finn

It's one way to beat a perennially low draft position. Let's hope it blows up in their faces.

I did!😁

Where do you see DeWayne Carter fitting in? Is McBeane looking for all his interior players to be able to play both tackle positions?

Exactly. Hoping they'll be good isn't the same as they're being good. Rapp is merely adequate when he's healthy, and Bishop is a projection. He could be another Elam for all we know. Yes, he missed time in training camp, but he certainly didn't wow the coaches over the course of the season. I'm hopeful but not at all confident. If you have just one bad safety, like Hamlin, it screws up the whole defense. If he has a Kincaid-like sophomore year, they'll have two meh players and a rookies starting in the secondary.

He really liked George Pickens a few years ago, too, when others were not so keen on him (he dropped to the second round).

Don't overthink it, Beane. Take Amos and go get a beer.

No matter where they are in the draft, the perfect player falls to them--and they pick him. They make it seem so easy.

Damn. I know we need a CB and DT, but I secretly wanted Starks all along. The play of Hamlin has made me shell shocked.

Ravens always draft well. Maybe one of the safeties, although I don't know if it's a need for them.

It was easy to forget him last year.

Beane is going to trade down for that missing third-round pick, which is like a missing tooth to him.

Until there's a run on them just before the Bills pick.

Drafting Starks would show a lot of imagination on Beane's part, a quality he hasn't really shown. He'll think, "We already have two starting safeties, one a second-rounder last year. I'm not going to put another premium pick there when I have needs elsewhere." It's the same thinking that might have caused him to choose Boogie Basham over Creed Humphrey, who played a position Beane had covered. He didn't seem to grasp that Humphrey could have stepped in for Morse the following year, providing an instant (and cheap) upgrade, just as Starks could supplant Rapp this year or next, and allow Bishop to play his more natural strong safety position.

Beane moving up. He moved up for Allen, yes, but he also moved up for Tremaine Edmunds, Cody Ford, Kaiir Elam, and Dalton Kincaid, passing on, respectively, Jaire Alexander, AJ Brown, Tariq Woolen, and Sam LaPorta. When he gets an itchy trigger finger, bad things tend to happen. So if I see "TRADE! Bills send their fourth-round pick (56 overall) to the LA Rams for their first-round pick (26 overall)," I will turn off the computer and go to bed, knowing for sure that they a) just burned a 4th round pick for a player who would have been there at 30 or even later; or b) they did so and picked a lemon to boot.

Dane Bruegler compares him to Milano in his ability to recognize plays and fly to the ball. There's a good case for picking him with the first of the two second-round picks, with CB and DT right before and after (in either order). Would be a forward-looking pick. I loved Bernard in 2023, but he was a lesser player last year: small, slow, and injured. A Williams-Schwesinger pairing might be elite in 2026.

It's awkward. Rapp is an adequate/average strong safety, and Bishop projects to be an upgrade, even a big one. But neither are a good fit at free safety. If the team didn't have crying needs elsewhere, it would be great to draft Malachi and let Rapp and Bishop compete for strong safety, leaving an excellent backup. (Or trade Rapp.) But it's risky to wait to address CB and DT. Tempting, though. I'd love to see an elite secondary.

Maybe they even see a Micah Hyde-type role for him in case he can't contribute on the field: a mentor either way, but a low-cost one in case he's washed.

I do like Amos, and the draft appears to be a lot deeper at DT. Still, Grant looks to me like another Ted Washington, who also went late in the first round.

But Kenneth Grant...😧

I realize it's a bit absurd for me to second-guess Beane, given the enormous amounts of time and resources he pours into researching these players over months and even years. And here I'm scolding him for his choices, drawing on the vast knowledge I gleaned from reading Lindy's Draft Guide and watching highlights on YouTube.

That's right. My heart sinks whenever I see his name, especially since Beane probably could have had Elam AND Woolen if he had stayed put in the first round and used the fourth-rounder he gave up for Elam on Woolen (would have had to move up a bit). I didn't see any problems with Elam, but I really wanted Woolen. Tall, fast, great hands and instincts, terrific athlete...? Pass. 🥺

I like that Porter didn't draw any flags last year and didn't allow a touchdown. He's green as they get, but with his talent, I hope Beane drafts him. I suspect he won't, though, since he didn't draft Tariq Woolen, who had the same profile, in 2022. People say this year's draft is awful, but there are a lot of gems out there.

"shooting Bail Inspector into the sun"? Is that a race horse? Why into the sun?

Do you have anyone in mind?

The scouting report on him looks terrific, even for a Day Two pick. If it's accurate, this is just the kind of player the Bills need for quality depth, in addition to a starter at the position. Git her done, Beane.