HappyDays

They're the polar opposite of the Bills. They now have four elite players, but they have none of the meat and potatoes. If Burrow actually stays healthy they can make a run but it feels like there are too many positions where they don't have starting caliber talent.

I'll wait to see exactly what the trade includes but yeah it feels like an overpay. My instinct is that they'll give Cincy #37 back or something like that. If it is just straight up #10 for Lawrence that is a massive overpay IMO. EDIT: Whelp nevermind: That's a shocking offer. And presumably they'll be paying him like $30M per year. I get it, he's a great player, but short of Aaron Donald or Chris Jones in their prime I wouldn't give that much up for any DT. Exchanging Trey Hendrickson for Lawrence is a lateral move at best. They could have had a legit elite defensive prospect on a rookie deal.

Rumor has it Dallas wants to trade up. If Sonny Styles is still there at #6 I could see them being the team to trade up with Cleveland. Using the draft value chart it would make sense for each team to swap both of their 1st round picks, with Dallas also giving up their 2027 2nd to even out the trade value. Jerry Jones gets to create a headline, Dallas gets an elite player at a position of need, Cleveland picks up extra draft capital in a great 2027 class to help jump start their rebuild, and Cleveland can still get Fano or Proctor at #12. Makes a lot of sense for everyone involved. And I think there's a good chance Styles is still there at #6. Reese and Bailey seem to be locked in as the #2 and #3 in either order, Love seems to be the favorite for Tennessee, and the Giants could go anywhere with their pick but after signing Edmunds I don't think they'll go Styles either.

Chiefs Bengals Patriots

Would you rather have Lawrence at #26 and Skyler Bell at #91, or Concepcion at #26 and Jaishawn Barham at #91? For me it's the first option but I think I'd sign up for either one right now. A WR and a field OLB with our first two picks feels like the ideal outcome.

Yeah I've come to believe that Concepcion or Lawrence are the two most likely picks if we stay at #26, and if neither are available he will try to trade down. I've seen a few draft insiders say they are hearing from teams that Lawrence will go higher than the public thinks. I could see Beane liking him because he fits the usual profile of our usual 1st round picks - premium position, elite athletic upside, fills a need (in this case a specific role in Leonhard's scheme that nobody else on the roster can capably fill). I think I've been too focused on LB. Beane historically takes premium positions in the 1st round, the only exceptions being his first draft and 2023 where all the WRs were taken right before us and he settled on Kincaid. This might be overzealous dot connecting on my part, but there are two players reported as top 30 visits that I believe we have no real interest in drafting - Justin Joly and Lee Hunter. Joly played with Concepcion in 2024, Hunter played with Lawrence in 2024. Like I said this might be too conspiracy theory brained but I can't help but make that connection. Perhaps Beane was zeroing in on two 1st round targets and followed the same process of bringing in past teammates of theirs to fill in some blanks. Or perhaps I need to be institutionalized. Time will tell!

There was plenty of hatred, it was just thrown at Beane and Pegula instead. Beane was framed as a backstabber that was whispering poison into the ear of our clueless owner. McDermott was the saint who dared to speak the truth and got crucified for it by the evil billionaire. A whole lot of nonsense like that was getting thrown around. Anyways you shouldn't be surprised that diehard fans on both sides of the argument expressed various emotions when it all went down. The city's been relentlessly beaten down throughout its sordid sports history so watching Josh Allen's season end in failure over and over again is bound to make people go a little crazy.

Ty Dunne reported it in one of his other articles a while back, something he had heard from a former Bills coach. Something like McDermott was in a coach's meeting and angrily said Josh needs to let Brittany (his ex) handle the homebuilding so he could focus on the team. The coach said there was an uncomfortable silence afterwards and it was overall just a weird issue to raise. I've said I am not interested in re-litigating McDermott's tenure here, he's gone and everything that can be said about it has already been said. But it is 100% without a doubt true that everybody in the building is going to feel looser after the change.

With the 54th pick, the Ravens select Connor Lew, C, Auburn. We need help at every spot along the IOL. Lew is somewhat undersized but so was Linderbaum so we're not concerned. Lew is a high floor prospect based on his leadership, intelligence, and processing skills. He can possibly step in as a day one starter. He has solid move blocking skills too which makes him a good fit for Declan Doyle's scheme, unlike some of the other IOL we've passed on in this draft. Chargers @Hermes are on the clock.

I considered trading one pick ahead of you but I figured no way Pittsburgh would take two OL in a row... I should have factored in who was making the picks 😒

Whelp, there goes my entire write up for Baltimore's pick. Baltimore is again willing to trade back, I'll give it 15 minutes.

Ty Dunne was on Locked on Bills yesterday talking about this article. He was saying that from his conversations with people at OBD, things between McDermott and Allen were not exactly rosy behind the scenes which is why they made sure Allen was involved in the coaching interviews. He also said there were games against teams like KC and Cincy where Brady had an edict from McDermott to call a ball control/keep away offense. Just to be clear these weren't Ty Dunne's opinions, he was reporting these things based on Bills sources he has talked to including Brady himself. Not that any of this should be surprising but it does give more confirmation that what many of us suspected was going on was in fact going on.

With the 48th pick the Falcons select Chris Brazzell, WR, Tennessee. Behind Drake London on the depth chart right now is Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheaus so this fills a huge need. London and Brazzell will form a dynamic combination of physical domination and vertical speed. We've seen Tua be successful when he has two legit outside WRs to throw to so this gives him and Stefanski their best chance of success in year one. Brazzell will need time to develop his route tree, but as a rookie if he can just get open on a few deep shots a game he'll immediately make defenses think twice about doubling London and leaving his counterpart on an island. Atlanta drafts a physically gifted player from Tennessee despite character concerns. What could possibly go wrong? Minnesota @gonzo1105 is on the clock.

Trade is pending commissioner approval.

I'll give it 15 minutes for trade offers, if nothing I will make my pick.

Baltimore is interested in trading down if anyone wants to come up for one of these defensive linemen.

I classify Shakir as a utility WR, and a really good one at that, perhaps the very best in the league when he is healthy. If I was grading him as a normal WR he'd probably be like a WR4 by my view but I think it's more fair to place him in a different bucket entirely. The definitions are artificial, that is true. But there is no chance Palmer or Coleman would be classified as WR2s by any serious evaluators. Some would call me generous for classifying Palmer as a WR3.

Honestly I would have been content with any of the options given in the initial poll. After a trade back it is hard for me to find a pick that I would hate, and equally it is hard to find a pick that I would love. As much as I like Boston and Cooper I think my #1 preference still is trading back unless something crazy happens like Tyson still being on the board. All of the realistic options will sound much better with their name called at #36.

FWIW I'm perfectly satisfied with Allen after a trade back. I still voted Lawrence but I get it if you genuinely place Allen in a different tier and ultimately you have to be right about the player more than you have to be right about the position. I like Allen as a fit in our new defense and he was the very first player I zeroed in on as a potential Bills pick. I'd understand even if we took him at #26, but we'd have to accept that the ceiling of the pick would likely be good not great. I'd rather shoot for greatness in the 1st round. Maybe in a weak class like this I shouldn't care as much.

The difference comes if the player you get is good but not great. Draft picks are valuable primarily because of the cost control. Like Rousseau was probably a borderline top 20 edge rusher on his rookie contract. Never got to quite the ceiling you hoped for, but that was still a great bargain because of the position he played. We got a $20M player for less than $3M. If instead we had drafted the guard version of Greg Rousseau, maybe that means we're getting a $12M player for less than $3M. In that scenario you are choosing to leave money on the table. So the margin for error is lower when you draft premium positions. If you really believe that the player you're drafting can be top 5 at his position then sure go for it regardless of positional value, but if you're just drafting a high floor player at a position you can buy for cheap in FA that is a waste of a valuable resource IMO. For me CJ Allen is that player in this class. He could probably step in as our starting MLB on day one. But is he ever going to be seen as a $20M player at a position where Devin Lloyd just got $14M? The odds are close to zero.

Probably worth noting that the "flashes" you point to happened against a Jaire Alexander who two months later decided to step away from football because he couldn't physically play anymore. Palmer is what he is, a decent #3, and his AAV salary reflects that. Coleman is a wing and a prayer at this point. So being real about the WR room, we don't have anyone that can capably be called a WR2. Moore to me is in the tier of borderline #1/#2 WRs. Ideally we want a legit #2 option across from him but understandably that may not be possible from this draft class. At the very least Beane should try to find Palmer's inevitable replacement in round 3 or 4. Shouldn't be too hard to find someone there that gives you his production but at $1.3M per year instead of $10M per year, and you get the benefit of knowing there is a higher ceiling to unlock.

Thanks I missed this one. Lance Zierlein's summary: Brandon Thorn also has a write up on him and I inherently trust his OL evals: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25294411-nfl-draft-2026-scouting-report-florida-ot-austin-barber Sounds like a candidate for our 4th round pick that you hope develops into a Dawkins replacement by year two or three, or at least becomes a primary backup OL that can play four spots.

As usual I try to be predictive. I voted Malachi Lawrence. I continue to think front 7 player is the most likely selection with our first pick. Lawrence fits the usual Beane profile of an elite athlete that fills a need. No top 30 visit has been reported yet but only 12 have been reported so far so you can't entirely rely on that, and we did at least have a combine meeting with him.