EricScott

The real mafia is in New Jersey. The Bills Mafia is the only one located in New York State.

I think there are actually five tackles worthy of our first pick- Wills, Wirfs, Becton, Thomas and Josh Jones. I'd be perfectly happy with any of these five, and then go receiver in Round 2.

OK, my sleeper pick is Josh Jones, OT from the University of Houston. Draft Jones, slide Ford to guard where I believe he is better suited, don't re-sign Spain, cut Kroft, and with the savings sign Austin Hooper. There, fixed!

One of my first football heroes, I always wanted to wear #44 on any team I played, no matter what the sport. In his prime I believe he was the fastest player in the AFL; Duby averaged an astonishing 27.3 yards per catch in 1964. RIP Golden Wheels.

Odysseus, not Jason.

Totally agree. Or McLaurin from Ohio State.

Plus, having good, athletic LB's makes a big difference in the performance of special teams.

Is Jawaan Taylor's bench press at the combine also a real red flag? Because he and Dillard did the same, 24.

I thought Chuma Edoga from USC looked pretty good at the Senior Bowl.

This "finesse" guy who you say isn't physical did 24 bench press reps at the combine- the same number as Taylor, one more than Jonah Williams and seven more than Cody Ford. He's plenty strong as it is and I believe he can and will improve his run blocking as he is coached up and gets more reps.

I think he makes a lot of sense. I like the idea of having the pivotal LT spot taken care of for years to come. I like the talent, depth and flexibility that our OL would have. Beane & co. have staked their future on the development of Josh Allen and this gives him what I believe could be a top- ten O-line moving forward. You give Allen the confidence that his blockers literally have his back and it allows him to develop the mechanics that will enable him to become the pocket passer that we all hope he can be, instead of him running for his life because of consistent backside pressure. The entire offense would benefit greatly.

A draft analyst that they interviewed on WGR yesterday (I forget his name) said that he had Dillard rated as his number one tackle, ahead of both Taylor and Williams, who he sees as a guard in the NFL. And he's not just a workout warrior; the combine only reinforced the excellent tape that is there from both his college career and the Senior Bowl.

He didn't just have a helluva combine, he had a helluva Senior Bowl week against top competition as well. Hey, I'd love to be able to trade back and still get Dillard, but I think he is going to go much higher than people think because he is a good player at a premium position that is hugely coveted in the NFL. If he turns out to be a reliable protector of Josh's blind side for the next ten years, wouldn't that prove to be a good use of this pick?

My argument is that a player who has demonstrated in every conceivable way that he is the best pass protector at a position that is generally regarded as one of the two or three most important positions in football would be more valuable than getting a right tackle that might be only marginally better (and is fairly likely to be gone anyway). We have a young QB who needs protecting, and I'm not all that confident that Dawkins will somehow rebound and become the player we need him to be at LT moving forward. I have more confidence that he can become an above-average guard than an above-average LT. And right tackle is a position more easily filled.

One name I don't see being mentioned as a possibility at #9 is Washington State OT Andre Dillard. Let me just make a case for him as a topic for discussion. Firstly, the initial reaction I would imagine is that 9 is too early for him. Yet there are a couple of mocks where I have seen him going 10 to Denver and 11 to Cincy and my sense is that he is climbing up the draft boards, so I would argue that picking him at 9 would not be the massive overreach that some might think. I see Jawaan Taylor mentioned as a strong possibility at 9, but A) he plays RT, AND B) he may very well be gone by our pick anyway. Dillard plays LT, and is the consensus best pass-blocking LT in the draft (he has the tape and an outstanding Senior Bowl against top competition to back it up). Teams spend years trying to find a quality left tackle to protect their QB's blind side; we get Dillard and Josh is protected for years. You then move Dawkins to guard (real good chance that he's a better guard than a left tackle, where he struggled last year), and voila, it's an upgrade at two positions. I know that Dillard is a work in progress in the run game, but I believe that he is athletic enough to be coached up. Washington State is a pass- happy offense that didn't run the ball much, so Dillard didn't get a lot of reps. Plus, I believe protecting Allen and giving him the time and confidence that his backside is safe is just about the best thing we can do to help him and the offense in general. And yes, a trade-down and then picking up Dillard would be the best- case scenario, but I'm willing to consider him at 9. Thoughts?

Agreed, although I'd add Jawaan Taylor and Brian Burns to this list.

I completely agree with White Linen; out of all the QB's I've ever seen, Allen most closely resembles John Elway. Except that so far, Allen is the more accurate of the two, and I believe will prove to be the more accurate of the two going forward. Don't believe me? Elway's completion percentage his rookie year was 47.5%. Look it up. In fact, Elway didn't get over the 60% mark until his eleventh year in the league, and he only surpassed it two other times! But like Allen he was very mobile in his younger years and really dangerous out of the pocket extending plays. I remember seeing Elway in his rookie year and thinking he looked extremely raw as a passer, much more so than Allen.

Could it be that they're planning on drafting Josh Allen and plan to use Foles as a bridge QB/ mentor to give Allen a chance to develop?

I've actually seen more than a few Bengals fans on their boards say they'd like to see McCarron start over Dalton. Teams don't like to pay their starters huge sums of money and then bench them for a second-stringer- makes the front office look bad. I'm not saying that this is necessarily the way to go, but I think it just might be an option worth discussing.

The reports are that the Browns were ready to give the Bengals a second and a third round pick for him in their botched trade attempt. That's literally a higher price than the Pats got from the 49'ers for Jimmy G. He's only 27 and doesn't have a lot of tread on the tires. I guess I'm just puzzled by the seeming lack of interest in him on this board. I just think getting him for a relatively reasonable rate and having all of our picks available to make the team around him stronger is at least something to think about. Is Mason Rudolph, for example, any less of a gamble than McCarron would be?

Apparently, if McCarron comes out ahead in his grievance against the Bengals, then he becomes a free agent. I don't have a strong opinion either way, but I haven't seen his name mentioned much on this board, and I'm wondering if he might be worthy of discussion as a possible FA target. He would likely come at a fraction of the cost of a Teddy Bridgewater, for example, and yet he does seem to be an under the radar type who might be worth a gamble. Thoughts?