DCOrange

Lol no problem. In order: Nico Collins Jevon Holland: one of them said they think he's the best pure safety in the class; that's the entire comment. Dylan Moses: Christian Barmore Nick Bolton

Not endorsing the pick by any means but I do think Etienne looks like a 4.4 guy when he gets space to run. The YPC kinda showed how much even a great college RB needs the OLine though. They took a significant step back this season and his production dropped off a lot because of it.

Etienne is definitely a big play threat. For me personally, I'm just against the idea of drafting RBs early in general and especially in this case where we've done it the last two years (and IMO have at least one starting caliber RB in Moss). I also think with an offense that spreads the defense out and tries to get them to put smaller defenders on the field, you want a powerful runner like Moss or Harris to make them pay rather than trying to put more speed on the field in Etienne. Having said that, I'll think it's the wrong choice if we go with Etienne but I at least understand he's a different kind of RB from the ones we have (outside of maybe Breida but we don't really know how big a part of the offense we plan to make him anyways) and therefore would give us a different look. So from that sense, it's justifiable even if I just think it's the wrong way to build a team. I don't think Harris is really a justifiable pick.

Kellen Mond: Re: Mac Jones:

I will grant that Etienne would be a different type of back for us (though maybe Breida can do some of the same stuff), but regarding Harris (who I view as the better prospect between the two both in general and specifically for our offense), I'm not sure there's much of a difference between him and Moss. Piecing together their scouting reports from Dane Brugler, who had Moss as his #6 RB last year with a 3rd round grade while he has Harris #1 with a 1st-2nd round grade: Moss: Strengths: Elite contact balance, keeps feet moving through contact Punishing finisher, bounces off hits like they're nothing Agile runner with lateral cut-and-go skills Patient, but decisive once the opening appears Competitive pass blocker, squares up and slows pass-rushers Productive pass catcher Creates explosive plays Weaknesses: Average start/stop acceleration Not great speed, can be caught from behind Durability concerns, suffered a bunch of leg injuries Harris: Strengths: Impressive contact balance Aggressive finisher Keeps his momentum moving forwards through contact Patience at the line of scrimmage but makes strong cuts when the opening appears Complete skills as a pass catcher Squares up blitzers as a pass blocker Only 3 fumbles at Alabama Weaknesses: More quick than sudden as an athlete Not great speed, can't run away from defenders Doesn't create explosive plays Sometimes late to decipher running lanes/runs into his own blockers Inconsistent pass blocker Some injury concerns with various leg injuries Their scouting reports read like pretty much identical players with the differences being that Harris fumbled it 3 times compared to Moss' 6, Harris is a better receiver (though it was a strength of Moss's as well), and Moss was the more explosive runner and better pass protector. I don't really see any reason to think Harris is a transcendent talent unless you're similarly high on Moss who we already have.

Seems like a lot of people also think he was kinda like how we've seen Hughes the last couple years; a lot of pressures and disruptive plays but not quite able to get the sacks. As one of the guys mentioned in the OP, he hit the Indiana QB an insane number of times but never recorded a sack. I didn't watch much film on him but from what I did see, I would agree with Gunner's assessment; seems to be able to turn his speed into power well but if that doesn't work, he doesn't really know what to do from there yet.

One of the WR coaches also mentions regarding Seth Williams that Jaycee Horn dominated him head to head.

Re: Phillips: Re: Dyami:

They have a lot of thoughts on all the QBs, including one of them specifically saying he thinks Zach Wilson will have a really hard time in New York and mentions how he doesn't have the legs to bail him out while he's learning how to be a QB like our own Josh Allen did. I had originally included the QB stuff in here too but then I realized it was the length of a short novel. Happy to post more excerpts if there's certain players people are interested in. The ones they discuss that I left off are: All of the top 8 QBs Kyle Pitts All the top WRs (including Rashod Bateman who I almost included in the OP) Seth Williams Dynami Brown Nico Collins Amari Rogers Josh Palmer Micah Parsons Jaelan Phillips Kwity Paye Christian Barmore Nick Bolton Jabril Cox Jamin Davis Dylan Moses Jevon Holland Jaycee Horn Patrick Surtain Penei Sewell Rashawn Slater Sam Ehlinger Payton Turner Racey McMath

https://theathletic.com/2532416/2021/04/21/nfl-draft-confidential-zach-wilson-to-the-jets-in-that-market-with-that-play-style-woof/ One of my favorite reads of the year where Bruce Feldman interviews position coaches from NFL teams to discuss different prospects. Some excerpts on players that might be of interest to Bills fans: Re: Terrace Marshall: Re: Kadarius Toney: Re: Rondale Moore: Re: Elijah Moore: Re: Jayson Oweh: Re: Azeez Ojulari: Re: Greg Rousseau: Re: Zaven Collins: Re: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah: Re: Najee Harris:

Which goes to show even with a bad running game and bad running backs, you can make it work well enough to win the Super Bowl.

Tampa's RBs last year were a disappointing 2nd round RB that can't catch, a disappointing 1st round RB that Jacksonville cut, and a disappointing 3rd round rookie. Buffalo's running game was also better than Tampa's last year. Edit: Not saying RB is the least important position in football, just pointing out Tampa isn't a good example as they struggled to run the ball all year.

That was his rookie season, in which I said he was good.

Is it better if I say he was merely a below average starter? He was fed a ton of carries but he was 17th out of 20 in terms of DVOA among RBs that had at least 200 carries and 29th out of 45 if you include everyone with at least 100 carries. And his lack of abilities catching the ball or blocking made the Patriots offense uncharacteristically predictable, which is part of why it was their first time having a below average offense in terms of scoring efficiency since 2003. And he was replaced in his 3rd year. He technically started the first 3 games before he got hurt but that was because Damien Harris was hurt and even then, he was outsnapped by Rex Burkhead during those games. When he returned, he was outsnapped by both Damien Harris and James White until both Harris and Burkhead were hurt again and Harris is expected to be the starter next season.

An article like this shouldn't really be needed in this day and age, but it's a good article nonetheless. For those thinking it's different because the finances are different at #30 than it is in the top 10, from that list, these are the RBs taken 24th or later (was going to cut it off at 25, but wanted to include Josh Jacobs since he's been good): Clyde Edwards-Helaire - 21 touches per game through his first 6 and a 5-1 record, 12 touches per game over his last 9 and an 11-2 record (including 3-1 when he didn't play); wasn't much of an upgrade over Bell and Darrel Williams for the most part. Josh Jacobs - Undoubtedly their best RB these past two years; he's played legitimately well both years so far. Raiders have gone 13-15 when he plays and 2-2 when he doesn't. Rashaad Penny - 981 yards from scrimmage over 3 years, he's never been more than a mediocre backup. Sony Michel - Burst on the scene as a rookie, struggled as a sophomore, replaced in his 3rd year. Doug Martin - Two outstanding seasons in which Tampa went 13-19 along with 4 terrible seasons as a Buc and one mediocre season with the Raiders. David Wilson - 546 yards from scrimmage in 3 years and out of the NFL. Mark Ingram - A long career as a pretty good committee RB demonstrating the replaceability of RBs. Jahvid Best - 1700 yards from scrimmage in 22 games before he was forced to retire from concussions. Donald Brown - A long career as a below average backup RB Beanie Wells - 2800 yards from scrimmage in 4 years as a below average starter/solid backup and then never played another down. Yes, the RB you get at 30 will be cheaper and therefore the opportunity cost is only bad instead of atrocious, but you're likely punting on what should be a valuable asset instead of trying to find an impactful player.

I think this is pretty likely tbh. After Lawrence, I don't have any of these QBs rated above where Tua was last year. They desperately need more offensive talent on that team, whether it's the pass catchers or the OLine.

This shouldn't be that complicated. At least one of Pitts, Chase, and Sewell will be available at #6. Just take whoever is there; they're all elite prospects at positions of need.

That's fair enough. Mac was certainly playing against a higher level of competition, though his supporting cast relative to the competition was pretty ridiculous. At the end of the day, I think Lance's accuracy is a much bigger issue than his experience; he's further along mentally than most of the guys in this class.

I know Lance only played one game this year, but FWIW, Lance has started 16 games in college while Mac started 17. Mac's played more recently but he isn't much more experienced.

Yeah, I tend to think you're probably more likely to win now with Lance or Fields than Mac personally. Mac will probably get the ball out on time more often than Lance and definitely more often than Fields IMO, but I think Lance is close enough in terms of reading defenses that his legs will make him more impactful right away than Mac would be. A little tougher for Fields, but he's probably the best pure passer in the class while also being a great athlete so that naturally will give him a good chance for early success if he has the right coach.

Not necessarily circus catches, but throws that are behind his targets, deeps balls where the WR has to stop and come back to the ball, etc. The 69% isn't all completions either; it includes well thrown balls that were dropped or just weren't converted (like contested catches that aren't technically drops). I also didn't chart all of the games, but I'm fairly certain he completed well over 70% of his passes in the games I charted anyways so basically the same point of it.

I think Fields is pretty comfortably the most accurate QB in this draft. Fields had a good support cast no doubt, but nobody has anything close to what Alabama has. I know others like Benjamin Solak and PFF do more in-depth charting that came to the same conclusion (Fields being #1 in terms of accuracy), but in my personal charting of the QBs, Fields threw a perfectly placed or nearly perfectly placed ball on 53% of his passes and was accurate on 80%. Mac was at 46% and 69% respectively, which is currently 4th or 5th in the class out of the 6 that I've charted so far. Lance is a guy that those that liked Josh Allen as a prospect should love. Those that didn't like Allen probably won't like Lance either. He's a better decision maker and runner than Allen was in college but very similar otherwise, accuracy questions and all.

The thing about this is, Mac Jones isn't the most accurate QB in the class.

I think Allen actually is probably a strong candidate. I would guess him, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, or George Kittle as my curveball.

On the practice squad? They could. Feels like a waste of the space though unless they actually think they have 4 good QBs on the roster.