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According to some of the ol’ anonymous scout quotes I read, the big knocks on Shakir are the 29” arms (too short for a lot of teams, apparently) and the sense that he’s mainly just average at everything with no real elite skills or traits. Also, that some teams wouldn’t know how to best utilize his skill set.

They certainly have a theme with the type of players they prefer to pick. High character, hard workers, humble, team first, smart, etc. And they’re not afraid to look at a player not only for what he is now but what he can be with their training and coaching. I’m pretty psyched for Shakir. Like a lot of their other picks, I’m sure they’ll work him in slowly. Everything I’ve read about him sounds super positive. I saw scout quotes that thought he could go as high as mid-second round, but I also saw scout quotes that said he was completely average at everything and the scout wouldn’t even consider him for a UDFA signing. Whatever, opinions are all over the place this year. The main knocks I saw on him were the short arms and teams being unsure of how to best utilize his skill set. I mean, if those are really the only two things keeping you from adding this guy to your team then, I dunno, you’re kind of a dummy. It certainly appears he has enough positive traits to compensate for the areas he lacks in. Bernard is also intriguing. Super under the radar pick but he’s super smart, productive, if a little undersized. Beane will go for a player who has all the traits you want except elite size. I remember when they drafted Milano, he was like 6’0” 219 coming out of college and had played safety early on at BC. I thought he was too small to play linebacker but he’s been nothing but a perfect fit in this system and a solid player. Heck, the most athletically gifted player with elite physical tools (Edmunds) is the one that gets dragged non-stop by a lot of the online Bills fan community. Basically, if you’ve got the desire to get better along with the other traits I named above plus at least average athleticism, then you’ve got a chance to make it on the Bills roster. They’re gonna maximize what they already do well and do as much as they can to improve in the areas that most need it.

One big ol’ poopershootin’s

I read some scout quotes on this pick. Unfortunately, a really mean quote stuck out. A scout said, “I love his dad, he’s been a defensive coach for 30 some years. Luke ain’t *****, though, he’s nothing.” Swell, lol. I know it’s “how the old scouts talk” and all that, I’ve just never been a fan of describing another human so poorly. There are better ways to word “I don’t think he has what it takes” ya know?

Rankings are absolutely all over the board this year. I’d imagine in most years it’s like that except there are typically 5-10 consensus elite players plus a good 15-20 consensus first round guys. That wasn’t the case this year. No real elite players. Opinions are everywhere. Bob McGinn, a football writer for like 30 years does some real insightful draft pieces over on Tyler Dunne’s GoLong website. McGinn has a ton of sources he speaks with and he uses scout quotes in his draft profiles. I just looked at the feedback he got for the Bills picks this year. A guy like Shakir was all over the place with the scouts. One said he loved the kid and thought he could go as high as mid-second round. Another scout said the dude was too slow with short arms, won’t make it at all and wouldn’t even consider him as a undrafted free agent. It’s just kinda whacky there can be such differing opinions. On one board I saw, Elam was their top rated corner and rated the 14th best prospect overall. On another board they had him rated 49th overall. It really is a crapshoot and a lot of times it comes down to how teams see these players and how they think they can utilize them in their systems.

Dude certainly checks a lot of the boxes for them, experience, character, leadership, productive, etc. It doesn’t appear to be the most popular pick but I’m gonna wait and see how they utilize the guy and how they coach him up and all that. Again, BBB gets the benefit of the doubt from me, way more hits than misses. It ain’t exactly the Cadillac of prospect groups for this year either so…

Haha I was gonna say either the dude just woke up or uh, toked up. When they first cut to him and his family it kinda seemed like homeboy was yelling at someone, everyone got real quiet for a minute. Then the next time they went back to him he was putting the hat on with everyone cheering. Seems like a solid pick. Beane deserves the benefit of the doubt at this point. It’ll be interesting to see how they work him into the offense and split time with Singletary. I wonder if they try to move Moss, I like him too he’s just never really got going with them.

Seems like a solid pick. Has the traits they look for and I trust them to coach him up and he should be pretty good.

I think it’d be cool to see them get S Kyle Hamilton, McDermott has wanted that versatile movable piece type of defender for a while now. Then maybe they jump to the top of the second for RB Breece Hall or something. Expect: is this for only the first two rounds or the whole draft? If it’s the whole draft I expect them to land the Montana LB Troy Andersen as well as one of the higher rated TE’s like McBride or Otten. Settle: Georgia S Lewis Cine, Texas A&M RB Isaiah Spiller

Big Baller Beane does all sorts of wheeling and dealing on all three days. Thursday night he jumps up at least ten spots and finds a way to draft S Kyle Hamilton. Heck, he might even find a way to jump back into the first between 28-32 to snag RB Breece Hall. I also think he lands one of the two too TEs, either Otten or McBride. I lean McBride, I think they’ve met with him more. What else? Um, they also draft that LB out of Montana, Troy Andersen, that’s not a super bold prediction tho. Anywho, yeah, I think Triple B is gonna move around a bunch and end up with four or five picks in the top 100-150 picks as opposed to seven picks from the whole group of 255. Stacked roster as it is, players taken in the later rounds would really be on the bubble for a roster spot.

They won’t draft a corner real high. They’re gonna bank on Tre being just fine and they remain pretty high on Jackson, just like they did with Wallace for the last four years. They probably do draft one but not until the third or fourth round. They like their WR group and unless one of the top WR names falls to them somehow, I don’t think they’re gonna go WR in the first. They just extended Diggs, Davis is on the up and up, Crowder is a solid slot replacement over Beasley and then McKenzie rounds out the top four. They’re gonna give plenty of chances to Marquez Stevenson and Isaiah Hodgins to win a spot. Maybe they take one late but yeah, unless one of the top receiver prospects falls to them I don’t think that’s happening. I’d advise reading Joe B’s most recent draft write up on The Athletic. He makes the case that they might very well move around in an attempt to land Norte Dame safety Kyle Hamilton. This kid checks all the boxes they like, he’s versatile, he has elite size, has a knack for big plays, he’s played in a lot of college games and he’s a leader. McBeane value the crap out of those traits. Plus, they’ve been looking for a movable piece on their defense for a while. They were rumored to be high on Kyle Dugger a couple years back, another versatile defender. Jordan Poyer is in the final year of his deal and between him and Hyde, it was Hyde who got the extension and so far, Beane has given no indication they plan on extending Poyer. I’m sure they’d like to but as he’s said, they can’t pay everyone. Plus, Poyer (and Hyde for that matter) will be 32 or 33 heading into next season. McDermott emphasizes safety play in his defense so Hamilton makes a ton of sense if they can pull off the right trades to get him. If they can’t, Joe B named Georgia’s Lewis Cine as a possibility at 25. If none of those scenarios pan out, I can totally see them going with Breece Hall at 25. He gives them a dimension they currently don’t have in the run game. Plus, this is Singletary’s final year on his rookie deal. Unless Zack Moss suddenly becomes a stud, their run game beyond Singletary isn’t great. And it’s rumored the friction between McDermott and Daboll last season was about Sean being irritated with Daboll calling too many designed QB runs. Obviously Josh is gonna scramble, that’s part of his game. But it seems clear the head coach would prefer far fewer designed runs. Adding a player like Hall allows them to lean on Josh a lot less in the run game. Hall is a three down back who can catch it and he looks like a really good fit for the zone blocking scheme they’re likely to run this season. They’re also gonna try to walk outta there with one of the top tight ends. I do believe they’ll extend Knox and let Howard walk after this season so long as they add one of the better ones from this draft. I think it’s the McBride kid they like a lot, I think they’ve met with him the most of any of the TE prospects. I also don’t think this is the year to stand pat and let the board fall to them. Go wheel and deal and move around and walk out with like four or five guys out of the top 100-150 players as opposed to seven picks from the whole field of 255 or however many it is this year. Their roster is pretty stacked so guys picked in the 6th and 7th rounds don’t have the best shot to make the team.

S TE LB CB OL WR I'mma say a dark gray suit for the tie breaker thingie. Did I wins?

His rapper name is so rude. Mine is much better, "WKRP Bossperson Husky."

Sheesh, not even 25, that stings. Way too young. So weird to see this after I saw his name come up when I was browsing thru drafts from the last couple years and was reminded that he was a first round pick. I totally forgot he ended up with Pittsburgh. Tragic stuff.

WR Chris Olave, Ohio State LB Troy Andersen, Montana State

Always had high hopes for this guy since he was a former third round pick. He showed some stuff here and there and hung around on the roster for a few seasons but never did much of anything. Once he got cut from the Bills I think that was it for him. I could be wrong but I don't believe he was picked up by any other teams following his three seasons here. Interesting he still hangs out around here. Perhaps he made some friends or really likes the area.. or maybe he made a couple baby mamas while he was here.

If they think he can still go then I've got no problem with it. I dunno what happened to the guy but he seemed to fall off a cliff after his MVP season. Dude has always had kind of a subdued personality that can come off arrogant. He never caused any issues in the locker room and seemed good about helping younger players. If he's looking for the bag here he's probably barking up the wrong tree. Regardless, I don't have an issue if they bring him in.

I don't think they value OG highly enough to take one in the first. Guards in general usually don't go in the first very often unless they're Zach Martin or Quinten Nelson. And I don't think there are any prospects in this year's draft anywhere near that level. Third round is probably where they try to grab one. They're gonna look for players that can make an early impact in the first two rounds. I'm also all in with them wheeling and dealing and leaving the draft with something like 4-5 guys taken in the top 125 players as opposed to 7-8 prospects taken across the board. Players picked in rounds 5-7 likely have a tough time making this team. So ya, move around, make some splashes, grab some good players.

I mean, if there's a guy within their reach that they think can be a major piece for them then go for it. They're in a position where they don't exactly need a ton of draft picks, especially later round picks that are looking at real long odds to make the team. May as well try to wheel and deal and walk away with four or five guys in the top 100-150 prospects as opposed to seven or eight guys from across the entire board. They keep talking about how they're in that Super Bowl window so there's really no better time than now than to go all in and do what you've gotta do to acquire the players you think can help this team bring home a championship.

Lemme find my violin so I can play a tune for him. I know it's around here somewhere. May need a microscope to locate it since it's so tiny.

Early in the year he really struggled. Washington's DL made him look completely amateur and it wasn't long after that he lost the starting job. However, later in the season, like weeks 14 or 15 he had to step in and play and I recall seeing him play a lot better and he was ranked as one of the best performing OL for those couple games he played. I'm sure they'll give him another crack at winning a starting gig. But I'm also assuming they'll probably keep him on a pretty short leash. Maybe Kromer and the different schemes he uses will be a better fit for Ford. They can't all be winners. OL are getting more and more difficult to scout and draft at the appropriate slot. So many college teams run the spread and throw it 50 times a game, Beane said it himself, you never see these guys with their hand in the dirt because they're always in pass pro. I'm probably way off but I can't recall too many stud OL from Ford's draft class.

Bob is really good. His mock drafts are super accurate year after year. He’s been doing it a long time and I think at this point he has quite a few sources he can pull from. Way back in the day I used to frequent Scott Wright’s Draft Countdown website. Last I checked it looked like the site had been sold so I don’t know if Wright is still doing it or not but he was another guy was very accurate mocks and solid scouting reports. I like Daniel Jeremiah, he gives a great perspective having had a career as a scout and front office guy for several years. Bucky ain’t bad either. Joe Marino over at the Draft Network does a good job. There quite a few that seem to write for that site. I think it was originated by Kyle Crabbs and for whatever reason I can’t stand that dude. I think it’s the way he writes. He tries to make everything sound intellectual and it usually just comes off pretentious. Tony Pauline over at DraftInsider.net is another good one. He’s plugged in with some sources and his stuff is pretty good. Kiper is alright. I never liked Mayock very much. I remember the one year the guy yelled his comments for so frickin’ long that he lost his voice. He was super hoarse and hard to understand, you’d think they would’ve improvised and swapped him out with someone else but no sir, there he was froggin’ it up for all three nights of the draft. Couldn’t believe it when the Raiders hired him as a GM. He sucked. That’s about all I can recall for draft analysts that I follow/read. Usually watch it on NFL Network but I do like to scroll Twitter at the same time to get the scoop on trades and see the picks being tipped before they’re announced and all that. I remember when that first became a thing and people went batsh*t on LaCanfora for tipping picks and he got all fussy about it. As for the draft this year, I’d assume they’re going CB in the first unless a different player they really like falls to them at 25. I can also see Beane trading up a few spots depending on how the board falls. Wouldn’t mind WR in round one either, pretty solid group this season. I wonder if that George Pickens out of Georgia can get back on track with the breakout season he had a couple years ago. Out of all the receivers I’ve watched, that dude stood out. I like Olave as well.

Psyched to see how it turns out. I’m on #TeamDome (or retractable roof) but it sounds like this new stadium will be partially covered. They went all out with their weight room and team office renovations a few years back so I’d assume the new joint will be very modern, state of the art type stuff. Can’t wait to see the mock-ups and drawings for it.

That was more or less my reaction. I like Ike as a backup but as a starter he was pretty meh. You could certainly do a lot worse. They spent a lot of time developing Ike so I’m not surprised they brought him back. Super psyched to see Bates got retained. I think he played really well down the stretch. I still wonder why it took them so long to get him in the starting lineup. Maybe they saw him strictly as Morse’s backup or they felt like he wasn’t showing it in practice, who knows. I think eventually he takes over as the starting center.

Teddy B said last week that he hasn’t been told he’s the clear QB2, which lends to the idea that they might be looking at a competition for the starting job, Tua vs Teddy.