Astrobot

The reason I like Beckham is his versatility. He'll be what Chris Williams was supposed to be. I don't see Martin as a RD1#9 pick, but I think something's up that puts Martin in the Bills' mix. He's one of my favorite linemen (Matthews and Urschel are also on the radar).

Yes.

I've updated the visit list to include Ebron, Crichton, and Jeremy Hill, and eliminated the RD6 pick we sent to Tampa Bay for Mike Williams. -Lots of lower RD1 picks; I think we're trading down in RD1 into the BAL range. You are correct; I'm just listing the Big Board rank of the visitors the Bills bring in. The CMD is the Computer Mock Draft at DraftTek. Analysts like me fill in a Google Doc of the team's needs, and computer does the draft being careful not to reach too far on our Big Board. It tries for a P1 need first, and if the reach is too far, it takes the P2 need, and if the reach is too far, it takes the P3 need until all needs are picked. Analysts critique the selections in the first 2 rounds; I am the editor of those comments as well as the RB Analyst.

At spot #35 on our list, Martin is considered equally-good at LG and OT, either right or left side. At spot #24, David Yankey is rated #1 OG above Martin on most sites, but Yankey is a steep dropoff if used at OT (slipping to #88). Versatility has value. Martin gets the visit. You have it almost right. CBS Sports' Dane Brugler spoke with 5 NFL personnel men, 3 of which said Notre Dame OL Zack Martin would be the first Senior Bowl prospect selected. It got misinterpreted because of the OTs who opted not to play.

Word is they want him for the CB/S position a la Aaron Williams, expecting him to add some bulk. Gragg was targeted 6 times inside of 10 yards at PIT in Week 10, caught 4, dropped 2, caught one for a TD. Other than that, at JAX Week 15 he caught one pass for 28 yard gain. That's it.

http://www.drafttek....raft-Round1.asp #DraftTek’s CMD places recent #Bills visitors here, with their Big Board rankings in rank order. My best guess for the pick is in bold. I'll try and keep this thread up to date with this post. If you know of visits or interest or personal workouts, let me know. -Astro [uPDATED 4/11/14: Added ASJ, Hyde, and Aikens] Each of the Bills’ past four 1st round picks has made pre-draft visits leading up to the event. RD1#9- OT Jake Matthews (3), WR Watkins (4), TE Ebron (13), WR Evans (18), WR Beckham (22), DE Scott Crichton (31), OT Zack Martin (35), OLB Shazier (34) CB Roby (36) RD2#41- RB Carlos Hyde (44), TE Seferian-Jenkins (53), CBFS Bashaud Breeland (59),TE Niklas (63) RD3#73- RB Jeremy Hill (103), RB Seastrunk (110) RD4#109- WR Latimer (126), RB Andre Williams (138), RB Terrence West (147), RD5#149- S Ahmad Dixon (155), CB Philip Gaines (152), CBFS Walt Aikens (161) RD6#185-(Traded For WR Mike Williams) RD7#224- CB Ross Cockrell (185), OG John Urschel (214), ILB Preston Brown (217), OT Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (224) UDFA RB Terrance Cobb, Cumberlands

I think Niklas has you covered there. Best blocker plus most 20+ pass receptions among TEs. I've said before that Niklas might end up being first drafted TE.

I love the idea. let me pitch it to my boss!

I don't like Amaro for what the Bills see in a TE. Amaro's almost always lined up in the slot--no deception, he's going out. I also don't like his competition--his conference was comprised of weak defenses. This is required reading if you want to compare TEs. I keep ending up with Troy Niklas. http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/cfb/46280/349/peshek-te-metrics Two things I like (and Schwartz might like) about Crichton: "powerful first step, impressive initial momentum to attack blockers and bully them backwards like a battering ram". And second, nonstop effort. Dane Brugler has Crichton #23 of his top 50 players.

Schwartz had DTs Haynesworth, Fairley, Suh. His DEs were Hughes-like, and Wide-9 guys were fastest in space, 1:1 on a OT with no help. Dixon could be the Thunder guy and Seastrunk could be the Lightning guy...

BUF trades CJ Spiller and their RD1#9 to Houston for the first overall pick. 1 1 Khalil Mack DE43 Buffalo (or Clowney) 2 41 Jordan Matthews WRF Vanderbilt 3 73 A Seferian-Jenkins TE Washington or Niklas TE Notre Dame (I prefer Niklas). Tiny Richardson? 4 109 Lache Seastrunk RBF Baylor --- Here's your Lightning... 5 149 Terrance West RBF Towson --- ...And your Thunder (Andre Williams also there) 6 185 John Urschel OG Penn State --- smartest OG in the draft 7 224 Cornelius Lucas OT Kansas State* *Lucas was midrounder but stress fracture in left foot, suffered during pre-Combine and didn't work out for NFL teams prior to draft. Developmental prospect, has OTs' longest arms (36 3/4"), 10" hands, and size (6-8, 316).

This ^ ^ ^ Well-said. Versatile is the buzzword in the modern NFL. Don't you think Bill Belicheat knows how to take advantage of Spikes?

In the Top 200 players and the top 17 LTs, Lewan is the LEAST likely to play another position besides LT. He'll be fine for LT, and he's the third-best LT on our board albeit with a 106-pick drop if played at his second-best position. We are not moving Cordy Glenn. CIN or NO or SD are the most-likely to want a non-versatile LT, but they all want similar positions (CB, LT, DT). CIN at #24 has the choice of Dee Ford and Verrett, SD at #25 takes the player CIN doesn't or takes Lewan, and then NO at #27 wants a CB, and Fuller's the temptation.

Dude...Do you love her?!?!??? For the next 40 days, there is nothing else to do, but imagine and anticipate. I’ve been following the trade to #1 rumor (Clowney makes most sense, Manziel makes no sense), but I think Whaley lets the draft come to him at 9. Depending on who is there at 9, and, say, the 49ers want to give us half of their 6 Top 100 picks for a downfield receiver to pair with Crabtree, I think Bills would score major players. Bills have done it before with Cordy and Kiko. I’ve simulated the trade with the 49ers, but I’m also looking at Rams and Browns. BILLS trade their 9 to SF for their RD1#30, RD2#56, RD3#77, RD5#170 SF takes Cooks, Evans or Lee 30-Zack Martin OG Notre Dame 41-Taylor Lewan OT Michigan 56-Davante Adams WRF Fresno State 73-A Seferian-Jenkins TE Washington 77-Chris Borland ILB Wisconsin 109-Terrence Brooks FS Florida State 149-Ty Zimmerman SS Kansas State 170-Michael Schofield OT Michigan 185-Rashaad Reynolds CB Oregon State 224-Connor Shaw QB South Carolina BILLS drop to #13 and pick up RAMS RD2#44 STL wants Watkins and Pryor at 2 and 9 1 13 Buffalo Mike Evans WRF Texas A&M 2 41 Buffalo Taylor Lewan OT Michigan 2 44 Buffalo Lamarcus Joyner FS Florida State 3 73 Buffalo Troy Niklas TE Notre Dame 4 109 Buffalo Anthony Steen OG Alabama 5 149 Buffalo Max Bullough ILB Michigan State 6 185 Buffalo Brock Vereen SS Minnesota 7 224 Buffalo Connor Shaw QB South Carolina BILLS trade their 9 to CLE for their RD1#26, RD2#35 1 26 Buffalo Zack Martin OT Notre Dame 2 35 Buffalo Shayne Skov ILB Stanford 3 73 Buffalo A Seferian-Jenkins TE Washington 4 109 Buffalo Lache Seastrunk RBF Baylor 5 149 Buffalo Cody Latimer WRF Indiana 6 185 Buffalo Brock Vereen SS Minnesota 7 224 Buffalo Connor Shaw QB South Carolina

You'll like tomorrow's CMD, then!

I think our draft needs are: Playmaker WR (Hogan, Easley, Kaufman, Barden, Elliott are 2015 FAs) Playmaker TE (Lee Smith, Moeaki and Caussin are '15 FAs) At least 2 DE (Mario and Hughes are the only guys on depth chart) ILB that's 3-down, faster than Spikes ROT Eric Pears, Chris Hairston are '15 FAs, Hairston needs competition FS Searcy is ’15 FA, Leonhard is FA right now Trade Down for more players My Value Board for Top Rounds: RD1 - Matthews, Evans, Ebron, or trade down RD2 - Skov, Morgan Moses, Jordan Matthews, Kelvin Benjamin, Donte Moncrief, or Troy Niklas RD3 - DE (Chris Smith, Marcus Smith, Demarcus Lawrence), OG (Jackson,Dozier), RT Mewhort, S Bucannon RD4 - DE Kareem Martin, RB Lache Seastrunk, RT JaWuan James, QB (McCarron Boyd) RD5 - RB Andre Williams, WR Brandon Coleman, S (Loston, Dixon, Dion Bailey), TE (Lynch, JoeDon Duncan) RD6 - TE (Grimble, Blanchflower) RT (Michael Schofield), S ( Sunseri, Lewis, Zimmerman) WR (Ward, TJ Jones, Michael Campanaro) RD7 - FB/TE Gator Hoskins, FB Jay Prosch I'd love your input. I'm using a new CMD#9 mock that will be released Sunday 3/30 here. ~Astro

Help on offense? Coming right up! 1-Mike Evans Texas A&M WRF 2-Jordan Matthews Vanderbilt WRF 3-Troy Niklas Notre Dame TE 4-Billy Turner North Dakota St ROT 5-Andre Williams Boston College RBF 6-Chris Watt Notre Dame OG 7-Logan Thomas Virginia Tech QB

Would you rate ROT higher than P3? Maybe P2? I don't see LOT being much higher than P6--Cordy Glenn is the man. My other beef is that Lewan is rated high as a LT but WAYlower if you draft him as a RT (see the P2 Column showing Lewan's 106 slots lower if you take him for RT). http://www.drafttek.com/Top-100-NFL-Draft-Prospects-2014.asp

Okay, here are my current Bills needs as submitted to DraftTek: P1=None. If you submit a P1, you can only have one. It's too limiting. P2=WR, DE43 (TE is not as big a need as a true #1 WR or a DE43, as we now have 2 on roster) P3=ROT, TE, ILB, S (Ryan Clark 2011 Pro Bowl Safety, is paying a visit so this may change shortly) P4=RB, OG, OC P6=QB, LOT, DT, CB, P P9= FB, Speed WR, OLB, PK Let me know if you see it otherwise. Astro

Great point! Jackson + Britt= Healthy Stevie! DeSean Jackson=32 TDs in 6 yrs starting (avg 5.33), Britt 16 in 4 yrs (avg 4.0), StevieJ 2010-2012 TDs=28 in 3 years (avg 9.3)

I fully agree; I am not changing the Bills' Positional Needs here because of ANY signing they've made thus far, which have all been depth or stopgaps (Spikes is a great run defender, 1st on PFF's list of ILBs, but they'll pull him on 3rd and long--if they draft Skov in RD2 then Spikes' 1-year contract will look like genius). Hughes is one of only two DEs on the roster, so I think there will be two DE's in this draft. Hughes is tailor-made for the Wide-9 DE that Schwartz uses on passing downs, and will be used in their "4-3 Under" ( Schwartz drafted DTs with attitude and DEs early with Lions and Titans (Lions’ DT Ndamukong Suh, DT Fairley; Titans)

Not sure about their Big Board's placement of AS-J ( who was there at 71) or some of the WRs. Although they are deep at WR in the draft, the draft has only a handful of the bigger WRs. That pick will have to be by RD3 at the latest.

FanSpeak's Simulator now lets you choose whose Big Board you want to use. I like Drafttek's, of course, but Optimum Scouting is a good choice. Using the positionals in the OP, I went with 1-Jake Matthews RT 2-Calvin Pryor SS 3-Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE 4-Brandon Coleman WR 5-McCarron QB 6-Andre Williams RB 7-Gator Hoskins FB/TE

We still have a FA move or two to make, plus they can re-sign one or two (say, Leonhard). BPA that I'd take is Skov, or if Niklas dropped to the 3rd they'd take a look. Interesting that they are looking at AWilliams and Seastrunk among the RBs. I thought they would go thunder and lightning with Spiller-Hyde or Hill. I'm now trying to put names with the needs above. In my OP I listed all of the guys who are FAs in 2015.

Round 1 S 6 on roster but Searcy is ’15, Leonhard is FA Pryor OT Eric Pears, Chris Hairston Matthews WR Hogan, Easley, Kaufman, Barden, Elliott Watkins TE Lee Smith, Moeaki and Caussin. Ebron Round 2 S 6 on roster but Searcy is ’15, Leonhard is FA --- OT Eric Pears, Chris Hairston Moses, Tiny Richardson, Henderson WR Hogan, Easley, Kaufman, Barden, Elliott Robinson, Matthews, Benjamin TE Lee Smith, Moeaki and Caussin. Niklas Round 3 DE 2 on the roster, Mario (’18), Hughes(’15). Jackson Jeffcoat, Chris Smith, Marcus Smith, Demarcus Lawrence RB Jackson, Spiller, Dixon and Anthony Allen Hyde OG Roster is 10 interior guys, 6 are up in 2015 Gabe Jackson, Dakota Dozier S 6 on roster but Searcy is ’15, Leonhard is FA Deone Bucannon OT Eric Pears, Chris Hairston Mewhort WR Hogan, Easley, Kaufman, Barden, Elliott Bryant, Moncrief TE Lee Smith, Moeaki and Caussin. Niklas?, Fiedorwicz Round 4 DE 2 on the roster, Mario (’18), Hughes(’15). Kareem Martin RB Jackson, Spiller, Dixon and Anthony Allen AWilliams, Seastrunk S 6 on roster but Searcy is ’15, Leonhard is FA Dion Bailey OT Eric Pears, Chris Hairston JaWuan James WR Hogan, Easley, Kaufman, Barden, Elliott Mike Davis, Devin Street TE Lee Smith, Moeaki and Caussin. Marcel Jensen QB Thad Lewis, Dennis Dixon FA year is 2015. Mettenberger, Brett Smith, Round 5 OT Eric Pears, Chris Hairston Joel Bitonio, Cameron Fleming S 6 on roster but Searcy is ’15, Leonhard is FA Craig Loston, Ahmad Dixon, WR Hogan, Easley, Kaufman, Barden, Elliott Devin Street , Cody Hoffman TE Lee Smith, Moeaki and Caussin. Arthur Lynch, JoeDon Duncan QB Thad Lewis, Dennis Dixon FA year is 2015. Tajh Boyd Round 6 DT Bryant is 2015, says Dareus is 2016? Jay Bromley, Ryan Carrethers TE Lee Smith, Moeaki and Caussin. Xavier Grimble, Rob Blanchflower OT Eric Pears, Chris Hairston Michael Schofield S 6 on roster but Searcy is ’15, Leonhard is FA Isaiah Lewis, Ty Zimmerman, Vinnie Sunseri WR Hogan, Easley, Kaufman, Barden, Elliott Eric Ward, TJ Jones, Michael Campanaro Round 7 FB Summers and Rodriguez FA year is 2015. Jay Prosch, Gator Hoskins S 6 on roster but Searcy is ’15, Leonhard is FA Vinnie Sunseri