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Bills' Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano Bring Swagger to Transform Defense The Buffalo Bills are entering the second year of the Sean McDermott era. After snapping an 18-year long postseason drought in his first season as Buffalo’s head coach, the Bills are looking to take another step forward in the 2018 NFL season. Despite the teams unexpected success, general manager Brandon Beane remained aggressive throughout the offseason. He bolstered the defensive line, a unit that was a huge weakness of the 2017 squad, signing defensive tackle Star Lotulelei and edge rusher Trent Murphy during free agency before trading up to select Tremaine Edmunds with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft. Just 19-years old on draft day, Edmunds was a star for Virginia Tech and will likely become the youngest in NFL history when he takes the field in Week 1. Edmunds has star potential and he’ll be playing alongside Matt Milano, who surprised everyone with an impressive rookie campaign despite being a fifth-round draft choice. Buffalo clawed their way into the postseason largely due to the stellar play by by the team’s secondary. The opportunistic unit helped the defense intercept 17 passes and force 25 turnovers in 2017. General manager Brandon Beane and Head Coach Sean McDermott clearly knew they couldn’t rely simply on big plays to keep games close in 2018. Despite an inconsistent, and sometimes stagnant offense, Buffalo’s front seven was terrible against the run. In coverage, teams took advantage of Buffalo’s linebackers, who lacked the athletic ability to be counted on in pass coverage. Here at Cover 1, we broke down the defensive line overhaul, highlighting the players they added and how the defense would benefit from players like Lotulelei and Trent Murphy. Both are quality players that probably don’t get the recognition they deserve because their roles put them in a position to facilitate plays, rather than make them. However, It’s Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano that should reap the benefits of those additions.

Tremaine Edmunds size (6'5 250lbs) and speed will likely be the best matchup the Bills have ever had to slow down Gronk (6'6 262) in games vs the Pats. I wonder if Edmunds has already started watching film on Gronk to prepare to cover him this season.

For anyone that has never heard it before, this dude Pat Moran has a great podcast called Moran-Alytics. I guess that has been a blogger in Buffalo for nearly a decade and has the change to cover the Bills and Sabres for a few smaller publications. His podcast is focused largely on Bills and NFL football and he brings on many members of the Buffalo media and former players as well. http://moranalytics.com/ep-08-greg-gabriel-30-year-nfl-scout/ I went through his earlier archives and listened to former NFL scout and WNY native Greg Gabriel in April just before the NFL Draft. I've followed Greg on Twitter for a few years until he blocked me for disagreeing him. If you follow him, you know he is very much opinionated and outspoken. He was a staunch critic of Tyrod and a supporter of Peterman, which surprisingly died down after the start in San Diego. Go figure.... Anyway a few months ago, Greg was not a fan of Josh Allen or the majority of the QB's in this years draft. He said that all of the QB's are "overrated" and thinks it's possible that all but 1 will bust. He gives Baker Mayfield the best chance at succeeding. He is unsure about Darnold and feels that Josh Rosen lacks the intangibles to be successful. (Around 30 minutes) When Allen came up, he pretty much ripped him as a QB prospect. He said that Josh will be another Kyle Boller or Blaine Gabbert. A strong-armed QB who lacks the accuracy and mechanics to be successful. He said that Allen should have had, at minimum a 64% completion percentage in his conference and probably higher given the competition. Greg believes that these types of risks are the ones that get coaches and GM's fired. If he were the Bills he would have drafted Mason Rudolph and then taken another QB as well. He actually thought he might be a top 10 pick!!!!! (Around 36 minutes) When the discussion turns to LB, Greg feels that the Bills would love Roquon Smith and compared him to Luke Kuechley. He did mention Trumaine Edmunds but said that he lacked the instincts at MLB. He said that Edmunds reacts instead of anticipating and is basically an OLB playing MLB. He recommended Vander Esch as a better fit. If you listen to this interview - you will hear that Greg was very opinionated on these players before the draft in April. I'm not sure if he has changed his stance since then, but it's clear he is not a fan.

Found a few nice articles comparing the top two linebackers in the draft. The first link is the most detailed article. Speaks glowingly of both, but push comes to shove - picks Edmunds over Smith. Four articles overall 3:1 Edmunds! https://www.fanragsports.com/nfl-draft/nfl-draft-tale-of-tape-roquan-smith-vs-tremaine-edmunds/ https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/draft-analysis-which-lb-best-fits-bears-tremaine-edmunds-or-roquan-smith/ http://dabearsbros.com/tremaine-edmunds-vs-roquan-smith/ https://www.ninersnation.com/2018/4/14/17237236/2018-nfl-draft-scouting-reports-tremaine-edmunds-roquan-smith Another article that polls various people on the Edmunds vs. Smith question: https://www.49ers.com/news/draft-panel-take-your-pick-roquan-smith-or-tremaine-edmunds 3:2 Edmunds! And last, but not the least, another detailed video look at both of them: https://beargoggleson.com/2018/04/16/85064/

Buffalo Bills are Betting Big on Physically Gifted Rookies Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The first thing you notice is their sheer mass. The hulking dude in the red No. 17 jersey hovering above almost everyone else in the offensive huddle. And then, across the practice field, the specimen wearing No. 49 in white, the quarterback of the defensive huddle, who seems to be from a different gene pool at times, a teenager sticking out among the grown men. The future of the Buffalo Bills -- one agonizingly sculpted out of a series of trades and transactions dating back to last summer -- rests quite prominently on these two sets of shoulders. One belonging to Josh Allen, the quarterback who the Bills moved up to seventh overall to select a few weeks back. The other belongs to Tremaine Edmunds, the wunderkind linebacker who just turned 20 whom the Bills moved up to 16th overall to select. Both are raw, physically imposing prospects whose development will define the bold and ambitious regime of coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane. 5-31: Jason La Canfora, CBS Sports, on One Bills Live (14:52) New Bills QB Josh Allen has impressed thus far at OTAs in Buffalo (2:56) Bills high on Tremaine Edmunds (1:25)

BB.com linked a Bleacher Report article that describes Edmunds as follows: “Think of Edmunds as a Rob Gronkowski who wants to hit people.” i think this is totally unfair to Gronk. He loves to hit people, as long as they are 100 lbs lighter and face down on the ground...

Does he have one? If not, what shall we name him? I’m not a fan of Predator. Makes sense but bleh. I have confidence in us (not me, you guys/gals). What shall we name him? I ordered the jersey, now I need something to yell every time he makes me proud

This is a great article about Edmunds and his incredibly high ceiling. It has a lot of stills from his college film. https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2775334-why-tremaine-edmunds-has-best-chance-to-be-nfls-defensive-rookie-of-the-year.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

Per the Bills Instagram

I have to admit, I was pleased when the Bills moved up to get a highly rated LB. I am not a scout but I've watched football for about the past 45 years. I decided to watch Edmunds on youtube. I watched about 4-5 full games where he was highlighted on every play. I came away really underwhelmed. It seemed like he hardly ever made a play. I didn't see any big hits. He was almost always out of the play. Did we draft this guy because he is big and runs fast? I just didn't see a big time playmaker.

Milano really impressed me last year in our defense. He was all over the field making plays. As a rookie he had taken over a starting spot by December. He was solid in coverage and played the run well also. I expect another step forward this year as he becomes more acclimated with his responsibility within our defense and gets his run with the 1st team from the start. He is our play making OLB on defense who seems to be in on a lot of key stops or TO's ala Davis in Carolina. Preston Brown departs via FA and in steps the #16 overall pick Tremaine Edmunds. The athleticism is undeniable and it dwarfs Brown in every way. Edmunds is going to be the sideline to sideline QB of this defense for years to come. His coverage ability, closing burst, and instincts at barely 20 years old is really amazing if you have watched him play. McDermott will have this young man watching film of Luke, studying his place, his reads, and his responsibilities from now until September. I truly believe McDermott now feels he has the two guys who will anchor his LB unit. Most of his and today's defenses operate with only two LB's on the field anyway. These two guys are our Kuechly and Davis.

I wanted to see specifically how much difference Edmunds' size and speed should make over Preston Brown, so I calculated it. If the QB delivers the ball in two seconds and throws a 35 yard pass, the ball arrives at its destination about 3 seconds after the snap. Based on their combine times for the 20 and 40, Edmunds will get 1.5 to 2 yards deep (on a deep drop) or wider (if he's going to the flat) than Brown. Plus, Edmunds is 4 inches taller and has slightly longer arms. My continuing memories of Brown in pass coverage was that his drops regularly weren't deep enough or wide enough. He read the plays correctly, but the ball always seemed to pass six to twelve inches over his outstretched arm. Assuming Edmunds can learn to make the reads as well as Brown did, those balls are going to be incomplete or intercepted. Bigger, better, faster athlete.

We'll take you out for pizza and pop (or soda), along with some wings. ...and welcome to the sweetest little city this side of Lackawanna.

According to this, he was their pick, instead of Derwin James, if he was there... and Beane traded up one spot ahead of them

Sure the draft will be judged by Allen's success or failure. But in my opinion these 3 will start and will have very good to careers. When we look back...if Allen is successful these 3 will make this an epic draft.

He isn't from Maine from what I have read, and his number is 49. https://twitter.com/maine_savage23?lang=en

I've seen this guy criticize our franchise soo often. So this was a bit of a surprise. He LOVES Allen and felt the Bills hit it out of the park moving up for him, and then Crushed it again with Edmunds. Wentz and Kuechly comparisons. I'll take it.

He is more than fast enough to cover Gronk. He is very raw but pass coverage is a strength already. Maybe Tre White won't have to cover Gronk as much next year. See how Gronk likes 6 foot 5, 250 pound Mr Edmunds instead

4-27: Josh Allen on WGR (8:40) Josh Allen joins Schopp & the Bulldog now on WGR! #Bills Allen - "I knew I was a good fit for Buffalo Bills. Can handle the elements." Allen - "I'm apologetic. I made a young dumb mistake. At the time I didn't think I was doing anything offensive... I understand it did offend people and that's the fact of it. I can't go back and change it. In now way am I that person." Allen - "Somebody had taken screenshots of tweets I deleted months, even a year ago. I don't know who would do it." Allen - "Texted Zay Jones yesterday, texted Eddie Yarbrough. They know the type of character guy that I am. Got to meet Zay Jones out on my visit." Allen on Edmunds - "I didn't know him to much. I knew about him, knew I didn't want him trying to tackle me. He is a physical freak of nature. I thank god and say my prayers everyday that he isn't going to be on the other side of the ball from me." Allen on his footwork - "We've made a lot of progress. Some people revert when live bullets are flying at them. I'm not going to be that guy." 4-27: Tremaine Edmunds on WGR (6:56) Tremaine Edmunds joins Schopp & the Bulldog now on WGR! #Bills Edmunds on his brother being drafted too - "Last night was a special night for my family. Everyone is extremely proud of both of us. I know my brother was excited." Edmunds - "Things won't come easy. The NFL is a business so you have to know what you're here for"

WATCH: FIRST LOOK AT ALLEN AND EDMUNDS JERSEYS (0:26) Take a behind the scenes look at the jerseys of QB Josh Allen and LB Tremaine Edmunds being constructed just hours after being drafted. 4-27: Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds Introductory Press Conference (17:54) WATCH: ALLEN AND EDMUNDS FIRST 24 HOURS (5:55) Go behind the scenes as first-round picks Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds experience their first 24 hours as Buffalo Bills, from getting their names announced in Dallas, TX to choosing their jersey numbers.

I feel like a j3rk asking. Did he have a nose injury before?

Just wanted to share a film breakdown of Tremaine Edmunds that I enjoyed. Excited about this kid! https://player.fm/series/redskins-media-the-team-980/ep-04-24-18-cooley-film-breakdown-lbs-smith-edmunds

Really good scouting report on him here.