Grade the 2024 Bills draft class

[TFBillsfan]

Initial reaction to our 2024 draft class?

[GunnerBill]

C-. I think there were some good picks but overall slighlty underwhelming

 

[Process]

B. Solid, not spectacular. Don't have an issue with any individual pick, but as a general philosophy would like to see safety/RB taken later, CB/DE taken earlier. 

 

Would have also liked to see them take a risk and move up in Rd 2 for Mitchell, or Rd 4 for Franklin. 

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

F if I'm being honest.

 

If you gave me a list of potential draft hauls before the draft I would have graded this an F.

 

I like Van Pran, but if you told me the Bills let the Chiefs go before them so they could move up into the 3rd to draft a DT...

 

Even the RB, which I think drafting one at all is foolish, was taken right before the guy I wanted.

[H2o]

The Good:

I like VanPran-Granger. I think Ulofoshio is a good replacement for Dodson. I think Solomon was a solid pick at that point.

 

The We'll See:

I understand the Coleman pick, and don't hate it at this point. Still kind of hesitant though. I actually had seen some people talking up Grable a couple weeks before the draft so maybe that's solid. People seem to like Bishop. Maybe he can be Poyer 2.0 for us, the young Po, according to his background of coming up to the LOS and athletic traits. At least that's what I read. Carter seems to be held in high regard from what I've read well. Supposed to be a quality rotational piece behind Ed O, even sharing the field to get interior pressure on passing downs. 

 

The Bad:

Didn't like the Davis pick, especially with Estime still on the board. He's a one contract RB. He'll be 28 when his rookie deal is up. Would rather have had Kimani Vidal as well. Looking at our CB depth and the only guy we take is Hardy at the end of Round 6. Clayton is camp fodder. 

 

I would have handled the draft differently than Beane/McDermott did. Much different. 

 

 

[Warriorspikes51]

B -   Which means it’ll end up being an A because I know nothing

[LABILLBACKER]

C+

Only because Bishop, VPG and Davis should be good contributors.  Absolutely hated the Coleman pick when there were better options. 

[JJGauna]

This was never going to be a sexy draft. We have cap issues especially with dumping Diggs. Picking from the end of the first our options were limited. There were plenty of holes to fill and Beane moved around and made some quality picks. He deserves a B+.

[Bill51390]

We did what we should have done. Would it have been nice to sell the farm and trade up for one of the top receivers, yeah. But we did the smart thing and looked at needs and the future of the team. 

Edited April 28 by Bill51390

[GASabresIUFan]

I give Beane and company a solid B+.  There are things to like about every single pick, and I like that we filled most of holes in the roster.

 

I think we have at least 3 potential starters in this class.  Coleman will start this season and depending on how camp goes, I think Van Pran and Bishop will push at worst for immediate PT.  If either Edwards falters, Van Pran and Bishop will become starters this season.  Bishop has size and speed.  Van Pran allowed only 1 sack in 1300 passing attempts while at UGA and Coleman had 20 TD catches the last 2 years.  This stats stood out to me when I realized that Shakir, Kincaid and Diggs only had 9 TDS on 246 targets from week 7 through the playoffs.  Having someone that can go up and grab a ball in the red zone and end zone is a huge upgrade for our passing attack.

 

I didn't know much about Solomon and Ulofoshio before the draft, but hard to argue with drafting the FBS sack leader in Solomon and a Butkus Award finalist in Ulofoshio in the late stages of the draft.  If Solomon can have a similar impact in the pros as he did in college (a big if), it will help Beane move on from Miller.

 

I also love the Davis pick.  He is excellent catching out of the backfield, can make tacklers miss and get tough yards.  He will thrive in Buffalo.  Carter is by all accounts a really good football player in the 3 technique which is something we needed depth at.  He is also a smart kid, a team leader at Duke and they say he is good against he run.

 

Both lineman are developmental but are huge and athletic.  We'll see if the CB (Hardy) can play CB in the NFL, but he is fast and could easily out battle Hamler for the kick returner job.  

 

Biggest complaints are Coleman lack of speed (although his in game speed is very good) and our failure with 10 picks to add a speed receiver option to help stretch the field.

 

I'm a little surprised at Beane made all 10 choices.  With the Diggs trade, the pick 144 for the Bears 4th in 2025 and compensatory picks, I think the Bills now have as many as 12 picks in 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 28 by GASabresIUFan

[EchoBills]

B+  Obviously, time will tell but they maneuvered and got extra picks and addressed areas of need. I'm optimistic 

[Kmart128]

I like the picks. They got good value up and down the board. But our WR core looks horrible.

[Goin Breakdown]

Give it a couple years 

Edited April 28 by Goin Breakdown

[The Jokeman]

The only pick I truly disliked was Travis Clayton. I mean he's a major project and can't even contribute on ST as can't see him as a return blocker. As I stated in the draft thread, he's got great athleticism but just don't see him panning out at all. 

[BuffaloRebound]

We got 7 of Dan Jeremiah’s top 117 prospects.  I get it that people are still butt-hurt about losing Diggs and Beane didn’t take the WR they wanted, but this was a really nice draft and we have a lot of draft capital in 2025.  

[Freddie's Dead]

C- for me.  Beane only added two offensive skill positions out of 10 picks.  I can't believe in a draft this deep for WR talent, the Bills continuously passed on getting that 2nd WR.  Maybe one of the dozen or so UDFA WRs we signed will actually make the 53.....

[MJS]

PFF: B-

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2024-nfl-draft-grades-all-32-teams#BUF

 

USA Today: B

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/nate-davis/2024/04/27/nfl-draft-grades-2024-team-classes-ranking-cowboys-steelers/73378215007/

 

AP News: B

https://apnews.com/article/nfl-draft-grades-2024-334ef0dd263c4a7fc8d0c4c8e300e730

 

Sports Illustrated: C-

https://www.si.com/nfl/2024/04/27/2024-nfl-draft-team-grades-analysis

 

Looks like some of the other major sites haven't released team grades yet, I guess.

[GASabresIUFan]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2024-nfl-draft-winners-and-losers-eagles-steelers-commanders-load-up-more-iffy-moves-by-panthers/

 

Winners - Buffalo Bills

Quote

It's been a wild offseason for Buffalo and finding Josh Allen some more help was paramount in the wake of the Stefon Diggs trade. They did just that early on the second night of the draft, grabbing Keon Coleman after the FSU product fell to the second round. The Bills only lacked a first-round pick because they moved down multiple times in the draft; I'm on board the Bill Belichick bandwagon when it comes to getting worked up about trading with the Chiefs -- worry about your own team first. Ray Davis out of Kentucky is a thumper who should fit well in Joe Brady's more run-heavy approach. The Bills took some fun Saturday fliers on the offensive line with Sedrick Van Pran-Granger out of Georgia, Tylan Grable out of UCF and Travis Clayton out of ENGLAND. Bunch of big dudes with upside who should provide good depth and maybe grow into something more. Cole Bishop in the second round should help replenish the very important safety spot in Sean McDermott's defense. 

 

[Allen2D̶i̶g̶g̶s̶TBD]

I think Coleman could have fallen to the 3rd round if the Bills didn't take him at #33 and we somehow got only one receiver from a historically deep draft at the position. 

 

However, I do like most of the other picks and I think Ray Davis will be a beast.

 

 

[dpberr]

I give it a D. Weird strategy this year. To me, seemed like a strategy solely focused on cost controlled depth of decent football players and lottery tickets.