Success

It was a good, common-sense kind of draft. In hindsight, trading up for one of the big 3 WR's would have been kind of a hail mary - more exciting, but also more limiting in the long run. Better to add bodies everywhere, and hope a good % of them pan out into significant contributors.

It's a futile obsession. I want a #1 offense - not a #1 receiver. We have 2 position units that have complimentary players to give even the best DC's nightmares - Tight End and Running Back. And we have a solid O-line, and a very CAPABLE receiver corps, that has speed, good hands and versatility. And we still have a top 2 QB in the league. This offense will be top 3-4 in the league. I'm tired of the hand-wringing about the WR position, and not having a "true #1." We almost beat the SB champs with our "true #1" barely showing up & dropping a game-changing pass.

He's 20, and so many of his other skills are as good as you could want. If he improves w/ his separation (and I agree it's not as bad as portrayed), he can be the steal of this draft. We just won't know for awhile. But I like the guy, and it seems like he has great commitment to being the best.

It's silly how many people nationally goofed on the trade when it happened. It's like everyone became Nick Wright for a day. "You don't trade w/ you biggest rival!" Well, unless they're giving you a 3rd rounder for nothing.

Not to disparage anyone here - but I always crack a smile when I see someone complain about a pick because of where they had that player on "their board." I'm always kind of curious, too: how did they put their board together? Did they scour film of a huge # of collegiate players, all day, every day of the year? Did they go to games and workouts? Did they rigorously compare players at various positions with others who spent as much time as them watching and evaluating? Because those are the things Beane & our scouts do. I have a hunch that most here look at mocks for a few months, and check some youtube on only the top players - and that's about it.

We always complained we didn't have a running game - w/ Davis & Cook, it could be our best year at that position in a long time. We have 2 really good TE's - one of whom could be near the top in the league in the upcoming years. Our O-line is young & deep. Our WR corps is meh right now until they prove themselves - but there are loads of ways to score points in this offense without top-end WR talent.

The reactions on this thread border on the ridiculous. Beane can't even sign a camp body without people losing their minds.

Last year's SB champs had a worse WR room. Tom Brady had a worse room for 6 titles.

Certainly a decent shot of that. Either way, we really lost nothing w/ that trade. We were able to pick in the 3rd round, courtesy of KC's doubt.

This is about as good a WR corps as the one that won the SB last year. We need to scheme better. Reid schemes guys open. Brady was still running a lot of Dorsey's O last year, it seemed - hopefully we see better in September.

That's a pretty rough assessment. I respect where you're coming from, but view it differently. Bishop is going to start, imo - and be an upgrade over an aging, oft-injured Poyer. And I think Davis could be big for us - most teams have 2 complimentary backs, and he brings something to the table that Cook doesn't really have. We have needed that, and have generally looked to aging vets for it. I don't think we sacrificed talent for high character, either. There were no reaches in this draft for the Bills. They took needs, good value, and leaders. Leaders are awesome to have. A very solid argument could be made that we have had very few over the years JA has been at the helm. Diggs was kind of the guy you're describing above - incredibly talented, but disruptive & a distraction. He led by example, but not by strength of character. Obviously, we won't know a thing until we're well into the season. But think a lot of the guys we picked could make significant contributions this season, and that we could be surprised by how good the team is at the end. Key word being "could." I really don't know, but I think there is as much chance that we improve as there is we slide back.

I kind of know what you're saying here - but the results are the results. Our biggest problem in that game was defense - we simply couldn't stop KC. And that was kind of expected, with so many of our good & great players on D out, or playing hurt. We didn't have our starting LB's, were missing 2 starting CB's, and 1 CB was playing pretty hurt. And we could have stolen that game if our best WR could have hung onto a pass that - if caught - would have gone down as one of the most memorable in playoff history. We beat KC in the regular. We were as close as any team to their level in '23.

Some fans are reading too much into the wording here. We lost a bunch of guys. Of course we're in transition. If all we lost was the iconic duo of Poyer/Hyde, we'd be transitioning. But we lost quite a few other guys who overall contributed to who this team WAS. This by no means translates into "rebuilding," or not contending. It's a wait & see, but this team could actually be better than the banged-up team that took the eventual SB champs to the wire in the divisional.

Sure. We can just pretend that Josh Allen isn't a generational, HOF QB so you can take your cheap shot.

And?

Tom Brady made them 2 of the "best slot WRs of all time." They were both LATE rounders, and one was a QB.

I was talkin' about the Pats.

Reminder: the most successful team in NFL history only prioritized the WR position ONCE, and didn't win a SB when they did that.

I enjoyed this write-up. Thanks for posting. I think many of us are a little colored by the expectation coming in that we'd trade up in the 1st - either for Thomas, or even Odunze/Nabers. We didn't. Had I known that coming in, I'd be absolutely happy w/ this draft. This is the kind of draft a team that's going into the era of paying their top QB has. It's all about filling in positions of need w/ solid players, some of whom might excel and become standouts. There was some mockery of the fact that we got character/leadership guys, but man do I love that. And hard workers. I'm a Knicks fan, and the picks remind me of the kind of guys Thibodeau would want - scrappy, gritty, tough. I think we got 3 starters, and at least 6 guys who make the roster & contribute. I'm happy today.

Coleman supposedly has an incredible work ethic. I think the Benjamin comparison can effectively end there.

Feels like every guy we got can make the roster.

It's late in the 5th round.

I mean, why is the idea of drafting character guys & leaders worthy of mockery? I don't think they've sacrificed talent for that. And generally, SB winning teams are teams that have high character guys, and true leaders.

Great post. It's great to have an elite WR corps. But the most successful team of the past 2+ decades NEVER did - with the exception of 1 year where they didn't win it all. Allen doesn't necessarily need stars. He makes stars.

Beane is really focused on every need we have. Every pick so far has been very practical - no luxuries.