OldTimer's Draft Ramblings

[ghostwriter]

2 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Talk to us about Basham.  I see a Tasmanian devil who will cause all kinds of chaos.  But he’s older and athletically limited.  What do you like?

I think he has a quick first step, good leverage and turns speed into power. High effort guy, nasty kind of guy who can play every spot on the DL. Problem I had is I liked him so much I thought he would have been worthy of our first pick. Very solid production at Wake Forest, I liked that a lot, a lot more than someone like that Oweh kid from PSU who had zero sacks.

[Saxum]

3 hours ago, DCbillsfan said:

The draft is definitely a crap shoot.  Just look at the bust rate of first round picks alone.

 

I like the Bills draft.  I wanted a CB going into the draft but coming away with Rousseau and Basham with no trade up, I'll take that.  Hopefully Dane Jackson can rip CB2 out of Wallace's hands.

 

I'd rather have both at different times and Dane ripping balls out of WRs' hands.

[Green Lightning]

2 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

Limited? He ran a 4.64 at 273 lbs. 

4.63 is really the minimum for an edge.

[TC in St. Louis]

I get the feeling that Beane isn't done signing CB's.  

[OldTimer1960]

8 hours ago, Green Lightning said:

4.63 is really the minimum for an edge.

Interesting, Joey Bosa ran 4.86 and Nick Bosa ran 4.79 and they are both very good.

[Arm of Harm]

15 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

Interesting, Joey Bosa ran 4.86 and Nick Bosa ran 4.79 and they are both very good.

Green Lightning wasn’t being serious.  

Edited May 3, 2021 by Arm of Harm

[Pete]

11 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Talk to us about Basham.  I see a Tasmanian devil who will cause all kinds of chaos.  But he’s older and athletically limited.  What do you like?

What do I like?

 

That he’s a Tasmanian devil who will cause all kinds of chaos 

[OldTimer1960]

2 hours ago, Arm of Harm said:

Green Lightning wasn’t being serious.  

Ah - my bad!

[Don Otreply]

8 hours ago, TC in St. Louis said:

I get the feeling that Beane isn't done signing CB's.  

Beane is never done, some folk don’t seem to understand this as the fact that it is. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

14 hours ago, ticketssince61 said:

How many of you remember the years when there were 17 rounds in one day (and you never heard of anybody aside from the 1st round picks)?

 

I think with limiting what you can bring to rookie minicamps, it may have been somewhat beneficial to add a round or 2 to the end of the draft.  Randomize the order of the rounds, and no trades.  Just so teams can grab a couple of extra bodies.

[Green Lightning]

3 hours ago, OldTimer1960 said:

Ah - my bad!

NP, sometimes the draft exhausts humor detectors.  FTR, 4.64 at 273 pounds is downright scary. Really looking forward to seeing Boogie hunt this year!

[nucci]

18 hours ago, OldTimer1960 said:

As I have since the mid-1980s, I loved the run-up to this year's draft.

 

I am very happy that the Bills are now a contender and, as such, picked late in every round.  Therefore, the focus is not on immediate contributors for the upcoming season.

 

"Draft" terms that I've heard enough of:
1. "Chess Piece" and "Swiss Army Knife" - Being able to disguise your intentions on offense or defense is an advantage, but the players that provide that capability are pretty rare - think size of LB, speed/coverage of a DB or size of TE, speed of WR.  There are very few players who really provide this and I think it has become in-vogue to describe "tweeners" who aren't really WRs or TEs (or not really S or LBs) as these kind of players.  I think this was borne out in the draft where many of the guys describes as such lasted well into day 3.

 

2. "Big Nickel" - See above.  Nickel D takes a LB off the field in favor of a DB with better coverage ability and therefore generally weakens the D capability against the run.  No doubt that disguising coverages/defenses is an advantage (see above), but it is a really rare player who can play the run like a (real) LB and cover like a corner (or at least) a safety.  Many of the supposed "Big Nickels" lasted a long time on draft night.  

 

My $0.02 on the draft:

1. I think it is safe to assume that the Bills stayed pretty true to their draft board.  I am confident that they did not go into the draft planning to spend their first 4 picks on 2 DEs and 2 OTs.  I am quite sure that they were cognizant that CB2 was one of their higher "needs", as was a TE.  They know very well that Emmanuel Sanders is pretty old and that Cole Beasley isn't far behind - they also know that the offense is pass-first.  I'm pretty sure that they also know that Moss and Singletary are not speed-demons at RB.  I think that they would have addressed those positions if they thought that the value was better than (or equal to) who they did take.

 

2. I LOVE that they doubled up on DEs.  I know that I'm in the minority here, but I think that Carlos Basham is a player - he'll play the run and can rush the passer.  He isn't Von Miller, but I love his hustle and his ability to stand out on a team that was under-manned against most opponents.  I like the Rousseau pick as well.  I love to hear him say that he knows that he needs to get better at a lot of things- the physical tools are there and the desire appears to be there as well.

 

3. I am on-board with the Spencer Brown pick.  He is gigantic, seems to really want it and looked good from the things that I saw at the Senior Bowl.  Is he too tall?  I don't know, but he looked quick/fluid with tremendous arm length at the Senior Bowl.  

 

4.  Maybe this should have been first: I really enjoyed the draft discussions for the past several months.  I've been a draft fanatic since the mid-1980s and I read as much as I can from as many sources as I can on these prospects.  I do watch some of the game film (not highlight videos), but not nearly as many as some of the real draft mavens here.  Tip of the hat to those that do their own scouting and provide their educated opinions here!

 

5. After 35+ years of watching the draft, I think it is important for us, as fans, to realize that scouting is an inexact science and that every team (very likely) has a different draft board.  Media "scouts" and fun to read and some actually do their own film study and, a few, were real NFL scouts adding to their credibility.  Yet, their prospect rankings still do not consider individual team schemes/preferences, do not consider team needs and don't have the benefit of insider medical information nor character investigations.

 

So, thanks to everyone who has participated in these discussions - its been great fun!

 

Trenches.....plays above the rim...