GunnerBill

She posted to social media a year after the event. Her first response was to report to the police, the university and seek medical help. The post came a year later after the investigations stalled, presumably from a place of anger and frustration that more wasn't done. That doesn't make it true, btw, but in terms of understanding why she did that I think it provides important context. Posting on social media was a last resort after other avenues to pursue justice, as she saw it, had closed off.

I thought day 2 was definitely possible. I didn't have him in my final first round mock. Had someone taken him in the third round, I'd shrug. But going round 5? I think there were things other than how good a football player and leader is this kid at play. That is where I have some sympathy with him and I thought in the context of that.... he handled himself pretty well over the weekend.

I don't think those examples are analogous to the Sandera situation though in all fairness. I understand the point that you are making. Once you accept there are things that exempt you from the talent meritocracy where you draw the line becomes a subjective question of judgment. I suppose my point with Shedeur is I don't think the line was drawn in the right place and I don't think all of that was his fault.

I don't care if he told them all the coaches are orange frogs. There is no world in which Dillon Gabriel should be picked before him in a football related activity. I get, the kid has an arrogance and it put people off. But you can't call yourself a true meritocracy and then pick some of the bums that went before him. And I say this as someone who doesn't even particularly rate him and didn't think his film belonged in the first round.

I think there are a lot of people in the NFL who really don't look Deion and unfortunately Shedeur paid for some of that. He isn't blameless himself, sure.

Well done to Shedeur for taking the kid's call to apologise. If anything my level of respect for him went up this weekend. I don't think what happened to him was entirely fair and I think in the main he handled it well. EDIT: did you guys hear the Chase Lundt media call? Apparently he was prank called too. Some people need to grow the ***** up.

The first I heard about the sexual assault allegations against Hairston dating back to 2021 was in the welcome presser on Friday. Beane said the Bills and the league had done due diligence and were confident that allegations had been investigated and dealt with at the time. My take on it is this: it looks like the young lady concerned did everything you would properly expect an alleged victim to have done at the time. It isn't just being mentioned now because he has been drafted. She reported things to the police at the time, attended a medical facility, and raised it formally with the university. She also posted about it a year later in 2022, before Max had come to any sort of national prominence, so I do not think it is fair for anyone to sit here and accuse her of being a money grabber or in it for the fame or anything of that sort. However, it also appears that an investigation was carried out, the university and the police looked into the matter and ultimately no charges were brought. Am I saying that means Max is definitely not guilty of the accusations made? Nope. But as I say in all of these cases we in western civilised society have justice systems for a reason. We have the principle of innocent until proven guilty for a reason. The way we determine guilt, attach labels like "rapist" to individuals and respond punitively is through the justice system. We have to trust it to do its work. In this case it seems to have concluded that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations. That does not mean they didn't happen, but it means that Hairston is an innocent man and should be treated as such. The court of public opinion, social media vigilantism and mob rule must be rejected at all costs. It's concerning to hear this, of course it is. But the young man deserves the benefit of the doubt.

I just contrast that strategy with Tampa Bay. Who priort to Thursday evening were on an equal streak with the Bills of no Wide Receivers in round 1 since we picked Sammy and they picked Mike (nope, still not over it). They have Evans, they have Godwin, they have Sterling Shephard as a vet who has done some things in this league and they have Jalen McMillan who had a good rookie year. Yet they still didn't stand pat when Egbuka fell to them. Now maybe if Egbuka falls to us we take him too (not convinced, but maybe). Just feels like one team was going "we've got four serviceable guys" and one was saying "we still need more".

I think it is a bit the result of Brandon not having a scouting background. He doesn't have a "type" at positions the way guys who have been around it for years have. Their type at DB is dictated by McDermott's specifications. They have developed a type at OL only since Kromer arrived. Tremaine Edmunds was Leslie Frazier's type of middle linebacker. When Dennison was here they wanted big bodied receivers. Then Dabes wanted shiftier route runners. Then Dorsey wanted guys to run down the field. Brady wants YAC guys. I get it. You have to get players that fit what your coaches want. And Beane is good at that and because he is good at that is probably why he has so few true busts. But how much does his own evaluation skill show on the roster? I'm not sure much. He is a good leader, a good strategic roster builder. But I don't think on pure talent evaluation he is a top 15 GM. It is the other qualities that make him a top 10 guy overall.

It's a wrap from Green Bay (I think my least favourite draft venue since it went on the road from a tv fan perspective, interested to hear from those who were there) and there is a lot to get to. So let's crack on! The Bills picks... The Bills started day three with seven picks and ended up making six selections. Let's start with the trade up in round 4. The Bears and the Bills have played the hokey cokey with pick #109 for full 12 months. Originally Chicago's 4th was traded to Buffalo last year in order to get the Bills' 2024 5th rounder - a pick they used to select Austin Booker. Then on Friday night Brandon Beane flipped it back to them as part of the trade up to land TJ Sanders. Only to re-acquire the pick yesterday in order to move up. And as with yesterday's trade up with the Bears, it was Beane who "won" the trade based on the value charts. By the Jimmy Johnson chart he acquired 76 points at a cost of only 63.8. By the Rich Hill chart he acquired 30 points for a cost of 27. But that was pretty much where the good news ended for me. I'd speculated in yesterday's de-brief about trading up into the top few picks of round 4 for an outside speed receiver and while Dont'e Thornton had gone off the board literally the pick prior to the Raiders both Jalen Royals and Tory Horton, guys we know the Bills had some level of interest in given they had visited, were still sitting there. Instead Brandon Beane selected Deone Walker, the massive defensive tackle from Kentucky. I really dislike the pick. I know he played with a partially broken back in 2024 and yes, the 2023 tape is better... but that's not hard because based on the 2024 tape alone he was undraftable in my opinion. Someone brought Jordan Phillips (the one who played for us, not the one in this draft) up to Beane in the presser as a comp and I see it. They are both really tall guys, who are heavy but carry most of that weight in their gut rather than in their legs and their backside and it means that despite their weight they don't anchor very well, have a tendency to topple forward and as such struggle to really be the natural 1Tech run stuffers that they might first appear just looking at their stats. So while I'm willing forgive Walker a little bit for his inconsistent pad level in 2024 (bending with a broken back is, I imagine, rather painful) I think the technical flaws go beyond that. I hope to goodness I am wrong and he can replace Daquan Jones (who I think is washed) and give us at least four years of cost controlled strong play from the 1Tech spot. It might at least stop Beane throwing more free agency dollars at the position if he has Walker, Sanders and DeWayne Carter in the bullpen at defensive tackle.... but I'm worried this is a guy who will never nail down a starting spot. Onto round 5 and if round 4 was frustrating, round 5 was perplexing. I haven't watched a ton of either player so not going to pretend to be an expert but in isolation both fill roles that I thought were likely depth needs on day three. Jordan Hancock might have the size of an outside corner but he is a nickel and has played some safety. Brandon Beane said that the Bills will train him at both and he essentially provides competition (and hopefully an upgrade) over Cam Lewis in that jack of all trades DB spot. He started 14 games this past season for the national champions Ohio State and that experience is valuable. Then Jackson Hawes is a candidate for the third tight end role vacated by Quintin Morris and he brings a skillset the Bills haven't had much in recent years as a true blocking tight end. Smart kid, started at Yale before transferring to Georgia Tech, will have a niche role on the 53, could even be an option to play some full back too if they don't want to keep a designated full back in Reggie Gilliam (though I expect they still will) and will be a core special teamer. Again, in isolation, I get it. But the glaring need for an outside speed receiver was still there. By both the Jimmy Johnson chart and the Rich Hill chart the Bills packaging those two late 5th rounders together would have got them back into the end of round 4. Now maybe it wouldn't have got them high enough for Jalen Royals who went at #133 to the Chiefs (exactly one pick after our original 4th)... but their first 5th and their late 6th would have been enough to get them up to a spot ahead of where Tory Horton (outside receiver, 4.41 speed) and KeAndre Lambert-Smith (outside/inside flex receiver, 4.37 speed) BOTH players who the Bills had in on 30 visits, were selected by the Seahwaks and the Chargers respectively. I just can't see a world in which competition for the Cam Lewis job and backfilling the TE3 role are more important than adding downfield vertical speed. I get it, neither Horton nor Lambert-Smith were likely more than package players as rookies. But man... the Bills lack of true vertical speed threat on offense was a problem at times last year and it will be a problem again. We are going to see a lot more stacked boxes and teams trying to take away the quick game and the inside game until we prove we can threaten you deep outside. Round 6 was my favourite round yesterday. Dorian Strong, the outside corner from Virginia Tech was excellent value at the spot. He was my 6th best remaining player at the time they selected him and I think he has the ability to become a starting outside CB2 in the NFL. He needs to sharpen up his transitions a bit in zone but he is competitive at the catch point and has good instincts. I get that by this stage corner was not a need... but honestly the receiver well had run dry by this point and the value here was hard to argue with. It suggests to me that Dane Jackson has gone within a week from "presumed starter" at CB2 to "battling for a roster spot" given the logjam created by Benford, Hairston, White.... he is at best in a battle with Strong for the final spot outside. And then at #206 the Bills took my guy Chase Lundt out of UConn! I featured him in my sleeper thread, and his tape is a really fun watch. He is 6ft7, but with shorter than ideal arms for his size. What is noteworthy is how well he bends for one so tall, and his foot speed is really good. Love him particularly as a run blocker and he has some outside/inside flex. I had him graded as a late 4th/early 5th so the value at the end of round 6 was excellent. People have questioned if he can make the roster given the depth we have on the oline. The five starters from last year are obviously locks. I think Tylan Grable is too as their swing tackle and Alec Anderson as their main IOL depth and extra lineman in big personnel. Then they have Ryan VanDemark and last year's 5th rounder Sedrick Van Pran-Granger. But Anderson and VanDemark are on one year RFA deals and will be unrestricted free agents next spring, at which point David Edwards will be out of contract too. So having a talented, versatile guy like Lundt in the hut ready to take one of those depth spots makes sense to me. Unless he tears it up in pre-season I'd expect they can sneak him onto the practice squad. Finally in round 7 Brandon Beane gave the people what they wanted.... a receiver!! I have seen precisely nothing of Kaden Prather. His RAS profile suggests he has a combination of size and some long speed, though his 10 and 20 yard splits coupled with his jumps indicate he isn't the most explosive, quick twitch athlete. His contested catch win rate last year per PFF was a pretty anemic 35% and he feels to all extents and purposes like a practice squad guy at best. After a really good first two days of this draft where I think the Bills got three good football players, at positions of need while still following the board and extracting value day three was more of an adventure and while game changing receivers early in this class were in short supply, for them to not even make a serious effort on the final day to bring in a developmental guy with the type of profile we are missing... I don't know. Just leaves me back thinking this GM, who came from a place in Carolina where they were famous for not taking prioritising receivers and almost never taking them early (and the one time they did ending up with a big slow guy that couldn't separate), is never going to prioritise them. And for all the credit I give him for what he did early in this draft it does concern me for the long term maximisation of Josh Allen's talent. The UDFAs The only name I recognise of the guys this Bills have brought in is Stehen Gosnell, the receiver out of Virginia Tech, who is a bigger bodied outside guy who plays with some nuance but I just don't think has the athletic profile to be effective at the pro level. I think this is going to be a very hard roster for any UDFA to crack. Other notable moves The most notable move was the Browns drafting Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon and then coming back a round later and finally taking Shedeur Sanders off the board. I'm not going to get into body language analysis but the Cleveland broom cupboard did not look happy and it would not shock anyone if this was another Jimmy Haslam brainwave to file away with Johnny Manziel. I do feel a bit for Shedeur. Whatever you do or don't think of him and his dad, he is a better Quarterback than a number of guys who went ahead of him and in an NFL that prides itself on supposedly being a true meritocracy it does make you feel some sympathy for the kid. I think it is VERY possible he is the best Quarterback on the Browns roster in 2025. And if that is the case that could mess with the plan it looked like GM Andrew Berry was trying to execute to target a Quarterback in round 1 next year. I thought it was another good day from the Patriots. I like Craig Woodson, the safety they took out of Cal, though it felt slightly too early for him but they then snagged Josh Farmer late in round 4 who I had a 3rd round grade on and Bradyn Swinson in round 5 who I had a late 2nd round grade on. I'm not overreacting and declaring them back, but this was the best Patriots draft in well over a decade and if in 2 or 3 years they are back to being a competitive team I think this class will likely be looked upon as foundational. I also liked Carolina's draft. Tet McMillan gives them a true #1 receiver, they took two of my favourite edge guys on day two and then came back yesterday and snagged Lathan Ransom the safety out of Ohio State, who will have a chance to start, and Cam Jackson the massive defensive tackle from Florida who was one of my favourite day three 1Tech ideas. I'll give a shout out for the Lions too because I hammered them a bit yesterday.... but Miles Frazier, the guard they took in round 5 is a stud (and will end up outplaying the one they traded up for in round 2, just wait and see), Ahmed Hassanein who they took in round 6 was another of my sleepers and as the only edge they drafted he is going to have a proper shot to make that roster... he has the non-stop motor that Dan Campbell loves and then Dominic Lovett who they took late was only a depth receiver for Georgia but he is a smooth route runner who can develop into a reliable possession receiver as a WR4 or WR5. And then there were EIGHT... Eight guys left on Gunner's board with draftable grades by the end of round 7, which is at the higher end of my average. Some of them are really surprising to me. Zy Alexander I really like even though I know he is not a plus athlete, and Joshua Gray is an older prospect but is plenty athletic and his tape is decent. Anyway, here is my usual breakdown of where they have ended up as UDFAs 1. Isaiah Bond^, WR, Texas - as yet unsigned and presume that will be the case at least as long as his criminal charge progresses. 2. Zy Alexander, CB, LSU - SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 3. Cobee Bryant, CB, Kansas - ATLANTA FALCONS 4. Joshua Gray, IOL, Oregon State - ATLANTA FALCONS 5. Jared Ivey, DE, Ole Miss - SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 6. Logan Brown, OT, Kansas - MINNESOTA VIKINGS 7. Sebastian Castro, S, Iowa - PITTSBURGH STEELERS 8. Xavier Restrepo, WR, Miami - TENNESSEE TITANS There were also two players highlighted in my 'sleeper' thread who I hadn't done enough on to grade for the board who went undrafted: N/R. Andrew Armstrong, WR, Arkansas - MIAMI DOLPHINS N/R. Jalin Conyers, TE, Texas Tech - MIAMI DOLPHINS I wish all those guys well in their future NFL careers, even the two who have gone to Miami! My undrafted guys have a pretty good record of making teams. 4/5 last year made the 53. I think the two offensive linemen and the two corners have the best chance this year and as always I'll check in on them in new thread next January. And just like that.... it's over for another year. I get some free time back, which will be nice. No more treadmill runs while also trying to watch draft prospects, no more "I'll just watch a on more guy" at 11pm and the next time you look it's 2.30am, no more Sunday morning coffee while writing up sub package linebacker evaluations. How will I cope? Thanks for all the engagement on the board, as ever, so until next year, Gunner OUT!

Sanders was NOT a reach.

Well that's a wrap. Don't worry. Only 362 days until the New Orleans Saints go on the clock with the 1st overall pick in 2026

Yep. Watch him make a joke about it straight away haha!

I've seen nothing of Prather, but the NFL.com draft profile says "not explosive" and "not a natural pass catcher." Sounds promising.

We picked a receiver!!!!

And then there were eight.... 1. Isaiah Bond^, WR, Texas 2. Zy Alexander, CB, LSU 3. Cobee Bryant, CB, Kansas 4. Joshua Gray, IOL, Oregon State 5. Jared Ivey, DE, Ole Miss 6. Logan Brown, OT, Kansas 7. Sebastian Castro, S, Iowa 8. Xavier Restrepo, WR, Miami

I have 10 guys left on my board.... 1. Isaiah Bond^, WR, Texas 2. Zy Alexander, CB, LSU 3. Cobee Bryant, CB, Kansas 4. Quinn Ewers, QB, Texas 5. Joshua Gray, IOL, Oregon State 6. Jared Ivey, DE, Ole Miss 7. Logan Brown, OT, Kansas 8. Sebastian Castro, S, Iowa 9. Tez Johnson, WR, Oregon 10. Xavier Restrepo, WR, Miami

I think Grable is an absolute lock for this roster. Vandy, possibly, could be usurped but I'd be stunned. Maybe they try Lundt inside at guard, maybe he just ends up on the PS.

Another win for the Truck. Not enough crazy names this year.

STUMP THE TRUCK time!!!

Yea there is plenty of depth to the OL. But I'm not gonna knock the pick. He is a good player and being a small school guy there is a reasonable chance they can sneak him onto the PS.

At this rate we will be working TO out tomorrow.

@gonzo1105 - your guys Mellott has gone!

When they traded up in the 4th I thought it was 100% Royals. I'd have wagered, and lost, good money.

Nah he is a LOT better than Luke Tenuta.