Logic

Well stated. And even though it's entirely beside the point, I'd be curious to know which coaches those would be.

I hear ya, but it was first reported by Paul Allen, a radio host for KFan 1003 in Minnesota and the play-by-play guy for the Vikings. Not entirely accurate to say he's "pretty random", imo. But as always, with rumors like this, take with a grain of salt.

It really is amazing. Just four short years ago, the words "toxic" and "dumpster fire" were being used to describe the Bills culture. Now? Players signing for less, talking openly about loving each other and loving this team and city, and reporters getting choked up talking about how great it is. Talk about a turnaround!

Wild. I'd have to seriously consider accepting this trade if I were the Packers -- depending on what else was included in the package, I suppose.

First of all, happy Second Football Christmas to all of you! Second, it's been a really fun run-up to the draft this year. Through a combination of the Bills picking so late in round one, their having few huge needs (or several, depending who you ask), and draft boards being all over the place due to COVID opt-outs and no combine...no one seems to have any damned clue who the Bills will be picking! Just this morning, I've been reading every national and local reporters' big, super serious, highly researched, one and only FINAL MOCK DRAFT...and the've got the Bills all over the map. I've seen DT, Edge, CB, RB, trade up, trade down. I've seen Onwuzireke, Phillips, Rousseau, Samuel Jr, Etienne, Barmore. It's nuts. I can't ever remember everyone collectively having less of an idea who, or even what position, the Bills are likely to draft. And I am HERE for it! Enjoy the next three days, everybody. After that, it's a long few months before we get any more football fix. And remember, whenever the Bills pick a player, even if you've never heard of them -- ESPECIALLY if you've never heard of them -- you have to pick a role and lean into it with all your might: Either Beane is an idiot because he didn't pick your favorite DII Super Sleeper tight end and he should be fired, or he's a wizard and a genius and *Sunglasses picture* and he should be arrested for robbery. These are your only options. See ya on the other side!

He WAS on Buffalo liking Allen, months before anyone else. He had us with Wilkins because he had Oliver getting drafted before we picked in his mock, but he always said IDL. Last year, he said the Bills were doing the most work on 1st round WRs. Then they traded for Diggs. They probably WERE doing a ton of work on 1st round receivers, and said work let them to conclude that trading for Diggs would be the better option. Doesn't mean Allbright was wrong about them scouting WRs heavily before making the trade. Again, I'm not saying he's Jimmy the Greek, but I don't understand why it's so hard to believe that a national NFL beat reporter might have some NFL connections that let him know where teams might be leaning in the draft. It's not that outrageous. Bingo. That's it right there. Etienne DID take advantage of the defenses being spread out to handle all of Clemson's offensive talent. If Beane drafts him, it's because he thinks opposing defenses will be spread out to stop all of Buffalo's talent, too, and he can feast on the open space underneath in the same way that he did at Clemson. Beane drafting Etienne, to me, would mean he foresees defenses just absolutely selling out to stop Allen and the pass next year, and he wants to make sure that his offense can take advantage of that and forces defenses to be more honest. It would mean he doesn't trust Moss and Singletary to keep defenses honest or to make them pay when they sell out to stop the pass.

Yeah, I'd have to agree that if they take ETN or Harris, something's gotta give in the RB room. Last year, they only dressed 3 RBs on game days, with one of them being special teams guy Taiwan Jones. They re-signed Jones, and he will continue to be active for special teams purposes. Unless they plan to make 4 RBs active on game days this year or someone at a different position beats out Taiwan Jones for his special teams snaps, they'd almost HAVE TO trade away one of their running backs. The only problem is that they'd be trading Singletary away when his value is at its lowest, and I can't imagine they'd get more than a very late round pick back in exchange for him. Drafting a player in the third round, playing him for two years, then trading him away for a 6th or 7th isn't great business. Then again, they haven't been afraid to move on from previous high draft picks (Zay Jones).

And don't forget that he got a FIFTH for AJ McCarron!

Indeed they were. But it appears the Bills may have (emphasis on MAY) gotten the last LOL.

I just wanted to point out that the person most loudly beating the "Bridgewater to the Broncos is likely" drum the past several weeks has been "Logic's national football reporter of the day", Benjamin Allbright. I mean, he's a Broncos reporter by trade, so it makes sense that he had the scoop first. But it adds another tiny twig of evidence to the "he knows stuff" tinder pile.

It's been a wild ride for me, too. I'm usually very against the idea of drafting a running back in round 1, but I can't pretend like he wouldn't instantly make the Bills more explosive on offense. I watched every year of his highlights, and lost count of the amount of his 30+ yard TD runs/catches where I said to myself "if that were Moss or Singletary, he would've been caught and tackled at about the 12 yard mark". Also, a run on defensive ends and cornerbacks might make him legitimately the best player left on the board. In the mock on which this thread is based, for instance, the board falls in such a way that it's hard to argue that any of the players left would definitely be better value than Etienne at 30. At the end of the day, it's a playmaker's league. KC has a bunch of them on offense. We have one. Wouldn't hurt to add another.

This is one thing I've thought about quite a bit since the "ETN to the Bills" rumor started: The Bills lined up in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) empty formations A TON in 2021. Because the HB split out wide was Moss or Singletary, though, they were basically a non-factor in most pass plays that followed. Imagine being able to come out in 11 and 10 personnel empty sets, as they seem to love to do, but actually having that HB split out wide be a legitimate threat, a legitimately useful part of the play. They could essentially come out in 10 or 11 personnel on every play and then, based on the defensive personnel, either line up in more of a pro set to attack a light defense or an empty set to attack a base defense. TL;DR: a player like Etienne could greatly increase the potency of the Bills passing game in addition to its run game. Specifically, it can increase the lethality of the Bills' much-loved empty sets.

Agreed. And again: In 2018, they were in need of a QB, and Josh Allen played college ball just two hours drive from Denver. He was right in the Broncos' own back yard. But for some reason, for the first and only time in his life, John Elway decided NOT to draft a big, strong, fast kid with a howitzer for an arm -- only to turn around the next year and draft the bargain basement version of Allen instead. I'll never, ever understand it, but will always be thankful it happened. Yeah. And Chubb is a good player. But the old adage that unless you have a franchise QB, all other needs are secondary would seem to apply here. Clearly, they didn't think Allen could be a franchise guy, and they obviously weren't alone. Oh well. The Bills were the beneficiary of that wrongheaded decision.

Interesting. Likely takes them out of the 1st round quarterback market. I'll forever LOL at Elway for passing on Allen and then taking Drew Lock the next year.

You have proven my point again. Thanks. Insulting and condescending -- a great mixture of things to be if you want to be taken seriously or engaged in meaningful conversation with fellow fans of the same team 🙄 Here, let me give it a try: "Oh fyi...wanna know how you can help your offense? Stop the opposing offense more on defense and put your own offense back on the field more quickly and often. You should think things through before u post." See? It's a lot of fun to be talked down to. And as I have just shown, you're not nearly as unimpeachably brilliant as you think you are. You don't have the market cornered on team building or football strategy. Try swallowing a spoonful of humility, accept that you're not Football Jesus, and learn to speak to other people with some semblance of respect. Otherwise everyone will continue to roll their eyes the second they see your username pop up in a thread.

First: I don't think he was. As I recall, Ian Rapaport was the guy who reported Brown to Bills, not Allbright. If you can show the report to which you're referring, I will stand corrected. Second: Allbright was on Allen to the Bills WELL before "when draft day approached". Like MONTHS before. Second, please link those "bunch of other guys" that were saying that, because other than basic mock draft guesswork, I don't really remember any national reporters of note stating emphatically that Allen was the guy, and certainly not as early in the process as Allbright was. And I think your recollection of the weeks leading up to the 2018 draft may be off, because even as late as draft day, some thought Allen was going 1st overall. It was not "widely known" that Mayfield was going to Cleveland until maybe the night before the draft. Again, everyone has the right to believe or not believe in Allbright is a reasonable source of intel and draft rumors. And I probably overstated the specificity of his previous predictions, and have since edited the thread title and OP to reflect that. I will simply say that of all the well known national media guys out there, Allbright seems more connected -- and seems to be correct more often -- than most. That doesn't mean he's unimpeachable or that he's Jimmy the Greek. But in my opinion, his intel is usually at least noteworthy and reasonably likely to be true.

Thanks for the link. Ad others have alluded to, this article leaves out a key point: whereas most QBs that get drafted high have spent their whole lives in training to play QB — elite 11 camps, private tutors, great college coaching — Allen had never had any real coaching or training. Where teams are gonna get in trouble is picking QBs high who HAVE had all of those things and are thus more “maxed out” in terms of improvement and skill set. Allen is a bit of a unicorn. More teams will fail than succeed if they’re trying to find “the next Josh Allen”.

See my previous reply to YOLO in this thread. I do believe he has good league sources, including within the bills, and he always seems to know what position they’ll take. And he DOES know specific players they’re enamored with some years. To what degree people want to trust Allbright is up to them. I have found him to be one of the more trustworthy and clued in reporters throughout the years. It is true, though, that my thread title probably overstated his previous accuracy, at least as it relates to specific names. I may change the thread title. Yeah I don’t really want to spend all day defending Allbright. Believe it or don’t. Take it or leave it. I’ll just say that If there was an “NFL reporters who give trustworthy draft intel” draft tomorrow, he’d be my 1st pick.

I tried to click his 2019 mock to see if he had Oliver being taken before the Bills’ pick, which would make his prediction of Wilkins make more sense, but it seems it’s no longer online. It would have been more accurate of me to say that he always seems to know where the Bills are looking, positionally. He recently claimed to have correctly projected the position they would be drafting in the 1st going back five years. There are times, though, when he does seem to know the specific player within that position group that they like. I’ll never forget 2018 draft season. Guesses on who teams liked at QB were all over the map. Allbright was the one national voice who stated emphatically early on that Allen was the Bills’ guy, no question about it. That they were putting in a ton of work on him specifically. He was mercilessly ripped apart by Bills fans who didn’t want it to be true, but he never backed off. This year saw him insisting that running back is where they’d look in round 1, again to the chagrin of Bills fans. I have not seen him indicate that they have interest in ETN specifically, though, other than mocking him to them today. He only seems insistent that they want a running back.

Where’s the picture, House? You’re slipping.

Totally fair. Based on Allbright apparently having a source within the Bills (which he has subtly implied), I think what this says is that if ETN is on the board at 30, he’s their guy. With 29 picks happening before the Bills are up, it only takes one team to ruin the Bills’ plan and thus, to make Allbright’s pick wrong. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that ETN might be their preferred player based on who they think will be available. Allbright also previously stated that the Bills will be flexible if a player of high value at a premium position slips. If the board falls as many expect, it might be time to buy a #9 Bills jersey.