GunnerBill

Oliver has been good when not hurt the last two years. Just needs to stay healthy. Groot definitely developed from yr 1 to yr 2. He isn't going to suddenly become an explosive, bendy pass rusher.... that isn't who we drafted. He wins with length and leverage he will never be "flashy". If you have a problem with that it is a Beane issue not a coaching one. And AJ had a decent year as a situational edge rusher last year. By far his best in the NFL. Still hasn't lived up to his draft selection and I am not sure even now I loved their "slim down and change your game" plan with him but again that is on Beane / McD not Eric Washington. The one guy I will give you has been bad and shown no progress is Boogie. I just think they blew the evaluation on him myself. He is the exact NFL player I expected him to be.

He had multiple mistakes in that Beats game, it wasn't just the Offside. He lined up in the wrong position once as well and played completely the wrong gap a couple of times. BUT he also flashed his explosiveness, natural bend and get off. There is definitely something there with him. He is one to watch in camp and pre-season. Because his mistakes are all correctable, whereas what he has can't be taught.

I wouldn't take Zay in round one myself. Someone will. But I wouldn't. I think he is so specific a player. He is small. He is light. And he has extremely short arms. It was one of the reasons Khalil Shakir fell to round 5 last year. 29 inch arms. Flowers is 29 and a quarter. The list of NFL receivers who have succeeded with arms that short is almost non-existent. I think the arms mean he will struggle to get off any type of press coverage, so you are limited to slot receiver and I think if you pigeon hole him into being a traditional slot you are not going to maximise his skillset. He is a guy you need to scheme in space. Lots of gimmick stuff, bubble screens, double pass concepts, end arounds and sweeps, pitch and toss plays, routes out of the backfield. If he went to San Francisco with Shanahan he would be a star, but unfortunately for him he will probably land somewhere where a team tries to pigeon hole him intona position rather than just saying "get it to him in space". I don't have a separate grade for Bills players but when I am watching someone I am thinking about scheme fits. Because that hurts the value of someone like Zay for me. He has to be used in such a specific way.... and a lot of offenses you look at and think "not their style, not their identity." For the Bills specifically a few traits they seem to value above others by position group: - route running for receivers; - athleticism for offensive linemen; - size and blocking ability at tight end; - length at edge; - length at corner; - smarts and coverage ability at safety.

It shouldn't because everyone knows they want a receiver and this class doesn't have many size guys, especially early, and the one it does have plays small in any event. I am sure the Bills would love to add a high class speed/size guy. They just are not in this draft.

McDuffie definitely being further ahead is true. I did actually have McDuffie just ahead of Elam. They were CB5 and CB6 for me. But my point has never been to say "Elam is the better player that's why the Bills picked him." It has been to say McDuffie doesn't fit their profile and they were not about to take him if KC didn't. Something people I talk to closer to the team than I have since confirmed. I'm actually hopeful on Elam. I thought he was better than I expected as a rookie. Hopefully he can make a jump this year. Kinda feel like the entire success of the 2022 draft is on his shoulders because even if Cook takes a step it is at a low value position and I have very little faith in Bernard.

Because you asked about him yesterday and I know @Alphadawg7 likes him too as an option at #27... I notice WalterFootball has added him to the Bills list of private meetings over the past couple of days. Haven't seen that reported anywhere else but if true add Harrison to Hyatt and Mazi Smith as realistic picks the Bills could make at #27 if the board fell as it does here.

The other thing with Ngakoue is he can't (and won't) play the run. He is quite happy to just let a guy go past him. It creates questions about how much he wants it and coaches get to the point where they say "screw the sacks this guy doesn't care." At a buy very low number though he does have a skillset that without Von we don't have.

I think JSN will go top 15 and no I wouldn't trade up that high. If Addison gets within 3 or 4 picks I might do it. I'd pick Quinten Johnston if he fell to #27 as well, and I could live with Jalin Hyatt. Round 2 I suspect the guys I like enough to select in that round will all be gone. Maybe Rashee Rice or Cedric Tillman standing pat at #59 if one of them is there. Round 3 I think Xavier Hutchinson migh be there for us and he is my favourite of that tier of receivers so if we haven't addressed it by that point I'd take a swing on him, but I think he is more a developmental player than a day 1 impact player.

I just don't know that a team will jump into the 1st. Who are they jumping over? I get the 5th year option argument but I look at the top of the 2nd and I see teams who either already have their guy or will have drafted one round 1. No. But nor is it relevant here.

Milano is freaking smokin' that's why. Forget the girls. He'd do great with the boys.

I do know. Elam was their guy.

Over Josh? For sure.

They didn't.

Yes!

Packers Falcons Giants

Maybe. But I wouldn't bank on it. I just don't think it is how they operate. Beane is very straight up.

That's my guy! Although I should make clear you can be in a committed, romantic relationship without monogomy...

I don't think Johnston was ever invited as I have read it. People expected him to be but he wasn't. Hadn't seen the full list though, thanks. I'm wondering now about White because he is a similar scheme fit as the big end in Philly's 4-3.... is #10 in play for him? Because he is the odd one out there in the sense I think we have all known for some time the rest of those guys are locks. Would make sense if the league thinks he is in play for a pick as early as top 10....

I like the idea of him as DT much more. If you drafted him to play 3T the learning curve is much shallower than if you want him to be an edge rusher.

Yea I think Bergeron is a RT or guard. I think Harrison could maybe play LT down the line but agree he is a RT only guy as a rookie too and even Dawand Jones (who I wouldn't take in a month of Sundays in round 1) is a RT only guy.

Yea Hyatt is a vertical only receiver really. I don't think the Bills are going OL in the first. I'd consider Harrison if it were me, but putting the pieces together of the Beane pressers, the effusive talk about Spencer Brown and the fact they have been very light on OL visitors so far that we know about I don't think it is their plan. He is in the clump of players (after Trenton Simpson) that would be in consideration by my personal board (I'd have Simpson as clear BPA but then Hyatt, Harrison, Mayer, FA-U, Sanders, Campbell and Antonio Johnson in a little cluster) but not sure it is how the Bills will go.

Yea, interesting. I am probably a little biased against mocking him in the first because I don't love him as a prospect. He is #49 for me. But I mocked Mazi there who is #50. White actually reminds me a little bit of Travon Walker last year who I didn't have a 1st round grade on he went 1st overall. If he is invited to the Draft I think the chances are he is going day 1. See that on Hyatt makes sense, and you may well be right there.... but you'd have to not think Mazi Smith was either and that they are going to go against the grain and pick guys they haven't met with.

Again that's version 1 from 3 months ago. Page 6 for the update. Mine is consistent with the way they have operated.

Yea I said somewhere earlier I think he will go before that but tight ends are tough to slot. My thinking was the first potential tight end slot is Green Bay but he doesn't block and as we just saw with Gesicki in Miami in that scheme, you gotta block. Detroit at #18 is possible, but if they value tight ends why trade away Hock? The Seahawks are probably the other one where maybe I should have considered it more than I did. The Chargers have to go receiver I think... and then you hit a run of Mark Andrews, TJ Hockenson, Evan Engram and Darren Waller until you get to Dallas. So it becomes tricky. I think he will be gone by #26.... but I don't know where too. Might be a surprise team who just say "screw positional value or need I gotta take him."

Yes, but based on what you think not what they think. And that is the point. Mocking isn't about what you think or want. It is about trying to understand the way teams think and what they want. The only name that has been thrown out there so far that I think "yea that feels like a legit alternative direction that they might go based on their history" is Mazi Smith. And to sort of prove my point about how the exercises are different... I am pretty low on Mazi Smith. He is #50 on my board. I would be utterly pissed with that as the pick. But I think that is a legit different direction that I could sensibly have gone in this mock.