HappyDays

Dane Brugler has a source that says the Cowboys would take Michael Mayer if he is there at 26:

Or if we take say Hyatt or Addison in the 1st round and also obtain Hopkins, we could immediately trade Davis for maybe a 3rd round pick. Davis's presence on the roster shouldn't stop the Bills from doing anything at the position, even multiple high value investments. Replacing Davis and getting value for him now before he inevitably walks next offseason is arguably the best possible outcome.

I also posted this in the draft rumors thread - I have a credible source that says the Bills really want Jordan Addison. So your preferred 1st round pick may come to fruition. In the scenario that you mocked I believe we would trade above the Giants because we know that WR is a big need for them. Much like they did with Elam last year they would take the small trade up to ensure they come away with a player they really desire.

Potentially the Saints. I know they signed Derek Carr but he is 32 years old and he isn't the caliber of QB that stops you from drafting one. The Saints could conceivably trade him next offseason and save money against the cap in 2024. For a team picking below them that really wants a QB, the risk of waiting may be too great. My logic for the Raiders being that trade up team is that everyone in that regime is now on the hot seat. Do they really want their do or die season to be in the hands of Jimmy Garrappolo? Hooker has good pocket passer size and his best traits are in the rhythm/quick passing game. I could see McDaniels liking that skill set. You figure if Garrappolo isn't getting it done, maybe Hooker steps in late in the season and leads them to some ostensibly meaningless wins, but those wins at least get the fanbase and ownership excited. That could be enough to buy McDaniels and company another year.

What so you think about a team like the Raiders wanting to jump the Saints and draft Hendon Hooker? That's been a trendy outcome in some mock drafts that I've looked at. In fact it's exactly what I did as the Raiders in the TSW mock draft. The Raiders have a whopping 12 picks in this draft, and we only have 6, so it would make sense. A simple trade would be we trade back to pick 38, and in exchange they give us pick 100 and pick 109.

Ngakoue isn't an every down rusher, but we don't need him to be. Bring him in as a sub pass rusher who gets a few good rushes per game. Kind of like the role Jordan Phillips had for us in 2019, rack up a lot of sacks on relatively few rushes. He's bounced around a lot of teams. Went from Jax to Minnesota, they traded him to Baltimore soon after signing him, then he signed with Las Vegas, shortly after that he got traded to Indy, and now he's an unsigned free agent. Apparently he's kind of a weird guy and didn't click with teammates in the Colts locker room, and he has a tendency to freelance on his rushes. But you figure for a cheap rotational piece you can manage his issues and just use him to rack up sacks and QB hits. Rashaan Evans is the exact kind of MLB I think this team needs to sign before the draft. Cheap and gives us a floor above Bernard, Dodson, and Spector. So if we don't draft an upgrade we at least have a known capable starter on the roster.

Ha that is funny. My source I know for a fact has connections on the team. Actually the fact that ECB reported those rumors on Twitter gives me more confidence that he has a credible source. My source has said that if the Hopkins rumors are true, the process hasn't gotten far along that he would have heard about it from anyone he knows in the building.

Per the same source that told me Poyer's exact contract details before they were announced, and that Shaq Lawson would be signed for the vet minimum before that was announced, the Bills apparently really want Jordan Addison. McDermott is good friends with the Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. That's where Addison played before transferring to USC. We know McDermott leans on his friends in college coaching to make draft decisions (notably Dave Aranda). Connecting the dots there it would make sense. Two other non-draft rumors from the same source - the Bills have been in contact with Yannick Ngakoue and Rashaan Evans. My guess is that if they sign either of these players it would happen after the draft.

Eagles Lions Chiefs

I actually think in a weak draft it's more likely he trades up a few spots. We know Beane likes to come out of the draft with a legitimate 1st round graded player. It's why he traded up slightly for Elam last year. If a 1st round graded player drops to maybe 20, I think he goes up and gets him. The name I keep coming back to is Quentin Johnston. Elite physical traits, fills a need, high football character. I'd be shocked if Beane didn't have a 1st round grade on him. Last year Beane traded down several times in the 2nd round which indicated he had no 2nd round graded players left on the board. The year before he had a trade down in place in the 2nd round but stood pat and drafted Basham because their grade on him was too high to pass up. So I believe that if Beane does not trade up and there are no 1st round graded players left on the board, he will try as hard as he can to trade down before making a selection.

The Raiders select Nick Saldiveri, OT, Old Dominion. We need to bolster the right side of our line. Saldiveri projects as a tackle that doesn't need too much development so he can compete to start right away. The Falcons @RyanC883 are on the clock.

As usual I selected the player that I think the Bills would actually select, not my own preference. With this selection of choices I would guess Jordan Battle. We've met with a lot of DBs so I think Beane wants to take a safety on day two or three to solidify the future of that group. I'm not confident he will draft a guard before day three. A center maybe, if he feels like the end is near for Morse, but at guard he has Bates and McGovern locked up and Edwards as solid depth behind them.

The Chiefs had an elite OL with Andrew Wylie as the weak link at RT. Even worst case scenario if Spencer Brown doesn't progress at all, it's an easy position to work around. I still want us to draft OL once or twice at some point, RT just isn't my preference in the 1st round.

Well he isn't going to be a contested catch specialist in the NFL. But that's fine. Contested catch ability is overrated anyways in the pros. He projects as a vertical separation + YAC specialist. Those are much more important traits IMO. I would compare him to Christian Watson from last year's draft, but stronger and harder to bring down in the open field even if you manage to catch up to him. And unlike Watson he produced big time against top college teams, namely Michigan in the playoff semifinals. After weeks of reading up and watching film on draft prospects, I've come to the conclusion that my preferred 1st round outcome for the Bills is Quentin Johnston drops far enough that we can use our 3rd round pick to trade up to draft him. No way a player with elite physical traits that fills a need and plays a premium position is going to drop to us at 27. It's a weak draft anyways so I want us to take that swing. The bust factor with Johnston is real, I just think his high football character and physical traits makes it unlikely.

Yep, in fact Cover 1 studied this and found a very high correlation between pre-draft meetings and the positions we draft: Statistically we should expect WR to be the first pick and not much focus on LB or OL. I would also just about guarantee we will draft a TE at some point considering we've been connected to so many TE prospects.

My unpopular opinion - Darnell Wright. It's nothing against the player. I just don't want to draft a RT only in the 1st round. Then we have a possible scenario where Spencer Brown takes a big step in his development and we either have our 1st rounder on the bench or two good players at the same position. Maybe Wright will be a great player but I'll take the risk of missing on a RT.

You're doubling down on this? How about you name the three Pro Bowl offensive linemen from each team and see if you can spot the difference. The Eagles nearly broke the NFL single season sack record held by the 1984 Bears. Against the Chiefs offensive line they had... zero sacks. What are we even doing here?

Basically saying that based on our pre-draft interviews and visits, WR is the most likely pick in the 1st round.

You're joking with this, right?

"Good" isn't good enough. If you look at almost any Super Bowl winner from this millennium, they had either an elite offensive line or an elite group of skill position players, or in some cases both. The Bills have neither. We have the QB. We are missing the other elite piece that most championship contenders have on their offense. We still have a chance to get to that level. I hope Beane does what it takes. Giving Davis his opportunity to be the #2 was at least logical after his showing in the 2021 playoffs. Doing the same this season after his performance in 2022 is inexcusable IMO.

I'd definitely be good with that. I just want a sign that Beane knows Davis is not good enough to be our #2 target and the skill position talent is below that of other championship contenders. Harty and Sherfield have upgraded the #4 and #5 WR roles. But after Diggs our top end potential is too low to keep up with the rest of the league. Acquiring Hopkins or OBJ or Jeudy would have required us to overpay. Just once I'd like Beane to accept a single overpay on offense to put us over the top.

That's disappointing. Getting one of Hopkins, Jeudy, or OBJ is the only way our offense could have kept up with some of the other contenders. Beane should have done what was needed to make that happen. Another season of Davis as the #2... ugh. I'm holding out hope that Beane will make a draft weekend trade for Hopkins or Jeudy if he can't get his target in the 1st round. If they come away with Quentin Johnston, or at least Addison or Hyatt, I'm good with that. If they don't draft a WR in the 1st round and head into the season with our WR room as it stands today it just isn't good enough IMO.