WideNine

I am so not going to go down that rabbit hole - we killed that topic to death with Allen. I would say both Iowa and Ol' Miss QBs leave a bit to be desired. Nate Stanley for IA is streaky, when he is hot he looks like a QB who could climb up the draft over 2019, then there are the other games. Ta'amu went undrafted and considering the wealth of talent he had at receiver and the quality of his offensive line one can make their own judgement call on what the NFL talent evaluators felt about his ability to read defenses, timing, ball placement, and arm strength. We have a lot of unknowns with Knox lets just leave it at that - too early for anyone to know for sure what we have. I was only adding some cautionary information on what I am going to be looking at when they use this kid - does he have soft hands, what kind of catch radius does he show us, and can he catch contested balls in traffic (if he brings any of that nasty streak he shows blocking into the latter it will be a given).

I think if Fant had played at Ol' Miss he would have been used as a big WR on the outside stretching defenses or as a red zone mismatch with a limited passing tree. Unlike the Hawkeye approach to the position, Ol' Miss coaches seem to be of that old school mindset of TE's block first and very occasionally serve as outlets or decoys which may in and of itself explain much of the lack of production from Knox from the position. The only real concern I have with Knox is his hands with the 15 catches to 28 targets. So I am tapping the brakes on folks saying just because his height, weight, and speed (measurables) are comparable he is a Hockenson prospect clone. Hock dropped one pass thrown his way last year I think - so yeah, he has hands. He also has had arguably better coaching reading defenses and running routes that pro TEs should know how to run. Not saying Knox cannot develop as a receiver as he seems pretty fluid and athletic when he releases, and just like Hock he is a redshirt jr. just that there may be quite a bit of learning curve before we have a better idea what his ceiling may look like. I will be watching Hockenson as well to see if he lives up to the hype in Detroit. Curious priority for a team that could not figure out how to use Ebron, but we will see if they break their next shiny toy.

Maybe sans the whole 11 kids by 10 different mothers thing. Travis had that run-you-over at the line thing going on, but Singletary really reminds me a bit of Thurman Thomas in those quick few lateral skip steps he has that make the first man miss - then a decisive burst forward (not dancing back there). Has a little Shady in how he uses slight shoulder fakes and hesitation to create or widen the creases to get through as well. He looks like a kid that is good at avoiding the few defenders that may come free on a run blitz and not get stopped in the backfield.

I think Thurmal dropped because of concerns with the knee injury he had in college. His combine numbers were not shabby at all I think and somewhat better than Singletary's in many categories (not knocking Singletary - just keeping it real). Thurman was considered a 1st round target for many prior to his fall to the 2nd round of the draft and kept Barry Sanders on the bench at Oklahoma. 4.47 - 40 yd 2.59 - 20 yd split 1.61 - 10 yd split 4.21 - 20 yd shuttle

I don't get too wrapped around the axle with running backs, even elite running backs will stall behind sub par offensive lines. You fix the line, your backs will find daylight. With that in mind, the thing I like to look for is whether a prospect loses the handle and fumbles too often, or does he have a history of injuries, is there any blocking foundation to build upon, and does he have soft enough hands to catch out of the backfield. Singletary seems durable and I am sure with the injection of maulers in the trenches and with better coaching the Bills will have more success running the ball with all our running backs. The size does not bother me too much as I always liked those low center of gravity runners who will get lost behind the big bodies then squirt out for a bunch of yards. Also we already have players who can fill the role of the short yardage bangers on the roster. Will be interesting to watch this kid grow and to see if the Bills move any RBs currently on the roster.

He may have not been at the top of their board at RB, but there was a bit of a run on the position and perhaps their board was getting a bit thin at RB a position they were determined to inject with some youth. The Bills only brought in Darrell Henderson and Miles Sanders for official pre-draft visits, but there were 27 teams in attendance at the Iowa State pro-day to see RB Montgomery too. After they moved up to the 6th spot to nab Ford in the 2nd they held the 11th pick in the 3rd. During that wait Miles went 21st in the 2nd, and Henderson went to the Rams on the 6th pick of the 3rd, and Montgomery right before their 11th pick to the Bears. Probably felt they had to pull the trigger when they did, so I get it. Wishing "Motor" much success.

Yep, and Beane explained that there were some guys they liked that did not fall to them and that they were trying hard to stick to their board - It happens. Seems like a good kid and I am rooting for him and hope that the ?'s marks around his game can be coached up. And yes, I am glad they went after a TE who can block and provide some kind of passing threat. Excited for this season. Think it is going to be all about teaching Allen that he does not have to do it all to be successful.

I think he was their plan B after Josh Oliver. They swapped with Detroit to get in front of us early in the 3rd, but the Jags took J. Oliver. Right after that NE traded down and we took our RB. We later traded back into the 3rd in front of NE and took Knox who was probably on their radar.

Amazing to me that the Ryan's old man Buddy was known as a team disciplinarian who ran a tight ship. And Wrecks ran the NFL's version of Animal House.

Josh Oliver TE.... NE and apparently the Jags both had him targeted. Understand the confusion....will edit.

That is where I am at. I am still a bit salty that we did not move up enough to get in front of the Jags and grab Josh Oliver, and I feel the RB in the 3rd was a bit of a reach where he was taken. The measurables are a head-scratcher, but he seems to be baller when you look at the tape, just think he would have been there in the 4th, but who knows - maybe they had some intel that he was being targeted by another team and he was BPA there for more than the Bills. I was pretty vocal about the guys I wanted at TE and we didn't get them - moving on. I am not such a homer that I will simply ignore Knox's lack of TD's or the catching ratio of 15 to 28 targets in 2018; Those two things concern me and rightfully so. It is not like Beane and Co. never make mistakes (exhibit A. Kelvin Benjamin). It is alright to doubt some of their decisions, does not mean that I do not like the direction overall that they are taking this franchise. Re: Knox, he does have very similar measurables to Hockenson, is a decent blocker in space, and did not come out of a school that is known for coaching up their TE's so maybe the untapped potential is there - sure hands are a big deal for me if you plan to run a lot of spread offense and need to move the sticks in increments. I am not going to do the chicken little thing and say the sky is falling, I love what we are doing with the trenches and I am chill with waiting to see where this goes.

First, we all need to remember we brought in an o-line coach with a very solid resume of being a part of fielding very good offensive lines. Not inheriting good lines, but turning underperforming units around. Dawkins should feel the heat, but if you listened to Beane in his presser he said they envisioned Dawkins on the left and Ford on the right, but expect competition all around. It is what most of us have said, that don't expect Dawkins to move as they will give him another year to try to recover his LT form. I will be curious how the depth chart shapes up on that left side.

Not too hard when you have a zillion picks to trade and move around, and someone mentioned they may have 15 next year. The comp system truly smiles on that franchise.

I was into the 2nd and 3rd rounds, a lot of guys I wanted and the trades were happening all over the place. Then we grabbed a RB that I am not sure we could not have gotten later, but no glaring needs to fill with all the plug & play FA pickups. As to receivers most scouts and evaluaters had 2nd round grades on this class, other than some standout TEs and a couple 1/2 graded WRs. Looks like NFL execs and scouting depts agreed and the draft fell that way. Not a lot of great QBs for this class to showcase their skills so who knows which WRs are going to excel at the next level with better opportunities to grow.

You never know, the Bills have shown they can really make those UFA selections count and they let them know they will grab them if they are not drafted. Curious what WR UFA's they will bring in...Johnson may be on their short list.

That domestic and sub-par pro-day must have really torpedoed Preston Williams draft chances.

That Borq guy that fooled both teams with the fake kick he held onto? He will be entertaining at least.

So that punter from Notre Dame in the 7th? Was surprised the 49ers pulled the trigger in the 4th to grab that kid from Utah. I mean their punt game sucked, but so did ours....

They did pick up that Allen guy last year, but I get your point. The way conferences are scouted will continue to lean towards the SEC till they no longer recruit and have their pick of the better talent, who pick SEC schools for the exposure, which then leads to those programs getting more heavily scouted... It's a cycle, but the Bills are hardly the only team that focus scouting efforts there and it is understandable.

Not a bad value IMO.

This. Just because we have defensive tackles on the roster, it does not mean they have proven that they can effectively shoot the gaps and make plays on the other side of the LOS. Roll the NE or the Jags tape and watch RBs hitting our LB's and safeties 5-6 yards deep before anyone gets a hand on them. I don't mind our safeties coming up to make a stop, but getting steamrolled by RBs that have not been forced to slow down or change direction in the least is a good recipe for landing most of them on our IR. Oliver is a good value and fit for a team need without reaching.

The drops were a show-stopper for me on Hakeem. Maybe not the most fair assessment, but I had little tolerance for guys who can get open only to have the pass "doink" off their hands. Drove him down my list as well. Had (really hopeful) mid to late 3rd and 4th round grades on Josh Oliver and Jalen Hurd and it crushed me watching both exit in the early 3rd before our pick. But glad they did not go to NE. Evaluators were all hating on Hurd last year, but it did not take much digging to see that they just were not doing their homework. Once you get past the Tennessee transfer decision you are left with a 6'5" 226lb receiver who has clocked a 4.37 40, with really good hands and quickness, who has been willing to run between the tackles, and leaves it all on the field. A bit of a deep thinker and loner, but no indication that he does not have a love for the game. New to WR and a project at the position sure, but hard to ignore the upside. Apparently, I was not alone Beane did get decent value prospects on most considering where he picked and my only question was around the RB selection, but I concede that with all the running backs the Bills had on their roster (even factoring age) I did not really look too hard at RB prospects this draft so I know nada about this kid.

Also, I recognize that Beane cannot fall into the trap of being so tied to a pick that he gets into a bidding war situation that ruins their board. I get it.

The film I had looking at the kid he just looked a bit hesitant and lost out there... one of those cases where I was wondering if they just didn't know how to use him or if it was a case of an average to poor QB who rarely targets you (probably both). The main thing that drove him down my list and off my radar was the whole 15 catches on 28 targets in 2018 as I was pulling together my list of TEs and WRs with a heavy focus on "less drops". Still, there are enough unknowns and a high enough ceiling where I can see if we can coach this kid up to be a solid weapon for Allen.

Saw some posts and comments that we had a player that was pretty close to Hockenson's level. That is the case when you are just looking at the fact that they are both red-shirt JRs, and their combine numbers are very close (don't think Knox did the 40, but I am sure he made that up in his pro-day or private workouts - assume that it is not terrible) then pretty good value where we selected him. I don't see the same level of blocking, route-running/catching, or productivity, BUT Iowa coaches up and uses their TEs far more than Mississippi and Ol' Miss had a lot more receiving weapons to choose from. One cannot overlook that they also play in a tougher conference. After my hissy-fit last night at what I felt was a reach for a RB that I know very little about.... I am warming up to let's see what Knox can bring to our team and trust the process.