dave mcbride

Even that's problematic. Being attached to Jeff Tedford (coach of Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller, and AJ Feeley) led to Aaron Rodgers dropping 20 some-odd draft slots. Lesson: Always, always judge the player and disregard the rep of the school and the system. The latter path is lazy thinking.

I think we should spend two firsts on a 2014-draft year receiver before we get a QB.

I agree with that. I just think he's replaceable. It's a great draft year for RBs, and to my eye Bell is no better at this point than Kamara. There will be another Kamara this year; there always is. The Steelers are pretty good at finding those guys. Christ, DeAngelo Williams had a GREAT season the year Bell went down four games into the season: 907 yards, 11 TDs, 4.5 ypc, 40 receptions on 47 targets, and 9.2 yards per reception.

The Steelers have decades of history of replacing skill-position pieces with good newcomers as long as the QB is good. I trust their process.

I think cold logic will dawn on Gettleman (and it may have already) and he'll do what's obviously right: draft the next franchise qb.

After 2004, the Steelers let Plaxico Burress go. They won the SB the next season. After 2009, they let Santonio Holmes go. They went to the Super Bowl the next season. Both Burress and Holmes were really, really good for the Steelers. The team didn't miss a beat after their departures, however, because they had an elite QB and other good young talent who replaced the people who left fairly easily. To paraphrase Charles DeGaulle, the graves are filled with indispensable running backs.

I watched Lamar Jackson all the way through because honestly I saw very little of him. I must say that outside of his runs, I wasn't particularly impressed. I didn't think he was awful or anything like that, but overall I thought his mechanics, pocket presence, and ball placement were pretty spotty. I hesitate to use this comparison, but he reminded me of Vince Young while at Texas. To be fair, I think Young could have been a solid pro if he had been willing to put the work in. He wasn't, but my understanding is that Jackson is the sort of person who will.

Awesome. Thanks.

That's my gut feeling too. I think they love Darnold but realize he's not a realistic option.

That's mostly right, but really, only on the game day coaching front. The defensive players were drafted higher on average, but they will have two likely first rounders from the offense this year and quite possibly 4 offensive players overall (Rosen, Miller, Lasley, and Quessenberry). Of the 25 selected before this season since the 2013 draft (5 years), 13 were defensive and 11 offensive. There was one punter too. Regardless, 25 over 5 years is really strong. Anyone who thinks this number is unimpressive is crazy. In that same time frame, ND had 24 players selected, USC 22, Oregon 17, Georgia 21, Michigan 22, Texas 10, and Auburn 17. I could go on - these were simply the first random top tier schools I looked at. Agreed about the Bills and Rosen. I have a hunch they don't like him or want him.

Then whoever is assigning those stars is full of crap because they have been raking when it comes to NFL draft picks. That to me is a FAR, FAR, FAR, FAR, FAR(!) better measure of recruiting acumen than high school rankings. And it'll be 5 first rounders in 6 years after this draft, not three in 8. He started coaching there in 2012. Two Bruins are likely to go in the first round this year (Rosen for sure and in all probability Kolton Miller). Sorry, Yolo, but you're just factually wrong on this. Look at the number of NFL draftees UCLA had in the four years prior to his arrival. It was a truly meager total.

This is incorrect, Yolo. UCLA recruited *extremely* well while he was there overall. http://dailybruin.com/2017/04/27/mckinley-likely-to-be-bruins-fourth-first-rounder-in-five-years/ and

Mora is a bad coach. I am a UCLA alum and know of what I speak. He did recruit well, which is of course at least half the battle. But game day coaching? He's awful. Consistently outcoached by the better coaches in the Pac 12 in games in which the talent level was more or less even.

Man, Mora's comments are being wildly misinterpreted here. He also said that Rosen is perfect for both NY teams and that they should take him like that.

And a lot of people think that the Bills regard Darnold as the surefire best QB of the lot.

And they scored 10 points!

Have people forgotten how genuinely good he is? https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BeckOd00.htm Teams put up with a lot when a player is this damn good. He is also only 25. I expect him to have a huge year.

Re: the bolded part above: here's the problem for the Bills with making a trade with the Colts at that time. It was not clear at all at the time -- and remains unclear now -- that the Giants weren't going to take a QB. Now it seems more likely that they WILL take a QB, and it even seems quite possible that that Darnold and Allen (who I have a hunch are the Bills' two top choices) will both be off the board by #3.

Watch the play linked to above in which Tyrod is strip sacked by Bosa in the second half. You may rethink your view.

Why insult people? What is the point of that? It's not funny and just makes you look small.

What's the film on Mills in the second half? Oh, that's right. 6:25 mark:

The Bills don't have a real quarterback at present. End of story.

I see your point, but I'd factor in that the current situation is unique: the Bills need a qb, they have 5 of the first 65 picks (and two first rounders), this appears to be the best qb draft since 2004, and there's a solid chance the Bills won't get any of the top dogs. It's a situation that is bound to breed a zillion threads on essentially the same subject.

Quinn Early made one of my favorite catches ever (early 1996) - a 4th quarter slant and go on 3rd and 18 that he took 63 yards to the the house after Parcells and Belichick bizarrely took a holding penalty instead of letting it go to 4th and 8. They were so confident that Kelly couldn't make a play that they figured they'd get better field position by taking the penalty. It was the go ahead TD, and the Bills ended the game in the last minute when Bruce Smith sacked Bledsoe with the Pats inside the Bills 10 yard line. For that reason alone, he is by definition not the worst signing!