Boatdrinks

A team that wants a QB/ TE combo to build around, has pick 12 & pick 14 with 2 QBs and one TE they like still on the board. Grab your TE at 12 , then get no worse than Kelly or Marino at 14. Teams just don't take 2 QBs in the 1st round. Only one guy plays.

Yes, and this scenario be would the worst case for the Bills. It's entirely possible. I don't believe it's likely, however. I think the Bills will have a chance to trade into pick 7, 6,5, or 2. I don't think NYG or DEN goes for a QB.

Of your 8 " franchise" QBs, 3 were injured : Watson in October and Luck/ Tannehill didn't play at all. One ( Garrapolo) was a mid season trade and played five games on a bad team ... and won all 5. Trubisky was a rookie QB on a bad team. There are many things that can derail a season; Manning's Giants had nearly every WR on the IR at some point. Plus a terrible HC to boot.The franchise QB doesn't mean your season cannot go down the tubes, but to reach the pinnacle and win titles you need to have one.

I think Mayfield drops a bit. He's accurate and has a lot of things you like. But a 6 foot and a half inch QB isn't going top 5.

Yep, they need to make the move. This year. Fortunately , I don't see them stopping their quest at this point. It's just a holding pattern until the right team is willing to make a move. Could things fall to them, a la 2004 Ben and the Steelers? Maybe, but this FO doesn't strike me as being passive here. I don't know if they'll sell the farm for pick #2 ( or if the NYG simply aren't moving down) or move to say 5, 6 or 7. They aren't connected to the mistakes of the past, but I think they'll get a guy they want. They're not staying at 12 and going non- QB imo

I agree, the Bills lack of a QB is a greater failing in the organization. It hasn't been lacking the ability to take a big swing due to draft position , rather not taking enough swings and taking the wrong player sometimes. They've never really been in position to get a top prospect with their own 1st round pick. They've ignored others later in round one ( Flacco) and other rounds ( Dalton, Wilson ). They've just not dedicated enough resources to it. Hopefully this all changes in 2018 and the draft falls in a way that they can make a move up.

Still, more bad luck than anything else. Pick 13, and a willing (for awhile)partner that was married to picking one particular player. The great Dunta Robinson lol. You just can't know or control what other teams are going to do. If ATL doesn't select Hall, the trade is phoned in and Roethlisberger is a Bill. If the Chargers simply select Rivers at 1 rather than their dalliance with drafting a QB who said he would never play for them Ben is a Giant not a Steeler. The parallels to 2018 are interesting , as the Bills are at 12, just one pick later than what PIT had in 2004. Sometimes waiting for the draft to " come to you" works out. Sometimes you try to move up and the fates conspire against you. It wasn't reported what TD was sending to HOU, but it apparently was properly valued or it wouldn't have gotten to that point. Moving outside of the top ten is a big deal, as the elite ( ranked) prospects go quickly. That led to HOU panic cancellation and TDs subsequent panic move up for Losman.

Played solidly enough to amass 9 wins vs just enough AFC teams. Then got some really fortuitous breaks that enabled them to qualify for postseason with that record in the AFC playoffs. 9 is usually not enough, especially in the AFCE where the New England disadvantage almost kills any chance of a WC berth. Most years. The Bills have been 9-7 before (2014 Marrone year) but the law of averages worked out this time.

Your revisionist history of what happened in 04 couldn't be more wrong though. In 2004 the Bills had pick #13 in the first round. NOT # 22. That pick came from DAL later on in the Losman move. Tom Donahoe coveted Roethlisberger , but knew he had to jump ahead of PIT. He made a deal with HOU to move up to their spot. They accepted the deal per Chris Mortensen if ESPN. He didn't need to offer any more than he did ... they took it. It was about to get phoned into the league. What transpired was bad luck. HOU needed a CB, and wanted Dunta Robinson. De Angelo Hall was picked by ATL ( worst case scenario happened) and HOU backed out last minute because they thought another CB could go quickly and the Bills pick at 13 wasn't high enough. It wasn't about what TD offered! The Bills FIRST ROUND PICK wasn't HIGH ENOUGH for the team to get the player they coveted after moving back. Sound familiar? ( see Jets trade) Teams want certain players, it's such an ignorant argument to say " well the Bills should just throw in another pick blah blah blah and they'll definitely take it" . That's not how it works. Would be great to have the good fortune the Steelers did that day. The Giants were going to take Roethlisberger at # 2, then Eli happened. Big Ben fell into PIT lap , for just a single pick. All the way back at # 11 in round one. Those are facts, not some imagined scenario where TD obviously didn't offer enough draft picks to make a move.

It's possible. Though I'm not certain he is even mediocre. I'd need more of a body of work than he currently has to determine that. Tyrod only needed to hit four or five key throws that day and couldn't do it.

I responded to your post about how bad the Bills defense was. The facts are the facts, the Bills DEFENSE held the Jags to 10 points at home. I said nothing about JAX carving up the Bills secondary. If you actually watched the game, you know the Bills had opportunities to score, and that Tyrod couldn't hit open WRs. A better QB for Buffalo wins that game easily. Bortles passing was awful , though he did manage to exploit the Bills weakness at DT by scrambling through holes. I don't care about Roethlisbergers bad game in the regular season or Flacco's . Each game is different, and the Jags were ripe to be upset by BUF if they had even a mediocre passer under Center.

And which team is a Super Bowl contender going into the 2018 season?

They held an offense that beat PIT twice to 10 points in their own stadium. That same offense was 4 minutes away from beating NE to go to the SB. Say what you will about the 2017 Bills , but a better QB wins that WC game for them. That would have been their first playoff win since 1995. They need to get a top QB in this draft. It's the one thing you can't usually get anywhere else. Sure it would be great if they had the good fortune of say, the Steelers who had Ben fall into their lap at 11 in '04. After 21 years, it's up to them to make a bit of their own luck.

Lol.. Matthews was a trade acquisition , played part of one season and caught maybe 25 balls for the Bills.

Fills a need. This would be a sensible pick.

With as talent-poor as the Bills are at WR, they can't afford not to give a player such as White a look. FAs aren't coming here until the QB position is settled, the draft isn't rich in WR's and a little dumpster diving isn't beneath them at this point.

On how many targets ? Watkins has 25 TDs to Landry's 22 on less than half the catches at 192. His YPC is significantly higher. He probably missed about 12 starts or so due to an injury. Landry's numbers are strictly due to volume. Watkins had exactly one year on a team that made any effort at all to get him the ball ( maybe 7 games in BUF where this happened) . It's not hard to glean who is the better WR when comparing SWs stats to Landry's. It's Watkins, and it isn't really even close.

The Patriots will not get one of the top 4 ranked QBs available in this draft.

Rob Johnson wasn't in the '98 draft, so there seems to be some discrepancy between your opinion and the facts. Anyway, the rankings are simply that: high probability prospects that have measurables. Most will not live up to their draft ranking. If all that mattered were the " measurables" there would be no busts. A high percentage of these college QBs will flame out as pros , because there is still no way to tell if they have the all important processing speed when the real bullets are flying at the faster NFL speed. Your guess is as good- and bad as anyone else's. Since so few of these QBs will become stars, saying player X will bust is a higher probability prediction than saying that same player X is a can't miss all-pro. This is definitely true. What's clear is that this year looks like the target year to draft one. 4 highly ranked ranked possibles don't fall in the same draft class all that often.

I prefer it too. Just ranking the best prospects, takes the need based drafting by teams out of it.

Best player I've ever seen in a Bills uniform. Just dominant and routinely did things on a football field that looked like no mortal should be able to do. There are great players, and then there's Bruce Smith.

Let's say the Bills spent all those picks including future first to get to 3. Jets could still jump them. Should Beane spend future first to MAYBE get a QB he likes at 3? The pick at 3 didn't offer much certainty of any specific player. Could be 2 QBs gone by then. Anyway, I don't think the Colts were going back to 12.... not yet.

Just wasn't what the Colts wanted. They lose almost nothing( just waiting two spots as Jets are taking QB) and either get their guy at 6 and pocket 3 free 2nds OR wait for a QB desperate team ( Bills?) to call if a guy is available and score EVEN MORE picks. Bottom line: Ballard wasn't moving to 12 at that time.

The Jets had better ammo than the Bills. A top ten ( almost top 5) pick. 6 beats 12 every time. Also a higher second round pick. There's this thing called the draft order: it matters.

Better not watch/ listen to any of the NFL/ draft centric talk shows on sports network or radio then. These terms are just being parroted by fans here on TSW. It's the sports talk jargon of the day.