ghostwriter

If you remember... our defense did much better with Zo in there.. Maybe we’ve fallen off a bit cause we have no one to fill that role..

So I did a 5 round mock, I still had a few late round picks left to play with. Took Zaven Collins at #30 and I went up to get Boogie. I traded our 2nd, our 4th and a 2022 3rd for him. Seems like a lot but it really isn’t. DE is arguably the most important position on defense and I’m confident that Boogie will be a very good DE. Meinerz I feel has a huge ceiling. Played in a smaller school but dominated at that level. Insurance for Morse, competition for Ford. Lastly I took Tedarrell Slaton whom I feel can be an excellent NT. Good rotation behind Star, now we would have two space eaters. Still had the following picks in 2022 1st 2nd 4th 5th 6th 30. Zaven Collins LB Tulsa 45. Carlos Basham Jr. EDGE Wake Forest 93. Quinn Meinerz OC Wisconsin-Whitewater 175. Tedarrell Slaton DT Florida

Let’s play a game. Which player would you take if we traded up and which player would you take if we traded down and who would you take if we stayed put? Keep in mind, if you want a guy like Kyle Pitts for example, a guy who is projected to go in the top 10, please factor that in and be realistic about the compensation it would take to go up and get him. Same goes for trading down. Keep in mind that if you were to go down too far, your prospect may be unavailable. Trade up: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, LB, Notre Dame Daniel Jeremiah has him as his 21st overall prospect. Hypothetically speaking, if he fell to around #25 I’d be more than willing to package #30 and say a 2022 4th RD pick to get him and maybe an additional 5th or 6th this year. Owusu is a hybrid LB and can also play a bit of safety. Last year we wanted Kyle Dugger, who unfortunately went to New England before we could get him but Owusu is a much better player than Dugger is and ever will be and could fit that role here perfectly. Owusu would be Milano’s replacement ultimately and a huge upgrade at that. Trade down: Carlos “Boogie” Basham Jr. Ultimately one of my favorite players in the draft. I am much higher on him than most are. I don’t think he would be a waste at #30 but from the looks of it, he should be available at #45-#50 if we were to trade down and we could easily pickup an extra 2nd and 3rd in the process. If Zaven Collins is gone before we pick, I think a trade down here is even more desirable. Boogie in my mind will put up double digit sacks multiple times over his career and would be a plug n play player at LE. Stay put: Zaven Collins, LB, Tulsa This is my ideal scenario for staying put at #30. Collins can play at DE, OLB and MIKE. Big enough to take on offensive linemen, can shed blocks and disengage well. Very powerful, maybe not overly fast or quick but has underrated athleticism. Very smart player who would thrive in zone coverage because of his awareness and intellect but probably not a guy you’d want to see drop back in man. Once again, his understanding and awareness makes him deadly in coverage. More often than not he is where he needs to be and because of stellar instincts he makes up for not being necessarily the most explosive or athletic athlete. There you have it folks, who you got?

My friend, my friend. Did you not say that Collins could fill the void left by Zo? Let’s not underestimate the value that Zo had in that role and let’s also keep in mind that Collins is way more gifted than Zo ever was. Is he a MLB? Is he a DE? Is he a SLB? Are these all not arbitrary questions and statements? Collins could come in here right away and be a Swiss Army knife for this defense and a versatile chess piece regardless of position. We could do a lot worse at #30.

I disagree on Collins, he’s a hammer. He is strong enough to shed blocks from the OL and can disengage quickly. Would be a huge improvement over Edmunds in run support. You bump Edmunds into Milano’s old spot and let him cover. This may not be the thought process of Beane, I’m just thinking out loud. Won’t pretend to act like I know what OBD is thinking.

Honesty can get you into trouble if you’re a GM. Why would he lay his thoughts out there for the world to see?

Do you think any GM would let honesty beset them?

Jabril moves like a gazelle and he hits hard. Could you imagine? Edmunds is 6’5 250lbs and then we add Jabril who is 6’4 230lbs. That’s a lot of size and speed in our front seven. I think he’s a mid 2nd to early 3rd round prospect, he will go early 3rd at the latest. Whatever issues he has I think McDermott can help him through it. He’s very fast and can hit hard. Think if we could add a hybrid LB/S in rounds 3-5 on top of adding a player like Jabril we’d be in good shape.

To me, there’s lots of prospects that I like that have an early 2nd to mid 3rd round grade. I think if we could trade down and get an extra 2nd and 3rd, you have to do it. Carlos Basham Jr, EDGE Zaven Collins, LB Pat Freiermuth, TE Najee Harris, RB Jabril Cox, LB Chaz Surratt, LB Jay Tufele, DT Hunter Long, TE Marvin Wilson, DT Tedarrell Slaton, DT Creed Humphrey, C/G Quinn Meinerz, C/G And I’m sure I’m leaving quite a few people out. It would benefit us greatly to trade down. If there were ever a year to trade down, this would be it.

I’d rather have Jabril Cox over Surratt for sure. Could be a smokescreen. We’ll see.. To me it’s either Carlos Basham or Zaven Collins at #30.

Zaven Collins would take over as the MLB, Edmunds would be bumped outside.

Fromm.

Veteran minimum, no guaranteed.

Here’s a mock I did on PFN Mock Simulator. Initially traded back, picked up a 2nd and 3rd and then moved up a few times. BUF 51. Carlos Basham Jr. EDGE Wake Forest BUF 61. Jabril Cox LB LSU BUF 67. Jay Tufele DT USC BUF 91. Quinn Meinerz OC Wisconsin-Whitewater BUF 119. Tedarrell Slaton DT Florida BUF 125. Ben Cleveland OG Georgia BUF 133. Jack Anderson OG Texas Tech

I want to point out one thing.. Some these “right picks” were taken 15-20 picks after us. Which to me means that even if we’re picking #30 to hell with the idea of not taking your guy there regardless if he’s the 50th rated prospect on some board, but if you can trade down and still get him, even better. 👍

Watt is clearly on the downside of his career, but JJ Watt on the downside of his career is still a far better player than any DE we had on our entire roster last year. Could get 5 sacks, could get 10.

Yeah, don’t get me wrong, I think Edmunds can be a very good player for us but the role he has been playing in is clearly not working. Most fans see it, but I think that the coaches can’t admit that they were wrong. Same goes for Ford. Highly drafted player that is underperforming that we won’t bench or move on from because of his draft status. This lack of honesty hurts the team in the long run.

I think you’re probably right.

Trading back is a good idea but not too far. I would trade back to #33–#41 but I would not go back further than that. I like the talent available in the first 40-50 picks but beyond that I question whether or not we’d get an impact player there.

I’m no expert in the matter but it seems cap space is limited.. Think the Bills need to dump salary wherever they can. Obviously we’re not in terrible shape but I think we need to trim some fat in order to extend Josh next year. Josh will cost $38M-$40M/aav I’m guessing.. Jefferson, Butler, Lotulelei and even Hughes need to go. Probably hang onto Morse, Feliciano and Williams for at least another year but overwhelmingly I think the defense needs to be gutted and then rebuilt through the draft.. But yeah, I don’t think Josh will be extended this year. I could be completely wrong but I think we need to free up cap for next year in order to do that.

I think DL is more pertinent than OL.. Our OL is acceptable whereas our DL is not. Surely our OL needs to be reshuffled, but I think we’re a year too early.

Charity is good by principle alone, not greed.

I think his best fit is Buffalo.. We sorely need help on the DL and he would see lots of playing time. Money factors in though. I don’t think McBeane are willing to pay him the way other cities will. I want him in Buffalo, but I’m kind of skeptical it’ll happen.

I think the Bills need to dump salary. Maybe our cap situation isn’t as severe as say the Rams or the Eagles, but we do need to dump salary. Get ready for Josh’s contract and Diggs contract. Save that money for a rainy day. Who knows, maybe a premier FA comes along next year and we can make a play for them? At this point I’m hoping for a plug n play LB in FA and I’m hoping we draft lots of DL and front seven guys in general.. Boogie or Collins RD1 or bust.

Think Collins would be a good fit at MLB. He’s better in coverage than people think and he doesn’t get bossed around by OL, can rush the passer.