TigerJ

I'll whing if I want to. However, I promise not to whine.

I'm sure the Bills have also called the Giants about #2. It's called "being thorough."

Naw. I'm OK with most mocks as they just represent different opinions. It's just a very few that really seem off the wall. I can't see any justification for someone doing a 7 round mock draft and not having the Bills go for a QB this year of all years.

I'm OK with Jackson, but not in a trade up. I still have a few questions about him, but they aren't questions I'll ever be able to get the answers to, Fortunately, in the course of their due diligence, Buffalo should be able to get the answers. I do think Jackson has a higher upside that Michael Vick (or Tyrod Taylor, for that matter). Vick was never much more than a one read QB. If his primary target was covered, Vick's next preference was to take off running. He was also considerably shorter than Lamar Jackson. I don't know that Jackson is faster though. Vick was pretty fast. I think Jackson has already demonstrated the ability to find and open receiver to a greater degree than either Vick or Taylor. I think he probably would benefit from time on the bench, however, and if he is the pick, I wouldn't mind seeing AJ McCarron start when the season opens. If at some point during the season, the coaching staff thinks Lamar can take over, fine.

Wherever I'm posting at this time of year, I may be incline to bring to the attention of other Bills fans a mock draft that shows particular ignorance of the Bills perspective in is choices. There haven't been many, but I think I found one that qualifies. The website is https://www.draftsite.com/nfl/mock-draft/2018/ They specialize in mocking the full seven rounds. Buffalo is projected to take at #12 (drum roll) Derwin James, safety out of Florida State. I suppose you could resort to the BPA argument here, but safety? The Bills had one of the top safety tandems in the league last season and just signed some experienced depth in Raphael Bush. The four top QBs are gone in this mock, so I can't very well blame him for not taking a QB. Da'Ron Payne is still on the board in this mock (and actually goes at #13 to Washington. I think he would be a solid pick in view of 2018 likely being Kyle Williams' last season. That would be a good and deep interior for the D-line and McDermott likes to play his DTs in waves. Courtland Sutton, one of the top receivers is still on the board, as is Vita Vea. Maybe the best pick of all here under the circumstances would be Tremaine Edmunds, who doesn't go off the board in this mock until #18 With the #22 pick, this mock has Buffalo taking Mike McGlinchey at tackle. That can be argued as an upgrade to Jordan Mills. My own preference would be for the Bills to take Lamar Jackson, who is still on the board. Nowhere in the entire draft does this mock drafter project a QB to the Bills. He does have them take two DTs and an additional offensive tackle a center, WR, and CB. The safety at #12 is what really stick in my craw though. Interestingly, this mock also has the Jets picking Bradley Chubb at #3 and the Colts picking a QB at #6. Really? I think that's kind of crazy. If the top five picks of the draft actually fell this way, as unlikely as it seems, maybe Buffalo could trade for the #6 pick with the Colts and get Josh Allen, the QB this mock drafter has going to the Colts. In any case, it is one of the stranger mock drafts I've seen this year.

Interesting, but I'll be shocked if that's the way it turns out.

That's where the dart landed when the pet chimpanzee threw it? BTW, I don't think trading Shady for Foles is necessarily the direction Buffalo should consider going, Guice or not.

His test numbers were off the charts at the combine (back a few years). He's on the small side, but extremely athletic. He's mostly been a special teamer to this point in his career, having come out of a very small school. I don't know that he can't be effective playing an actual linebacker role, however. I think it will be fun to see what happens in preseason.

They certainly didn't do Buffalo any favors.

If Cleveland opts for a QB to start the draft, I am very much of the opinion that the Giants race to the podium to select Barkley. Should that happen it's possible no other QBs go until Buffalo picks. The only real fly in that ointment is Miami's alleged fascination with Baker Mayfield. The problem is, we don't know how picky Beane is about QBs Are there one two, three or four of the top 4 QBs that he could live with. If the Bills, for some reason have lopped Josh Rosen off their draft board, it doesn't matte whether he's available at #12 or not. If Cleveland opts for Barkley with the first pick, the path to Buffalo drafting a QB is more difficult, because Cleveland may still draft a QB at #4. Without Barkley's availability at #2, the Giants might trade out of #2 with a team that wants a QB, and we know the Jets are looking at QB with their shiny new #3 pick overall. If the only QB remaining from the top 4 is Mayfield, Miami could snap him up, and Buffalo would be shut out of the top 4.

I would be a bit surprised if the Giants picked a QB. I think what may happen is that the Giants will stay put until Cleveland has made its first pick. The Giants may covet Saquon Barkley. If Cleveland picks Barkley at #1, the Giants may have a deal in place already to trade out of that spot (possibly even with Buffalo). If, however, Cleveland picks a QB, I expect they'll run to the podium with a slip of paper that has Barkley written on it. If Cleveland picks a QB and the Giants pick Barkley, it's just about certain the Jets pick a QB. You can argue whether it's Rosen or Allen or somebody else, but the whole realm of football fandom will be shocked if it's not some QB. If Cleveland has picked a QB at #1, obviously they won't pick one at #4. That brings us to Denver. The noise Denver made following the signing of Case Keenum would suggest they aren't going to draft a QB. Nor will Indy at 6, the Buccaneers at #7 or Chicago at #8. The next team that might picks at #11, Miami. I personally don't expect it, but there are those who project it. To summarize, best case scenario for Buffalo if they don't trade with the Giants is that only 2 teams pick a QB ahead of Buffalo, with Cleveland picking one at #1. It's possible 3 will be gone. One or two of the top 4 will still be available to Buffalo. If Cleveland picks Barkley at #1, it becomes more problematic for Buffalo if Buffalo does not trade with the Giants. Should that happen, the Giants will have lots of reason to trade out of #2. You'd have to assume most of the teams interested in trading with the Giants would be interested in a QB. The Jets are in place to draft a QB at #3 and the Browns may take their QB at #4. That's 3 of the top 4 gone in the first four picks of the draft. If Miami nabs the 4th at #11, Buffalo will get shut out of the top 4. They will be left with Lamar Jackson or Mason Rudolph. Maybe Buffalo will be happy with one of those guys at #12 or (more likely at #22) but there are a number of observers who rate those guys as second round values. The bottom line is - root for Cleveland to pick a QB at #1.

Absolutely! And yet there have been many successful QBs whose Wonderlic was under 25. You mentioned Marino. Brett Favre and Jim Kelly are a couple others. Higher is still better than lower. It's just that there are lots of other factors too, and intangibles that talent evaluators can only guess at.

I'm not terribly worried. I'm not sure what Beane is really thinking, but there are always options and alternatives. Nobody truly knows which players are going to have hall of fame careers and which are going to bust. That being true, why fret about things you can't control?

If the OP is right, and he might be, then Buffalo may never have had a chance to convince Indy to trade from #3 to #12. Also if the OP is correct, Indy is not going to pull the trigger on another trade until draft day. I don't think moving from #12 to #6 would be too awful costly. Whether Beane is willing to do it or not depends on how highly he values the remaining QBs and linebackers (QBs - Jackson, Rudolph; LBs - Roquan Smith, Tremaine Edmunds).

From my perspective, the Bills are definitely going to draft a QB. How and where they do it is a complete mystery. McCarron will have a chance to start no matter who is drafted, but the odds will change. If Buffalo trades up to #2 and draft Rosen, the odds of McCarron starting probably would be slimmer than with anyone else. I think McCarron gives the Bills as much of a chance to win as any rookie. The question is what happens in 2019. If Buffalo can't trade up and Rosen, Allen, Darnold and Mayfield all are drafted before Buffalo picks at #12, it will be far trickier for Buffalo to be able to identify the QB who has the best shot of developing into a starter. Is it Jakson? Rudolph? Lauletta?Benkert? White? Shimonek? I don't know. Clearly, most are not going to end up as quality starters. One or two of them may. Like it's been for nearly the last two decades, we'll continue with the waiting game unless Beane is a genius or gets lucky.

Almost always get leaked eventually I googled this and got no actual wonderlic results. I did, however get the betting odds for the highest wonderlic score. The favorite for the highest score is Josh Allen, followed in order by Rosen and Darnold among the top QBs. Lamar Jackson brings up the rear as a long shot. Me thinks there might be a little cultural bias among odds makers.

Depends on who their guy is.

Buffalo doesn't have a lot of cap money left to sign a name linebacker in free agency. Bowman is probably out of the picture. Compton is probably in play as he would be cheaper. He can start in the middle if need be. Otherwise, the Bills will mainly be looking in the draft.

I don't dislike Josh Allen, but he's probably the biggest risk among all the QBs. He has the highest upside given his rare arm and athleticism to go with a truly NFL body, but his college background (completion percentage at a school that plays a somewhat lower level of competition) suggests he has the highest bust potential too.. I will support the Bills if they pick him, but they are going to have to make all the right decisions as they bring him along, and then hope for the best.

Buffalo has spent most of their cap room. They need to save some for the draft and injuries during the season. At this point they will be looking for role players, depth players and guys with upside that can be had on the cheap because of injury or some perceived deficiency. So the guy is not Luke Keukly. Buffalo is going to draft a middle linebacker. This guy will be able to play some and mentor the rookie. Sounds like a plan to me.

I think the Bills thought they might keep him as a backup, for backup pay. Preston wanted more.

In the NFL, unless you're signing a free agent for whom there is no competition, every move a team makes depends in part on at least one other team, and often on multiple teams. I imagine that in the Bills' perfect world, Beane wants to move up, but he has to have contingency plans in place for various possible events in the draft. To trade up, first you have to have another team in the right spot that is interested in trading down. Right now, I would guess there are probably three spots Buffalo is interested in trading into in order to get the QB they want, maybe four. We assume the Colts are interested in trading out of #3. Maybe all three teams are interested in trading (Cleveland times 2, NY Giants and Indy). Maybe not. Second, Beane has in mind a price he's willing to pay. The teams that may be interested in trading undoubtedly have a price they want to receive. Invariably, the team interested in trading down has a higher price in mind for their pick than their prospective trading partner has in mind for trading up. At this point in time, that's probably the biggest fly in the ointment. Whether or not it gets resolved depends on how motivated buy and seller are to settle on a price that both can live with. For Beane, his wiggle room probably depends on how he views all the top QBs. If there is only one QB he thinks he can live with, he has to play a dangerous game. If there are four or five he thinks can develop into the franchise guy Buffalo has lacked to way too long, his price to move up probably doesn't have a whole lot of wiggle room because he'll figure he can get one of his guys at #12, or maybe even at #22. If all that is true, I can see why he said what he said. There are no plans in place to move up, or maybe more accurately, there are plans in place to try and move up, and plans in place to stand pat, if that's how the draft works out.

I would not term all of them as major holes. Defensive tackle was a major hole before Star Lotulelei was signed and Kyle Williams resigned. I'll grant you that they are holes or places where Buffalo should try to upgrade. I think linebacker is still a pretty significant hole as well as QB, but Buffalo could line up and play with what they have on the oline and have a chance to win.

Assuming the Bills want to move up for one of the top QBs and most observers are doing, almost a no brainer to think they'll need to get to # 2 or 3. As has already been mentioned, that's going to take draft picks. Having dealt with injuries for both of his first two seasons, I doubt that Shaq Lawson is going to have great value in a trade. I'll let Beane try to figure out what it will actually take though.

Waldman likes to hear himself talk, doesn't he. I think that with the signing of AJ McCarron, the Bills have tried to create the kind of situation where a young QB like Allen would not be pressured by having to start from day one. That's assuming McCarron can be an effective starter for a full season or more. He's under contract for two years. I'm not saying Allen is the guy in the minds of the Bills' brain trust, but if he is, the Bills may be creating a healthy environment for him to grow.