Logic

This is the post-draft message board content I'm here for. Yes sir.

Historically? Kyle Williams. I was too young during the Kelly years to say that any of them was my favorite. My first year having season tickets was the year Kyle was drafted. I got to see his whole career. He defined the toughness, grit, selflessness, and hard-working attitude that also defines Buffalo. All those years stuck on crappy teams, but he never made a peep. Just did his job, day after day, year after year, and produced. The way his career ended, with the touchdown run send-off and the playoff berth, was awesome. I'll remember it always. Now? Tre'Davious White. He's not only an excellent player who constantly comes up big in the clutch, he's also hilariously funny, has a magnetic personality, and is class all the way. I really, really hope he signs an extension here. He's ***** awesome as a player and as a human being.

I was eagerly looking forward to this. Jersey numbers are only slightly less important to a player's career than what team he ends up with. First, the good: Moss chose wisely. 20 is great for a short, tough bruiser. Travis Henry redux. Bass with 2 is perfect. Steve Christie mojo. Elite kicker number. Hodgins will look good in 87. It's a tall guy number. I'm team "make jerseys in the 80s cool for WRs again!" all the way. Now, the not so good: Epenesa in 57? Yuck. I don't like hand-in-the-dirt-only guys wearing numbers in the 50s. Maybe it'll grow on me, like Edmunds in 49 did, but I'd rather he get 94 somehow. Davis in number 3? I mean... I guess that's only temporary. He'll wind up with 13 when it's all said and done. Jackson in 30 is wrong. 30 is not a good number for a corner. Boooooo. Fromm in 10 is...fine, I guess. Beasley must be switching back to 11. I guess I can live with it. Fromm in 11 has a better career than Fromm in 10, though. I'm just sayin'. Listen guys, jersey numbers are important. Really important. Don't @ me.

1. Everyone wants to believe the Bills got their first choice. 2. Dugger was never a very popular choice among the majority of Bills fans for whatever reason.

I believe he will be very good. I did not say superstar, you did. And if projecting the careers of rookies who we’ve never seen play a down in the NFL is “foolhardy”, then that means Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, Daniel Jeremiah, every NFL GM and scout, and all football fans are fools. All we DO with rookies is project and guess. C’mon, man! Lol. Mute.

How are people still asking where Dugger would have played/fit in our defense? There was so much discussion of this leading up to the draft. He would have played Big Nickel, a safety/linebacker/corner hybrid, and would have been on the field a ton as a rookie. He also may have taken Andre Roberts’ job as primary returner and/or pushed him off the roster. Position-less defensive players are the future, as seen by the high selections and usage of guys like Derwin James, Isaiah Simmons, and Dugger. I’m not upset that the Bills missed out on him, but I AM upset that it was to the Patriots*. He’s gonna be really good, and we’re all gonna have to constantly hear about what a genius Belichick is for drafting him. Ugh.

No.

I think Epenesa will even wind up being an upgrade over Shaq. I liked Lawson, but he was 6'3", 260 lbs. Epenesa is 6'6", 280 lbs. He's just a larger -- and based on the film, stronger -- human being. You're right that even if he winds up just filling Shaq's role at about the same level of production, it's still a win for the Bills, because we got him on a cheap rookie deal for four years instead of paying $10mil+/year to Shaq. But I think AJ will represent an upgrade.

I agree with pretty much everything you said except for the bolded. Lee Smith's "excuse" for being on the field is that he's the best blocking tight end on the roster, and sometimes you need a blocking tight end in football. I assume the DiMarco comment refers to the playoff game? You may or may not recall that DiMarco brought two defenders with him on that play, which means that an actual wide receiver elsewhere in the play was single covered. That being the case, the play was likely a smartly drawn one and worked as designed. The onus is on Josh Allen in that situation not to THROW IT to the double-covered fullback. I like Daboll more than most. I think he has tailored the offense to Josh Allen enormously and given great ownership over the playbook to the young QB. I, too, believe Daboll has a pivotal year ahead, but I probably put more of the blame for the offensive failings on Allen than I do on Daboll. Why? Its simple: When you watch the All-22 from last year, you see a lot of open receivers that Josh doesn't pull the trigger on. You also see a lot of guys open down field that Josh overthrows. Those two things aren't Daboll's fault. If Allen has the confidence and can read the defense well enough to hit those open receivers, and if his deep ball is good enough to hit some of the guys open deep, the entire offensive output changes drastically. You're right that both Allen and Daboll need to improve this year, but I put the bigger weight on Josh Allen.

I just watched all the AJ Epenesa highlights I could find. He reminded me of someone, but it wasn't JJ Watt. I realized it was another #94, Justin Smith. Smith was a 5T, but truthfully, one could argue that that's Epenesa's best position, anyway. Besides, McDermott's defense often has his DEs aligned at 5T anyway. But that's AJ...a classic strong, tall, powerful 5T, base end that can kick inside on passing downs. Justin Smith made 5 Pro Bowls and was a two time 1st team All Pro and two time 2nd team All Pro .... all without ever having 10 sacks in a single season. If bending the edge and tallying sacks is the measure, he may never be elite. But in terms of defending the run, taking on double teams, collapsing the pocket, controlling the edge, and pitching in 6-10 sacks a season...I think he's going to be dominant.

Just got done watching his highlights. Reminds me a lot of another #94 who never put up huge sack numbers but still dominated and made 5 Pro Bowls: Justin Smith.

It would be great if they could stash him on IR for a year, let him fully heal and hit the weight room and make use of the Bills' recovery facilities...and then NEXT offseason, when things are back to "normal" for the league, he can really compete for a spot.

The only thing I agree with is that, due to injury, he won't start right away, and it may take him a while to work back into the rotation. Other than that, I disagree. Last year, before he got injured, it was clear as day that he was outplaying Star at 1T. I fully believe that, had he not been injured, he was going to overtake the lion's share of reps and the "starter" designation from Star. Not only was he doing his job well and occupying multiple blockers and defending the run well, he was also collapsing the pocket at times and getting great penetration. His injury happening when it did was a real shame.

I know, I know...painful memory. Still, given how bored and starved for sports many of us are right now, I thought people might be interested:

Take away the one or two great preseason runs, and no one cares about Christian Wade. He's 29 years old. Even if he suddenly, somehow, miraculously proved himself to be more than a mere curiosity, what's he gonna give you -- one good season? Two? I'd understand the fascination a little bit more if he were 24 instead of 29. As it stands now, by the time he grasps the mental side of the game well enough to compete for a roster spot, he'll be 30+. I'd also understand the fascination a little bit more if played special teams. As far as I know, he doesn't. In order to get a gameday jersey as an RB3, a player needs to play special teams. He seems like a nice guy. He's a Buffalo Bill, so I'll root for him. The truth is, though, that the odds of him ever making meaningful regular season contributions in the NFL is very low.

The only thing I’d be curious about is what it would have looked like if they took Dobbins in the 2nd and an Edge in the 3rd. I’m glad they went Epenesa/Moss, mind you. Quality Edge players are of higher importance than committee running backs. Still, I can’t help but wonder how things would’ve gone if they’d flipped it and gone, say, Dobbins and Zuniga instead.

The only two changes I make to this are substituting McKenzie for Hodgins at WR and substituting TE Lee Smith for DE Trent Murphy, who I think will be a cap cut.

I have no problem — absolutely none — with using a sixth round pick on a kicker. Further, I would suggest that Bass has a better chance to make the 53-man roster than, say, a linebacker or safety would have. In in terms of chances of sticking on the final roster and the long term impact they’ll have on a team, kickers beat special teams-only late round players.

You pointed out something that I hadn't connected the dots on: The offseason used to be FAR AND AWAY my favorite part of the year with regard to the Bills. The roster building, the "next big thing", pinning my hopes to free agents and rookies...all of those things were preferable and provided more optimism and joy than watching the actual on-field product. Now? For the first time in my adult, Bills-watching life, the script has flipped! The season is now vastly more enjoyable than the offseason! I enjoyed free agency, but thought "yeah, okay, great". I enjoyed the normalcy and distraction of watching the draft, but I knew as it was happening that it wasn't going to drastically change the team's fortunes. In fact, I had the thought prior to the draft that the Bills were battle-ready WITHOUT it! The hay is in the barn. If the QB takes another step, the Bills are a good team for a decade+. If he doesn't, the offseason becomes interesting again. For now...it's strange days in Bills Land. I think you missed the entire point of his thread. Like...COMPLETELY.

This. The guys whose opinions are actually worth a darn, Matt Miller included, had straight As and A+s across the board for Buffalo. They raved about Brandon Beane, saying no one in the NFL gets better value in the draft than him. The Bleacher Report’s draft show videos are still up on Youtube, and I HIGHLY suggest people skip to the Bills picks and watch them.

Yeah... The part I relate most to is that this was the first draft I’ve EVER experienced that I felt like the Bills didn’t even need. They were battle ready BEFORE the draft. Our general manager has a great understanding of what needs to improve each offseason, and he attacks those areas of improvement in varied, strategic, intelligent ways, and does so while respecting draft value and remaining cap sound. Our coaching staff is one of the very best in the league. Our roster and culture are exceptional. We won multiple big time games last year that we would have normally lost in stupid fashion. We clinched playoffs with WEEKS to go. We all EXPECTED to win that playoff game. You’re right. It’s a new era.

I predict that Davis's first three years in Buffalo will look a lot like those of another 6 foot 2 WR from the Bills past: Eric Moulds. A couple of 200+ yard seasons while he hones his craft, followed by a breakout 1,000+ yard season in year 3, when he takes over full time as our starting X receiver. I'm not saying he is as good as Eric Moulds right now, obviously. He has the physical talent to be a good receiver in this league, though, and a couple seasons of learning the finer points of route running from some of the NFL's best in Diggs, Beasley, and Brown will do him wonders. So it is written, and so it shall be.

As long as he takes two defenders with him like DiMarco did, it will remain a good call on Daboll's part. Someone just needs to tell Josh not to THROW it to the double-covered fullback.

Fair.