Was Allen the top prospect on the Bills board?

[Rico]

1 hour ago, JGMcD2 said:

It’s general knowledge they had a trade agreed on with Denver to move up to #5 so long as Bradley Chubb wasn’t there. I believe it was picks 12, 22 and 53 to move up to 5. Obviously Chubb went to Denver, which caused them to move up to #7 with Tampa. 
 

There have been leaked images of their board, the plan was always to move up for Allen. 
 

Allen, Darnold, Mayfield, Rosen, Rudolph and Lauletta were their supposed top 6 - in that order. 

Sam Darnold will be our backup QB by the end of free agency next year. 

So if they made that trade with the Broncos, they’d still have Josh but not Tremaine.

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

They were down to Allen and Darnold and I have that on very good authority. If it wasn't one of those 2 they were trading back and taking Rudolph or Lauletta later on. 

 

Everything the Bills have said leads me to believe that of the two Allen was their guy. But had Allen gone in the top 2 and Darnold had fallen he would have been the pick. 

I have also heard both McD and Beane talk about how early they knew Allen was their guy.  From what I have heard from people I trust is that Allen was their #1 guy on their board overall.  Meaning even if we had the #1 overall pick, it still would have been Allen.  
 

I bad Baler ahead of Allen, but Allen was my top choice for us once it was clear that Baker was going to likely go #1.  If we missed on Allen I wanted to stay put and not trade up and then take Lamar.  I hated Rosen, wanted nothing to do with him.  Would have supported the pick still and trusted they knew more than me, but hated the idea of drafting Rosen, and despised even more the idea of trading up for him.  He was an obvious high risk bust choice for me.  
 

 

[The Wiz]

6 minutes ago, Rico said:

So if they made that trade with the Broncos, they’d still have Josh but not Tremaine.

Oh I see where this thread is going.

 

😆

[Artful Dodger]

47 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

And if they had taken Darnold we would very likely be looking for a QB yet again,

 

it nice that fate rolled in our direction, isn’t it, now we talk about CB & OL being needs, 👍

 

The Bills are a good organization, and with its support Darnold would have performed much better in Buffalo than he did with the Jets or Carolina.  It's equally likely he would now be considered a competent QB, though he lacks Allen's physical abilities and intelligence.

 

And if Allen had been drafted by the Jets, he wouldn't be in the running for consideration as the best QB of his generation. 

 

Allen and the Bills were lucky they found each other, and they've made the most of it. 

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, Alphadawg7 said:

I have also heard both McD and Beane talk about how early they knew Allen was their guy.  From what I have heard from people I trust is that Allen was their #1 guy on their board overall.  Meaning even if we had the #1 overall pick, it still would have been Allen.  
 

I bad Baler ahead of Allen, but Allen was my top choice for us once it was clear that Baker was going to likely go #1.  If we missed on Allen I wanted to stay put and not trade up and then take Lamar.  I hated Rosen, wanted nothing to do with him.  Would have supported the pick still and trusted they knew more than me, but hated the idea of drafting Rosen, and despised even more the idea of trading up for him.  He was an obvious high risk bust choice for me.  
 

 

 

Yea I think if they had the #1 their decision would have been the same. The other scenarios are interesting to think through.

 

Had Cleveland gone Josh at #1 (and I have been told by a pretty informed Browns fan that he was the scouting department's #1 choice, Baker was entirely a John Dorsey decision) what were the options.

 

1 - the Bills could have gone back to the Giants and offered the farm (maybe both our 2018 firsts and our 2019 first) for the right to draft Sam Darnold. 

2 - had the Bills not traded to #2 and the Jets had still gone Darnold at #3 then do the Bills pick Edmunds at #8 and trade back from #22? Or do they trade back from #8? 

3 - what if the Jets had taken Mayfield (when they first made the trade up to #3 with the Colts earlier that offseason the feeling among the talking heads was that Mayfield was the target) at #3? Do the Bills then wait it out and trade to #7 for Darnold the way they did for Allen?

 

Lamar was off their board early and Mayfield and Rosen were by draft day. So when it became clear that Mayfield was going #1 they must have sighed a huge sigh of relief because it meant that you could not have a situation where both of their guys were gone by pick 3.

[FireChans]

53 minutes ago, whorlnut said:

Mahomes was considered a reach at 10 at the time.

Not true. Also we got hosed in that trade by falling back 17 spots

[Lieutenant Aldo Raine]

I for surely thought Allen was going to the Jets.  At every Wyoming home game, I mostly saw Jets scouts moving in and out of the press boxes.  

[Turbo44]

As Allen said perfectly the night he was drafted, "I'm where I'm supposed to be."  I think Darnold would have been much better on the Bills than he was with the Jets, but still probably only at top 10-15 QB at best

[SoMAn]

38 minutes ago, Putin said:

Do you think if that was the case McD and Bean would still be here?

It's hard to say, but I suspect they would have found a way to have some measure of success. Maybe just not to the point where they're superbowl favorites as they are today.

Beane would have found players like Trubisky.  Maybe drafted a Hebert or Burrow if they were in that position.

Remember, McDermott got them 9 wins and into the playoffs (with a little luck) in his first season and with a vastly inferior squad compared to what they're no fielding.

 

'Probably' is my answer.

[freddyjj]

59 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

That leaked image was not their board. Mayfield and Rosen were off the final board. It might well have been a ranking at a point in the process, it was not the final board. 

The final Bills listing of potential 2018 QB's colleges looked like this:

WYOMING

REEDLEY

FIREBAUGH

[whorlnut]

33 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Not true. Also we got hosed in that trade by falling back 17 spots

It is true. People were floored when the chiefs took Mahomes. Almost everyone thought they were coming up to get Watson. 
 

Yeah it really sucks that we went back 17 spots and got Tre White AND ammo to get Josh Allen…

[FireChans]

5 minutes ago, whorlnut said:

It is true. People were floored when the chiefs took Mahomes. Almost everyone thought they were coming up to get Watson. 
 

Yeah it really sucks that we went back 17 spots and got Tre White AND ammo to get Josh Allen…

LMAO no bro.  Mahomes was consistently mocked in the top 12.  Just because he got picked over Watson (two picks later) doesn't make him a "reach." A reach is a prospect with a 2-3rd round grade going in the first.  Josh Allen going 1st overall wouldn't have been a reach. 

 

To get pick #10 for a QB, the Chiefs traded pick #27 and next years first (21).

 

To get to pick #7 for a QB, the Bills traded pick #12 and two second round picks (53 and 56).

 

One of those trades is way better than the other. I'll let you figure out which is which.

Edited March 23, 2022 by FireChans

[Don Otreply]

2 hours ago, Putin said:

Do you think if that was the case McD and Bean would still be here?

All I can say is, even with their flaws, I’m happy it has worked out the way it has, it could be so much worse, as we have all lived through the worse portion.

[Nextmanup]

3 hours ago, ProcessAccepted said:

I've always heard that from the time of the face to face meeting in Wyoming the Pegulas wanted Allen. Guess he had them at hello

Let's hope that wasn't the case.  You don't want Pegula anywhere near that type of hands-on micromanagement.

 

 

[Don Otreply]

2 hours ago, Artful Dodger said:

 

The Bills are a good organization, and with its support Darnold would have performed much better in Buffalo than he did with the Jets or Carolina.  It's equally likely he would now be considered a competent QB, though he lacks Allen's physical abilities and intelligence.

 

And if Allen had been drafted by the Jets, he wouldn't be in the running for consideration as the best QB of his generation. 

 

Allen and the Bills were lucky they found each other, and they've made the most of it. 

That’s all quite possible, but we would be in that QB purgatory that all teams dread had Darnold been a Buffalo Bill, stuck in the 8 to 9 win season hell, hoping for a wildcard berth every year, makes me shudder just to think about it. 

[section122]

3 hours ago, JGMcD2 said:

They didn’t even view Lamar as a QB haha

 

IIRC they hadn't had Lamar in for a visit yet.  Another conflicting report was that they were over the Tyrod experiment and Lamar reminded them too much of him to be their choice.  No idea which is true though

 

3 hours ago, whorlnut said:

Mahomes was considered a reach at 10 at the time.

 

Not at all.  Leaks since have stated that the Saints would have drafted him at their pick and were heartbroken he got taken at 10.

 

2 hours ago, Turbo44 said:

As Allen said perfectly the night he was drafted, "I'm where I'm supposed to be."  I think Darnold would have been much better on the Bills than he was with the Jets, but still probably only at top 10-15 QB at best

 

He might be better than he has been but there was a story from I believe Jordan Palmer where he said Darnold would work on things until he got it right and Allen would work on it until he had perfected it.

[NewEra]

I dunno, but I’m glad that I wasn’t the one who made the decision!!  

[dakrider]

4 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

They were down to Allen and Darnold and I have that on very good authority. If it wasn't one of those 2 they were trading back and taking Rudolph or Lauletta later on. 

 

Everything the Bills have said leads me to believe that of the two Allen was their guy. But had Allen gone in the top 2 and Darnold had fallen he would have been the pick. 

Darnold would have had more success with the Bills than he did with the Jets, of course thats not saying much.  Also, Allen likely would not be considered one of the top NFL QB's right now if he had gone to the Jets and certainly wouldn't have had the same success. 

[DCofNC]

4 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

They should be commended for their ranking and targeting of Allen.

 

They also got incredibly lucky - TWICE - first by having Mahomes fall to them and then by having Allen fall to them.  It's incredible when you think about it.

Watson fell past them too.  Obviously his name has now been dragged through the mud, but you are talking 3 of the top young QBs in the league in 2 years.

[Saxum]

6 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

And if they had taken Darnold we would very likely be looking for a QB yet again,

 

it nice that fate rolled in our direction, isn’t it, now we talk about CB & OL being needs, 👍

 

I wonder how Darnold looks at it that if he would have been picked by Buffalo he would have had more success.  He probably would.

Darnold however could not get do as well as Josh did first year with offense line we had.