Interview with AJ Highsmith - Bills Southern area scout

[CapeBreton]

Came across this interview of AJ Highsmith who is a southern area scout for the Bills. It’s a really long interview from July 2021 (yes, I know it’s old but don’t think it was ever posted here) but there are some good scouting discussions that I found quite interesting. 

 

Here are some of the main things I got from it:

 

17:41 - while talking about safeties, he mentions they like multi-sport athletes and that the Bills DB coach likes guys who were former baseball players as it helps them with deep ball tracking

 

30:01 - talks about interviewing as many people as possible when looking into a player and taking their coach’s opinion on a player with a grain of salt because they’re almost always going to pump up their guys, these coaches look good when their guys get drafted. Said every report they got on Greg Rousseau was great and when they met him, everything matched up with what they heard and they really liked him.

 

32:43 - the way the draft fell, Rousseau and Basham were BPA, not necessarily targeting edge, just the way it fell, was happy to get Rousseau since he’s also a U of Miami guy, even though he later said he was hoping they’d take Elijah Moore.

 

34:00 - talks about why Carlos Basham may have fallen in the draft, thinks his versatility (doesn’t have a ‘home position’) could be considered a knock on him by other teams, Bills have been known to like guys with versatility though

 

37:03 - Highsmith was most excited about Spencer Brown and thought he fell because of some injury concerns. I wasn’t aware of his injury history but good to hear they’ll take guys that have had injury concerns, they have a lot of confidence in their medical staff. 

 

44:29 AJ Highsmith says Elijah Moore was his 2021 draft crush and later praises the Jets for a solid draft

 

1:07:37 - discussion on smaller CBs, I thought this was quite interesting, he says he doesn’t knock guys too much if they’re smaller, as long as they are a good corner then they’re only going to lose a few times to bigger WRs in the run of the season. So it doesn’t sound like he would take a guy like Roger McCreary off his draft list because of his short arms for example, McCreary would be in his scouting area too. 

Edited April 16, 2022 by CapeBreton

[John from Riverside]

Great info thanks!

[GunnerBill]

Is it the one with Matt Miller? They are tight I know Matt thinks very highly of AJ, says he is an NFL GM of the future.

[Big Blitz]

Highsmith is an Arkansas guy.

 

Wonder what he thinks of Treylon Burks.

 

 

Good stuff!

[CapeBreton]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Is it the one with Matt Miller? They are tight I know Matt thinks very highly of AJ, says he is an NFL GM of the future.

 

Oops i forgot to include the link, just added it, it's not with Matt Miller but I'm going to check that one out too. 

[Saxum]

17 minutes ago, CapeBreton said:

32:43 - the way the draft fell, Rousseau and Basham were BPA, not necessarily targeting edge, just the way it fell, was happy to get Rousseau since he’s also a U of Miami guy, even though he later said he was hoping they’d take Elijah Moore.

 

44:29 AJ Highsmith says Elijah Moore was his 2021 draft crush and later praises the Jets for a solid draft

 

Poor Moore.  So much potential and to go to a team which will ruin it.

[Shake_My_Head]

54 minutes ago, CapeBreton said:

44:29 AJ Highsmith says Elijah Moore was his 2021 draft crush

Wow!  He was my draft crush for the Bills as well.   

 

He could have come in, tutored under Beasley for a year and then been a great slot replacement in our scheme.   I think he's got a big year ahead with the Jests, assuming Wilson can step up his game.

[LeGOATski]

5 minutes ago, Shake_My_Head said:

Wow!  He was my draft crush for the Bills as well.   

 

He could have come in, tutored under Beasley for a year and then been a great slot replacement in our scheme.   I think he's got a big year ahead with the Jests, assuming Wilson can step up his game.

That's a BIG assumption

[billybrew1]

You could make a very good argument that this season is riding on how good or bad our DL is….

If they’re good and we get a good WR and guard in the draft, I would almost guarantee a Super Bowl victory….

I think the have to be at least a notch better than last year… We have to be good at pressuring QBs… We have to be good enough take easy, constant doubles off Von…. Gotta get pressure from every side: right, left up the middle….

It’ll be extremely interesting watching them develop and learning to play with eachother as the season progresses….

 

Go Bills!

[BubbaT]

Thanks for posting! I really enjoyed it

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, CapeBreton said:

Came across this interview of AJ Highsmith who is a southern area scout for the Bills. It’s a really long interview from July 2021 (yes, I know it’s old but don’t think it was ever posted here) but there are some good scouting discussions that I found quite interesting. 

 

Here are some of the main things I got from it:

 

17:41 - while talking about safeties, he mentions they like multi-sport athletes and that the Bills DB coach likes guys who were former baseball players as it helps them with deep ball tracking

Checks out.  IIRC both Poyer and Hyde were Star baseball players in HS and I think Poyer in college as well?

[mannc]

26 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Checks out.  IIRC both Poyer and Hyde were Star baseball players in HS and I think Poyer in college as well?

Poyer was Oregon HS baseball player of the year, but I don’t think he played at Oregon State…it’s a top 5 program and they don’t have many guys on the team who play another sport in college. EDIT: Poyer played a few games his junior year at OSU, then quit baseball to focus on football…

Edited April 17, 2022 by mannc

[Andy1]

Great find. I thought I’ve seen all relevant Bills stuff but never seen this one. Thanks!

[Richard Noggin]

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Checks out.  IIRC both Poyer and Hyde were Star baseball players in HS and I think Poyer in college as well?

 

That bit about loving DBs who played baseball is what I latched onto. Not unlike favoring former wrestlers for the lines. Transferrable skillsets. 

[MrEpsYtown]

Only DB I could find in this draft who played baseball is Kaiir Elam. If anyone knows of anyone else, I would be curious. 

[unbillievable]

Maybe scout a Safety who played Volleyball, so they can put someone out there that can spike it for Hail Mary's.

[MrEpsYtown]

25 minutes ago, unbillievable said:

Maybe scout a Safety who played Volleyball, so they can put someone out there that can spike it for Hail Mary's.

That’s Kerby Joseph from Illinois

[OldTimer1960]

14 hours ago, billybrew1 said:

You could make a very good argument that this season is riding on how good or bad our DL is….

If they’re good and we get a good WR and guard in the draft, I would almost guarantee a Super Bowl victory….

I think the have to be at least a notch better than last year… We have to be good at pressuring QBs… We have to be good enough take easy, constant doubles off Von…. Gotta get pressure from every side: right, left up the middle….

It’ll be extremely interesting watching them develop and learning to play with eachother as the season progresses….

 

Go Bills!

The Bills have a very good roster except for CB right now.  There are areas to improve, but more importantly, fans need to recognize that the AFC is STACKED.  Even with a great season, no guarantee that the Bills make it through the AFC playoffs. 
Chiefs, Chargers, Broncos with Wilson, Bengals, Browns with Watson and Ravens are all outstanding.  Just a notch back are Pats, Dolphins (maybe best WR/TEs in the league), Raiders, Titans and Colts.

 

I really believe that there could be an AFC team that goes 11-6 and misses the playoffs.

[chris heff]

20 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

Poor Moore.  So much potential and to go to a team which will ruin it.

Now now, there is no reason to go there. There is another thread for bashing the Jets.

[stuvian]

good football genes