BillsFanForever19

Agreed. At worst, I'm pretty sure WR7 will be on the board when we pick. I don't see any chance that 8 WR's will go before 28. That said, i'd hope we would try and move up a few picks if a 6th WR came off the board a number of picks before us. In my opinion, there's a bit of a drop off in terms of what we're looking for after WR7.

You're probably the only one who still has Troy Franklin that high. While we all knew Xavier Worthy was fast, we didn't know he was THE fastest to EVER test at ANY position. That's a big deal. On the flip side, we thought Troy Franklin was 6'3" - he's 6'1". We thought although small, he was 195. He's 175. We thought he had Elite speed like Worthy - he's a 4.4 guy. Then in the on the field drills, he struggled. Probably the most all over the field gauntlet I've ever seen, dropping balls, and falling down in others. Not to say he can't be a good WR one day. Just to say that the prognosticators were closer to his reality as a mid to late Round 2 guy than the posters of this board who were hyping him up as WR5 prior to the Combine. It was about as bad of a Combine for a guy that was hyped up around these parts as I can remember.

I don't see us picking any worse than 6th WR off the board. And my top 7 (including the first 3 that will be long gone) is: Marvin Harrison Jr. - Ohio State Malik Nabers - LSU Rome Odunze - Washington Brian Thomas Jr. - LSU Xavier Worthy - Texas Xavier Legette - South Carolina Adonai Mitchell - Texas Give me any of the bottom 4 guys and I'm happy.

I'll direct you to my reply to another poster 3 posts above yours. We never skip the Combine interview and Draft a guy in Round 1 simply on the pre-Draft meeting. The pre-Draft meeting is more of a formality and final piece of the puzzle after a good interview.

A bunch of really heavy guys ran 40 yards in a straight line and tried not to collapse.

Side note: not that it really matters for us because he's not a fit - but where was Malachi Corley? Even if you're dealing with an injury and won't be doing anything on field, you still are at the Combine to meet with teams. Odd that he wasn't there. Was he simply not invited?

This is a Taiwan Jones scenario. Everyone that wanted him gone is celebrating and doing the "I told you so's". Completely ignorning the fact that the release very clearly says he's most likely being brought back for Training Camp. Something that isn't said to the media in an outright "you're gone" release.

Not a futures deal, but definitely at league minimum.

Did you read the last line of the tweet? It says he will most likely be brought back for Training Camp. He was "released". But that's just to rip the current contract he has to shreds and bring him back on veteran minimum. Which is the best of both worlds. Frees up the max amount of money we can and still have him like he said we would.

I'm sure every player in the Draft, unless they have a medical or conduct red flag, is on their board. But when it comes to players they're specifically targeting in Round 1, they ALWAYS have the formal job interview, if you will, at the Combine. They do evaluation leading up to the Combine. They examine their tape and hypothesize who's a fit for them for what they're looking for in the position they're in and the scheme of the team. Then they set up interviews with those players. The interview process then helps them hone in on those from that list that really blow them away and those that don't. They raise the ones that did impress them (especially if they bring a notebook, whoo boy!) and drop the ones that didn't. They then bring the guys that passed both phases for them and see how they act in their building. They'll check to see how they've been operating since they last talked, maybe follow up on some things they didn't ask at the Combine, or things they hadn't thought about until after they met at the Combine. They'll check in on everyone from the Driver who picked them up at the airport to the lunch lady who fed them to see how they carried themselves when they weren't around. This is the process. Again, we've never taken a guy in Round 1 where we've skipped the Combine interview. This is probably the most important part of this regimes evaluation. It's always there and it's the interview and the visit, not one or the other. When it comes to McConkey, he wasn't a great fit for what we're looking for to begin with. Combine that with no interview and the fact that we're almost assuredly going to have a chance at someone who is ranked higher than he is (that we DID interview) and right now I just don't see a scenario where he's in play in Round 1.

What has you thinking McConkey "exudes" the culture more so than others? Regardless of that opinion, they didn't give him the opportunity to make McDermott "barred up" at the Combine.

Super exciting to me as I see an outside chance that we'd be able to move up to grab WR4, a likely chance we'd be able to land WR5, and an almost definitive chance that we can get WR6 - and every WR I have ranked as WR4-WR7 is on that list 😀

I'll worry about how a player may or may not work with the Chiefs after the Chiefs get him. But the non-stop "oh no what if the Chiefs get him" or "the Chiefs are going to get him and we're screwed if they do" with literally EVERY FA or Draft eligible WR available is a little much for me.

That's true. But that doesn't change the fact that we've never bypassed the formal job interview at the Combine and then Drafted the guy in Round 1. That's just a fact. The Combine interview is extremely important. And it's telling that we interviewed so many WR's and he's not one of them. Especially since I already believed he wasn't the fit for us that everyone wants him to be.

There's a major difference between meeting a non-QB at the Senior Bowl and meeting with them at the Combine. Meeting a player at the Senior Bowl is very informal and you can't really get much done. They don't want them to be too distracted from Practices and the Game and make sure they get enough rest. As interviews are done at the Combine. https://www.si.com/nfl/draft/news/senior-bowl-interview-process-changes-nfl-draft-teams-players So Ladd McConkey is so special that we're specifically not getting a feel for him with coaches and GM, breaking him down with film, bypassing the formal job interview, and "tipping our hand" with literally every other prospect who's a fit for us?

The Chiefs fatalistic obsession is out of hand. "The Chiefs are going to trade up for Worthy" "We can't let the Chiefs draft Ladd McConkey" "Gabe Davis is going to sign with the Chiefs and be consistently good for them" "The Chiefs are definitely going to sign Mike Evans" They live rent free in so many posters minds these days.

My point is if you go through the list of Bills 1sts under this regime - we've always met with them at the Combine. Even if we met them at the Senior Bowl, like Josh - we still had a Combine interview. There's always shots of the Combine interview for that Post-Draft Bills pick video.

Interesting! I knew that he wasn't going anywhere, but I figured it would be a restructure. This sounds like they decided he's vet minimum and that the only way to do that was to rip up his contract completely and re-sign him to a new deal. Good move. Though i'd update the title to "Hines Released - Most Likely to Return". People celebrating his being gone and skipping over that he'll most likely be back.

I can't recall the last time we Drafted someone in the 1st and didn't meet with them at the Combine. Notice Ladd McConkey is not on the list?

The Chiefs won't get a whiff of him at 32.

I've learned to chill on the "zero chance" on things because there's always someone that says "nothing is totally impossible". But it's about as close as it gets to zero for me on McConkey going before Worthy.

Ladd McConkey: Height - 5'11" Weight - 185 lbs. Arm - 30.25 Hand - 8.62 Wingspan - 72 Xavier Worthy: Height - 5'11" Weight - 165 lbs. Arm - 31.12 Hand - 8.75 Wingspan - 74.24 So... 20 lbs? Everything else is either the same or better in Worthy's Case. Much more complete player? Based on what? It's not on production: Ladd McConkey: 2023 stats - 30 catches, 478 yds, 2 TDs Career stats - 119 catches, 1687 yards, 14 TDs Xavier Worthy: 2023 states - 75 catches, 1014 yards, 5 TDS Career stats - 197 catches, 2755 yards, 26 TDs Should I go on? I think I will: Ladd McConkey: 40 Time: 4.39 10 Split: 1.52 Vertical: 36 Broad: 10'1" Xavier Worthy: 40 Time: 4.21 10 Split: 1.49 Vertical: 41 Broad: 10'11" Whatever your personal rankings are, the fact remains that McConkey will not be picked before Worthy. I see almost no chance that McConkey is above Thomas, Worthy, or Mitchell. And we'll have an opportunity to draft either WR5 or WR6.

I don't have Franklin or Coleman as going before McConkey after today. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about Brian Thomas Jr., Xavier Worthy, and Adonai Mitchell as 4, 5, and 6. If you think after today that McConkey will go higher than any of them - you're crazy. Ian Rappaport spoke to an exec who told him there's a chance Worthy may even jump Thomas after today as WR4. That would make Thomas and Mitchell no less than WR5 and WR6. And I predict we'll be at worst taking the 6th WR off the board, if not the 5th.

Thomas could be gone. Worthy could be gone. Thomas, Worthy, and Mitchell? I doubt it. I find it very hard to believe we'll only have a shot at the 7th WR in the Draft. Odds are probably pretty good we'll move up a few picks from 28. McConkey is 5'11", 185, and has a 36" vert (Worthy had a 41" at 6'1", for example). He doesn't have the measurements that scream True Outside WR in the NFL. His weaknesses from NFL.com also don't fit on the Outside: - Modest play strength could create issues in beating press. - Alarming number of deep ball-tracking drops in 2022. We'll have a shot at the 5th WR. We can definitely land the 6th WR. McConkey isn't a great fit for us and will be, at best, the 7th WR off the board from NFL teams. And personally, I have him no higher than my 8th guy.

Agreed. I've been against him through the process because he didn't have True Outside usage in College and is a really small build. However.... Him being not only fast, but being THE fastest recorded WR in Combine history (combined with Troy Franklin showing that he actually doesn't have close to matching speed, as I thought) - that changes things for me and makes me more open to more of a projection (just for him and that kind of speed though, not McConkey). That said, Brian Thomas Jr. would still be my first choice outside of Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, and Rome Odunze (who will be long gone).