glazeduck

Just gonna leave this here...

Exactly. And even if they had the #1, Darnold may have been the true "their guy", only the people in the war room and a scant few other will ever know for sure, and the way that's played out, absolutely no one will be saying otherwise anytime soon. I'm sure they have a guy that they'd LOVE to have, but sitting at 30, there's dream wants and there's realistic wants. So no, there's not *one* guy that they've targeted that they'll go all in for, even if they tell you that's what happened afterwards. They'll have their board, they'll have needs and wants and value pretty clearly defined, and they'll have to take it from there. There's simply far too many variables to hone in on one guy at 30... Yeah, I think the closest we could be to this sort of thing is my fever dream of Pitts falling to the early teens. Beane & co. will have also scouted out and had speculative conversations with just about every team above us (within realistic reach) about what it would take to move up -- as every team will have. So yeah, in the case that a Pitts, Paye, maybe a waddle start to slide, it's not unrealistic to think we could go get them, but under no circumstances are they honed in at one guy. The Jets at 2 aren't even honed in on one guy! 🤣 Not to be pedantic about it, but Allen wasn't even Beane's only DRAFT pick that night...

Feels like a pop Warner coach wanted to come really close to the bills logo without violating copyright laws. hardest of passes.

Want. Bigly.

I just don’t see what JOK upgrades. I get that he’s a unique talent. I get that McD likes to utilize a S/LB hybrid. I get the sense that people are terrified of TEs, which, eh? but Taron Johnson is no slouch. This is not a real need here. Phillips is the best pass rusher in this draft by a pretty significant margin. Not a tough decision from my perspective...

Doctors will determine the health risk. If they clear him, and clearly he’s an option in this exercise, so safe to say “the did”, he’s easily the most talented player on the board by a country mile, and just so happens to fill a need. That feels exactly like a Beane pick to me...

It’s Phillips and it’s not close.

I don’t think there’s anything that says “poor character” about sitting out the weirdest season anyone has ever experienced. Now, if they got out of shape or into trouble in that time period, then sure, you could look at that and say “I can’t trust that guy to make the right decisions” but only the oldest of old-school football guys will look at the lack of information around this last year and use that as any major knock against a kid. Maybe as the 10th or 11th tiebreaker, but not a serious flag

I sure they pass on THAT pick. Tryon is NOT worth our first rounder. Debatable if he’s even a decent pick at 61...

Would heavily depend on the board, to me. I don’t think a backup 1T is a top 3 need, so I’m not sure if I’d even take him at 61, let alone move up for him. But yeah definitely like him as a player

I like McNeil a lot. My original list focuses more on later round guys, I think McNeil is a 2 or a 3, but certainly he’s not getting talked about enough...

Big meh here.

Some interesting pro day results: Daviyon Nixon, DL Height: 6’3″ Weight: 313 lbs Forty-Yard Dash: 4.9 Seconds Vertical Jump: 28.5″ Broad Jump: 8’10” Three-Cone Drill: 7.68 Seconds Twenty-Yard Shuttle: 4.7 Seconds I'd be very okay with him being our 1T pick Ihmir Smith-Marsette, WR Height: 6’1″ Weight: 181 lbs Forty-Yard Dash: 4.43 Seconds Vertical Jump: 37″ Broad Jump: 10’4″ Three-Cone Drill: 7 Seconds Twenty-Yard Shuttle: 4.2 Seconds Bench Press: 10 Reps at 225 lbs Not mind-blowing numbers but plenty good enough. Looks faster in pads than 4.43. Ernest Jones, LB Height: 6’1.5″ Weight: 230 lbs Forty-Yard Dash: 4.72 Seconds Vertical Jump: 38.5″ Broad Jump: 10’6″ Three-Cone Drill: 7.35 Seconds Twenty-Yard Shuttle: 4.30 Seconds Bench Press: 19 Reps at 225 lbs I like this guy more and more. Tape shows up, explosion apparent in testing. I'm guessing this is a guy that teams are higher on than the draftnik community.

Seahawks, Cowboys, Eagles

This is certainly looking WAAAAY too far out, but this should push Pitts down at least a little bit. Should mean Chase gets to Philly at 6 and they were really rumored to be the first team looking at Pitts. After them, really only Carolina feels like a natural/logical landing spot for him in that next handful of picks into the early/mid teens. Cowboys are a possibility but they have a lot of holes to fill and a lot of pass catchers already on board, Giants need to figure out Rudolph's health issues, but usually those things have a way of working themselves out. Based on the $ they gave him, it's apparent that they wanted him pretty badly. After that (barring trades, of course) we're looking at the Chargers at 13 as the next logical spot for him (and then another grouping of teams that don't feel like a slam dunk). Chargers need OL help badly so that's no certainty either... I've said it a lot around here but I have to believe Beane is at least chumming the waters to move up and get him. Whether he lasts that long or not obviously remains to be seen, but its certainly not an impossibility at all now...

That's what's so funny about this particular timing... It really could be both. Between now and when we're on the clock, it's all a chess match, and I truly believe that Beane & co. play the market and make decisions more on value than on specific players or needs. Harris 100% fits exactly what we would need, so this could be both completely true and, if it serves to drive his stock way up, a smokescreen at the same time. He signed Breida for a reason, he loves and thrives in situations where he can be extremely flexible -- I'll bet we see similar rumors about being high on a DE and a CB in the coming weeks too. All of which could be completely true and designed as smoke at the same time...

Yep, tis the season...

Feels worth mentioning that Obada -- whom most on this board consider a project/lottery ticket type player, had a better sack/plays ratio than Aldon Smith did last year. Is he HOF caliber?!?!? In all seriousness, this is the type of guy you can bring in on a 100% prove-it, 0 second chances, crazy amount of scrutiny type of deal only. If he wants to come here and fight for a roster spot while making the veterans minimum, take a pee test daily, have the Bills monitor him 24/7, then sure, let's take a flyer because yes, at one point he was great. All that said, I don't see him being willing to put up with all of that. Like others have said, if he's not a good enough culture fit for the Cowboys, he's an awful fit for us...

It's less the height and weight -- there are plenty of tackles that are 6'5" in the league, and 305 is a little slight for playing weight, but not so much that it's uncommon. The issue is arm length. A great deal of success in the trenches happens with hands and arms and if the guy you're trying to block has significantly longer arms than you, the can be tough to control. Typically edge rushers are longer limbed than DTs, so you can get away with shorter arms inside.

Sweet. Every player receiving a paycheck should prepare, train, study, lift, practice, eat, sleep, want and feel as though they should be a starter. I don't want anyone on the roster that doesn't. That's not a shot at the article or Bates, just a general philosophy. Football is a violent sport where things can change drastically with literally every and any snap of the ball. If Bates keeps this mentality and work ethic, he'll get his shot. Him pushing for or earning a starting spot over Ford, Ike, Mongo or Morse would be a very very good thing for us.

Booooooo

No question the trade value has to make sense. I don’t think the targets thing is all that major of a concern, frankly. Short term — in the first year, he’d be a rookie with a veteran “in front of him” and vets out wide. Sure you give your new toy maybe 50 or 60 targets but that’s not the type of player you’d feed unless he just absolutely explodes, which would be a good problem to have. Longer term, Sanders moves on after this year and you’re splitting 600 targets among 4 main guys. That’s more than enough.

Insane testing numbers, really underwhelming tape. I guess I’d say if he’s our pick at 30 at least he’s basically all upside. That said, actively hoping he’s someone else’s problem and pushes a Paye/Phillips/Ossai to us.

I hated that pick but Whitner over Ngata is every bit as awful, I’d argue worse since ngata is a 1st ballot HOFer

Worth keeping in mind that he's writing for a largely superficial audience. This isn't draftnik.com or the Ispend70hoursaweekbreakingdownfilm twitter handle, this is NFL.com proper, so there's a demand for content that covers a very broad swath of readership. Furthermore, it's entirely possible that this piece was ghostwritten and/or partially quick jots from much longer scouting reports... Gil's extremely well respected in NFL circles. I think there's a reason for that... He's plenty talented, but I think he's gotten a "Draftnik bump" because of his name... He's at best a very borderline top-100 player in my eyes.