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Ah, I could've came up with a better title but... brain fart, I suppose... anyways... At this point, we all know how much emphasis McBeane places on character when considering which players to bring into their locker room. If the 2017 draft is any indication, McBeane want prospects with experience, leadership skills, clean off the field and put the team before their personal achievements. If I had the chance to ask McDermott or Beane a question, I would ask them what their threshold is for character concerns. How many character traits or personality flaws or off-field incidents/concerns does it take for them to look at a prospect and go, "Can't have him here, doesn't fit what we're building." Obviously, not every player is going to be a boy scout. I just wonder this because how do they weigh a players talent vs. his character, ya know what I mean? Does the prospect need to be 100% squeaky clean and have played at least X number of games, graduated college (or are close to graduating) and be a "fall in line" type of guy? Again, I'm curious because I'd hate to see them have a chance at a player (and this is just in general, doesn't pertain to the 2018 prospects specifically) who is extremely talented, projects to be an All-Pro, but had an off-field incident or has been outspoken with the media or has whatever type of character red flag and see them pass on said player in lieu of a less talented but higher character player. If McDermott is constructing this locker room and brewing the chemistry he says he's aiming for, then I would think that they'd be comfortable taking a talented player with a few character issues. They would have to trust that the culture inside the locker room and the team leaders and coaches would be able to kind of take this player under their wing and keep him in line, so to speak. They can't all be 4-year starters with degrees and 40+ games started while being a model citizen/community contributor, etc. etc. What do you guys think? How heavily do you think character weighs in on their player evaluations? How much would character concerns affect your decisions if you were the GM? Hey... look at that... not a thread about a QB. Hope everyone is having a good day.

This is why the dude was reportedly taken completely off of some teams draft boards last year.

I'm also not sure how I'd feel if they gave up a bunch to move up for Allen. I mean, they'd have to really really love what the kid is capable of and they'd have to be alright with basically sticking their neck out for him if they trade away a bunch of picks. I do like this front office a lot more than past FO's, so, hopefully they would take their time with him and not rush him into the starting job and immediately start calling him the face of the franchise before he even plays an NFL down. That type of pressure is the kind that can cause an athlete to implode. Like any player, Allen certainly has the potential. I just believe it's going to take a very unique and specific situation, a specific team of coaches and a very particular approach to unlock that potential. And not for nothing but I really don't feel like David Culley can be that guy. Can Daboll do it? I dunno, maybe. Allen would likely be one of the more talented QBs he would have the chance to work with. I like McDermott to coach up any player but his expertise is still on the defensive side of the ball. Interested to see his approach with whatever rookie QB they end up with. Whoever it is, I'mma trust that the regime did their homework, had plenty of discussions and all came to the agreement that *Insert 2018 QB Prospect here* is their guy. After that, they can't hesitate and need to pull out all the stops in order to turn the kid into a high level starting QB by 2020 at the latest.

OK THANKS IRV

They should probably go OT or their current QB will have a flippin' meltdown.

Hey, *I'm* not comparing him to Newton, but others within the scouting community (both in the league and outside it) have made those comps. As standard practice during this time of year, I'm just playing connect the dots. Scouts compare Allen to Newton... Beane's personal description of a franchise QB sounds an awful lot like a Newton or an Allen... of course it could all be conjecture/smokescreen still. But as we're getting closer and closer to the draft we keep hearing more "Bills dig Allen" stuff from different sources. Either they actually dig him or they're trying to bait another team into taking him.

Normally I dig uniform changes but these are... bleh. The numbers are especially rough. The '3' on '31' takes up almost the entire jersey... just makes it look like the guy wears #3. They could've updated/changed their logo while they were at it.

Seeing the Allen comparisons to Cam Newton combined with Beane's description of what he thinks a franchise QB is... looks more and more like there's fire with the smoke that the Bills have Allen as their top target... interesting

I'd say no, they aren't over-valued. Especially if we're looking at the Rams as an example. They basically had Watkins as a rental for 2017. And they have quite a few of their star players due for new contracts soon. Not gonna be able to keep everyone. And if Goff continues to play well, he'll be in line for a monster deal. With draft picks, yeah, it may take some time before the player reaches his full potential but at least he's on the roster for 3-4 years on a team-friendly deal.

Dude whines about not being the right fit for Cleveland yet on draft night 2014 he was texting Browns executives saying, "What are you waiting for?! Jump up and pick me!" What a doofus.

Exactly this. Bills are consistently mentioned as one of the most likely teams to move up but I keep seeing all sorts of mocks and speculation articles saying the Cardinals will jump up or whoever, and now the Pats... with #23 and #31 are gonna fly up the board and take a QB who won't see the field for at least a year. Meanwhile, they (Pats) have plenty of other spots to fill. This isn't about the media "disrespecting" the Bills or anything like that. It's just pointing out how asinine they can be. "Gonna be tough for the Bills, but watch out now, here come the Pats, they've offered the Giants pick #23 and a half-eaten Snickers (shared between Tommy and Billy themselves!) for EVERY SINGLE Giants pick for the next 14 years. Oh, and would ya look at that, just because teams respect the Pats so much, the Browns have gifted them with picks #1 and #4, just because!" Blech. Anyone seriously thinking the Pats are gonna find their way into the top two or three picks can get da fook oot.

I used to discredit LaCanfora a lot, however... I'm convinced he has a pretty solid source on the Bills. He was the first to report that both Rex and Whaley would be gone after 2016 if they didn't make the playoffs. He was saying this at the end of the 2015 season. He wrote that there was some ultimatum coming from ownership... that was never verified as true and was denied consistently by the Pegulas and anyone who was asked about it... but he was indeed correct that the team was prepared to move on from Rex and Whaley after 2016 if they missed the playoffs. I'm not a fan of the guy. He has a snarky demeanor and "holier than thou" attitude, as many media members seem to have. If anyone out there tries to interact with these guys on Twitter they know what I'm talking about. He's the type of reporter that will pat himself on the back whenever he's right, ignore/block people when they call him out for being wrong, engage with trolls and try to come off looking superior, but won't bother to respond to anyone with a decent question/argument.

All bums! Bums, I tell ya.

This is correct. I'm not sure where I got 27 from. Must still be too early. I mean, could he buck the trend and turn into a star? Sure... just doesn't seem all that likely. But who knows, maybe with coaching at the professional level and playing with other pros will raise his game? Or not. They should just draft Neal Lomax and get it over with.

I wonder what this board will look like if Buffalo trades up and drafts Allen, hahaha. These QBASE stats aren't very inspiring, that's for sure. I was listening to Shredd & Ragan on my way in this morning and they were talking about this. Going back to the late 90s, they've run this QBASE thing on all QBs taken within the first 100 picks. I think 27 of them had negative ratings (like Allen) and not a one of them turned into a viable NFL QB. We know Allen has the physical tools but to me, he's going to need an innovative OC and QB coach (think like McVay or Pederson) to tap into his potential and turn him into an NFL QB. I just can't see David Culley becoming a "QB whisperer" and turning Allen into an All-Pro. The rebuttal to Mayfield's accuracy is that the system he was in had play designs that made it easy for him to find open targets. And accuracy is finally taking over as the top trait a QB can have over arm strength. You can launch a ball 80 yards but it doesn't mean a thing if you consistently hit your guys in the feet on a five-yard dump-off. I don't care who they end up with, as long as they believe they're found their guy then I'm gonna sit back and watch the next couple of seasons unfold and see if they were right.

Some of the assumptions people make on these kids is just laughable. None of us know these players personally. We can only go off what we see with them in interviews and what we hear from other people. Some seem to think Rosen has leadership issues yet not one UCLA teammate of his has stood up and said, "Yeah, Josh was a real d*ckburger, man. He would call plays in the huddle like, 'Spider Y 2 who gives a crap on two' ya know? He's just a real entitled millennial doofus who doesn't care about football or anything else." Nope. Any teammate that's been asked about him has said they never had any issues with him and that he's 100% the type of player you want leading your team when the game is on the line. Teammates of his have said time and again that they always felt like they had a shot to win the game with Rosen leading the way. And what's wrong with asking why? If coaches have an issue with that, that's on them. A good leader can handle challenges from those s/he leads. Of course there's a line and I'd assume Rosen knows where that line is and doesn't ask questions just to meddle and be a jerk. He wants to know why, as in, why this play, at this time, against this defense, etc. etc. Those are questions you want your QB to be asking. What's wrong with a little swagger? A little confidence? Even cockiness? People wanna knock these players down a whole bunch of pegs because their passion comes off as "bad attitude?" Bah. I'd rather have a guy who has the nads to call out BS when he sees it, or questions the reasoning behind things. These are human beings at the end of the day. They're allowed to have opinions and ask questions. I don't foresee any kind of "character concern" having a major impact on how any of these QBs will play ball in the NFL. It's just that time of the year where the analysis is in hyper-drive and the nitpicking is at a fever pitch. If Rosen doesn't pan out in the NFL it won't be because he had a minor response to his former head coach... if Mayfield doesn't work out it won't be because he grabbed his nards and got drunk in public... so on and so forth.

Haha. There's no way they're trading a solid young player and the first ever pick of the McDermott era. Their secondary is probably one of the strongest overall groups on the team. No way they're gonna meddle with that right now. It's one of very few areas of the team where they probably feel pretty good. Honestly at this point I don't see very many players they have that they can use in a trade. People say Hughes/Lawson a lot but those guys aren't going anywhere. Hughes' contract isn't bad, Lawson is still developing and on a rookie deal, plus McDermott relies heavily on his DL and wants that to be one of the best groups on the team.

Don't know if they can count on the Colts to drop down to 12 because after they traded with the Jets, Ballard said he isn't closing the door on more trades but isn't keen on moving himself out of the top 10, so there's that. Looking at the first ten overall spots, I can see why Beane mentions #7 (Tampa Bay) in a hypothetical scenario, because #7 seems like the sweet spot for them if they intend to do two more trades to get up to #2. Colts at 6 are possible, but as I mentioned, they're saying they wanna stay in the top ten. Broncos could be a candidate but I believe they'll be sitting pat and waiting to see how the first few picks go before they decide on if they're going to trade. I doubt they trade if they have a chance at one of the top QBs. Browns sound like they're definitely turning in the card at #1 and #4. They've been trading around and gathering all sorts of draft capital for these last few drafts but it's high time for them to quit worrying about volume and actually make the picks. So... what's left? Raiders at 10, 49ers at 9, Bears at 8.... wouldn't count out any of those teams to trade back but are any of those spots good enough for the Giants? That's the main problem they'll have to solve. How far back are the Giants willing to go? Whatever needs to be done to get to where they wanna be isn't gonna be easy and it isn't gonna be cheap. I said in another thread, I can't see them (Bills) not making another move or two up the board. This has been the plan since Beane arrived, I'm betting. They've unloaded a bunch of cap-killer contracts, acquired plenty of capital, are they good with unloading a bunch of picks for one player? The cap rises again next season so perhaps they plan on getting their franchise guy this year and loading up in FA next year... They're in a pickle. It's not a bad pickle to be in but it's a pickle nonetheless. And they acquired Conor McDermott so their soon to be QB will have his best buddy on the team. Boom. /s

They're in a good spot either way... although, I do feel like their Plan A has always been to make a move to grab what they think is their franchise guy. I can't see them trading away Watkins, Darby, Dareus, Taylor, Glenn, acquire all that draft capital and then sit back and wait. The moves they've made indicate an attempt to move up. But... Plan B isn't the worst thing either. Having six selections in the first 96 overall picks is a pretty good consolation prize if they can't move up into the top 4-5 picks to get their guy. They can add some Day 1 starters with some of those picks and maybe take a shot on a 2nd/3rd round QB, throw him in the competition over the summer, etc.

Hey fella, how's about you don't tell me what to do? I'll want to trade up all I want. All the livelong mothereffin' day if I feel like it. You sir, are ordered to put back your Easter basket and relinquish any treats you may have acquired today on account of you being a big ol' grumpypants magoo.

Ah yes, legendary karateback Moreese Jones-Fu with his expert factoids on the top pigskin launchers in the 2018 draft. As a former karateback, he definitely knows his stuff.

Both these guys will have interest from a number of teams. I could see Buffalo having interest in Walford. Clay has the knee issues and a hefty contract, O'Leary and Thomas aren't bad but competition is huge for McDermott so adding a guy like Walford isn't the worst idea ever.

Chad Pennington! Nah, everyone has pretty much already been named. Byron Leftwich had a pretty strong arm as well. He won the longest throw contest at the Pro Bowl back in '04 or '05 I think. With Favre, right? Glanville used to call him "Mississippi" and would call him out before games and bet other coaches in opposing team stadiums that Favre could chuck the ball up into the 300s.

K, bye

Fair enough. OBJ will not play the foosball for the Buffalo Bills while Team McBeane is running the show. Because foosball is the devil!