BillsVet

Jacksonville's DL featured DE Yannick Ngakoue, DT Malik Jackson, DT Abry Jones, and DE Calais Campbell. That's a 3rd, 5th, UDFA, and a high dollar (4 yrs 60M) UFA. They started 16, 16, 15, and 16 games respectively. And yeah, they dealt for Dareus, giving up all of a 6th in return. One guy there acquired using premium resources. Philly's main LBs were Bradham and Mychal Kendricks, who started 15 and 13 games respectively. The former was acquired in UFA on a 2 year 7M contract (!) and Kendricks was a 2nd round pick. Not huge resources there for a team with a pretty good defense. Bradham is a UFA next month. New England's OL? Solder, Joe Thuney, David Andrews, Shaq Mason, and LaAdrian Waddle (in the SB) who replaced Marcus Cannon at RT. That's a 1st rounder, 3rd rounder, UDFA, and 4th rounder, street FA, and 5th round pick. Drafting RBs, interior OL, LBs, safeties, and DT's early is not how you rebuild. Those positions do not influence the outcome of games enough to use premium picks, particularly when you've got needs at QB, in the pass rush, and perhaps at CB. Deferring a decision on the latter will keep your team mediocre, which is what the Bills did for more than a decade.

Anything, good or bad, is possible. There are plenty of people who seriously or jokingly have talked about "trusting in the process" but it still applies. McDermott learned a lot this year about himself and this team in terms of their ceiling without a QB. I'm confident both he and Beane know this team has a lot of holes, but none bigger than the QB. They will not pull the same shenanigans that Levy/Brandon/Nix/Whaley did by kicking the can down the road, banking on mediocre veteran types or picking a QB out of desperation. I get why people doubt the franchise, but thankfully the decade of bad GMs from 2006-2016 is over. People aren't hired in their 80s, business managers, scouts masquerading as a GM, or a guy more concerned with saving his job. The question is not whether McBeane have a plan, it's whether theirs is a good one.

I didn't say not to improve the LB or DT positions, just that spending first rounders isn't what will make this a strong team. From a resource allocation perspective I'll find LBs and DT's later in the draft and use premium picks on the hard to find positions. And if that means trading up for a QB then so be it. Few people know who plays DT for the Jaguars. Or, who the LBs are for Philadelphia. Or New England's OG's or safeties. McD didn't trade down so far last year to make sure he had the picks to get a DT or LB. He knew it'd take more draft capital in 2018 to move up for, I suspect, the QB. Whether that happens now is another matter but I can't see this team entering the coming season without a QB prospect. Besides, I wouldn't be depending so heavily on rookies to come in and provide the difference in the front 7 like you are.

There's no reason to worry about the prospect of not finding a new QB this off-season. McBeane will address the position

Drafting interior OL, LB, DT, or S high without being much better at QB is a recipe for failure or, even worse, mediocrity. Those are nice to have positions, but spending premium draft picks on them is typically not the answer. Players there don't effect the final score enough in most cases to be worth first round picks. I'd rather see Buffalo aggressively pursue the QB and fill those positions in with your 2-4th rounds or medium priced UFAs. Problem is, they've drafted poorly beyond round 2 for a long time and haven't found the value there.

The wild card game Bortles flat out stunk. As the game wore on Buffalo's defense could continue to focus on stopping the run and did so. IIRC, they stacked 8 in the box on many downs knowing Bortles couldn't beat them in the air. If you're speaking specifically about the Buffalo Jacksonville game (which you were) both QBs were very poor. If anything, defense and poor offense were equally the reason for the low final score.

Inept QB play does not equate to a defensive battle.

Troubled is the right term here because we don't know if there's mental illness involved or what. But posting what he did indicates that his issues are far deeper than simply what happened when he played for Miami.

The Bills have kicked the can down the road for years on solving their QB issue. At the heart of it are decision makers who were afraid to be wrong and avoided the audacity necessary to find your long term guy. I don't get that sense with McBeane. The HC traded down last year with presumably the foresight to know they needed more picks to be active this year. Moves this past off-season seemed to continue that thought process. I don't see them taking someone in the 2nd or 3rd, pairing them with a veteran and Peterman. That's too cautious an approach for a team stuck in the mediocrity the franchise remained in these past 18 years. The fastest way to getting better in the NFL is finding the QB. You can draft all the DTs, LBs, guards, and safeties you want. They won't exponentially improve the team from one year to the next in the current NFL. Sure, those positions need improving, but that can be addressed in UFA or in later rounds.

I think if you have a "simple question" phrase it in your thread title and ask away.

I'm guessing you're your favorite draftnik. For the record, Mayock does one mock within a few days of the draft. And even getting 6-7 picks in the first round is considered good. I would say these individuals are known for what they think of players, not necessarily where they slot them in a mock draft. To use a broad brush and declare none of them worthwhile is absurd.

If the standard of excellence is nothing less than perfect I'd like to know who you're following. And it's fake to declare them being more wrong than right, unless you're citing their mock drafts which everyone is less than perfect at. Kiper is Kiper, but he's been in the draft business now 40 years and Mayock's widely known as one of the best. I prefer the latter but a case can be made for numerous types who have their share of misses.

We haven't had a Brandon thread in a long time. And thank goodness because there was a time it seemed like one started every day. That said, he had no business being a NFL GM and I remember reading that other team execs at the 2008 Combine were snickering at his presence there. I can at least say that Buffalo finally has a GM who is suited and not wed to protecting his job or trying to obtain another promotion at OBD. I have supreme confidence that the current leadership is suited to the modern game and won't be making picks to largely sell tickets.

At this juncture it's a safe bet to just go with teams addressing need in a mock draft. That's what Kiper's done here because the national draft guys know Wood retired and Buffalo needs a CB to replace Gaines. I don't see McBeane as the types who'll sit tight and draft for straight need. And of course as others have said, the draft board becomes more clear after the first wave of free agents are signed.

Jim Kelly rejected the Bills and he turned out all right. Besides, when I was 21-22 I didn't know anything about anything. A few years later and having been exposed to what it really meant to handle adversity, I had grown up a lot. I don't care about Rosen's politics, but would hope he knows that espousing them publicly isn't in his best interest.

I've never seen that guy walk at games. Ever.

Brown does not fit McD's scheme, which features more athletic sideline to sideline LBs. Think Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly. He's not looking for 2 down slow footed types like Brown who, while piling up the tackles, isn't in the mold of what he needs to play an attacking style of defense. Buffalo shouldn't commit anything to someone who doesn't work just to say they have a guy there, which is what Brown is. Brown will hit UFA next month. If the Bills were keen on re-signing him they would have done so already and I've heard absolutely nothing about his people and the team engaged in contract talks.

I'm glad that McBeane don't approach the draft with the same fear that some posters have expressed. No one's saying you've got to give up your entire draft and no one should be comfortable with OBD letting the draft come to them. There's a reason a team employs scouts, meets throughout the offseason as a group to develop strategy, meet with players, etc. You make a decision at some point and one hallmark of this organization has been their outright fear/refusal to take a QB. That should be ending this off-season with McBeane know you either have your guy or don't. Stop-gap measures aren't an answer like they were under the previous few GMs.

Fantasy football has made some fans believe building a team starts and almost ends with offensive skill positions. QBs and pass rushers are where you need to be strong. This hasn't changed in years and teams with high picks without those type players taking RBs is madness.

Zone CBs are never going to command the price that someone who is man to man will. And even if Davis is slowing down to the point of being more of a press guy, he's not going to want to take the pay cut. He'll test the market and try to get someone to pay him. I don't see Buffalo spending 9M per on a UFA CB largely because they've got so many needs elsewhere. I can see them looking for someone much lower priced and using their cap room to improve the front 7. Gaines isn't coming back, given the price he's looking for and it wouldn't surprise me if there's been no discussion between his agent and OBD.

I cannot see Davis signing before UFA opens up. He may take some visits, but he'll want to see what he can get when UFA opens up.

I'll grant that Mayock wasn't as high a pick as Brooks and the latter not having a great career was worse than the former. At the same time, what difference does it make if you're comparing their careers? Neither lasted very long, but both are in the NFL Draft Analyst business and doing well by all accounts. There are others like Daniel Jeremiah who are pretty adept in the NFL Draft community who never even played a NFL down. Their pro career doesn't portend what their draft analysis ability will be.

Trying to scheme for an athlete QB is extremely difficult. Darrell Bevell did it for a few years with Russell Wilson and was canned this off-season. Jackson, by all accounts, can make the throws and has excellent scrambling ability yet isn't extremely accurate. His skill set has been proven not to translate to a repeatable offensive strategy in the NFL. I want a pocket QB who can feel the rush and throw receivers open, among other things. I don't see Jackson ever being that guy.

Mike Mayock was a NFL bust. I’ll take his word on the draft before I would say, Marshall Faulk’s. And there are plenty of Draftniks who know their stuff and didn’t play. Joel Buchsbaum comes to mind.

Hernando Cortes has been dead for 470 years. I'd like to think that situation (and the aftermath) is a little different than a NFL franchise being aggressive to find a QB. That said, you always have a backup plan when you're building a football team, especially at the QB position. Doug Whaley didn't in '13 (save for the never durable Kevin Kolb) and it resulted in Buffalo starting types like Thad Lewis and Jeff Tuel in winnable games. In '14, they had someone, who retired after the season. The backup in '15 with Rex was traded when Dougie's boy EJM was in street clothes to begin the season. This ain't conquistadors in Mexico in the 16th century.