Logic

Beane: "I'm telling you, we draft Best Player Available, we draft with the future in mind, and we don't draft for need" Fans: "Yeah, Beane, we know. It's all good. We trust you!" Beane: "We're taking edge rushers back to back in rounds 1 and 2" Fans: "WHAT? WHY?! This is ridiculous! It doesn't make any sense! We had bigger immediate needs! Rabble Rabble"

This dude ranked 2nd on Bruce Feldman's "Freaks List" https://theathletic.com/1938659/2020/07/21/bruce-feldmans-freaks-list-2019-college-football-top-athletic-performances-2/ 2. Carlos Basham Jr., Wake Forest, defensive end Freakiest attribute: Pick one One of the best-kept secrets in college football, Basham is a dominant player with 31 career TFLs and 15.5 sacks. He made first-team All-ACC in 2019 with 18 TFLs and 11 sacks. Basham’s measurables stack up well with any of the Freak D-linemen that Clemson or NC State have produced in recent years. The 6-3½, 280-pounder benches more than 400 pounds and squats more than 700. Even more impressive, he’s vertical jumped more than 36 inches and clocked a 4.21 in the short shuttle, which would eclipse any time by a guy his size at this year’s NFL combine. The dude runs so well that Wake even has him on its kickoff team.

The Bills didn't want to go into next year STILL needing more edge rush help. They wanted to be ready to roll on opening day 2022 with a quartet of young, ready pass rushers. They recognize that you have to harass Mahomes or you're never beating him. These youngsters get the tutelage under Hughes for a year and rotate in and learn on the job. And as others have said: You want to improve cornerback performance? HARASS THE QUARTERBACK!!! Also, the draft isn't over, and there are some veteran corners still on the market.

I was initially as confused as everyone else, HOWEVER.... In retrospect, it makes all too much sense. How could anyone watch the Bills completely fail to harass Mahomes in the AFCCG last year, followed by watching the Bucs pound him into the dirt again and again, and NOT think that Beane would view fixing the pass rush as the absolute most important issue? The Bills spend A TON on the defensive line and don't have the production to show for it. That's about to change. Addison will be a post June 1st cut, and as of next year, there will be a quartet of youngsters in Buffalo: Rousseau, Epenesa, Basham, Johnson/Obada. This will save the Bills a ton of money that they will direly need to extend Allen and whoever else.

Yeah. Amazingly, the coach of the team that DID draft him called him a "third down back", and didn't even list him among his starting 1-2 punch at RB, which he says is Robinson and Hyde. Pretty bizarre to spend a top 25 pick on a guy you consider a 3rd down back.

He did, indeed. I can't remember the last draft after which I DIDN'T hear a GM say some version of that. He's certainly not gonna say "he was our second or third choice. Our top choice was already off the board". I'm not saying they'd have taken Etienne (or Jaelan Phillips or Kwity Paye or Greg Newsome) over Rousseau. I have no idea. I'm just saying there's no way to know for sure, because those dudes were off the board.

.....or a team just drafted him before the Bills were on the board, so we'll never really know how the Bills felt about him?

I love the wide shot showing his massive wingspan... But man oh man do I hate 50 for an edge rusher. Not sure it'll ever grow on me. 🤢

Good morning. Welcome back.

As I went through the numbers in the 50s and the 90s that are already taken, I started to think that maybe going old school with a number in the 70s (which edge rushers don't do quite as much these days) might be the way to go. I mean, I believe 95 is open, but I'm sure Bills fans would be super sensitive about and not necessarily receptive to seeing a rookie take that number this soon after Kyle retired. Not sure it would look great on a guy like Rousseau anyway.

With all due respect, other than "raw edge rusher drafted by the Bills", I don't see any Aaron Maybin comparison AT ALL. They're completely different as players and completely different in size and athletic profile. Maybin was 240 soaking wet, but probably played at Penn State closer to 220-235. He looked like a defensive back. He had great get-off and not much else. Rousseau is a monster of a man, weighs 266 (and probably still isn't done growing), and looks like an oak tree. A lot of his sack production came when he rushed from the interior, which was decidedly not the case with Maybin. Again, other than the position they play and the team that drafted them, I see zero point zero similarities.

The only problem is Rousseau seems attached to the number 5 for some reason. His Twitter handle is Greg_R5 and his college number was 15. I'm not sure what the new rules allow with regard to DL flexibility, but I sort of thought he might try to get 15 here, as well, or maybe just 5, which obviously would have looked weird. Maybe not quite as weird as 50, though. Hmmm....

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2021/04/greg-rousseau-a-top-10-talent-steal-for-buffalo-bills-says-manny-diaz.html “I think his upside is without limits,” said [Hurricanes coach Manny] Diaz. “I really do. There’s no telling what a 2020 Greg Rousseau would have looked like. All we saw was the 2019 version and that was really his first year playing defensive end... The relentless motor, the length, the ability to bend and move for that size... those are all things that are elite.”

First, that tends to happen more when you draft 30th. It's new for the Bills, but it's gonna start happening more and more often. Second, MOST edge rushers -- all but the elite of the elite, the top 5 type guys, the Chase Youngs and Nick Bosas of the world -- are drafted for the future, not the present. It's pretty rare for rookie edge rushers to light the world on fire. Even Chase Young and Myles Garret both had 7 sacks as rookies. Chandler Jones had six. It's not much of an instant impact position.

In reading about Rousseau a bunch today, I've seen the following player comparisons mentioned a lot: Chandler Jones, Justin Tuck, Calais Campbell, Carlos Dunlap, Michael Johnson, and Jason Pierre-Paul. All are comparable in terms of size, athletic profile, and the fact that they get a lot of their pressure from interior alignments on 3rd downs. Obviously, if Rousseau turns out as well as the players listed, it will mean that he has reached his considerable potential, and that the Bills made a good pick. These players represent the optimistic outlook of what Rousseau's career could look like if things go well. So what exactly have the careers of these players looked like? Using Pro-Football-Reference.com and looking over their careers, this is what I see. These players average approximately: 11 year playing career 8 sacks per year 1.5 forced fumbles per year 3 Pro Bowls 1 First Team All-Pro selection Again, that's just an average. There are years where said players notched less than five sacks, and years where a guy like Chandler Jones got 19.5 sacks. Past results do not necessarily indicate future outcomes, etc, etc. But this gives us a reasonable idea of what a realistic outcome for Rousseau might look like if he reaches his potential.

I'm watching Rousseau's interview from last night with the Buffalo media, and I've gotta say this... He seems like a really great kid. Smart, humble, friendly, genuine...seems to have his priorities in order in terms of opting out to take care of his family during COVID and whatnot. I know that being a great guy doesn't mean he'll be a great player. However, when you're hoping for a very raw player of considerable physical talents to reach his high potential, knowing that he's a humble, hard working, high character person is huge. It is that character and work ethic that will be key in becoming what the Bills think he can become, if he's able to do it. Happy for Rousseau and glad he's a Bill.

I'm just going to paste a bunch of Tweets I'm liking today, because I know a lot of people here aren't on the Twitters. Here goes: And lastly, I'll just say...everything Bruce and Marino say in the Tweets above is right on. Beane is betting that his coaches (and Rousseau's work ethic) can bridge the gap between what Rousseau is and what he can become. The traits are there, the potential is there, the work ethic and character are there, we have a great coaching setup with McDermott/Frazier/Washington, and a duo of crafty veterans for him to learn under. Go get it, Groot.

He couldn't be more different from Aaron Maybin.

Brandon Beane just said "it was the pick we wanted and it fell our way". So, if Beane is to be believed, he's the guy they wanted at EDGE. They sure looked happy in the draft room. Time will tell, but Beane seems really excited about him.

Brandon Beane loves spending high picks on high upside, high ceiling, physical specimen players, and then trusting his coaches to turn said players into productive pros. Time will tell on Rousseau. The fact that Oweh and Tryon were picked in the two picks right afterwords is interesting. It'll be fun to watch all three players' careers and see if the Bills made the right choice. Beane didn't lie. This pick is about the future more so than the present (though Rousseau will able to contribute this year in the DL rotation).

Ojulari still on the board in the 2nd round. He's falling due to medical. As for him over Oweh: At least Rousseau had a 15.5 sack year. Oweh just came off a zero sack year. We'll see.

They didn't have a 1st round pick last year. He correctly stated they were looking WR with their 1st round pick. As I recall, they did use their first round pick to get a WR.

LOL