ESPN Insider: Anonymous Execs weigh in on Bills picks and QBs

[ALF]

25 minutes ago, Kemp said:

 

www.google.com/amp/s/www.theringer.com/platform/amp/2018/4/11/17224760/josh-allen-cleveland-browns-analytics-nfl-draft

 

yikes , not a fun article to read but interesting , thanks

 

found some good news late in the article

 

While Allen may be a stat head’s nightmare, he’s an old-school scout’s dream. He’s tall, athletic, and has a SpaceX rocket for an arm. I mean, it’s ridiculous:

 

This number doesn’t correlate with NFL success, but Allen had a measured ball velocity of 62 mph at the NFL combine. No player had ever gotten above 60 since the NFL began keeping the track in 2008. As far as arm strength is concerned, Allen is a generational talent.

 

And to be fair to Allen, while the advanced stats don’t look great, no one can say for sure whether he’ll pan out or be a bust. Stats may not be for losers, but no one would argue that numbers alone make an NFL quarterback. If Allen can piece together his immense talent, he could be the next Brett Favre. If not, he’ll be the next Jake Locker. 

Edited May 6, 2018 by ALF

[CSBill]

On 5/3/2018 at 8:04 PM, Augie said:

 

Aside from the personality questions, I would have cringed every time he got sacked and his head bounced off the turf. I freely admit, he was my first choice at 7 at the time, but personality and durability would have been concerns. 

 

My concern with him all along, he is one hit to the head away from being sone with football

[peterpan]

On 5/3/2018 at 7:40 PM, No Place To Hyde said:

There have been multiple people that met with him during the draft process come out and say there just seems to,be something "off" about him. I never met him, so I dont know.

 

I will offer this though. Draft night after he was selected he came off extremely poorly. Here's a guy that "slipped" to 10 and acted like he fell to the 4th round. It wasn't just what he said either. His body language, eye contact and General presence was dare I say "Cutler-esqe". That's not the composure you hope to see from the face of your franchise. 

Reminded me more if Aaron Rodgers.  I think he handled it great and I think AZ will be the next dynasty if he can stay healthy

[Sky Diver]

Poor decisions and wildly inaccurate. Allen? No, Rosen.

 

He turned the A&M fans against him too.

 

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/texasamaggies/2016/09/03/texas-am-fans-make-fun-uclas-josh-rosen-chanting-50000

 

 

[dollars 2 donuts]

On May 3, 2018 at 7:12 PM, racketmaster said:

ESPN link

http://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2018/insider/story/_/id/23374287/2018-nfl-draft-execs-unfiltered-every-team-picks-baker-mayfield-saquon-barkley-josh-rosen-lamar-jackson-more

 

Below are the comments that are Bills related or on the top 6 QBS. 

 

Baltimore Ravens

"Lamar Jackson at No. 32 was my favorite pick of the first round," an exec said. "You get a fifth-year option for a quarterback who has a chance to come in and unseat Joe Flacco in a hurry and is a dynamic playmaker. It's a genius first round for me because they kept trading back and still got the guys they wanted. We compared the tight end [Hurst] to Todd Heap, so the fit really could not be any better in Baltimore."

Another exec compared Jackson favorably to Michael Vick, whose former quarterbacks coach in Philly (James Urban) holds the same job in Baltimore.

"Can you teach a guy to see it quicker and become accurate?" an exec asked. "That will be the question with Jackson. The talent is there. He is probably a better scrambler than Vick. He probably has better passing technique than Vick had, and if you really want to look at it, Michael Vick was the first pick in the draft who had a good career."

Not everyone loves Jackson as a prospect, or else other teams would have been scrambling to select him earlier in the round.

"Thirteen test score [on the Wonderlic], and his mom is his agent," one skeptic said.

Another insider bristled over the gap between Jackson's college production and where he was selected, particularly with so many questions surrounding the other quarterbacks.

"We will take Rosen, whose teammates dislike him and who makes a fool of himself on TV," this insider said, "but there were only a few teams that would have taken Jackson, even though he could be the best quarterback in this draft."

 

Arizona Cardinals

"I was hoping they would stay at 15 and get Lamar Jackson, but I don't have a problem with what they did," an exec said. "Everybody recognizes the talent with Rosen, but he is not the top guy in the draft because nobody likes him."

The Cardinals were in a difficult spot. They needed a quarterback, but they couldn't realistically trade up high enough to have their choice. They would land whichever quarterback lasted long enough to reach within striking distance. Rosen was prickly out of the gates, saying he would not "come in and be an a--h--- and think that my s--- don't stink," despite being "pissed" that teams drafting ahead of Arizona made "big mistakes" in choosing other QBs.

Exec after exec said the same things about Rosen. One called the former UCLA quarterback a combination of Jeff George and Jay Cutler who would struggle to lead a team. Another worried that Rosen was not durable, comparing him to current Cardinals starter Sam Bradford.

"I think they have it set up right in Arizona because [offensive coordinator] Mike McCoy can speak the kid's language and talk fast enough to try to stay ahead of the kid so he does not get bored," an insider said.

An exec noted that quarterbacks coach Byron Leftwich, already considered future head-coaching material by former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, would become a shooting star if he could help mold Rosen into a success.

"Byron will be good for the kid if Rosen allows it," an insider said.

This insider then let out a chuckle.

"Byron in about a week will probably want to take a poke at him," this insider continued. "He's from f---ing D.C., and he ain't having a cake eater walk in and act like an a--h---."

 

Buffalo Bills

That is where Buffalo bet its future on Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen.

"It's a cold-weather quarterback who is big and strong, not frail and little, in a cold-weather city where it's windy," an exec said. "You are going to have to throw it through the wind and he can do those things. Good job for that. He is aw-shucks, likes football, makes his team visits with sweats and tennis shoes -- perfect for Buffalo. They don't need Baker Mayfield in f---ing designer clothes, OK? They need Jim Kelly."

For the Bills, this draft was about finding a quarterback and loading up on defense with linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, cornerback Taron Johnson and cornerback Siran Neal in the first five rounds.

"The linebacker [Edmunds] is a play-making, run-around, off-the-ball 'backer," an exec said, "and guess what they play in Buffalo? A really simple scheme in which you make plays and run around. Perfect. Edmunds makes plays sideline-to-sideline, and can run through the line of scrimmage. He is raw, but has enough athleticism to defend the short-zone pass because guess what they play? Carolina's defense -- short-zone pass."

 

Cleveland Browns

What if someone told you two months ago that the Browns would select Baker Mayfield first overall?

"No F'ing way," said an exec. "I came to grips with it the night before, but I didn't fully come to grips with it until the card was turned in, and I was like, 'My God, what is going on here?'"

This exec said much of the quarterback evaluation process comes down to the feel a team has after meeting with a player.

"John [Dorsey] wants a leader of men," this exec said. "He must have thought Baker was a leader of men. The time teams spend with quarterbacks one-on-one really is a big factor."

Selecting Sam Darnold instead of Mayfield would have felt like the conventional play, but there was always the potential for someone to love Mayfield near the top.

"Do you trust Baker Mayfield or not?" one insider asked two weeks before the draft. "If you do, then Baker Mayfield would be No. 1 [among the quarterbacks]."

 

NY Jets

"It's like the biggest gift they have ever received," an exec said. "They may have played this thing perfectly. I almost wondered if they leaked that they liked Mayfield, which forced Cleveland to take Mayfield at 1 as opposed to getting him at 4. I do not know if that was the case, but if it was, that was masterful by them."

Another exec thought the Browns' hiring of Scot McCloughan played at least some role in steering the team toward Mayfield. However it happened, the Jets seemed to win.

"They are all-in at this point," this exec said. "If they don't get it right, they are all fired, anyway. You are all-in, and you got a really good quarterback. If he fails, they fail anyway. If they didn't get Darnold, look at the other quarterbacks. I think they would have been done because I think Darnold is probably the best one."

 

Pittsburgh Steelers

"I actually like Rudolph more than I like Josh Allen," this insider said. "Looking at the situation in Pittsburgh vs. the situation in Buffalo, I would almost bank on Rudolph's future more than Allen's future. Then, look at what the teams gave up to get a quarterback. The Jets are really happy Darnold was there for them, and it worked out great, and they need to be excited, but we cannot forget the No. 3 pick and three second-rounders they gave up to get him."

 

Not impressed with Pittsburgh's pick of Edmunds.   "His brother [Tremaine, chosen 16th by the Bills] is going to be awesome for Buffalo".

 

Washington Redskins

"I would have taken Tremaine Edmunds because he is 19 years old [20 as of Wednesday], and he is a three-down player no matter what. He can drop, he can pass rush, he can play the run. He could play inside linebacker, outside linebacker, defensive end -- you name it. And when he is 21-22 years old, he could be 245 pounds."

 

 

I tried to state this in the other thread.  I wasn't trying to be cute and I wasn't trying to be funny.  Throw all the intelligence aside, the good causes off the field,  and the idea that he would challenge teams and administrations.

 

it gets down to him being a U.S., grade "A" D***.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 5/4/2018 at 1:20 PM, BadLandsMeanie said:

 Something about this article nagged at me a little and I didn't know why. I returned a few times to read it again and now I know what it is.

 

These guys sound like people of average intelligence who don't know a lot more than me.

What  mean is, if you talk to a mechanic about how he sets up a race car, you are going to learn some things that you wouldn't just already know. Like how they use different tires on which wheel or how they angle the wheels in the alignment or how they set up the suspension to match a specific race track. Detailed information having to do with being trained to do a particular job.

 

Or a landscaper will tell you what the soil needs and how they make it good and what plants do best in what conditions and all kinds of things.

 

These guys sound like if I asked a builder about his business he might say: Well, we build the rooms which are usually square because it is much easier that way. Curved walls are harder so more expensive. And then there is a roof as you know. But we put shingles on the roof because otherwise the water still gets in you see? (...)

 

To me these guys sound like men of average intelligence who don't actually know very much. And I think Brandon Beane is going to mop the floor with these people because to me he seems to be well about average intelligence and to know quite a lot.

 

When the press is quoting anonymous "NFL execs" and "insiders", what does that mean, anyway? 

 

My guess is that the people who really know a lot and are actually involved with building the draft boards and making the selections are now busy scouring the country for the best FA still remaining and processing intel on other team's rosters to predict who might get cut that could help their teams.

 

The executive VP in charge of ticket sales, PR, and community relations technically count as "NFL execs" and "insiders", so who knows whether the guys being quoted in that article are actually Brandon Beane's peers (draft-day decision makers with the inside track on why) or guys high enough to get the perk of a seat in the War Room but out of the loop.

[BigDingus]

I don't know what people are talking about with Rosen on draft night.

The Cardinals were ecstatic to get him, especially since they didn't have to give up nearly as much as the Bills.

And his composure on draft night? He came off impressive to me. He sounded like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, ticked off that he was doubted, and ready to go out and kick ***!

He said was ready to walk off the stage and go right onto the field, as he was so ready to get to work then and there. He sounded more driven, motivated and ready than any of the other cliche sound bites the other QBs were spouting off. 

Not to say that makes him better than any of the other QB's, only that what he said came off as anything but poor to me.

[stinky finger]

I thought he came off as a total douche.

 

 

[Aussie Joe]

21 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

I don't know what people are talking about with Rosen on draft night.

The Cardinals were ecstatic to get him, especially since they didn't have to give up nearly as much as the Bills.

 

Benjamin Allbright and others..

[BadLandsMeanie]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

When the press is quoting anonymous "NFL execs" and "insiders", what does that mean, anyway? 

 

My guess is that the people who really know a lot and are actually involved with building the draft boards and making the selections are now busy scouring the country for the best FA still remaining and processing intel on other team's rosters to predict who might get cut that could help their teams.

 

The executive VP in charge of ticket sales, PR, and community relations technically count as "NFL execs" and "insiders", so who knows whether the guys being quoted in that article are actually Brandon Beane's peers (draft-day decision makers with the inside track on why) or guys high enough to get the perk of a seat in the War Room but out of the loop.

OK that could be true. But that would mean the reporter is disreputable and misleading his readers. Which I suppose isn't unheard of.

 

Be aware please that I know personally, from repeated experience, that NFL teams sometimes have no idea at all what they are doing at this or that thing. And they are so incredibly arrogant sometimes that they will not listen at all. 

 

But I can 't say that has ever been true of actually football stuff so far as I have ever seen.

 

Just that people think the NFL teams are so elite and so professional and so successful and have so much money that they always get things just right. Sometimes that has been the exact opposite of true. 

[Dr. Who]

1 hour ago, BigDingus said:

And his composure on draft night? He came off impressive to me. He sounded like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, ticked off that he was doubted, and ready to go out and kick ***!
 

You're welcome to your opinion.  I thought he came across as petulant and entitled.  He did not fall into the twenties like Aaron Rodgers.  A team traded up for him and he went in the top ten, yet he thought he would have to fake a happy face.  Cry me a river.  Whether durability worries, personality, or a combination of the two, clearly teams had some genuine concerns with Rosen.  Further, they may also have thought more highly of less polished fellas with potentially higher upsides.  I had Rosen fourth out of four, so I'm not sad we passed on him.  Perhaps he turns out to be a superior player, but I think he has a Jay Cutler vibe that I don't particularly like.

Edited May 6, 2018 by Dr. Who

[Hapless Bills Fan]

26 minutes ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

OK that could be true. But that would mean the reporter is disreputable and misleading his readers. Which I suppose isn't unheard of.

 

Be aware please that I know personally, from repeated experience, that NFL teams sometimes have no idea at all what they are doing at this or that thing. And they are so incredibly arrogant sometimes that they will not listen at all.

 

Ha.  Well, I think I made the point a while back that part of my problem with giving McDermott and Beane great trust is that it's actually been true of not one, but several, Buffalo GMs that a random fan taking a consensus of mock draft boards literally could have crafted a better draft than several the Bills have had.  Yes, these are new folks, but when trust is gone it's hard to get it back.

 

Also that's, as I take it, the underlying theme behind Dilfer's comments on Josh Rosen and "fit".  Dilfer pretty much up and said a lot of QB rooms in the country don't have coaches there who can really fundamentally answer "why?" questions, they got their info from someone else and don't really understand it in depth (paraphrase).  I was flabbergasted - most people took it as critique of Rosen, but I took it as a pretty scathing indictment of NFL coaching, actually.

 

I don't think the reporter is necessarily disreputable and misleading his readers.  I was exaggerating about EVP of ticket sales, and maybe I'm not ginned up on how reporters work, but I would think it's not always obvious by title who is or isn't "in the know" on the factors underlying a team's draft board vs. giving their personal take.

 

Let's say it's true that Russ Brandon was not part of building the Bills draft board this year.  He has been in the past, and he was until a few days ago a real, live NFL CEO.  But if a reputable reporter talked to him, would that reporter say "so, with the new guys here and your new roles, how much were you really involved in the draft evaluation process this year?"  or would he encounter a tipsy Russ in a bar and just buy him a drink, ask for his take, and write down what he got?

[BadLandsMeanie]

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Ha.  Well, I think I made the point a while back that part of my problem with giving McDermott and Beane great trust is that it's actually been true of not one, but several, Buffalo GMs that a random fan taking a consensus of mock draft boards literally could have crafted a better draft than several the Bills have had.  Yes, these are new folks, but when trust is gone it's hard to get it back.

 

Also that's, as I take it, the underlying theme behind Dilfer's comments on Josh Rosen and "fit".  Dilfer pretty much up and said a lot of QB rooms in the country don't have coaches there who can really fundamentally answer "why?" questions, they got their info from someone else and don't really understand it in depth (paraphrase).  I was flabbergasted - most people took it as critique of Rosen, but I took it as a pretty scathing indictment of NFL coaching, actually.

 

I don't think the reporter is necessarily disreputable and misleading his readers.  I was exaggerating about EVP of ticket sales, and maybe I'm not ginned up on how reporters work, but I would think it's not always obvious by title who is or isn't "in the know" on the factors underlying a team's draft board vs. giving their personal take.

 

Let's say it's true that Russ Brandon was not part of building the Bills draft board this year.  He has been in the past, and he was until a few days ago a real, live NFL CEO.  But if a reputable reporter talked to him, would that reporter say "so, with the new guys here and your new roles, how much were you really involved in the draft evaluation process this year?"  or would he encounter a tipsy Russ in a bar and just buy him a drink, ask for his take, and write down what he got?

 Well I do think you have a much more optimistic and understanding approach to deciding if somebody is full of it than I do. I think people lie a lot and I think somebody in this example is Bs-ing.   

 

I think homo sapiens lie a lot. Now I wasn't always this way and I don't want to come off as a fellow who hates everyone and thinks everybody is lying all of the time.

 

But let me take you back in time to explain what I mean! Perhaps you will agree that we humans are a soft, sparsely furred, nearly defenseless creatures pathetically suited to survive in nearly any natural environment. This is why we lived in the trees, because coming down to the ground to compete with animals who had claws and fangs and other adaptations that enable them to survive would not work out very well for us. We had nothing going for us until we discovered deceit and deception. 

 

Once our monkey-ish ancestors learned to trick mislead and deceive all the other animals we were able to come down from the trees and take over.

 

So human beings are by far the most deceitful animal. It is our strength and what makes us human!  I will give you an example.

 

Say you are getting ready to barbecue and you set the hot dogs on the table. A couple minutes later you notice 3 hot dogs are gone, and you confront your dog.

He will be completely unable to hide his guilt. His attempt will be pathetic. And this after he and his species have had the opportunity to learn how to lie and deceive from us for tens of thousands of years.

 

That is why God kicked Adman and Eve out of the garden. Now they went too far trying to lie to him about who stole the apple. But he was very impressed that humans had got so good at lying that they could even half convince God himself that they were not full of ****. So he knew we were ready to fend for ourselves and he sent us out into the larger world and the rest is history.

 

 

 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

 Well I do think you have a much more optimistic and understanding approach to deciding if somebody is full of it than I do. I think people lie a lot and I think somebody in this example is Bs-ing.   

 

I think homo sapiens lie a lot. Now I wasn't always this way and I don't want to come off as a fellow who hates everyone and thinks everybody is lying all of the time.

 

But let me take you back in time to explain what I mean! Perhaps you will agree that we humans are a soft, sparsely furred, nearly defenseless creatures pathetically suited to survive in nearly any natural environment. This is why we lived in the trees, because coming down to the ground to compete with animals who had claws and fangs and other adaptations that enable them to survive would not work out very well for us. We had nothing going for us until we discovered deceit and deception.

 

Well, the ability not only to hit critters with rocks, but to hurl suitably shaped rocks 60 yards through the air (tying this back to football) may have been going for us

 

[Saxum]

11 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

The executive VP in charge of ticket sales, PR, and community relations technically count as "NFL execs" and "insiders", so who knows whether the guys being quoted in that article are actually Brandon Beane's peers (draft-day decision makers with the inside track on why) or guys high enough to get the perk of a seat in the War Room but out of the loop.

 

So does locker room attendants and sanitation engineers where is La Conjecture got his inside info on Bills or he used to.

[Thurman#1]

On 5/4/2018 at 8:36 AM, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Literally exactly what I have been saying about Rosen.  Nobody likes him.  I have said repeatedly he reminds of Jeff George and Jay Cutler with the body of Sam Bradford.  And here you have NFL execs making the exact same comparison.  

 

This is why 3 teams chose a different QB and 2 other teams who most believe could use a QB (NYG and Den) also chose other players.  He could prove those risks wrong, but when you are draft a QB high in the draft with lots of talented prospects, having serious personality question marks and durability issues makes your stock fall.  AZ could have gotten a steal, or they just got a lemon.  Only time will tell, but all the reasons here are why I liked the Allen pick over Rosen and why I felt Rosen would be the last of the big 4 chosen.  

 

I still would have backed him if we drafted him, no denying he's got a lot of potential, but he was the one QB I didnt want to pay a ransom for.  I would have been ok with him at 7, but I liked Allen better after he won me over in the offseason.  

 

 

If nobody liked Rosen, he'd be looking for a team now. He went #10. Plenty of people liked him, including Arizona.

 

Throughout the process, people have been saying that plenty of traditional teams wouldn't like the guy, that he will challenge coaches and only some teams could handle that. Exactly. And the Giants and Denver both had their guys that they wanted above anybody else. Denver made a deal before the draft to trade back with Buffalo unless their guy was still there. And he was.

 

Durability issues with Rosen? Yeah, fair enough. And that old-fashioned teams and coaches wouldn't want him? Yeah, people have said this all along.

 

 

12 hours ago, BigDingus said:

I don't know what people are talking about with Rosen on draft night.

The Cardinals were ecstatic to get him, especially since they didn't have to give up nearly as much as the Bills.

And his composure on draft night? He came off impressive to me. He sounded like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, ticked off that he was doubted, and ready to go out and kick ***!

He said was ready to walk off the stage and go right onto the field, as he was so ready to get to work then and there. He sounded more driven, motivated and ready than any of the other cliche sound bites the other QBs were spouting off. 

Not to say that makes him better than any of the other QB's, only that what he said came off as anything but poor to me.

 

 

Yup, agreed.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Thurman#1

[Thurman#1]

 

 

7 hours ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

 Well I do think you have a much more optimistic and understanding approach to deciding if somebody is full of it than I do. I think people lie a lot and I think somebody in this example is Bs-ing.   

 

I think homo sapiens lie a lot. Now I wasn't always this way and I don't want to come off as a fellow who hates everyone and thinks everybody is lying all of the time.

 

But let me take you back in time to explain what I mean! Perhaps you will agree that we humans are a soft, sparsely furred, nearly defenseless creatures pathetically suited to survive in nearly any natural environment. This is why we lived in the trees, because coming down to the ground to compete with animals who had claws and fangs and other adaptations that enable them to survive would not work out very well for us. We had nothing going for us until we discovered deceit and deception. 

 

Once our monkey-ish ancestors learned to trick mislead and deceive all the other animals we were able to come down from the trees and take over.

 

So human beings are by far the most deceitful animal. It is our strength and what makes us human! 

 

 

 

The most recent ancestors built for climbing trees were about 3 million years old. We weren't deceiving anyone back then. We weren't even Homo Sapiens then. And even then its feet weren't climbing feet, they were walking feet.

 

But it was a nice post, Meanie. Glad I had a chance to read it.

[stuvian]

 

Anonymous has football execs? I'd love to see their mock draft

[BadLandsMeanie]

5 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

 

 

 

The most recent ancestors built for climbing trees were about 3 million years old. We weren't deceiving anyone back then. We weren't even Homo Sapiens then. And even then its feet weren't climbing feet, they were walking feet.

 

But it was a nice post, Meanie. Glad I had a chance to read it.

Thank you sir.

 

And remember, sometimes scientific truth, can distract us from "artistic truth"  

 

I still feel like I am part monkey sometimes. And in an eerie coincidence, I literally just finished a banana. 

 

 

 

 

And I end with this randomly found post just now

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by BadLandsMeanie

[BillsBytheBay]

On 5/3/2018 at 8:11 PM, TC in St. Louis said:

Josh Allen's Pro Day Highlights

 

The Bills tested the bejeezus out of Josh Allen, and they think they've got their franchise guy.  They know a lot more about him than any media person or even the most ardent fan.  Weeks ago Josh said he loved Bills Mafia, and I thought that was pretty cool.  What I also thought was cool was his appearance on Josh Allen's Pro Day.  What an arm.  He will be our star for a long time.

I liked the " he's scouting narcotics" comment.... I lol'd