Dkollidas

1) Keep Benjamin. 2) Hope Ray-Ray and/or Zay and/or Coleman develop. 3) Draft a receiver in the 1st Round. Anthony Johnson is a definite option/possibility.

I’ve never seen a guy get so criticized nationally. I understand his college stats weren’t good, and that he does have some issues with accuracy, but I think a lot can be excused to poor footwork, which I think comes from bad coaching. This is a staff that prides itself on coaching if the players show the proper work habits. In general there’s a lot of pressure on Allen and I think the organization can feel that, and realizes he has immense talent but is raw and could benefit from most or all of the year on the bench. I think its part of why they just had him throw that bomb to open the 2nd half. Blow some steam. Wow the crowd with the arm strength. Overall I liked his game. He showed better accuracy than I’ve seen on a lot of his short stuff. And as posted by others, the receivers did not help him at all. His mobility is also pretty impressive. Overall he's an an amazing talent. But he’s EXTREMELY raw, in my opinion. He needs a year to sit, work on his footwork, accuracy and touch and he’ll be ready in 2019. Remember we’re lookibg at the long-term now, not just this year.

What I meant is that he’ll hold out for a portion of the season, but ultimately play part of it. Regardless, I don’t think he’ll be a Raider long term.

I honestly think he might sit out into the season, but ultimately he’ll play out this year, Raiders will Tab him and he’ll be traded during the 2019 off-season to a team that will pay top dollar.

I think it’s just a sign of how bad offensive line play around the league is.

They did both at once last year, and it seemed to work pretty well... growing confidence in this group.

And I’ll eat more bacon than both combined!!! I win!!!

Not a terrible idea, but turnovers haven’t been Allen’s issue. I think a lot of it will be helped by the system they run for him though. While Mayfield Rudolph and Darnold were running rpo’s & bubble screens exclusively from shotgun., Allen was under center, making NFL type throws. He wasn’t making as many easy passes to pad his stats. Now is he the the most accurate guy? Nope. But with some improvement on his footwork and more experience (he was a late bloomer who didn’t go to passing camps in high school and spent a year or two in Junior College). He’s a smart kid, will understand concepts and I think the team understands that his adaptation to the NFL will be a... ready for it??? PROCESS

I think there are a few reasons why his stats are unimpressive compared to that of the other quarterbacks selected in the 1st Round. 1. He is inexperienced: Not just in terms of college (although he did spend a year at JUCO before going to Wyoming), but in terms of overall development. When guys like Rosen, Darnold, and Rudolph were teenagers, they were going to Manning passing camps and basically training for a professional career. Mayfield I’m not sure about, but his career in general is an outlier as well. 2. Wyoming ran an aggressive offense that was very pro-style in form: He took a lot of snaps from under center. His route tree might not have been that much further down the field, but there wasn’t the same type of gimmicky stuff that Mayfield, Rudolph or even Darnold ran in college. 3. His team was garbage: Now people will say “but so were his opponents” and “he never played up when they played better competition”. And that’s true. But at the same time, he probably looked bad because of #1, #2 above and the fact that playing against better talent, he felt he had to try to be the difference, and didn’t have the right tools to succeed. And I think there are reasons to be hopeful: 1. Don’t forget that arm: i know it’s not everything, but if we have another game like we did against Indianapolis this past year, or heavy rains and those issues, Allen’s arm can get the ball through that weather. 2. Strong Run Support: Shady is still here. The Oline suffered a loss in Incognito, but Groy will cover adequately for Wood. 3. Strong Defense: Allen won’t have to come out and sling the ball and go after 30pts per game for this offense. Shady will do a lot of the work. But the defense got a nice boost this off-season. Lotulelei and Murphy give more talent and depth to the front-four. Edmunds has a chance to be a special talent at middle linebacker. And the defensive backs just got a lot of nice depth added in through the draft as well (I really think Siran Neal will be a steal). They want to build a defense that can carry this team. Allen will be allowed to grow into the position. 4. He’s a smart kid: people seem to see Allen’s accuracy as the main issue. A lot of people associate with his inability to process the game and therefore think he might not be that intelligent. But yet according to multiple league sources, he was great on the white board. He also scored a 37 on the wonderlic. Not that it means that much, but a higher score is an indication that he can comprehend information. 5. He seems like a worker: this is just my own personal vibe. But I get the feeling that this guy isn’t going to be a Cutler and be a lazy punk. He’s going to come to work every day, give it his all, and devote himself to improving his game. 7. I don’t remember the exact quote, but Trent Dilfer was on Rich Eisen’s show a while ago with another guy, and they were talking about how completion percentage is becoming an outdated stat, and isn’t always a great indication of a quarterbacks accuracy. Basically the point was that completion percentage should be considered more of a team statistic, and that its an indicator of offensive success, not just the quarterback. I do think this does hold some validity. And I know there’s film where Allen is inaccurate, but at the same time there’s film where he’s dead on. And while people will say that’s a point to show he’s inconsistent, people aren’t there behind the scenes to see what his coaches are teaching him to be better, and if they were developing him properly, or if the system was set up in a way for the team to be successful. My conclusion: Let Allen sit for a year. Or at least half the season. Allow the team to build up the offense next off-season, and let him come in and start with a better cast, with a better understanding of the pro game and what’s expected, in 2019.

Could he end up at running back?

They’ll do the offense next year in free agency and the draft. Right when they’re ready to put Allen in.

That would be nice. I’d also take Jaylen Samuels over Ballage, but he’ll probably be gone by that time.

They did their homework, followed their process, and let the draft come to them. I think it is correct to a point though. Get the defense strong now, so that next off-season with the big money, they can go build an offense in free agency for Allen. McCarron will basically have what Tyrod did last year.

Great pick! love it. He’s got such great hands. A D-Line rotation with Hughes-Lotulelei-Williams-Murphy plus Lawson-Washington-Phillips-Yarbrough behind them is really really great d-line depth. Also, member of the “40-40 club”. 40 bench reps 40 on the wonderlick

I feel like James Washington will be a guy they’d like if he’s available

WR or OL

1. Allen has the greater upside 2. Rosen’s Injury history 3. The prefer the character/person that Allen is compared to Rosen.

I just think his limited experience (was in JUCO two years ago and shows a lot raw type of traits) could be better served by a year (or at least a good portion of the year), on the bench learning the playbook, focusing on his mechanics, etc.

Correct. But the point is where the development of the QB is served greatest. And that’s clearly with him on the bench for year one.

Why not? Goff sat the first half of his first season. People are raving about Mahomes, and he sat his entire first year... is it really that big a difference if they were picked 7th as opposed to 10th overall? Hes obviously got raw talent that needs to be developed & refined. Just because you don’t like the pick doesn’t mean a guy should immediately start day 1 because he was picked in the first round, especially at QB.

None of them should. I believe and hope the Bills will be smart enough to keep Allen on the bench. They’re all about “the process”, and they have McCarron & Peterman to play in front of him this year. Both Bradford and Bridgewater seem more likely than not to suffer injuries, especially playing behind their respective offensive lines. Therefore I could totally see Darnold & Rosen playing early. I could see that really hurting both their developments. Darnold simply because he’s so young, and turnover prone. Rosen because playing in front of such a weak offensive line is probably the worst thing for him and we could see him get banged up early on.

Agreed.

I think it just shows how much Allen needs to sit on the bench for a year. He was in JUCO and then Wyoming for two years... didn’t go to any type of passing camps. Never focused solely on football in high school (played basketball & baseball as well). The talent is there. He just has to become more refined. Also, it’s not like he’s dumb. From what has been said he’s been great on the white board as well. I think he just needs from coaching for a year or two.

1. WR 2. OG 3. H-Back/TE 4. OT 5. OG 6. RB For the “H-Back/TE” I would really love an offensive weapon. Something along the lines of either a Troy Fumagalli if they went with a traditional TE (I wouldn’t expect one to be take until the 5th round), or a guy like Jaylen Samuels or Kalen Ballage. Samuels especially intrigued me, and with the amount of running backs available this year, he could slide. Could be a nice receiving option out of the backfield for Allen in the future. In a league that’s becoming more and more about matchups, he’s a guy that could provide a mismatch.

Now here’s another weird thing. And maybe I’m just thinking about it because it’s late. Are people making the Rodgers/Rosen comparison so readily partially because the two guys do look quite a bit alike in the face, and are viewed as having similar personalities? Kind of the opposite of how some coaches/scouts in the past would rank a player lower on their boards because of their look (read Moneyball for the reference, it’s pretty amazing). Rodgers was viewed as a project when he was coming out, neither he nor Alex Smith were viewed as legit top picks. Also, Rodgers was able to sit for what, 3 years? I think that will be huge for all of these guys. Mayfield Rosen Darnold Jackson and Allen should all sit for at least most, of not all of the 2018 season.