WideNine

I was surprised by the back-to-back DE picks. Good prospects, just did not expect them to grab 2 after taking Epenesa last year and having Johnson in development. I did suspect they would take an OT before addressing G/C. Guys that can play inside are usually easier to find. Now for the 4th round of nothin... we will see what Beane does with his 2 picks in the 5th.

Rousseau played WR. Imagine being a 5' and change DB trying to cover that?

Easily has the frame to fill out. Coupled with that athleticism and huge wing span. Another solid prospect with a lot of upside. As much as I had my pet cracks in the roster I was hoping they would address, these look like some real intriguing picks so far.

Truth.

Prototype Tackle with that height and frame... probably could backup either side.

Unless Beane was in Carolina and they drafted Star in the 1st. 14th overall. Why do you always have to be so... ScottLaw?

Could be that Beane just does not like this year's crop of 1T linemen and is fine rolling with Star one more year I feel a lot better about their depth at DE and 3T tackle. Lordy those are some big kids that have shown they can get into the backfield.

I know right??? McD is either crapping himself or is hearing a heavenly choir of angels.

Trick with a green-screen right????

I do like that these 2 picks were moved all over the d-line, and that Basham had a lot of TFL's. That is where you want plays to be stopped.

A lot of holes to fill still. Not a bad pick, but too many folks focus on Tampa's ends and forget the pressure Suh and Vea brought up the middle. Not to mention how Tampa could rush 4 and still crush running plays. If our post-season (yep we will be there again) runs into a Titan team with Henry pounding the rock, we will be thankful we have some run-stopping sloberknockers on the line. Just saying.

...but if you have a stout interior that can counter the run, you can commit to just a four-man rush with the back 7 focused on coverage, which forces QBs to hold the ball longer which leads to sacks from your edge rushers. It's complimentary rather than this or that.

I think Beane may still pick up a NT as Star 2.0, or he could roll the dice and just hope Star has a great Renaissance year this season and look to fill the need later. We still should be looking for our replacement for Morse too... Basham seems pretty talented not to pick up where we got him, just wish we had more picks this round.

Definitely message sent to our current DEs. Still need DB, G/C, NT, TE...

ah crap... been busy today and just had a chance to lookup a draft tracker on my phone - damn near crapped myself then realized I had accidently clicked on a mock of round 2 for our "pick" 😂 Not going to say who was slotted next to our logo as it could still happen and I guess it would not be the end, but hope one of the better prospects falls to us.

Yep... like trying to throw a football through a forest

He looks so tall and thin and then you see them using him over center, or 3-T beating doubles. He uses those long arms and good leverage working against blocks with his head-up eyes always upfield, disciplined setting the edge, when he closes he just uncoils that long body and finishes. A project just in terms of experience, but the cupboard is not empty. Excited to see what this kid could morph into.

Looks like he dropped because of his covid opt-out and the fact that it seems he bulked up for his pro-day and that hurt some of his quickness. Not sure if I am overly concerned with that pro-day showing, an NFL training regimen will have him fill out that frame w/o losing the quickness. Could be a steal - can live with this pick.

Seems like the best of what was left at DE, but only one solid year of production... roll of the dice on his high upside and potential. You can't teach that size and athleticism... time will tell.

This - rare to have that kind of an impact rookie and I don't feel like we are one piece away - we have a few holes that need shoring up. Best I hope for are players that can contribute filling in at depth rolls and producing when they are given the chance. Gabe Davis was a great later-round gem last draft and that can happen with deeper positions. Only difference regarding the o-line is I would lean more towards the Guard/Center flex player hedging against the future Morse move. I know Mongo filled in at center adequately, but do not think he is the long term solution. Reading your prior posts, I understand your LT depth concerns - they are valid. Draft is deep enough to snag two quality OL one who can flex outside to play T and another later for C if some of those high on their board are still there. If Beane did pick up two non-flashy offensive linemen TBD will get hit like a DOS attack.😂 Deep in corners too so I am pretty sure they snag one or two but think they may wait rather than reach on this position all depends on whether Beane starts wheeling and dealing picks and position.

Feels like the longest drawn-out drum roll ever.

Whatever combination that allows us to get pressure on the passer and stop the run more with our front 4 so the back 7 can cover all the weapons we struggle to stop when facing the more elite offensive teams and/or allows us to match up better when teams go the physical running route (thinking Titans here and our first meeting with KC). If and when we meet up with the Titans again I don't think they fair as well against Allen with their 2 and 3 deep zone coverage. Everyone tried to play him the same way down the stretch and he started seeing the field better and hitting things before the sticks - his shoulder injury from the Raiders game could still have been hampering his throwing motion as well. Biggest struggle for Allen will always be his desire to hit the home run and holding the ball too long against those defenses committed to those zone shell looks. The longer a QB holds the ball the more likely your receivers are blanketed by added deep safeties. Especially if you do not have two burners that can stress the deep safety cover 1 or 2 looks or a running game that forces one of them back into the box. Allen's completion percentage bears this out as it drops the longer he holds the ball. Against the Chiefs 4-1-6 look they often trotted out 4 safeties from their roster so they could still give those 2-deep split safety looks yet keep more size on the field to stop the run (if we did that effectively) and play more physical with our banged up receivers. It is a testament to Allen's growth mindset that defensive coordinators continue to have to throw new wrinkles at him as he matures his game. Early on, a lot of cover-0 man looks and near constant blitzes, Allen started tearing those up. Then single high safety with man and still a healthy does of blitzing Allen started feasting on those. Now he sees more 2 or 3 deep safety looks with a smattering of fire zone/zone dog blitzes to try to get him out of rhythm and to hold the ball longer - just the next obstacle that I am confident Allen will learn to overcome. Our interior line has to hold up better and it will help if our roster is not broken pieces of players down the stretch.

They can be kind and loyal to a fault, but I think they are transparent with their players and wisely keep disagreements or any dirty laundry in house. Rare these days with leaky front offices rife with disagreements played out unprofessionally on social media.

"You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting." Stats are tools. Tools used without context or enough information are not really tools at all and put a hammer into the hands of a child and they will just gleefully break things. A really ignorant and arrogant take that many had at the get-go. It just is not smart to issue a summary judgement of a pretty raw prospect with a high ceiling before they have played a down of professional football or had the benefit of pro-level coaching and training - without the benefit of enough information to get the most important stat... how the project player is trending in the right system. Patience is in short supply in this league and I can forgive coaches and GMs that are forced into that win-now mentality. I have less patience with pundits who take these ignorant combative stances, but have to keep in mind they are there to stir up controversy and rile up the masses so folks will debate and click on their content. GM's and coaches have the pressure of delivering immediate returns, and the affordable window that they have to bring a project up to the point of being productive for their team makes the effort a bit cost-prohibitive. You finally get a raw prospect playing up to his potential after a few years and bam you are hit with having to competitively bid on his services. I am thinking of one undrafted free agent monstrous TE misfit named Jason Peters that the Bills staff and O-line coach "Mouse" turned into an all-pro LT. Sure it was a mistake that Ralph and the FO did not want to spend the coin to retain him, but that is not where I was going - just illustrating the point that developing a raw-talent with a high ceiling is risky from both a time-spent/fail and a time-spent/succeed prospective. Beane has some serious cohones taking that kind of risk early in his Bill's GM tenure - would not want to play poker with that guy.

That "proof" will prove only the level of confidence or the Bills FO has in both Edmunds ceiling and his ability to attain it, or proof that they are capable of stubborn denial regarding his game-day struggles. The proof for me will be is he more of a game changer than he has been defending passes, creating turnovers and critical stops or TFLs; Does his play improve with a better NT in the middle of the line absorbing blockers? I had beef with PFF regarding Allen, not because of the stats, but because they closed their eyes to the piss-poor blocking and bottom-tier receivers he was working with. Even that did not torque me as much as the summary statements that he would never improve from the get-go without giving the time needed to see if he could trend in the right direction with better support. He was known to be a raw project coming out, the expectations should have better aligned to that reality. Edmunds was not considered a project and has had several years in the same system. We should expect to see more improvement.