Trent McDuffie - CB to Chiefs

[atlbillsfan1975]

So with their two first round picks the Chefs took Tarron Johnson and AJ Epenesa? And gave away picks. I can live with that. 

[SCBills]

McDuffie and Gordon were two guys I was prepared to have to talk myself into.  
 

Not so with Elam.  Fits the profile of everything Beane said we needed in the secondary.   McDuffie and Gordon, not so much. 
 

 

[LeGOATski]

5 minutes ago, SCBills said:

McDuffie and Gordon were two guys I was prepared to have to talk myself into.  
 

Not so with Elam.  Fits the profile of everything Beane said we needed in the secondary.   McDuffie and Gordon, not so much. 
 

 

Yep. I was never convinced the Bills would take McDuffie even at 25.

 

It makes sense that they would want to get ahead of the Cowboys for Elam. Jerry loves his speedy CBs. And I heard Jerry looked mad when the Bills took him.

[What a Tuel]

21 minutes ago, DieHardBillsFan said:

If you DON'T think Beane went into the draft with a set plan then you're out of YOUR damn mind.

 

When that trade happened and the pick went in, guaranteed there was a bunch of oh $#!%s mentioned in that war room. And then they traded a 4th to, we all like to believe, get their guy. You can say, a 4th wouldn't have made the team anyway, or that trade WAS to get their guy, then it was the right thing to do... But pretty sure they didn't expect it. Most everyone didn't! That is the point of the post...

 

Just curious why you think the Bills would still have traded up if the Chiefs took their guy though? Thats what the topic was asking, did the chiefs take our guy? Consensus seems to be no, but it did appear to make Beane nervous that someone else might leapfrog us and take Elam.

 

I think Beane ensured we got the guy we wanted at the cost of a 4th rounder, and that he did not lose out on who he wanted (outside of trading up to the top guys)

Edited April 29, 2022 by What a Tuel

[NewEra]

 
 

no

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, DieHardBillsFan said:

Did the Chiefs just poach our pick and we had our front office get desperate?

 

Name a single corner with sub 30" arms that the Bills have had on the roster or even the practice squad since McDermott took over. Good luck.

[Rochesterfan]

1 hour ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

Apart from Yolo's contention that McDuffie is a slot corner and Elam isn't - none of the vitriol towards the contention that the Bills trade up was a direct reaction to the Chiefs trade up has attempted to explain why the Bills traded up. 

 

BTW - my post was in no way unsupportive of the Bills. I'm just interested in why the trade up.

 

Do we know the Bills were not looking to trade up prior to the KC pick.

 

I think they knew they had 1 CB left with a first round grade and were looking to move up, but they were not going to deal with NE - I think they were looking at as high as 19/20 with 22 or 23 being the sweet spot.
 

I also think that KC was able to deal with NE and drafted a CB, but not the one the Bills wanted.

 

Either way I feel like the Bills got the better fit for them.  Elam is bigger, faster, and excelled in a press zone coverage.

 

McDuffie was smaller - with shorter arms (below the threshold that most teams want) and fit better in KCs scheme.

 

My guess is both Buffalo and KC heard rumors of teams wanting their players and both moved up.  Whether related or not - I don’t care.  
 

Elam will look good in Buffalo colors rather than Dallas colors.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Rochesterfan

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, Malazan said:

 

You certainly have a 1 track mind...

 

..on a scratched CD

Ok you deserve kudos, this got me laughing hahaha

[NewEra]

Elam > mcduffie as a fit for the Bills.  No doubt.  
 

Glad the chiefs passed on Jermaine Johnson…..only to have the jets make one of the best moves of the night trading up for him. Now we have to face him 2 times a year for 5+

 

 

[colin]

6 hours ago, Rochesterfan said:

 

Do we know the Bills were not looking to trade up prior to the KC pick.

 

I think they knew they had 1 CB left with a first round grade and were looking to move up, but they were not going to deal with NE - I think they were looking at as high as 19/20 with 22 or 23 being the sweet spot.
 

I also think that KC was able to deal with NE and drafted a CB, but not the one the Bills wanted.

 

Either way I feel like the Bills got the better fit for them.  Elam is bigger, faster, and excelled in a press zone coverage.

 

McDuffie was smaller - with shorter arms (below the threshold that most teams want) and fit better in KCs scheme.

 

My guess is both Buffalo and KC heard rumors of teams wanting their players and both moved up.  Whether related or not - I don’t care.  
 

Elam will look good in Buffalo colors rather than Dallas colors.

 

 

 

That's an interesting take, seems plausible to me (but i know very little).  Why do you think McDuff is a better fit for KC vs Elam for Buff, if ya don't mind me picking your brain.  tx

[GunnerBill]

8 minutes ago, colin said:

 

That's an interesting take, seems plausible to me (but i know very little).  Why do you think McDuff is a better fit for KC vs Elam for Buff, if ya don't mind me picking your brain.  tx

 

 

Personally because McDuffie is a sticky, scrappy, coverage guy with shorter arms. That combination translates better to scheme that plays some man and will move him about and allow him to play inside some - I think he could be an elite nickel. Spags does that. They already mix Fenton and Sneed sometimes on the boundary and sometimes in the slot, and that sort of hybrid role is a better fit for McDuffie's skillset. The Bills don't do that. Their boundary corners stay on the boundary, their nickel is part of their base defense and the guys play their roles. Elam is longer and has better range for zone coverage and is strictly an outside guy. 

[Thurman#1]

7 hours ago, DieHardBillsFan said:

If you DON'T think Beane went into the draft with a set plan then you're out of YOUR damn mind.

 

When that trade happened and the pick went in, guaranteed there was a bunch of oh $#!%s mentioned in that war room. And then they traded a 4th to, we all like to believe, get their guy. You can say, a 4th wouldn't have made the team anyway, or that trade WAS to get their guy, then it was the right thing to do... But pretty sure they didn't expect it. Most everyone didn't! That is the point of the post...

 

 

Then you shouldn't have used the word "desperate." There's no reason whatsoever to think any desperation was involved.

 

Might they have activated a plan to try to move up when they only had one guy they thought of as first-round material left on the board? Sure. Does that mean they were desperate? No, it doesn't. Could easily have been logical calculation-based.

[Rochesterfan]

41 minutes ago, colin said:

 

That's an interesting take, seems plausible to me (but i know very little).  Why do you think McDuff is a better fit for KC vs Elam for Buff, if ya don't mind me picking your brain.  tx

 

@GunnerBill hit it.  McDuffie to me based on size and arm length will play best inside with the ability to rotate to boundary corner as needed.  He has the athletic ability to play either, but not the true size.  
 

KC has traditionally rotated their corners and played match-up games - sliding a boundary guy inside and rotating a slot guy out to play match-ups.  I think McDuffie fits best in that role where he can be allowed to get favorable match-ups.  He also profiles to me more as a technical CB like Wallace was and the Bills did not want that again.  Finally, as a outside boundary CB - the size and arm length were a disadvantage in covering WRs and although McDuffie is very talented - I think that risk exposing him in the Bills scheme.

 

Elam on the other hand has all of the traits the Bills want - Size, Speed, Arm Length, etc.  He projects (and played) as a boundary CB at Florida (outside and lots of 1:1 man).  He even played lots of Short Side Boundary- which opens a CB up to lots of crossing routes with huge space and he had the speed to stick to the WR.  Picture Hill on the TD late in the 4th corner crossing the field - Wallace could not cover that, but Elam at under 4.4 can.  I think this pick gives the Bills flexibility to play various zone/man and even man up coverages like they were doing before the White injury.

 

What we won’t know is where the Bills ranked the 2 on the board.  I just believe as the Bills did not have McDuffie in as a top 30 visit and they did have Elam (last visit before the draft) - that Elam was their pick all along.  I think teams like the Bills and Chiefs had been getting rumors of the next wave of CBs starting around 20 and both wanted up to be safe.

 

Beane said he talked to guys as high as 20 and 23 was were the deal got done.  KC was able to get 21 because it was a division rival making that hard for the Bills to swing.  
 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by Rochesterfan

[Rochesterfan]

7 hours ago, DieHardBillsFan said:

If you DON'T think Beane went into the draft with a set plan then you're out of YOUR damn mind.

 

When that trade happened and the pick went in, guaranteed there was a bunch of oh $#!%s mentioned in that war room. And then they traded a 4th to, we all like to believe, get their guy. You can say, a 4th wouldn't have made the team anyway, or that trade WAS to get their guy, then it was the right thing to do... But pretty sure they didn't expect it. Most everyone didn't! That is the point of the post...

 

This is just plain laughable.

 

Beane said they had been looking to move up as high as 20 - which would have happened before the KC trade and pick. 
 

I am pretty sure it was not a - we did not expect it moment - they had been working the phone lines with Pittsburg that got their QB, they were not getting NE, then it was GB and Baltimore and they got the deal done.

 

I am not sure who you think didn’t expect this - lots of talk prior to the draft about moving up several picks to get their guy.  The problem is some people thought that move up would be for a falling WR - they did not fall.  It was to get their new CB1b.

 

 

 

[MrEpsYtown]

I love McDuffie. And I did think he fit our scheme really well. We will never know if they liked Elam more than McDuffie. I am annoyed that he wound up with KC, because so I badly want to route for the kid, and now I can't. But I do agree with what is being said in this thread that Elam seems more of the flavor of corner they are looking for. Kansas City will probably move McDuffie around a bit and he will be a pain to play against, but I am good with how things fell. 

[colin]

2 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

I love McDuffie. And I did think he fit our scheme really well. We will never know if they liked Elam more than McDuffie. I am annoyed that he wound up with KC, because so I badly want to route for the kid, and now I can't. But I do agree with what is being said in this thread that Elam seems more of the flavor of corner they are looking for. Kansas City will probably move McDuffie around a bit and he will be a pain to play against, but I am good with how things fell. 

 

now that he's on KC, you must see him as your enemy.

 

That Greek kid from Purdue went to KC late in the first.  I had hopes for him to do well before, now i can't stand the sight of him!

[MrEpsYtown]

5 minutes ago, colin said:

 

now that he's on KC, you must see him as your enemy.

 

That Greek kid from Purdue went to KC late in the first.  I had hopes for him to do well before, now i can't stand the sight of him!

 

Agreed. I have some level of pride as a Greek American here, and now I have to hate the dude. At least I still have Giannis. 

[colin]

8 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

 

Agreed. I have some level of pride as a Greek American here, and now I have to hate the dude. At least I still have Giannis. 

 

i wasn't born greek, but my wife is and we go to a greek church and are pretty active in the community.  if i see some of the alterboys with their zoomer perms rocking KC Karlafitis jerseys im going to scowl at them and make them stand uncomfortably straight when i get the chance.  they will have NO IDEA what they are doing wrong.

[BritBill]

Not sure if it's true or not but I'm hearing the Chiefs won't be able to play in any of the international games if McDuffie is on the roster. As it's illegal to take small arms out of the country. 

[cle23]

8 hours ago, Baba Booey said:

And three inches shorter. Height and arm length. Small corner!!!!

 

Right, Elam is tall for a corner.  That doesn't make McDuffie small.  I don't understand people trying to trash another player just because someone else drafted him.  McDuffie played outside his entire college career, but suddenly he is a slot only corner.  He played 12 snaps at slot last year, while 593 on the outside.  Who knows if Buffalo would have drafted him, but he was generally regarded as a better prospect than Elam.  Who has the better career has a million other factors involved.  

[ddaryl]

3 minutes ago, BritBill said:

Not sure if it's true or not but I'm hearing the Chiefs won't be able to play in any of the international games if McDuffie is on the roster. As it's illegal to take small arms out of the country. 

[MrEpsYtown]

19 minutes ago, colin said:

 

i wasn't born greek, but my wife is and we go to a greek church and are pretty active in the community.  if i see some of the alterboys with their zoomer perms rocking KC Karlafitis jerseys im going to scowl at them and make them stand uncomfortably straight when i get the chance.  they will have NO IDEA what they are doing wrong.

 

Just call em a bunch of malakas and they will understand lol! 

[DieHardBillsFan]

2 hours ago, cle23 said:

 

Right, Elam is tall for a corner.  That doesn't make McDuffie small.  I don't understand people trying to trash another player just because someone else drafted him.  McDuffie played outside his entire college career, but suddenly he is a slot only corner.  He played 12 snaps at slot last year, while 593 on the outside.  Who knows if Buffalo would have drafted him, but he was generally regarded as a better prospect than Elam.  Who has the better career has a million other factors involved.  

Thank you for bringing some thought provoking conversation to the post! Many have failed at this.

Edited April 29, 2022 by DieHardBillsFan

[BuffaloBillsGospel]

13 hours ago, DieHardBillsFan said:

Did the Chiefs just poach our pick and we had our front office get desperate?

 

 

Here is the press conference from Beane on why he traded up to get Elam, he was the last player on the Bills board that had a first round grade.

What i loved hearing, towards the end ... At the end of the meeting between bills brass and Elam, the Bills asked him if he had any questions for them and his reply was.... What makes CB tre White such a special player. He also asked what they liked about ZElams play and what he needed to improve on, pretty impressive questions imo.

 

Edited April 29, 2022 by BuffaloBillsGospel

[Punching Bag]

18 hours ago, DieHardBillsFan said:

Guess I wasn't really expecting any real insight from this post. I support Beane and he did what was needed after KC took that pick. 

 

The pick Kaiir Elam was the player who visited the Bills.  Bills just moved up to ensure CB wanted was picked by them.