful evidence of Garcia's criminal record, or that he's a member of the MS-13 gang. Let's also ignore that MS-13 kills, rapes and traffics innocent people. Let's also ignore the fact that it was proven yesterday that he isn't dead, hasn't been tortured and that all his fears about being murdered by a rival gang were likely exaggerated in order to stay in the United States longer. How much due process do we really need for someone who broke into our country illegally? We aren’t talking about him facing the death penalty. We aren’t talking about him being tortured. We aren’t talking about him getting life in an American prison. We are talking about putting individuals on a plane, and sending them back to their own country. Nobody in the United States put Garcia in that prison. The officials of El Salvador did that. Yes, we knew that was going to happen. But it's still that country's choice. He is their citizen. They can also release him if they want. We are just getting them out of our country. America’s judicial system already has a huge backlog. The average court case takes between 12-18 months to be heard after it has been filed. One of the biggest problems with illegal immigration, is that our country only has limited resources. We only have so many courtrooms, judges and lawyers. Our own American citizens can’t even get a speedy trial date. But we are supposed to spend the people, space and tax dollars to give every single illegal immigrant a full court hearing? Garcia has been in the country illegally for over 14 years. He's been arrested for other violent crimes. He has already gotten at least two trials, both over 5 years ago. Both judges said the evidence convinced them he was a gang member. But somehow, people want to claim he didn't get enough due process under the law. Give me a break. In my opinion, we know he is illegal. That is enough to send him back to his home country. Nothing else is needed. El Salvador can worry about everything that happens after that.

He broke into this country illegally. Then due to the insane loopholes in our immigration system, he was granted the legal right to stay in the U.S. for the last 5-6 years. We can argue back and forth about the technical terminology. But either way, he was not a citizen of the United States. Whether a person is on a student visa, work visa, or granted any kind of temporary status by a district judge - that privilege can be revoked. The Alien Enemies Act has historically allowed the President to remove illegal immigrants for any reason, and without any kind of due process. Meaning that when Trump's administration deported Garcia, they had every right to do so by precedent, regardless of what a federal judge says. At the same time, the judge had no jurisdiction to order a plane to turn-around after it's already left the United States. Now, this is how Supreme Court cases always work when there is a dispute over the law: - Party A does something - Party B says "no you can't do that" - Party A says "yes I can" Then the Supreme Court makes a ruling on which side is correct. In this particular case, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump absolutely can use the Alien Enemies Act to deport individuals like Garcia. However, he should have gone through some kind of process hearing before deportation. Kind of a win/lose for both sides. To be clear, this is a slight change from the way the immigration procedure has been interpreted in the past regarding (particularly regarding the Alien Enemies Act). So you can't just go back and retroactively accuse the administration of defying what is really a new Supreme Court ruling. Furthermore, Garcia is now in the custody of El Salvador. He is also a citizen of that country. The idea that the United States Supreme Court can just order the President to retrieve a foreign citizen from another country's prison is absolutely preposterous. We can't even do that with American citizens being held as hostages. And finally, I think it's disgusting that people can't discuss things like this on an Internet message board without getting threats. Once upon a time it was OK that people disagreed on issues. At the end of the day, we could just voice our opinions and be civil. Now everyone on the other side has to be seen as evil, and deserving of "consequences."

The outrage over trying to get this guy back in the United States is what is ridiculous. But to be fair, this case does raise a lot of interesting questions about presidential/judicial authority and jurisdiction, and how the Constitution applies to non-citizens. For starters, there had already been a deportation order to remove Garcia from the country. The administration's supposed error was that (according to the district judge) he wasn't supposed to be removed to El Salvador, because he supposedly feared for his life from this rival gang. If they had dropped him off somewhere else, there wouldn't have been a problem. To be very clear... He came here illegally. He had a hearing before an immigration judge, who concluded he was a member of the MS-13 gang. Historically speaking, the Alien Enemies Act has allowed the President to remove illegal immigrants for any reason. Gang member or not. No due process at all. Under that precedent, this would have made the district judge's ruling null and void, allowing Garcia to be deported to El Salvador anyway. So to say that Trump was breaking the law (as it was interpreted at the time) is simply untrue. The problem with the Supreme Court ruling on the AEA (which didn't come until last week) is that Garcia is now in an El Salvador prison. And he is a citizen of that country, not the United States. Our government can't just force El Salvador to send us back one of their citizens, because of a court ruling that took place after the fact. No matter how the SC words their ruling, you can't just "undo the error" as you stated. And even if El Salvador decided to return him to the U.S., the Trump administration can simply hold a quick hearing before an immigration judge (as now ordered by the SC) and deport him again. Going forward, I'm curious how the Supreme Court ruling is going to play out. What entails a quick process hearing? Even spending 10-15 minutes per individual would backup the system and make it virtually impossible for the mass deportations needed to clean-up this mess. The current system is totally broken (as evidenced that Garcia was residing in our country 5-6 years without being sent somewhere). I agree with this. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court felt differently and believes they deserve some level of due process.

Matt Milano was a Doug Whaley/Sean McDermott pick. Not Beane. As stated, my gripe with Beane is that (despite his reputation) he's become a very conservative GM over the last 3-4 years. Where is the guy who wheeled-and-dealed his way into the Top 10 to get Josh Allen? Where is the guy who traded a 1st Round Pick to get Stefon Diggs? Where is the guy who came out of nowhere to land Von Miller in free agency? In my opinion, Beane hit his comfort-zone and is now pretty much on auto-pilot. Every offseason is roughly the same... Sign some extensions to help get under the cap. Add some mid-level/low-impact vets on mostly one-year deals. Go into draft with 1-2 glaring holes. Sit back at pick 25-30. Reach for biggest need in the first round. Claim player was Best Available. Address remaining spots on Day 2-3. Rinse and repeat. Put it all together and you end up with Josh Allen single-handedly carrying an above-average roster to the AFC East Championship. Then getting bounced from the playoffs by a superior team with more star-power, who doesn't rely on one guy to do everything. Did you realized that Beane has never drafted a 1st-Team All-Pro (including Allen). Only Allen and Taron Johnson have been selected as 2nd Team All-Pros. Every year fans complain about Bills players getting snubbed for Pro-Bowls around the NFL. Despite more than half our games being on national television every season, just try finding someone outside of Buffalo who can name five of our defensive players. The truth is, our guys outside of Allen just don't make enough of an impact to get noticed. And they always disappear in the postseason.

Don't get me wrong. Brandon Beane is still a Top 5 GM in the NFL. It's just that he's significantly lower than the top guys Howie Roseman and Brett Veach. I think he's also a tier below Eric DeCosta and Les Snead. Just like if you were to say Jalen Hurts is a Top 5 QB in the NFL (which is reasonable). He's still quite a bit below the top guys in Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. As I've said many times about Beane. I like him. I don't want to see him fired. But I do think he's gotten too comfortable and conservative. He needs to be more aggressive, and he needs to break a little from his normal draft routine.

That's because Beane's drafts are usually singles/doubles instead of homeruns. My worry is that he's once again really backed himself into a corner (pun intended) at the CB and WR positions. This appears to be an extremely weak year for both. Meanwhile, the D-Line is loaded this year at both edge rusher and tackle. It would be a great year to load up on the front. But sitting at #30, I could unfortunately see us getting desperate, trading up to fill needs, reaching for value, and then settling for left-overs on the DL on Day 3.

Somewhat unrelated, but I can’t help but come away unimpressed with any QB prospects nowadays. After watching Josh Allen every week for 5-6 months, everyone’s arm and athletic ability just seems average. People are gushing over Cam Ward, and to me he just looks meh.