Alphadawg7

I already posted this in the AJ draft pick thread, but that thing is a beast and I think this deserves more eye balls as its quite telling. Its their opinion on AJ Espensa, and its quite impressive and high praise from some pretty good college players. FROM HIS PEERS: That's what we saw. But what we heard during interviews with the offensive players who faced him was a very different story. Michigan left tackle Jon Runyan, who provides deeply technical insights into his opponents, said Epenesa was tied with Ohio State's Chase Young as the two toughest defenders he ever faced. "A.J. exploits the weakness of what I play," Runyan said. "I'm a vertical setter, and the weakness of a vertical set is what A.J. loves to do: bull rush with a one-armed stab. He's able to catch me leaning a lot, catch me off guard. Early in the [2019 Michigan vs. Iowa] game, the first three or four drives, I wasn't really keying on his shoulders. He started running downhill, and I wasn't able to get my hips down and react to the bull rush." Purdue tight end Brycen Hopkins also singled out Epenesa as one of the toughest defenders he ever faced, adding a most unusual compliment to his scouting report: "I thought he was a great player. He was physical, but at the same time he's a cool guy. He wasn't a jerk out there. ... So I thought he was a great player, great guy. He came off the ball with an explosive power." And then there's teammate Tristan Wirfs, one of the stars of Friday night's offensive line workouts. Wirfs didn't hesitate to name Epenesa as the toughest defender he ever faced. Sure, he may be a teensy bit biased, but players rarely single out teammates when answering "toughest opponent" questions. "We had some battles," Wirfs said. "When I met with the Broncos, they said a scout was there [at Iowa practice] and I didn't lose to A.J. So I said, 'I'm glad you were there on that day.'" "It goes back and forth, me and him," Wirfs added. "He was one of my best friends on the team. We will try to help each other get better. If he sees something that he beat me on, he'll tell me what he saw. And when I beat him, I tell him what I saw." So Epenesa earned glowing endorsements from a first-round-caliber teammate and two of the guys who had to block him, and those were just the remarks we heard while making the interview rounds. If you don't believe Runyan, Hopkins and Wirfs, there's also the production across two seasons against major competition. And also there's the tape, which shows opponents redesigning their offenses to corral him. At one point against Minnesota, for example, Epenesa was chipped by the tight end before a route, and then chipped by a running back before a route, with the left tackle backing up to engage Epenesa after he worked his way through that whole bag of chips. (It's at the 2:09 mark on this cutup.)

This thread seems to be going well... LOL As expected, my answer is also NO. Brown is a gonna eat this year with Diggs drawing the top coverage now. I dont get it...Is AJ Green elite at playing WR on Madden? Because in the NFL he just doesn't play much given he is always hurt.

We have the deepest DL in the league IMO. And it could also prove to be the best DL in the league, but we need to see it on the field first. We still have still key questions answer to know if we can be one of the best, if not the best DL in the NFL next year. Is Harrison going to pick up where he left off before injury? He was quietly playing as our best DT when he got hurt. What does Addison and Hughes have left in the tank as they enter the later years of their respective careers. Can they keep up their level of play? What role does Espensa have as a rookie, and how will he perform? Does Ed Oliver take another step forward? All of these key questions will impact the overall ranking of or DL obviously, but I am quite optimistic on all the above questions. My offseason answers to the above are" Yes, I think Harrison comes back strong, always liked that pick and think we were just starting to see what kind of player he can be. I think at least for this season (assuming it happens), both Addison and Hughes will maintain a similar level of play, especially with our depth allowing a rotation to keep them fresh. AJE I think pretty obviously starts the season in a rotation with guys like Addison, Hughes, Jefferson and Murphy still ahead of him. I expect them to bring him a long similar to how they worked with Oliver last year where with hard work will earn a bigger role in that rotation as the season goes on. I am not convinced he will start at any point this year (barring injuries of course) because we are so deep at DE right now with 2 pretty good players ahead of him in Hughes and Addison. But I do see him getting increased reps in the rotation between his versatility and the age of the guys ahead of him. YES. I think Ed Oliver is going to have a break out year on this DL. So much talent around him and I think we see Oliver emerge as a beast. So if you ask me, I think we have a great shot at finishing the year as the best DL in football. Until these questions are officially answered, its just potential right now. But I do feel its quite fair to label us the deepest D Line in football. As someone else pointed out, our projected 2nd unit could literally be a starting unit on most teams and still be pretty good.

Beane wasn’t exact on how many picks ahead it was. He just guessed 3 or 4 picks, so could be Muti. He just knew it wasn’t that far ahead of us. Also, saw some others think it was the 3rd. But Beane said he was real nervous about the Moss pick, was hoping he would last. I don’t think it was the third he was trying to trade up for an OL. He said the wait for Moss was more stressful than the wait for Espensa

Doesn't matter where Sweeney was drafted, that information is completely irrelevant now. All that matters is what he is doing on the field, and last year he showed promise. So this idea that he cant succeed now because where he was drafted just has no value anymore. Knox and Sweeny both showed a lot of upside, especially Knox. They still have a veteran presence in Kroft who didn't really get to show what he might be able to add last year due to being derailed by an injury for most the season. And yeah, if he cant stay healthy then there isn't much value he adds. But here is the thing: This draft, the TE class was probably the weakest position in the class. What TE are they going to add that has more upside than Knox and Sweeney? No way one of the TE's were going to be BPA when AJ Espensa was on the board. We needed a RB more, and Moss was BPA on the board. So its easy to criticize not taking a TE, but the reality is there wasn't one to take nor were they the BPA when we picked. And once you got past round 3, there was nothing available that is a better prospect than our own two TE's. I dont think they have any intention on cutting Knox or Sweeney, and Kroft is here one more year. Thats 3 TE's right now...where does a late round TE fit in? Again, my original comment was about you saying its been neglected...signing and drafting 3 TE's last year alone says otherwise. And two of them showed upside last year. I have no doubt what so ever that if Knox doesn't take a big step forward this season and lock down the starting spot, that TE will be high on the priority list next offseason as Kroft will also be a FA.

I get that, but all that matters is what this regime has done. Everything prior is irrelevant, and this regime has drafted and signed TEs. So just saying they haven’t been neglecting it

I was gonna write a draft recap, but don’t really need to now as I would have said just about all the same things, although you know more about Davis than I did as I’ve only really seen highlights. The one spot I would be slightly different on, is AJ Espensa. I was a little bit higher on him than you. While I wanted a WR at 22, my second choice was Espensa. All of the top OL in this draft said he was the best and toughest defender they ever faced. He is a complete edge player IMO because he can get to the QB but he’s also a beast against the run. He may not be a guy who will challenge for league lead in sacks, but he’s a guy that will likely be in the 8 to 12 range each year but also have a lot more tackles than most edge guys and really be an impact on run defense. And for me, I would take a guy like that all day long over a finesse pass rusher who may get a few more sacks but offer little in run defense or tackling.

No disrespect, but you can’t say the TE position has been neglected for years when just last year Bills drafted two of them, including trading up back into the 3rd to get one. Is it set? Yes and No. Yes being they have 2 young TEs that showed a lot of promise they are developing right now, but no as they are still only entering their 2nd year. So yeah, not a surprise they didn’t make a move for a TE. We have a vet in Kroft finally healthy to go along with 2 promising second year players, especially Knox. I’m sure they would have if something made sense, Beane is never afraid to add competition to the mix or make a move he feels makes us better. But this wasn’t a good draft for TEs at all, might be the worst position in this draft IMO. I could still possibly see Beane making a trade too for either Njoku (Browns signed Hopper and drafted TEs) or Howard (Gronk and Brate their) if the price is right. But at the same time, won’t surprise me at all if he doesn’t given they like Knox and Sweeney’s potential.

I doubt any GM in the NFL would take Glennon right now over Fromm. Glennon is awful. You’re not helping your case here with stuff like this. Im not saying Fromm is gonna be great, I don’t really care to be honest. But Glennon is awful and there is reason Jake Fromm has a job right now and Glennon does not.

Spot on in regard to this being a new era. It’s amazing what a great FO and coaching staff can do for a franchise in relatively short order. I honestly believe Beane to be one of the best GMs in the NFL. I would even argue he is at the very least top 3 and will have a case for the best GM in football if Bills make the SB or even AFCC game this year. Thinking about where this team was when they took over and where it is now is crazy. IMHO we are the third best team in the AFC right now before the players hit the field. KC obviously has the top spot until someone proves otherwise, and Baltimore has a narrow grasp on 2 from us, but we proved last year we can beat them as long as we don’t beat ourselves. And we are better goin hi to this year than when we last played them, so I think gap is close. There are some other tough teams potentially in the AFC like the Steelers for instance, but I think if anyone was to do an honest ranking it’s hard not to put the Bills at 3. Cant remember any year since the Super Bowl era where we had a legit claim before the season as a top 3 team. What I love most about the team Beane built is how close all the players are with each other, the types of players they built around, etc. This team just feels special and honestly can’t think of a better player suited to lead this team than Josh Allen, a better coach suited for this team than McD, or a better GM for this franchise than Beane.

All good brother

Its unnecessary.

Brady was the worst combine in history. Physical tools are nice, but they are not everything. Peyton, Brees, and Brady...3 of the GOATS, all are not physically gifted. NO, not saying he will be one of those guys, just saying its not everything. And in the 5th...the value was too good here. And more importantly, Barkley looked terrible last year, so a young prospect to bring some competition there for the backup is fine by me in the 5th.

Did you watch Barkley play last year? How is this not easy to understand. Great value at this spot and now backup QB has competition. And if Fromm shows promise on the field, could potentially be traded later like NE has done many times since they had Brady.

At the risk of sounding redundant. No.

Just my two cents... This isn't a good post. So he failed for not trading up for a RB with a big fumbling problem? He failed for not trading up for safeties despite having the best safety duo in the NFL already on our roster, one of which was just extended? He failed because he didn't trade up for a WR to be at the very best the 4th WR on our depth chart and after he already made a big trade to get Diggs? And he could have taken Dobbins, but saw too much value in AJ Espensa and still got an exciting RB prospect after.

Love this pick! Amazing draft 1st - Diggs 2nd - Espensa 3rd - Moss Amazing.

Diggs and brown aren’t playmakers??? Lmao

Im not saying not to take a WR there, but people are upset about AJ as if we NEEDED a WR there. DE was a bigger need and AJ was the BPA on the board IMO.

Yeah it makes no sense. Dude was a beast and huge value where we got him and probably the biggest need on the roster with our starting edge guys 32 and 34 respectively.

BUMPING this post I made earlier...read what the top OL LINE PROSPECTS who FACED him had to say about AJ.

Why do we need a 4th WR to sit on the bench for next 2 years?

Read my other posts about what all the top OL guys in this draft said about him a few pages back.

I would call Jags and offer our 5th right now, if Beane has not already.

What did the best offensive line prospects in the draft have to say about AJ...well you can read here and see what this is a GREAT pick: That's what we saw. But what we heard during interviews with the offensive players who faced him was a very different story. Michigan left tackle Jon Runyan, who provides deeply technical insights into his opponents, said Epenesa was tied with Ohio State's Chase Young as the two toughest defenders he ever faced. "A.J. exploits the weakness of what I play," Runyan said. "I'm a vertical setter, and the weakness of a vertical set is what A.J. loves to do: bull rush with a one-armed stab. He's able to catch me leaning a lot, catch me off guard. Early in the [2019 Michigan vs. Iowa] game, the first three or four drives, I wasn't really keying on his shoulders. He started running downhill, and I wasn't able to get my hips down and react to the bull rush." Purdue tight end Brycen Hopkins also singled out Epenesa as one of the toughest defenders he ever faced, adding a most unusual compliment to his scouting report: "I thought he was a great player. He was physical, but at the same time he's a cool guy. He wasn't a jerk out there. ... So I thought he was a great player, great guy. He came off the ball with an explosive power." And then there's teammate Tristan Wirfs, one of the stars of Friday night's offensive line workouts. Wirfs didn't hesitate to name Epenesa as the toughest defender he ever faced. Sure, he may be a teensy bit biased, but players rarely single out teammates when answering "toughest opponent" questions. "We had some battles," Wirfs said. "When I met with the Broncos, they said a scout was there [at Iowa practice] and I didn't lose to A.J. So I said, 'I'm glad you were there on that day.'" "It goes back and forth, me and him," Wirfs added. "He was one of my best friends on the team. We will try to help each other get better. If he sees something that he beat me on, he'll tell me what he saw. And when I beat him, I tell him what I saw." So Epenesa earned glowing endorsements from a first-round-caliber teammate and two of the guys who had to block him, and those were just the remarks we heard while making the interview rounds. If you don't believe Runyan, Hopkins and Wirfs, there's also the production across two seasons against major competition. And also there's the tape, which shows opponents redesigning their offenses to corral him. At one point against Minnesota, for example, Epenesa was chipped by the tight end before a route, and then chipped by a running back before a route, with the left tackle backing up to engage Epenesa after he worked his way through that whole bag of chips. (It's at the 2:09 mark on this cutup.)