Sierra Foothills

Lance Zierlein's solid (and free!!!) work on NFL.com has the order as: Sanders 6.70 Simpson 6.24 Campbell 6.20 https://www.nfl.com/draft/tracker/prospects/lb/all-colleges/all-statuses/2023?page=1 Have you watched the actual games... NOT the highlights? I think he'll be fine against the pass but not elite. Campbell reminds me a lot of Jack Del Rio. Very similar size and athleticism. Del Rio was 6'4" and 250 lbs with good mobility and instincts. He played collegiately at USC and was a very decorated college player (All-PAC 10 for 4 years) including being a consensus first team All-American. He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1985 draft. Del Rio played 11 years in the NFL and made the Pro Bowl in his 10th season... really good, solid NFL player.

Apparently all three are fairly closely grouped because Sanders and Simpson were both given grades of "1st-2nd" round grades whereas Campbell was given "2nd."

FWIW, The Athletic's respected annual Draft Guide, "The Beast" came out on Monday. It's written by their draftnick Dane Brugler. In their rankings Jack Campbell is the 3rd rated LB behind Sanders and Simpson. In addition The Beast gave Campbell a 2nd round grade. Here's an excerpt of what they had to say about him: STRENGTHS: Above-average size and frame with room to add more mass ... anticipates well and trusts his eyes to play out in front ... has the range and awareness to mirror the run at the line of scrimmage ... shows the gap-to-gap quickness and lateral shuffle to work around the noise and find the ball carrier ... transitions well in his zone coverage drops (his 6.74 three-cone and 4.24 short shuttle were No. 1 among linebackers at the Combine) ... displays a keen sense for route spacing and finds passing lanes (15 career passes defended) ... plays with the body strength to match up with blockers ... elite toughness ... two-year team captain in high school and again in college ... not very vocal, but his teammates say he sets the tone with his tenacious effort, and his coaches call him an “amazing” practice player (Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz: “Everything he does, he goes hard”) ... egoless and humble off the field (didn’t pursue NIL deals and considers social media a “distraction”) ... film study in the foundation of his game ... became the first Iowa player to win the William V. Campbell Trophy (Academic Heisman) ... combined for 271 tackles over his final two seasons. WEAKNESSES: Doesn’t play with sudden twitch in his lower half to quickly react to ball carriers or blockers, especially in space (his testing showed better short-area suddenness than on tape) ... average lateral and closing burst ... occasionally waits for the action instead of thumping downhill consistently ... inconsistent stack-and- shed skills and must improve his leverage, reach and handwork ... vision is focused on the ball and late to locate climbing or side-angled blocks ... needs a clear lane to be effective as a blitzer ... strong tackler, but not an explosive tackler ... missed 2022 spring practices because of a knee injury ... has battled a nagging left UCL injury. SUMMARY: A two-year starter at Iowa, Campbell was the “MIKE” linebacker in defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s 4-3 base scheme. Head coach Kirk Ferentz wanted to move him to defensive end or center as a freshman because of his frame, but Campbell pushed to stay at linebacker and averaged 10.0 tackles in his 27 starts, and became the first Hawkeyes player to win the Butkus Award (nation’s top linebacker) and William V. Campbell Trophy (academic Heisman). Fueled by his preparation and smarts, Campbell plays with impressive play speed and awareness vs. both the run and the pass, working relentlessly to maximize everything in his tool box. Though he has a keen eye for tendencies and a nose for the ball, he tends to wait instead of attacking downhill and struggles to quickly redirect/react when ball carriers or route runners put a move on him. Overall, Campbell is inconsistent as a thumper, but his athleticism, intangibles and instincts will keep him in the NFL for a long time. He has the talent to compete for starting reps as an NFL rookie. GRADE: 2nd Round (No. 52 overall) Link (behind a paywall... subscribers only): https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/04/10172057/TheBeast_NFL_Draft_Guide-2-1.pdf

The last few years people have been saying "Let Russ cook" and now to find out he's got a chef???

And then you watch Campbell's game video and you see the disconnect between his measurables and his play. He doesn't play as big, fast, or quick as he measures IMO.

If he's way way under the radar, does that mean he's on the sonar?

Agreed. It also depends on specifically who is available at our pick but a Jack Campbell pick at #27 wouldn't have me jumping with joy.

If he was like Leighton Vander Esch excepting that he was injury-free, would you be happy with Campbell at #27?

I've often stated that NFL fans would be much better served by ignoring highlight packages and instead looking for condensed games or "player A vs team A" videos. This is particularly true for non-skill position players. To watch a player over the course of 65-70 snaps during a game instead of watching that player's highlights will make a big difference in how well an observer understands a player. That said, here are such videos devoted to Jack Campbell: Vs. Kentucky: Vs. Iowa State: Vs. Michigan: The added bonus is that you don't have to listen to lousy highlight soundtracks and redundant hype editing. As for the player, I feel like Campbell has a chance to be a Leighton Vander Esch type of player.

Defensive line in general was identified as the primary need for the Bills that year. In my recollection most of the pre-draft discussion here centered around (in no particular order), Von Miller, Dareus, Nick Fairley, Adrian Clayborn, and Cam Jordan. Not quite as much discussion about JJ Watt if I recall correctly. That year (2011) was one of the greatest ever for defensive linemen (both tackles and edge) and of course the Bills blew the pick though in fairness, there was a strong consensus league-wide that Dareus was the second coming of Warren Sapp... only larger. Even Sapp himself said so.

IMO you're missing the point that Hughes and Addison were our best pass rushers. That caliber of player would be pretty useful as the 2nd pass rusher after a guy like Von Miller. As far as the answer to our pass rush problems, two words... Kingsley Jonathan. Or is it Jonathan Kingsley?

I was one of those who wanted Josh Rosen so there's that. I also was happy with the Zach Moss and AJ Epenesa picks. In 2006 I definitely wanted Ngata over Whitner. In 2009 I much preferred Robert Ayers over Aaron Maybin and though I was correct, not by a particularly large margin. The one from the past that stands out as being correct was in 2010 when I wanted the Bills to take Brandon Graham instead of CJ Spiller. I felt that Graham was a fair version of Dwight Freeney. Graham is still playing at a high level even to this day. The 2012 Draft was memorable because we took T.J. Graham at #69 when two players I really liked, Russell Wilson (#75) and T.Y. Hilton (#92) were available. Also in 2012 I really liked the Cordy Glenn pick in the 2nd round though the person I really wanted the Bills to draft there was Lavonte David. Bobby Wagner was also available when we picked Cordy. I think Cordy could have had an excellent career but it seems like he got the big contract and lost motivation. He's still only 33 years old.

BillsVet, with all due respect PFT is a blog and they don't oversell themselves. As poor as the writing is (and it's terrible), Florio does have a lot of sources and gets things like contract details and internal NFL memos very quickly. In that regard he is fairly journalistic. He does have an annoying habit of stirring up shyt but that's the nature of the biz... provoking comments and traffic. For what they are PFT is good... a one-stop shop/central clearing house for all NFL news. And occasionally they break a big story so that's an added bonus. Wasn't Zolak a character on the original Star Trek? No one came out of that video looking good. Missed tackles, dropped INT...

There's no question an argument could be made for taking a different position at pick 27 BUT OT is a sneaky need and a great value as it's one of the premium positions. For the sake of discussion they draft Wright. Now he competes with Brown... the position will probably be improved over last year regardless of who wins. The loser of the competition is now our swing tackle. Getting reps at LOT is never a bad thing especially with possible injuries and Dawkins' possible departure after 2024. OR, the loser cross trains at guard. There's a possibility that the loser of Wright vs Brown will be a better guard than anyone else we have. Regardless of how the puzzle pieces fall, the idea of Josh Allen having an excellent O-line is one almost probably scenario of drafting Wright.

Yes, don't watch highlights. They tell you nothing. Watch condensed games or stuff like Tennessee OL vs Alabama Defense and other various breakdowns: Hey! Take off the wire-rimmed glasses and step away from the lectern... or take it to the Arts, Music and Literature forum. I come here to breathe from my mouth and groom my knuckle hairs (by scraping them on the ground). And before that he was destroying opponents on the kick coverage team.

A source told NYUP and Syracuse.com that Buffalo will be hosting Tennessee Volunteers offensive tackle Darnell Wright on a top-30 visit. Wright is considered one of the best tackle prospects in this year’s draft... Wright recently had his pro day at Tennessee and the Bills were in attendance to get an up close look at the prospect. In terms of his athletic traits, Wright has been compared to future Hall of Fame tackle and former Bills tackle Jason Peters. In his career at Tennessee, Wright played in 47 games and recorded 42 starts while recording over 2,700 total offensive snaps. He made 27 starts at right tackle, two starts at right guard and 13 starts at left tackle. In his final 19 games with the Volunteers, Wright went without allowing a sack. Wright earned unanimous first-team All-SEC honors as selected by the Associated Press and coaches this season and continued to raise his stock at the Reese’s Senior Bowl where he was named the American team’s OL Practice Player-of-Week. The award was voted on by his peers on the American defensive line and linebacker groups. “Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson, a likely top-five pick, says that Tennessee’s Darnell Wright is the best OT he faced in college.” Is he out of reach? It seems with these credentials the Bills would have to trade up to get him.

We drafted him in the 2nd round LAST YEAR and he's already fallen to #4 on the depth chart??????

If I didn't know you better I'd swear you were calling me Gaelic.

Homophones are inevitable... not that there's anything wrong with that.

One thing that comes to mind when watching these videos is that I often times find myself seeing things differently than the person creating the video content... and often times disagreeing with them when they're singing the praises of the player. For instance, getting movement on a defender who's already engaged in a double team is not showing great strength at the point of attack. So much of this stuff is subjective... who's he blocking? Which way was the player leaning? Which players are nursing injuries? And so on and so forth. Just watching the first 5 minutes of the first video you can see Harrison seems to have good enough feet to play tackle but it also looks like needs to get a lot stronger both upper and lower body. It also appears that he plays high and bends at the waist and lunges too much and doesn't drop his hips. These are all common flaws at this level and I'm not saying he won't be an excellent player, but rather that he has a lot of improving to do.

I don't have a pitchfork... can I go with you guys if I bring a garden spade or a good sturdy rake?

Spector is slow? You sure about that?

What is McBeane's track record regarding compensatory picks?

My gut feeling is that Hamlin will not play for the Bills again. Thanks to both you guys for consistently raising the level of discussion and adding value with every post. There's a few others who do the same and it's those good posters that make wading through all the detritus worth it.

By the way, why does everyone just assume that play calling duties decrease the effectiveness of a Head Coach in the area of game management? Couldn't it be just as easily argued that the focus required for play calling (down, distance, time remaining, etc) would make a Head Coach better at game management? As long as he has someone in his ear helping with times out, replay challenges, etc it shouldn't be a problem. Also it's often been stated that play calling for offense is more difficult that play calling for defense... the offensive play calls are much longer.