Bills 2021 Draft - Overall Assessment

[Doc]

3 minutes ago, inaugural balls said:

No brainer for sure. And they made the right pick with Rosseau. 

 

Why double down? They stayed true to their board. Again, good pick up with Boogie. 

 

Oliver the next Bruuuuuuce? Who ever said that? 

 

He argues that Breida is a homerun hitter...and then says they would have run to the podium for Etienne.  I think the RB position is log-jammed as it is.  I also think that Beane got the Jags and Steelers to take RBs, when they would have been best-served taking OL to protect their QBs.  But hey, it's all speculation.

[hondo in seattle]

34 minutes ago, Doc said:

As for RB, I don't think the Bills ever intended to take one.  They spent 3rd rounders in consecutive drafts on Motor and Moss, signed Antonio Williams as an UDFA last year, added Breida in FA, and have Wade.  It's not a position that's worth a high pick anymore.

I really, really hope one of them proves me wrong this season but all our backs are JAGs.   The lack of respect they generate allowed the Chiefs to line up in a 4-1-6, blanketing our wideouts.

 

Imagine if we had OJ in the backfield with Josh - or Thurman?  Or even Freddy or Cribbs?   What would a DC do?  He’d have no good options.

 

If a ‘franchise RB’ was available on Day One or Two, he’d be worth the pick.

[KGun12TD]

With Hughes and Addison in their 30s and one year left on their contracts, we’ll reflect on this draft and praise McBean!

[Fred Slacks]

I wanted Roseau and we drafted him. So if that ends up being a miss I am poor at evaluating. For the record I wanted Oliver that year too. Epenesa as well. I was hoping for Darnold but liked Allen over Rosen. 
 

I wanted a corner but I am okay with doubling down on D line. If they legitimately didn’t like their options in round 2 and 3 with CB’s I’m glad they went the direction they did. 
 

if we come out of this off-season getting more defensive line pressure and stopping the run better than last season as well as running the ball more effectively then who could argue that we didn’t hit a home run?  Weren’t those out only real concerns this off-season?

 

I feel like we just have to wait and see. I mean Gabe Davis, Bass and Moss looked like great contributors last season. Jury is still out on Epenesa. You don’t always know right away who will pan out. For the most part I like the results of the other drafts so I’m going to just watch this play out and keep my faith in our front office. Heaven forbid we have an injury on the offensive line Spencer needs to play who knows?  We may be talking post season how big that draft pick was. If our DE’s pull out 12 sacks between the two of them I’d consider that a huge impact. 
 

I think the thing I’m most excited about of our new defensive end picks is that they break off their rushes and still get guys down. I’m sick of our ends running themselves upfield and out of a play and losing contain. Both these DE’s look like they consistently make that play. I have no doubt we get more sacks from our d line this season. I am confident Ed Oliver just got better too. 

[Doc]

12 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

I really, really hope one of them proves me wrong this season but all our backs are JAGs.   The lack of respect they generate allowed the Chiefs to line up in a 4-1-6, blanketing our wideouts.

 

Imagine if we had OJ in the backfield with Josh - or Thurman?  Or even Freddy or Cribbs?   What would a DC do?  He’d have no good options.

 

If a ‘franchise RB’ was available on Day One or Two, he’d be worth the pick.

 

I believe the Chefs were in a 4-2-5, just like the Bills were.  But the Bills ran their RBs just 9 times (the rest was Josh and McK).  Meanwhile the Chefs' 1st round rookie, CEH, ran 6 times for 7 yards.

[TheBeaneBandit]

Once Newsome was gone, I didn't mind not going CB the rest of the way. Campbell was the only other guy I really liked. Nice meat and potatoes draft.

 

[HappyDays]

15 hours ago, PaulieYayo said:

They still need a RB, TE, DT, CB and burner WR

 

They added a burner WR in Stevenson.

 

With RB I agree but the only players that made sense from this draft were Etienne and Gainwell, and both were drafted before we had a chance to take them. If you read between the lines of what Beane said in his post-draft presser I really do believe that Etienne would have been the pick at 30. But since he was taken 5 picks earlier I don't know what you wanted him to do, trade up? Not for a RB. As it stands they'll just have to hope Breida fills that hole, I think they signed him as insurance.

 

TE is the same as RB, there weren't any good opportunities to upgrade it in this draft. If Howie Roseman would have a lick of sense than maybe Ertz would be a Bill. But looks like we'll just have to cross a fingers that Knox has the offseason of a lifetime. If not Hollister is the insurance.

 

DT was seen as a need on here only because the board has a bizarre groupthink mentality that Star is going to come back out of shape, with no reason whatsoever to believe that is true. It is going to be Harrison Phillips backing up Star just like it was in 2019 when our defense played much better. If the goal is to beat the Chiefs, adding a 1-tech doesn't get us there.

 

CB similarly was seen as a need on this board even though CB2 is not all that important in McDermott's scheme. I'm expecting another veteran signing at some point, so it will be some rotation of Wallace, Jackson, Wildgoose, and a veteran manning that spot.

 

The one spot on defense I am still very concerned about is MLB. That is actually a critical piece in McDermott's scheme and we have no insurance if Edmunds fails to develop.

[4BillsintheBurgh]

I like the fact Rousseau played safety in high school and is 6'7, now we have someone who can knock down the hail mary passes! 4d chess!

 

I do think these d ends are more run stuffers than twitchy pass rushers and I'm okay with that. I hope they can help us force more 3rd and longs, which will help our sack numbers. I also hope they can win one on one battles because having to double any dlineman will help the others. 

 

The oline guys might not be ready this year but if just one of the tackles hits it will be a good thing. With a deep tackle class I think of Gabe Davis hitting with the deep wr class last year.

[unbillievable]

5 minutes ago, 4BillsintheBurgh said:

I like the fact Rousseau played safety in high school and is 6'7, now we have someone who can knock down the hail mary passes! 4d chess!

 

We drafted 4 guys  just to stop the hail mary pass.

[Motorin']

1 hour ago, Doc said:

 

He argues that Breida is a homerun hitter...and then says they would have run to the podium for Etienne.  I think the RB position is log-jammed as it is.  I also think that Beane got the Jags and Steelers to take RBs, when they would have been best-served taking OL to protect their QBs.  But hey, it's all speculation.

 

If Beane never wanted to take a RB in the 1st he did a good job motivating other teams to take RB. 5 QB's and 2 RB's meant a really good player was going to be available at 30.

[Comebackkid]

8 hours ago, newcam2012 said:

Why pick up Brieda then? Neither Singletary nor Moss scare a defense. Singletary can't score tds and Moss lacks explosive speed. Brieda brings that to the table. Who knows about Etienne? If he dropped to the Bills at 30 my gut says they would have ran to the podium. Personally, he's the guy I wanted. Just ask yourself Etienne or Rousseau? Seems like a no brainer to me. If the Bills were so confident in Rousseau then why double up with another DE? Oliver who was hyped up to be the next Bruce Smith and Epanesa are on the roster. Something isn't adding up to me. Are they hoping they get one right? 

I think Brieda gave them the speed that was missing from moss and singletary.   I dont think they wanted to move up very badly because we didnt have that many draft picks to begin with.   KC killed us because our 0 line got mauled.   (3 new OL)   we also couldnt touch Patrick. so Beane doubles down on De.  Plus I think if u looked at when we played KC and some other teams we just didnt seem on the the same athletic level.   

 

Also Addison is going to be gone and Hughes as well soon.   Beane also put more value on DE.   He said anytime you can get a DE you take one...   well two fell into his lap and he took them.   So.....   maybe we end up with excess De but.. we take the cream of the crop and turn the others into draft picks down the road.   

 

You dont have the same value at running back either.   

 

[The Frankish Reich]

My draft grade: C. But that's just because it seems average, and C traditionally is average. With grade inflation rampant, I guess we could call it a B.

I don't obsess over drafts, and I'll admit that Rousseau is the only Bills pick I'd actually heard of before this week. And he seems like a fine pick at 30. That's part of finally being a good team - everyone you pick comes with a question mark when you're no longer picking in the top 10 or 15.

 

I guess my sole disappointment is with what the Bills did in relation to the competitive cycle. Beane gets a partial pass because he made the Diggs deal last year. I understand the value of not mortgaging the future by doing it again (this year it would've probably meant packaging picks to move up in the draft rather than acquiring another expensive star), but I also have the nagging feeling that the window of opportunity is wide open this season and maybe next season. The AFC East will get better, but probably not just yet. The Chiefs are still the champs till somebody in the AFC beats them, but in retrospect they were incredibly lucky during the regular season with lots of very close wins, and they were badly exposed by Tampa in the SB. Other teams to fear in the future (Chargers?) seem a year or so behind us in the cycle, and others (Ravens? Titans?) strike me as having moved just past their peak.

 

So from a "future is now" perspective, I probably would've targeted a more immediate home run hitter even at the cost of losing picks in future years.

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, inaugural balls said:

 

I was waiting for you to say DD would kick inside and have Spencer Long mature into LT in 2-3 years.

I mean, who knows?  That may be a possibility.   What I do know is that except for a few very special leaders, like Kyle, McBeane aren't keeping you around if you don't fit into the plan, and the plan is both short-term and long-term.   They were ready to let Milano walk and they didn't even have a guy behind him, so I'm going to assume that Dawkins couldn't get pushed off the roster by one of the guys the Bills drafted this week.  I'm not saying he will.  But my original point was that three years from now we could look back at this draft and see five or even six guys who are starters for the Bills.   Any draft that yields that many starters is a good draft, and it's particularly good when it happens on a team that already has a lot of talent.  

5 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

 

 

 

So from a "future is now" perspective, I probably would've targeted a more immediate home run hitter even at the cost of losing picks in future years.

I wrote a little about this last night, in a different way.  I get that you're looking at it from the future-is-now perspective, but I guess my style is to get comfortable with the approach that Bills management may be taking at any given time.  Some other regimes were more future-is-now, but these guys have been completely clear that they are not at all in that camp.  Their stated objective was to get good and stay good.  They already got good, not quite good enough, but pretty darn good, and this draft was about staying good.  

[newcam2012]

7 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

They were already ahead of the Bills by like 20 spots. They moved up to get ahead of someone but it sure as hell wasn't Buffalo.

 

Brandon Beane pretty much told us he wasn't interested in Najee or Williams. I think they would have been interested in Etienne but you do not trade up in round 1 for running backs.

Generally speaking this is true. I wanted Etienne if he slipped into the late 20s. I would have given up some to move up a few picks. He could have been a solid RB for years to come. A building block sort of speak. None of the Bills RBs fall into that category. It's a running back by committee in Bflo. Singletary can't find the end zone and is light in the ass, Moss is ok, and Brieda is a third down player who is injury prone. Etienne would have been an instant upgrade by a pretty considerable margin. Imho, the Bills will win games mostly because of Allen, Diggs, other Wrs, and offensive play calling. They are built to outscore teams. The offense had a ***** run game which ultimately caught up to the Bills. Sure some can be attributed to scheme and play calling. Without a serviceable run game and a threat to run the Bills chances of hoisting the Lombardi trophy diminish.

 

The Bills defense is anything but super bowl caliber. They are mediocre at stopping the run, can't stop the tight end position, can't rush the passer without blitzing, and have some holes in the secondary. We are a bend but don't break defense that relies on turnovers. As a result, I get the focus on the defensive side of the ball. How many pass rushers are the Bills going to acquire? Oliver, Epanesa, Rousseau, Boogie, Obada, etc...At some point, I think it's fair to question their effectiveness to find a quality rusher. Can they stop the run? Can they stop a TE? Can they get to the QB? Can they get off the field on 3rd down? 

 

Lastly, I understand the praise for the Buc defense. They absolutely dominated the Chiefs. However, it wasn't only the D that won the game. Their offense was very very good. Brady was effective, productive, efficient, and moved the chains. The running game was solid and effective. They had the Chiefs D on their toes. Something the Buffalo offense couldn't do. Why? Because the Bills had no run game! Posed no threat to the Chiefs. I don't see the Bills offense being as effective without a serviceable running game. I'm even concerned that Allen may regress a little. 

 

I know this won't be a popular take. Not trying to troll or bash anyone or the Bills organization. Last year was so much fun!!! Haven't felt that way since the 90s. The Bills are still the team to beat in the AFC east. A playoff birth is likely. As a Bills fan, it's about winning the Super Bowl. With that said, I have to let my guard down and trust Beane's plan and strategy. Go Bills.

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

2 hours ago, Bill from NYC said:

I had never seen any of them play before yesterday. That said, someone whose opinion I have tons of respect for told me that Rousseau is a very talented player who can rush the passer, therefore I am very happy with the pick.

 

3 blockers in one draft? Utterly fantastic. Our OL doesn't suck like it used to but there are no great players on it either imo. The Bills could use some competetion and depth when it comes to protecting Josh. Maybe one of them will be great. Who knows?

 

I voted B but would have voted B+ had there been the option, and will change it to an A if I can.

 

Tell the truth, Bill.  You are actually a mesmerist not a LEO, and you took control of this draft

[Shaw66]

17 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

That's above his paygrade.

And I wonder if someday Beane's head will get big enough that he'll leave for someplace where choosing the HC IS within his paygrade.  

[bills6969]

Solid B+
 

Took care of our biggest need (pass rush).  Added depth oline.  No major complaints from my end.  Would’ve liked to see us draft one of those TEs in the early rounds but appears the staff is good with Knox/Holister.  Also,  wish we would’ve added another CB.

[newcam2012]

25 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

My draft grade: C. But that's just because it seems average, and C traditionally is average. With grade inflation rampant, I guess we could call it a B.

I don't obsess over drafts, and I'll admit that Rousseau is the only Bills pick I'd actually heard of before this week. And he seems like a fine pick at 30. That's part of finally being a good team - everyone you pick comes with a question mark when you're no longer picking in the top 10 or 15.

 

I guess my sole disappointment is with what the Bills did in relation to the competitive cycle. Beane gets a partial pass because he made the Diggs deal last year. I understand the value of not mortgaging the future by doing it again (this year it would've probably meant packaging picks to move up in the draft rather than acquiring another expensive star), but I also have the nagging feeling that the window of opportunity is wide open this season and maybe next season. The AFC East will get better, but probably not just yet. The Chiefs are still the champs till somebody in the AFC beats them, but in retrospect they were incredibly lucky during the regular season with lots of very close wins, and they were badly exposed by Tampa in the SB. Other teams to fear in the future (Chargers?) seem a year or so behind us in the cycle, and others (Ravens? Titans?) strike me as having moved just past their peak.

 

So from a "future is now" perspective, I probably would've targeted a more immediate home run hitter even at the cost of losing picks in future years.

I agree. Nice post.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

14 hours ago, Victory Formation said:

Let’s reevaluate after the June 1st cuts. I think Ertz is still in play as well. I could see a corner, a TE and a 1T somewhere along the way, at least before Week 1. Preseason will roll along, there will be cuts when teams trim down and so on so forth. It’s not like we have a ton of holes at this point.

Are there gonna be June 1 cuts?

[ColoradoBills]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

As for RB, I don't think the Bills ever intended to take one.  They spent 3rd rounders in consecutive drafts on Motor and Moss, signed Antonio Williams as an UDFA last year, added Breida in FA, and have Wade.  It's not a position that's worth a high pick anymore.

 

As the draft drew nearer I changed my opinion on drafting a RB high.  I agree that Breida and Williams could be a decent upgrade.

 

Once again for others worried about the running game.

It was well documented the Bills almost worked exclusively on the passing game during the abbreviated offseason.  Adding Diggs and Davis

and having Josh Allen pass/pass/pass all camp is what made his "jump" possible.  It stands to reason the running game both in RB practice

and run blocking suffered.  That will be corrected this offseason!

 

The same holds true for last years defense against the run.  They didn't see much runs to work on on their running game response.

 

As for the DE and DL.  Beane threw some money at it last year during FA and a good amount of that didn't stick.  It happens and he

moved on from it this draft.  It's a good thing he wasn't too stubborn about that.