Given the 3 year rule. Analyzing the Bills 2020 draft..

[JerseyBills]

Rd 1. Stefon Diggs - A+ no explanation needed. Elite #1 WR who now has 2 all pros as a Bill

 

Rd 2. AJ Epenesa- C- . maybe less. For the 54th pick in the draft he has proven to be a JAG and has limited impact on a consistent basis 

 

RD 3. Zack Moss - F.  not on the team anymore and was unimpressive since day 1

 

Rd 4. Gabe Davis - B- . For a day 3 pick he has contributed nicely.  He def isn't the answer as an every down WR but is still a legit threat and nice piece to have. Good value

 

Rd 5. Jake Fromm - F. Complete waste of a pick. Total bust

 

Rd 6. Tyler Bass - A . One of the best kickers in the game.  Great pick

 

Rd 6. Isaiah Hodgins - D- . At least for us he was as he was never given the chance to touch the field.  Kinda like the Wyatt Teller pick. Kid has been balling for another team. 

 

Rd 7. Dane Jackson- A . For a 7th rder he has been exceptional in the #2 CB role and even #1 role for part of this year. Great value. Great pick.

 

Overall a solid draft. Probably a B  overall , 6 of 8 picks were offensive in this draft counting Bass. We got 4 starters out of it, including Gabe, which likely changes. But nonetheless very solid. 

But the AJ and Moss picks were huge misses on day 2 and stick out the most. If we hit on 1 or both of them this would've been a great draft class

 

How would yall rank this draft?

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by JerseyBills

[mushypeaches]

I think it's a little harsh to give the Moss pick an F

He did play for the team for 2.5 years

 

The rest of it is pretty spot on, and overall it's a B, given that the 2nd & 3rd round picks won't be getting second contracts

[Success]

Would certainly be better if we kept Hodgins. I really had higher hopes for Epenesa - I thought he showed some flashes early in the season, but then kind of disappeared again.

 

Good write-up. Agree w/ most of the assessments.  Not a bad draft, certainly - but not great. We need hit on more picks going forward.

 

[Process]

C- ? We found AJ's burner.

[John from Riverside]

33 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

Rd 1. Stefon Diggs - A+ no explanation needed. Elite #1 WR who now has 2 all pros as a Bill

 

Rd 2. AJ Epenesa- C- . maybe less. For the 54th pick in the draft he has proven to be a JAG and has limited impact on a consistent basis 

 

RD 3. Zack Moss - F.  not on the team anymore and was unimpressive since day 1

 

Rd 4. Gabe Davis - B- . For a day 3 pick he has contributed nicely.  He def isn't the answer as an every down WR but is still a legit threat and nice piece to have. Good value

 

Rd 5. Jake Fromm - F. Complete waste of a pick. Total bust

 

Rd 6. Tyler Bass - A . One of the best kickers in the game.  Great pick

 

Rd 6. Isaiah Hodgins - D- . At least for us he was as he was never given the chance to touch the field.  Kinda like the Wyatt Teller pick. Kid has been balling for another team. 

 

Rd 7. Dane Jackson- A . For a 7th rder he has been exceptional in the #2 CB role and even #1 role for part of this year. Great value. Great pick.

 

Overall a solid draft. Probably a B  overall , 6 of 8 picks were offensive in this draft counting Bass. We got 4 starters out of it, including Gabe, which likely changes. But nonetheless very solid. 

But the AJ and Moss picks were huge misses on day 2 and stick out the most. If we hit on 1 or both of them this would've been a great draft class

 

How would yall rank this draft?

 

About the same

[JerseyBills]

3 minutes ago, Process said:

C- ? We found AJ's burner.

Lol. Ya you can certainly go lower. I mean he at least contributes somewhat and isn't inactive but very disappointing value pick.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

16 minutes ago, mushypeaches said:

I think it's a little harsh to give the Moss pick an F

He did play for the team for 2.5 years

 

The rest of it is pretty spot on, and overall it's a B, given that the 2nd & 3rd round picks won't be getting second contracts

It really is bizarre how Moss sort of fell off. If you look at the early part of last season, he was our best back. He was huge in the regular season win over the chiefs, including catching balls out of the backfield. 
 

No idea what happened.

[finn]

I'm less impressed by the Diggs trade than you. Yes, he has performed marvelously. But the Vikes took Jefferson with the pick we gave them. Now they have a younger, cheaper, arguably better player, as well as that fourth round pick we also gave up. 

 

You want an eventual starter with your second- and third-round pick. Neither Epenesa nor Moss are/were close. Davis and Hodgins were both very good (not great) picks. Dane and Bass were both great picks. 

 

Beane has built a solid team but hasn't provided enough elite players. Allen, Diggs, Miller, Milano, Hyde. That's it. With the holes the roster has, this isn't enough. 

[Don Otreply]

Yes a good draft, Diggs who was a great acquisition was result of a trade of multiple draft picks. 
 

 

[PBF81]

Fair, but I wouldn't give Beane credit for simply identifying a known proven talent at his position.  We were fortunate that Diggs was persona-non-grata in Minnesota.  Minny used that pick for Jefferson, quite arguably better than Diggs.  Also, we threw in a few other day-three picks.  

 

Good transaction, just saying that I don't use it to credit Beane for being able to draft well.  

10 minutes ago, finn said:

I'm less impressed by the Diggs trade than you. Yes, he has performed marvelously. But the Vikes took Jefferson with the pick we gave them. Now they have a younger, cheaper, arguably better player, as well as that fourth round pick we also gave up. 

 

You want an eventual starter with your second- and third-round pick. Neither Epenesa nor Moss are/were close. Davis and Hodgins were both very good (not great) picks. Dane and Bass were both great picks. 

 

Beane has built a solid team but hasn't provided enough elite players. Allen, Diggs, Miller, Milano, Hyde. That's it. With the holes the roster has, this isn't enough. 

 

Milano wasn't drafted under Beane.   Also not sure that they brought Hyde on board while Beane was in charge.  Did they?  He too came in 2017, but as a FA.  

Edited January 29, 2023 by PBF81

[frostbitmic]

I'd give Moss a D instead of an F,,, The F would go to McBeane on this guy.

 

Hodgins gets a C from me,,, Another failure of McBeane for being blind on this kid. He looks good in Jersey.

 

Dane Jackson I'd give a B instead of an A. He's played good, especially for a 7th round pick. I just think an A is too high of a grade.

 

Epenesa - He lost a ton of weight since he was drafted, maybe they should move him to LB or Safety.

[US Egg]

Hindsight grading? An exercise in the finger pointing of decisions made in the past.

 

People do like doing that.

[MrEpsYtown]

Rd 1 happy with the Diggs trade A+
 

Rd 2 Epenesa. Yuck. F. The pick here should have been Ezra Cleveland, who has turned into an excellent guard. AJ Dillon, Logan Wilson, Van Jefferson, Kristian Fulton or Jeremy Chinn would have been ideal as well. But with our OL need, Cleveland would be nice to have right now. I think they wanted Kyle Dugger and thought he would drop to them and got all screwed up when the Pats grabbed him early. 

Rd 3 Moss. F. Just yuck. I hate this pick, now and hated it then. The thing is that there isn’t a whole ton of talent that got picked right after him. Maybe Cam Dantzler, Devin Duvernay. Jonathan Greenard is better than AJ Epenesa and went right after. 
 

Rd 4 Davis - B. I am not a Davis guy, too many drops for me, but he outperforms most players picked in the 4th. They just missed on Kevin Dotson who is a very good guard for the Steelers and L’Jarius Sneed who is an important cog in the KC defense. But Davis pick was solid. 
 

Rd 5 - Fromm - F - A cheap long term backup for Josh? Sure its a solid idea. But they never committed to him and he was pretty bad. Wasted pick. They missed on Darnell Mooney, who has turned into an impact player on the Bears. 
 

Rd 6 Bass - B + Really good pick, but still a kicker. Jon Runyan, Quez Watkins, and Jordan Fuller went right after. An argument can be made for those guys. 

Rd 6 Giants legend Hodgins - F - again its an F because he did nothing for us. Yes we made a mistake releasing him, and I like him as a player but they had no plan to get him involved and its a failure. 
 

Rd 7 - Jackson- A - I am not a fan of his game, but to have made the contributions he has a 7th round pick is awesome and unlikely. 
 

UDFA we could have drafted instead of some of these guys:

P Tommy Townsend

QB Tyler Huntley

RB James Robinson

WR Marquez Callaway

G Calvin Throckmorton

WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine

UDFA we signed who is still around: Reggie Gilliam

 

Antonio Williams is still in the NFL and Trey Adams was an interesting pick until he retired. 

 

Guys from that draft who are now in our program:

WR Isaiah Coulter

WR Dezmon Paton

 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by MrEpsYtown

[Beast]

56 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

I'd give Moss a D instead of an F,,, The F would go to McBeane on this guy.

 

Hodgins gets a C from me,,, Another failure of McBeane for being blind on this kid. He looks good in Jersey.

 

Dane Jackson I'd give a B instead of an A. He's played good, especially for a 7th round pick. I just think an A is too high of a grade.

 

Epenesa - He lost a ton of weight since he was drafted, maybe they should move him to LB or Safety.

I don’t know if anyone deserves to be criticized over Hodgins. They say the best ability is availability and he didn’t meet that requirement his first two seasons and that led us to draft Shakir. If Hodgins was healthy his first 2 seasons the need for Shakir is probably out the window.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Beast

[Airseven]

There is no three year rule. Several rookies need to play, and have a reasonable impact, every season.

[djp14150]

1 hour ago, JerseyBills said:

Rd 1. Stefon Diggs - A+ no explanation needed. Elite #1 WR who now has 2 all pros as a Bill

 

Rd 2. AJ Epenesa- C- . maybe less. For the 54th pick in the draft he has proven to be a JAG and has limited impact on a consistent basis 

 

RD 3. Zack Moss - F.  not on the team anymore and was unimpressive since day 1

 

Rd 4. Gabe Davis - B- . For a day 3 pick he has contributed nicely.  He def isn't the answer as an every down WR but is still a legit threat and nice piece to have. Good value

 

Rd 5. Jake Fromm - F. Complete waste of a pick. Total bust

 

Rd 6. Tyler Bass - A . One of the best kickers in the game.  Great pick

 

Rd 6. Isaiah Hodgins - D- . At least for us he was as he was never given the chance to touch the field.  Kinda like the Wyatt Teller pick. Kid has been balling for another team. 

 

Rd 7. Dane Jackson- A . For a 7th rder he has been exceptional in the #2 CB role and even #1 role for part of this year. Great value. Great pick.

 

Overall a solid draft. Probably a B  overall , 6 of 8 picks were offensive in this draft counting Bass. We got 4 starters out of it, including Gabe, which likely changes. But nonetheless very solid. 

But the AJ and Moss picks were huge misses on day 2 and stick out the most. If we hit on 1 or both of them this would've been a great draft class

 

How would yall rank this draft?

 

 

you grade the players for the talent…not what they did for us. Giants took him because the knew more about him.

 

 

[Mango]

AJE is a D

Hodgins is an F. We let him hit waivers in favor of keeping guys like Taiwan Jones protected. That’s one of the larger gaffes in recent memory. 

 

I can’t give a draft a B where one pick is a traded player and the next 2 in the top 100 are underwhelming are trash. 

[prissythecat]

Man.  All those Fs for Jake Fromm.  That will hurt the feelings of JakeFrommStateFarm

[TheyCallMeAndy]

I honestly don’t understand the amount of hate AJE gets.

 

As the 3rd DE AJ had 6.5 sacks, 7 run stuffs, 10 QB hits, and 5 PBUs.

 

He isn’t perfect and can be inconsistent, as many young players are, but we really get a good amount of impact play from our #3 DE. 

[Mr Wild]

8 minutes ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

I honestly don’t understand the amount of hate AJE gets.

 

As the 3rd DE AJ had 6.5 sacks, 7 run stuffs, 10 QB hits, and 5 PBUs.

 

He isn’t perfect and can be inconsistent, as many young players are, but we really get a good amount of impact play from our #3 DE. 

 

Honestly its bc he was a top 55 pick

9 sacks in 3 years for a second round pick isnt ideal

[GunnerBill]

18 minutes ago, Mr Wild said:

 

Honestly its bc he was a top 55 pick

9 sacks in 3 years for a second round pick isnt ideal

 

If he had 3 seasons worth of his 2022 production we could have a conversation. He hasn't. He isn't a bust... but he was a strange pick and then project by the Bills. Picking a guy in round 2 then basically breaking his entire body and game down and seeking to rebuild him from the bottom up was an interesting and questionable approach.

[khlax3]

1 hour ago, TheyCallMeAndy said:

I honestly don’t understand the amount of hate AJE gets.

 

As the 3rd DE AJ had 6.5 sacks, 7 run stuffs, 10 QB hits, and 5 PBUs.

 

He isn’t perfect and can be inconsistent, as many young players are, but we really get a good amount of impact play from our #3 DE. 

I don’t think AJE Epenesa is great but as a 3rd or 4th DE he is fine. His first 2 years he struggled but the Bills wanted him to change his weight and how he plays so not sure how much blame you can put on him.

 

Now that he has finally got to where the bills want him he had 6.5 sacks as a backup. Guys like Jalen Phillips and Josh Allen (Jac) who many on this board say are very good both had 7 sacks as full time starters. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

1 hour ago, Mr Wild said:

 

Honestly its bc he was a top 55 pick

9 sacks in 3 years for a second round pick isnt ideal

What do you make of 14.5 sacks in 4 years by a top 10 pick?

[vincec]

4 hours ago, I am the egg man said:

Hindsight grading? An exercise in the finger pointing of decisions made in the past.

 

People do like doing that.

When you try and grade a draft right away people say that it's too soon to really know and when you do it later, it's an "exercise in finger pointing." So I guess just don't think about the draft at all?

[NoSaint]

5 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Yes a good draft, Diggs who was a great acquisition was result of a trade of multiple draft picks. 
 

 

And a lot of money. 
 

it’s hard to knock his rating down but giving up a 1st plus more and paying a vet contract, maybe not a full A+? 

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, NoSaint said:

And a lot of money. 
 

it’s hard to knock his rating down but giving up a 1st plus more and paying a vet contract, maybe not a full A+? 

 

Personally I don't think you should grade him as part of the draft at all. He was an A+ trade. But if you want to grade it through the prism of the draft you have to take into account the cost vs the controlled cost of a rookie. 

[KingBoots8]

6 hours ago, finn said:

I'm less impressed by the Diggs trade than you. Yes, he has performed marvelously. But the Vikes took Jefferson with the pick we gave them. Now they have a younger, cheaper, arguably better player, as well as that fourth round pick we also gave up. 

 

You want an eventual starter with your second- and third-round pick. Neither Epenesa nor Moss are/were close. Davis and Hodgins were both very good (not great) picks. Dane and Bass were both great picks. 

 

Beane has built a solid team but hasn't provided enough elite players. Allen, Diggs, Miller, Milano, Hyde. That's it. With the holes the roster has, this isn't enough. 

I agree JJ is obviously amazing but we had no way of knowing he would be there at 24. Honestly the Eagles SHOULD have taken him, and maybe the likelihood of JJ being gone was part of the decision to get Diggs. Honestly that’s what Josh needed - it may be one of the most balanced trades in NFL history. JJ gets a QB with some experience to bring him into the league nicely, Josh gets a WR who knows the game and will be a good mentor and reliable anchor for a 2nd year QB. 
 

the first on Diggs got you a guaranteed baller, as opposed to the chance at a guy who had a chance (though likely) to be great.

[Dopey]

Without the benefit of hindsight, I’ve liked every draft under Beane so far. Looking forward to the next draft. 

[Fetou]

1 minute ago, Bandito said:

You also have to consider with these grades who we passed on that went on to be an awesome player in the league.

 

Oh and I'd rather have Justin Jefferson than cry baby Diggy any day

Imagining the Cheeto dust flying off of those keys as you write this just lol

[Fetou]

Just now, Bandito said:

Imagine being so triggered you provide nothing to a thread and are now blocked?

Who is the crybaby now? I'd love to see you say a word to Stefon Diggs to his face cheetofingers

[Norcalbillsfan]

I like how everyone acts like Hodgins should have been an obvious starter with the bills, now that he found success where he is the ONLY wr on the giants that's healthy.  

 

People forget he was never healthy with the bills. Never really was able to prove anything cuz he couldn't get on the feild.

[DuckyBoys]

Hodgins is an F  Bills got nothing out of him  Epenesa is a D he did squat the first 2 years could even argue F  Davis is a A give 4th round pick  Kickers?  cmon man

[SCBills]

Diggs

Davis

Bass

Jackson 

 

This Draft gave us an elite WR1, high end WR3, top end Kicker and a CB2 capable player. 
 

That’s a solid draft.  
 

Id give it a B. 
 

Agreed that if either of their Day 2 picks panned out, this would be an A 

[Mr Wild]

6 hours ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

What do you make of 14.5 sacks in 4 years by a top 10 pick?

 

Wish Ed did more but...

 

DT is much different then DE

In the top 50 sack leaders in the last 3 years there have never been more then 7 DTs per season, DEs average about 24 of the top 50 per season.

 

That being said he shows flashed but its hard saying he lived up to the hype of the pick.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Mr Wild

[LeGOATski]

9 hours ago, finn said:

I'm less impressed by the Diggs trade than you. Yes, he has performed marvelously. But the Vikes took Jefferson with the pick we gave them. Now they have a younger, cheaper, arguably better player, as well as that fourth round pick we also gave up. 

It doesn't matter what the Vikings did. That doesn't affect the grade. It doesn't make Diggs a lesser player. If you wanna degrade it because they also had to give up a 4th, then fine.

 

You grade based on how it turned out for the Bills. Not how it turned out for the Bills + compared to other teams.

[RyanC883]

with a QB on a rookie contract, this draft was a bust.  Diggs was an easy "pick," and as others have pointed out, getting Jefferson would have been better.  

 

AJ is what makes this a really busted draft.  No way he should have been taken there, and there were many impact players after him.  He has not helped this team win games.  

 

Another huge miss with Moss.  Drafted to be a "power back", but too small to be a power back.  Just another Bean blunder.  

 

Davis: a good pick, but he's a 3rd WR, not a 2nd.  

 

Fromm: like Hodgkins and so many other draft picks seemingly on offense, he was never developed by the coaching staff.  

 

Bass:  A great pick who is likely a top 5 kicker in the league. Can win close games for us.  

 

Hodgins:  incomplete.  Like other players on offense (Teller), the staff gave up on him, only for him to play out on another team.  

 

Jackson: loved the pick, was surprised he made it to the 7th.  A good 2nd-3rd CB.  The type of player you need to round out a D.  

3 hours ago, SCBills said:

Diggs

Davis

Bass

Jackson 

 

This Draft gave us an elite WR1, high end WR3, top end Kicker and a CB2 capable player. 
 

That’s a solid draft.  
 

Id give it a B. 
 

Agreed that if either of their Day 2 picks panned out, this would be an A 

 

that's the problem, no impact from those day 2 guys.  Like ZERO impact.  Brings it down to a C for me, IMO.  Also, AJ was so bad as a rookie, that Bean doubled-down on this poor pick next draft by over drafting Groot and Basham.  

 

So many top end OL talent that Bean missed in these two drafts.  

[JGMcD2]

9 hours ago, MrEpsYtown said:

Rd 5 - Fromm - F - A cheap long term backup for Josh? Sure its a solid idea. But they never committed to him and he was pretty bad. Wasted pick. They missed on Darnell Mooney, who has turned into an impact player on the Bears. 

Lmao. Seems like a solid way to evaluate… cherry pick 1 player drafted in the same round that has some sort of NFL success. 

[MrEpsYtown]

4 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

Lmao. Seems like a solid way to evaluate… cherry pick 1 player drafted in the same round that has some sort of NFL success. 

Thanks. Kinda like cherry picking one line in an entire response to make your snarky comment. Awesome contribution. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by MrEpsYtown

[JGMcD2]

16 minutes ago, MrEpsYtown said:

Thanks. Kinda like cherry picking one line in an entire response to make your snarky comment. Awesome contribution. 

No… you did it for every pick. You just picked out 2-3 guys that have done better than the player we picked and ignored the other 30 or so that didn’t… that’s just now how it works. 
 

I poured hours into an actual analysis and have kept it updated over the years. Contributed plenty on this subject. 

[Zag20]

11 hours ago, finn said:

I'm less impressed by the Diggs trade than you. Yes, he has performed marvelously. But the Vikes took Jefferson with the pick we gave them. Now they have a younger, cheaper, arguably better player, as well as that fourth round pick we also gave up. 

 

You want an eventual starter with your second- and third-round pick. Neither Epenesa nor Moss are/were close. Davis and Hodgins were both very good (not great) picks. Dane and Bass were both great picks. 

 

Beane has built a solid team but hasn't provided enough elite players. Allen, Diggs, Miller, Milano, Hyde. That's it. With the holes the roster has, this isn't enough. 

That Diggs pick for the Vikings could have easily ended up being Jaylon Raegor which would have made it a laughable win for us.