Richard Noggin

Mostly agree with this, provided they get an "alpha," "1b," "X," "potential #1 WR" type prospect (Thomas, Mitchell, Franklin, Coleman types) in 1st. Wonder when this 2nd wave of WRs (listed above) start to come off the board? Or could it just be a steady cadence of 7 or even 8 1st round WRs -- a WR selected every 4th or 5th pick? Could even bleed into the next perceived tier of prospects. We can reasonably assume someone out of the 3rd wave of Roman Wilson, Ladd McConkey, Xavier Legette, Ja'Lynn Polk, and others, will turn out to be super productive early on in their career.

This offer only valid PRE Wendy's industry-first dynamic / "surge" pricing protocols.

This isn't coming from the NFL, though. This is an NFLPA survey. It's very interesting, no doubt. It's also very subjective/skewed. So many player votes are coming from young guys who lack job security and get paid fractions of what their highly drafted, or veteran vested, teammates see in each game check. It's an almost itinerant existence for so many back half of the roster players. A random injury, or sudden trade or signing, can lead to being inactive on gameday, or waived all together. Guys can get fired several times by the same team in the same season. Yet, they're STILL paid much better than the VAST majority of people will ever be. A year or two of fringe NFL rostering can net several decades worth of median US earnings. I'm sure this blend of privilege, risk, and relentless competition can easily lead to negatively reported employee perceptions of their even richer, whiter employers. It's the nature of the NFL machine. To see positive ratings for much of anything on these surveys is no small feat.

Just a ridiculous thing to shoehorn into an otherwise useful writeup. Such a smalltown tangent.

Isn't that last, bolded block of historic breakup analogies (old Brady/New England and of course the still-young effing Beatles) ABSOLUTELY ABSURD AND HYPERBOLIC when applied to the "mutual parting of ways" of an obscure DB coach who hasn't generated squadoosh for genuine outside interest, and a successful-ish defense with multiple rising coaching talents? It's obscene. It's laughable.

Seems to me like Thomas is 100% gone at 28, and Franklin is as well unfortunately. Which leaves a likely fog of Mitchell, Coleman, Worthy, Legette, Polk, Baker, Wilson, Pearsall, (someone I'm absolutely overlooking,) etc., to choose from at WR. Which also opens the door for value at a slightly less fan-obsessed position like DT, DE, OL, etc. #28 pick will represent sneaky good value as long as Beane and Co. can hold tight. Someone worthy of the pick will be there if they can let the board fall to them. Okay, awesome, but what about the salary cap? Where does Monsieur Evans' money come from? Is it Morse? Poyer? White? 2/3? I'm willing to be talked into it tbh

No one could reasonably disagree with your vanilla characterization of Joe B's incomplete assessment of Bernard's play...but that in no way acknowledges the gratuitous Edmunds analogy I am highlighting so we don't ignore the WTF inclusion of such an arbitrary axe to grind...

Interesting (by design) piece in The Athletic by Tim Graham. WTF? So intensely out-of-touch from average Bills fans' perspectives, what even comes BEFORE the blank ad break. What comes after is downright embarrassing. The same way Buscaglia bizarrely wedges in post-hoc, un-provable Tremaine Edmunds evaluations, to then somehow reflect upon Terrel Bernard, who logged more impact plays in one half season than his predecessor did in 5 full seasons! Just bonkers, obviously disingenuous arguments being made.

While the base part of me loves just aggressively eliminating a looming roster need like this, and flipping it into a strength...I don't LOVE the likely answer to the next obvious question: how does Stephen Diggs react to the Bills very visibly giving up major draft capital to draft a SECOND 1st rd WR in 2024? Seems like you could just keep Diggs and pair him with a single young talent + Shakir + Kincaid/Knox (with Shorter and Shavers again competing for the 3rd barrier target). The obviousness of the proposed AGGRESSIVE WR grab would rely on Diggs' character to avoid disruption.

He can play OC, right? Super valuable interior flex. The OL is well-compensated with the left siders both on 2nd tier 2nd deals, a top-ish tier OC (and RFA-matched year 3/4 OC backup), and two Day Two rookie right-siders. That's a LOT of cap tied up in the top-6 OL...which is timeless roster management until you watch KC's banged-up, mediocre, highly-penalized OLs ring up ZERO holding penalties in their last three Super Bowls. (I know holding calls are WAY down in general during SBs (only 7 in last 6 games)...but when you realize the Chiefs have been in half the SBs covered here without being penalized at all, it becomes immediately obvious that they are being favored, statistically, significantly. The infuriating eye test on the most recent San Fran SB pass rush issues against KC blockers is pretty damning on its own.

YOOOOO...but what about this obvious and bizarre and IRRELEVANT insertion of posthumous narrative spin about Tremaine effing Edmunds?! (Used to unnecessarily mitigate Bernard's NOT TERRIBLE ranking (22) -- just a sad remnant of local contrarianism)

Staying put works out GREAT in this one. Question, though, for ye fellow WR train conductors: when Byron Murphy falls to 28 and Brian Thomas Jr is gone already, do you just take Murphy because BPA at a position of need, or do you slide down to the next WRs on your board, whether that's Mitchell or Franklin or whomever? This comes up a lot in 2024 mocks and probably mirrors a pivotal real-world debate for the actual franchise: D-line vs WR at end of 1st round? Obviously depends who slides, but can't you just see some juicy DT/DE just sitting there at 28 while WRs Thomas and Franklin are already off the board? (Here in my mock I figured Thomas has too much #1 potential to pass on for a position (DT) that seems to have real value on Day Two.)

The Troy Franklin loophole persists on PFN's simulator, so trading back is able to net a guy who could/should be selected on Day One, plus two beasts at DT, a cool S prospect and important depth elsewhere. That 2nd WR could be a dude, too.

Franklin at 52 PLUS Legette at 68 with Jackson between them feels like...unrealistic value. I think Franklin goes 35-40 at absolute latest. He might very well go 1st round over Coleman tbh. There are big, jump-ball guys with limited route trees and less-than elite agility (like Q. Johnson w/ Chargers, Harry w/ Patriots, Claypool w/ Steelers, etc) who haven't translated well recently, and by comparison there are smaller and faster guys who get separation who HAVE shown immediate promise (like Flowers, Atwell, Dell).

The medical history + projected draft value mirrors Jaelen Phillips' college history innit?

My god. It's...beautiful.

Anyone who went to St. Joe's with the "defendant" will unofficially tell you how he was back then...and the multiple, higher-profile issues since will only strengthen the validity of those early reports. If something even newer is emerging, we STILL don't get to know the truth about it until things play out...but we ARE allowed to make our own personal assumptions.

I don't like a Safety with the 1st pick AND ONLY 1 DT TOTAL at #100 AND ONLY 1 WR at #60...plus TWO EDGES AND TWO CENTERS WAT THU FUG?

Those last two picks alone represent disqualifyingly unrealistic value, innit? Which is to say, I love it, so it must be impossible. Thanks I hate it 🫢😉

Big fan of building the trenches through the draft. Love the idea of Oliver playing next to either of the DTs we get with this heavy trade-back and -forth mock. Adding some legitimate talent to the WR, DT, and S rooms, with a very McDermotty CB tossed in there. That EDGE guy can maybe play, too. Was hoping for more/better OL help, given the perceived potential that they move on from Morse. But, can't have it all.

A few light trade backs beginning with round 2 netted what could be great talent reboots (2 top half of draft guys) at three positions of greatest need: WR, DT, S (EDGE gets 2 players as well, but lower picks). Keeping both Georgia safeties together is interesting, to me.

2024, semi-retired, 32-year old, practice squad version of AJ KLEIN was the primary, man-to-man coverage plan for stopping Travis Kelce on far too many snaps. Reeaally disconcerting design, despite the crippling injuries. NO LB should be tasked with covering Kelce m2m without a serious pressure package. Feels more like a gameplan problem than a depth chart issue.

Much more movement than I usually allow myself. Only trading back, of course. Never up. As a fan I'd ***** a brick if the Bills waited until their 3rd pick to grab a WR, but I think you'll agree this draft represents a workable restocking of the interior lines (cutting Morse in favor of someone who might be even better already, and adding 2 specimens at DT), while still adding two legitimate receiver prospects. Young numbers at safety, edge, and QB as well.

Moss is an effective enough zone scheme RB. Unfortunately, during his time in Buffalo, the offense tried each year to force zone blocking on a unit that was much better suited to man and pin-and-pull type design. Moss was a potential fit for what McD has always wanted his offense to be (based on coaching hires and my eyeballs), but not what they did well consistently.