Logic

On the one hand, I'd really rather see the Bills take a Mike Linebacker at 22 than a center. We get our quarterback for the offense, we need our quarterback for the defense. We could still potentially get Ragnow or Price in the 2nd round. On the other hand, if they get Josh Rosen, I really couldn't fault them at all for pairing him with a blue chip center prospect. Arguably THE top priority once you get a franchise QB is to keep him upright and healthy and to ensure you don't retard his development with shoddy o-line play....even if it means your defense stinks for a year. Either way, landing Rosen would make the draft a success almost regardless of who else gets picked.

I think that anyone that gives much credence to the notion of an (extremely rare) 3-way trade and the Bills ending up with the #1 pick is setting himself up for disappointment. I find it quite likely that the Bills will ultimately trade up and select a quarterback. It find it highly UNlikely that it will come the form of what's being discussed by Bucky Brooks. If it turns out to be true, I'll eat my hat.

I'm just not sure what kind of package the Bills could realistically put together to move up high enough. Perhaps.......perhaps......a Joe Webb package? I'll show myself out.

This has already been stated a few times in this thread, but I think it's an important notion to remember, and I think it's fully accurate: Head coaches often sink or swim based on the success or failure of the quarterback they draft. I believe very strongly that McDermott knew that Whaley was out after that draft and that the Bills would be turning over basically their entire scouting department. I also believe that McDermott wanted to come in and begin turning over the roster and setting up the culture that he envisioned his locker room having. He didn't know what he had, and being the thorough, meticulous guy that he is, he wanted to make darn sure that the QB he already had in-house (Taylor) wasn't going to be "The guy", and he wanted to take the pulse of his team. Year 1? Set up the culture you want, feel out the team, see what you have in the guys already on your roster. Year 2? The new GM and scouting department are in place, we've seen that our current QB isn't the guy, let's go take a shot at a franchise QB. The question of whether or not this was the right strategy won't be answered for a few more seasons. We have to see what becomes of Mahomes and Watson, and we have to see what becomes of the guy the Bills draft this year. Even if both Mahomes and Watson are successful, the Bills' move could still ALSO be considered successful, so long as the guy they pick this year pans out. We just won't know for a little while. Me, personally? I really wanted the Bills to draft Watson last year. Despite everything I just said, it seemed obvious to me that his personality/leadership was a fit for Sean McDermott. Had we taken him and sat him for a year behind Tyrod, we might be in great shape this year, and could spend our full trove of picks on good players to surround Watson with. Oh well, what's done is done. Here's hoping Beane and co get it right this year!

In one sense, I just can't wait for the draft to get here. The anticipation is killing me at this point. In another sense, the waiting is the most enjoyable part. Once the draft happens, there's a two and a half month void before football starts again. All of this speculation and guessing is fun. ESPECIALLY for this draft. I can't remember a more important, wide open, fun Bills draft season in the past 20 years. 10 days.

Meh. NFL evaluators are still cavemen in a lot of ways. I'll believe them drafting a one-handed player on the second day when I see it. Until then, I'll stick with my 5th round projection.

It's always been a dream of mine to see a game at Lambeau. There's no away stadium I'd rather visit. Maybe I can make it happen this year. Just gotta convince the wife, which is never an easy task.

To anyone asking "is he a good football player?" or "is this anything more than a feel-good story?"... The answers are "yes" and "yes". He is fast. Like really, really fast. A 4.38 forty is bananas for a linebacker. He also had quality production at USF, and was unanimously cited as an excellent locker room guy, a guy who gets his teammates fired up and inspired to work hard. I'm not gonna go overboard and say they should draft him in the first few rounds, but if he's there in round 5, I'd take him 100%.

I think he'd be a great late-round pick. I DO agree that he's got the "DNA" that McDermott and Beane look for. I also think he could compete to start or at least provide quality depth at OLB.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I thought the booking for Wrestelmania was terrible. The Rousey match should have gone on last. Reigns-Lesnar as the curtain closer? Why? And why punt on giving Reigns the title AGAIN? Why bother with the whole Taker/Cena squash sequence? Why have both world champions retain the title at Wrestlemania, of all events? Why such a short allotment of time for the Tag Title matches? The lineup of matches was great. The booking stunk. Oh, and the Styles - Nakamura match was a huge disappointment. They hyped it as potentially one of the best WM matches of all time, and these guys certainly have the talent to have made that hype a reality. But boy oh boy, did they fall short. The heel turn for Shinsuke was great, and they're clearly planning on a long program for he and Styles. Hopefully the coming matches far exceed this one. One last thing...Finn Balor is being underused, in my opinion. His whole Jekyll and Hyde thing -- where sometimes he's a clean cut babyface and an LGBTQ advocate and sometimes he "brings out the demon" -- is awesome. He should be higher up the card. Can't wait to see Daniel Bryan mix it up with Nakamura, Balor, Owens/Zayn, etc in the coming months.

What do I care whether there is attention on Richie or not? I'm not a Bills employee. As far as I'm concerned, there's enough room in the world for ALL the crazy football players. And lately, there seem to be quite a few of them!

Good one!

35 years ago. I wonder if football has changed at all since then?

Tua, is that you?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lawson is going into a true make or break year. 2018 will decide whether he remains a Buffalo Bill for the long haul or whether he's looking for work in 2019. I'm rooting for the former (because a boost at EDGE would be a huge help) but banking on the latter. Meanwhile, the dude in my avatar pic is about to light it up and become an instant fan favorite.

My favorite part is where you provided no explanation or elaboration whatsoever and then proceeded to question everyone's football knowledge and insult them. Quality post. 10/10.

I don't hate Sammy. I just wish he had told everyone that he was a solar powered lizard person ahead of time, so we all could have been spared the hassle. And people in hell wish they had some ice water. What're ya gonna do?

Yeah. Overall, I'm glad the drought ended, because that was a HUGE albatross around the neck of this organization, BUT... I would be remiss not to mention the following: For years and years, the Bills were a very middling team. Never good enough to make the playoffs, never bad enough to get a top three draft pick. In 2017, they FINALLY decided to hit reset, trade away players for assets, and aggressively embrace a rebuild. And what happened? Well, they made the playoffs, of course! It's almost like they failed at failing. Again, I'm happy about the way things worked out, but it's hard not to feel like the ONE year they really NEEDED to do poorly so that they could get their long sought after shot at a franchise QB, they finally played well enough to end the drought. Go figure. You can't write this stuff!

I agree, and I really hope we do! As much as we need an inside linebacker and some corner and DT depth, I would be okay with focusing the draft solely on protecting/helping our new QB. Get a center, a guard, a WR, a RB...in short, give him every possible tool to help him succeed immediately. Yes, the defense will likely regress this year, but in terms of long term planning, it's more important to me that my rookie QB remains upright and doesn't get immediately pulverized into fine dust and develop David Carr-itis.

I know Sammy Watkins is no longer a Buffalo Bill, so I understand if this thread needs to be moved elsewhere, but....has anyone else seen what he's been posting on Twitter lately? I'm starting to have an idea of why McDermott and Beane thought he'd be better off anywhere BUT in Buffalo's locker room...

Yes. McDermott, Groy, and Miller collectively will decide the fate of our offensive line this coming season. McDermott could potentially unseat Mills. Groy could potentially be our new starting center. Miller could fill the void left by Incognito and re-assume his college position of left guard. The success or failure of these players in these positions will effectively determine the performance of the line and --- with it -- of our offense as a whole.

Similar story. Friend at work is a Cowboys fan and a relentless ballbuster/trash talker. Never stops. Any time he has started in on me about "The Bills Suck!" or "the draft won't do enough to make the Bills good!", I am able to say "remind me again, which of our teams watched the playoffs from the couch last year?". Of course, he's able to come back with "remind me which of our teams dropped 50 points on the other in a Super Bowl?"...so the Bills still have some major work to do in order to give us fans more ammo! The best for me has been occasionally seeing graphics pop up on screen talking about the longest playoff droughts in North American sports. Having the Bills' name no longer be on that list is so, so gratifying!

You hear Beane and McDermott talk about the "DNA" they want their players to have. I don't know exactly what that "DNA" is, but I DO know that Dez Bryant doesn't have it.

Not sure that I think this is a very realistic draft, but I used FanSpeak and the most recent NDT Scouting board. I'm obviously biased because I did the drafting, but the below draft would be an absolute miracle to me. No trades: 12: R1P12 QB SAM DARNOLD USC 22: R1P22 LB LEIGHTON VANDER ESCH BOISE STATE 53: R2P21 WR DANTE PETTIS WASHINGTON 56: R2P24 C BILLY PRICE OHIO STATE 65: R3P1 RB RASHAAD PENNY SAN DIEGO STATE 96: R3P32 OT KOLTON MILLER UCLA 121: R4P21 DL HARRISON PHILLIPS STANFORD 166: R5P29 DL RJ MCINTOSH MIAMI 187: R6P13 LB DORIAN O'DANIEL CLEMSON