Bills Position Needs

[RPbillsfan]

Looking at each position group before the draft I wanted to assess strengths from (1) lowest (5) highest and what round the Bills need to address each group.

 

QB - (2) - Round 1

RB - (3.5) - Round 3

OT - (3) - Round 4 or later

OL Interior - (3) - Round 4 or later

TE - (3.5) - Post draft FA signee

WR - (2) - Round 2 

DT - (2.5) - Round 3

LB - (1.5) - Round 1 & 2 (need 2)

S - (3.5) - Post Draft FA

CB - (4) - Round 4 or later

 

Love to see and read your thoughts

[Pete]

1A-QB

1B-MLB

2A-C/G

2B-WR

3A-OLB

3B-RB

4-CB

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by Pete

[atlbillsfan1975]

MLB-1

QB-1.5

interior O line-2

interior D line-2.5

Right tackle/swing Tackle-3

WR/TE-3.5

RB-4.0

OLB/rush ends- 4.5

DB/safety-5

 

In a Perfect world Bills get a MLB that can run McDermotts D

 

AJ or a pick can run the offense. 

 

I think interior of both lines is lacking depth and an injury away from being below average at best. 

 

Tackle on offense also has serious depth issues.

 

Skill positions on offense are not that bad. I think TE is ok and WR needs a progression out of Zay to a ‘2’. 

 

Rush ends and OLB are servicable and I think McDermotts D is an inside out scheme. 

 

DB’s to me are the most set area. Which means it will turn into a weakness. It just happens that way for the Bills.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by atlbillsfan1975

[Sky Diver]

Need a RT and RG.

[MAJBobby]

1-QB

2-MLB

3-WR

4-OLB

5-RT

[KingRex]

Unfortunately, I think its more accurate to develop 2 lists of team needs.

 

One assessment is of what the team needs in order to win.  the #1 team need in order to win in my estimation is an MLB (or potentially an OLB if a run on QCs causes Bradley Chubb to fall where we might potentially trade up to get him.  An MLB is a bigger need for us than an OLB, but we need both and if Chubb falls where we can trade up to get him he is better enough than the rest of the draft I would trade up to get him potentially.

 

However, though I think based on too many decades watching the NFL, that a drop dead MLB (or OLB given our deep LB needs) helps us win more and win sooner than a good rookie QB, there is a clear media and a few noisy fans desire to draft the next "franchise" QB.

 

My guesstimate is that none of the top three QBs in this draft (Darnold or the two Joshs' has more than a 25% chance of proving to be the actual franchise guy.  Even worse, if we give away the current likely huge market cost of moving into the Giants pick, I think the chances this "franchise" QB survives with our unreinforced too old roster, trading up simply kills this teams chances to become a winning TEAM.

 

The Bills have to decide whether the PROCESS demands that we ignore the media and whining fans call for this team to trade up and mortgage our future for the shiny penny of drafting a QB early or instead the PROCESS demands we use our many draft picks to build ths team into a TEAM.

 

As far as QB goes, I'd take Rudolph or Jackson with our 2nd Pick in RD1 or even RD 2 if it looks like one of them may slip.  Then run a competition with AJ, Peterman, and the draftee for our 2018 QB.  However, primarily I would rely on the D to keep us in the game this year and if none of the 3 potential QBs does not do the job then use the model Pitts used to draft Big Ben to pot them over top into SB winning mode. 

 

I'm not sure who that will be yet as we will need to see how the college QBs will do next year.  However, I am quite comfortable that the Bills will be in better shape to win an SB next year with a TEAM reinforced by this 2- 1s, 2-2nds, 2-3rds draft and a trade up next year to get the rookie QB we need.

 

The Bills have a tough choice this year of dealing with the problem that the customer is always right, but this year what some loud and vocal customers want is likely different than what wins in this league.

[Dr. Who]

4 minutes ago, KingRex said:

Unfortunately, I think its more accurate to develop 2 lists of team needs.

 

One assessment is of what the team needs in order to win.  the #1 team need in order to win in my estimation is an MLB (or potentially an OLB if a run on QCs causes Bradley Chubb to fall where we might potentially trade up to get him.  An MLB is a bigger need for us than an OLB, but we need both and if Chubb falls where we can trade up to get him he is better enough than the rest of the draft I would trade up to get him potentially.

 

However, though I think based on too many decades watching the NFL, that a drop dead MLB (or OLB given our deep LB needs) helps us win more and win sooner than a good rookie QB, there is a clear media and a few noisy fans desire to draft the next "franchise" QB.

 

My guesstimate is that none of the top three QBs in this draft (Darnold or the two Joshs' has more than a 25% chance of proving to be the actual franchise guy.  Even worse, if we give away the current likely huge market cost of moving into the Giants pick, I think the chances this "franchise" QB survives with our unreinforced too old roster, trading up simply kills this teams chances to become a winning TEAM.

 

The Bills have to decide whether the PROCESS demands that we ignore the media and whining fans call for this team to trade up and mortgage our future for the shiny penny of drafting a QB early or instead the PROCESS demands we use our many draft picks to build ths team into a TEAM.

 

As far as QB goes, I'd take Rudolph or Jackson with our 2nd Pick in RD1 or even RD 2 if it looks like one of them may slip.  Then run a competition with AJ, Peterman, and the draftee for our 2018 QB.  However, primarily I would rely on the D to keep us in the game this year and if none of the 3 potential QBs does not do the job then use the model Pitts used to draft Big Ben to pot them over top into SB winning mode. 

 

I'm not sure who that will be yet as we will need to see how the college QBs will do next year.  However, I am quite comfortable that the Bills will be in better shape to win an SB next year with a TEAM reinforced by this 2- 1s, 2-2nds, 2-3rds draft and a trade up next year to get the rookie QB we need.

 

The Bills have a tough choice this year of dealing with the problem that the customer is always right, but this year what some loud and vocal customers want is likely different than what wins in this league.

Articulate expression of a defensible view.  Too bad you feel it necessary to paint the opposing view as a bunch of irrational, whiny immediate gratification dopes.  One can just as easily make a plausible argument that this is an unusually rich draft for potential franchise qbs and that one should grab one when one has the draft capital to do so.  Considering it has been a quarter century since this team had a top-flight qb, surely it is not simply a sign of impatience to opt for the qb.  Future drafts and FA will undoubtedly offer opportunities to find players at other positions, while franchise qbs rarely become available.

[Adam727]

QB - 1 - Need a starter! (Round 1)

MLB 1 - Need a Starter! (Round 1-2)

WR 1 - Need at least one starter!  Possibly 2 (Round 1-2)

CB 2 - went from a strength to weakness with the loss of Gaines/Johnson.  Need a 3rd CB and possibly an eventual replacement for Davis who is on a 1 year contract and coming off injury (Tre looks good though!)

C 2.5 - Between Groy and the new guy we definitely have a back-up C and possibly a borderline starter.  Could use an upgrade here.

RG/RT 2.5 - Good enough for last year but nobody at either position is a quality starter

DT 3.5 - Need depth and an eventual replacement for Kyle

RB - need to start looking for a replacement for Shady, but I think there may be too many other needs to address this one this year.  I like our depth at this position.  

LT - Need depth with Glenn & Henderson gone.  Can you imagine Dawkins getting hurt in pre-season and needing to rely on Mills as our LT all year?  

 

LG, TE, DE, Safety, Kicker are the only positions that look like they are in good shape for this year IMO.  Looking at the holes on this team I think this roster requires a minimum 2 year rebuild from here.  Luckily we have a lot of draft picks this year and a lot of salary cap space next year.  

 

 

[Bangarang]

Cornering yourself into picking a specific position in a specific round is a great way to draft horribly. Pick the BPA in each round. 

[GoBills808]

40 minutes ago, Dr. Who said:

Articulate expression of a defensible view.  Too bad you feel it necessary to paint the opposing view as a bunch of irrational, whiny immediate gratification dopes.  One can just as easily make a plausible argument that this is an unusually rich draft for potential franchise qbs and that one should grab one when one has the draft capital to do so.  Considering it has been a quarter century since this team had a top-flight qb, surely it is not simply a sign of impatience to opt for the qb.  Future drafts and FA will undoubtedly offer opportunities to find players at other positions, while franchise qbs rarely become available.

Significantly more gracious response than the post deserved.

[vincec]

1. QB

2. See #1

3. LB

Other needs: DT, CB, OT, WR, OG

[greeneblitz]

qb, the end

[KingRex]

56 minutes ago, Dr. Who said:

Articulate expression of a defensible view.  Too bad you feel it necessary to paint the opposing view as a bunch of irrational, whiny immediate gratification dopes.  One can just as easily make a plausible argument that this is an unusually rich draft for potential franchise qbs and that one should grab one when one has the draft capital to do so.  Considering it has been a quarter century since this team had a top-flight qb, surely it is not simply a sign of impatience to opt for the qb.  Future drafts and FA will undoubtedly offer opportunities to find players at other positions, while franchise qbs rarely become available.

I agree actually that is possible that trading away a ton of draft resources that Beane and the braintrust dynamically accumulated to move up to #2 and take a QB MIGHT result in us getting a franchise QB that virtually immediately turns this team into an SB capable team MIGHT happen.

 

I just really doubt it given the age of our roster and significant holes we need to fill along with a franchise QB.

 

Its certainly defensible that a big failing of this team the past 17 playoffless years is linked to our lack of a franchise QB since Jimbo.

 

However, I think this QB shortfall has mainly impacted us in that we have consistently rushed QBs into a starting role before the players were ready (it started with the Bills waiting at least one year too late to look seriously at acquiring a replacement for Jimbo and then having made this error we made bad football moves to try to get the next Jimbo like:

 

A. Reached for TC by spnding an undeserved 2nd on him

B. Moving TC into a starter role before happy-feet were trained out of him (if they ever could)

C. Promised Flutie he would get a chance to win/lose the starting QB job on the field and then  making this a lie by signing RJ to a guaranteed deal.  When RJ proved to be injury prone and Flotie played as we expected, we then were forced to overpay for the QB position leading us to play rookies and youngsters on ST leading to the HomeRun Throw-up and a playoff drought.

 

Etc, etc, etc,.

 

I simply hope (and I agree argue with a bit to much dismay) that the Bills do not get so caught up in the endless and often futile search to try to acquire the next big QB thing at the cost of building a real TEAM.