NFL Draft Rumors

[LEBills]

Final day of rumors from Charlie Campbell includes some “second hand” info

 

Quote

In following up with some second-hand rumors of where team interests lie, Philadelphia is said to like Florida State defensive end Jermaine Johnson. He could be a fit for the Eagles if he gets to pick No. 15. The Bills are said to be interested in Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth and view him as a good fit for their scheme.

https://walterfootball.com/nflhotpress/article/2022-NFL-Draft-Week-Rumors-Thursday

[nbbillsfan]

I have no issue whatsoever with the idea of a RB in the 1st (especially late 1st).

 

my hesitation comes from not seeing Breece Hall as a special talent. When I watch film, I don’t see much separation  from him and walker, spiller, cook ext.)

[Einstein's Dog]

1 hour ago, Magox said:

I think for me when the Bills make their draft choice it has to meet certain criteria and as far as I'm concerned the "Will this pick help us win now" criteria would have to be met.  We are too close as an organization to make a draft choice that should potentially be "red shirted" or is competing for a starting job in a position that is already adequately filled at this time.

 

IF Hall can be a pro bowl calibur RB and having that quality level of services can only be had for 5-7 years while this is a contending team, then for me it would have all been well worth it.    

 

The criteria of "Will this pick help us win now" is the epitome of short term thinking I hope our FO is not using in the draft.  The draft should be for the future benefit of the team.  Cap management through the draft is extremely important for maintaining long term success.

 

The draft should be done with an eye towards future finances- safety (Poyer $13M), LB (Edmunds $15M), even CB (Wallace $4M), WR (Sanders $6M) all make more financial sense than Hall ($3M) replacing Singletary ($2M).

[Shake_My_Head]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Not sure there is one I would be adamant about. Not in round 1 anyway. There are years I would but this year is a let the draft come to you year. There was a report I read yesterday claiming one team only has 13 true 1st round grades. It isn't a great class at the top but it does have decent depth rounds 2-5. 

There are only two guys I'd consider trading up for.   Jameson Williams and Kyle Hamilton, if either guy drops into the teens.   

 

Nobody else seems that 'special' to me in this draft.   Which probably makes it harder to trade up, since there seem to be fewer round 1 grades in this draft than in recent years.

[mjt328]

36 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

I do not think the Bills will take Hall. But if Sal thinks Etienne was smoke I think that flies in the face of what evidence we do have. I have said it numerous times in the last week, swap Jacksonville's pick from Travis to Greg and keep everything else the same the Bills then draft Etienne IMO. I think they were really high on him as a dynamic score from anywhere playmaker who was gonna be half running back and half slot receiver. 

 

I think people equating the two scenarios - Breece this year and Travis last are mistaken.

 

You may be correct.

But in 4-5 years of following this regime, I can't think of ANY verifiable draft information that has slipped from One Bills Drive.  Same thing with our targets in free agency.  History shows that rumors surrounding this team never come true.  Which makes you wonder if "leaks" are done on purpose, to create a smokescreen for our true intentions.

 

Last year, all the pre-draft rumors were about Travis Etienne.  He was obviously taken before our pick, so we will never know for sure.  But I don't recall a single article or tweet before the draft suggesting we had heavy interest in Greg Rousseau.  But obviously we did.

 

Two years ago, Defensive Tackle was the most obvious need on the team.  Based on draft position and value, Ed Oliver should have been given to us in 99% of mocks.  But the week of the draft, we kept getting rumblings about the Bills wanting Quinnen Williams and trying to trade-up for him.  Nothing about Oliver.

 

Even in 2018... when EVERYBODY knew we were trading up for a Quarterback... nobody could put their finger on which one we wanted.  To this day, people speculate if Josh Allen was the #1 quarterback on our board.  The trade-up for Tremaine Edmunds came totally out of nowhere just a few picks later.

 

 

[BarleyNY]

20 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

The criteria of "Will this pick help us win now" is the epitome of short term thinking I hope our FO is not using in the draft.  The draft should be for the future benefit of the team.  Cap management through the draft is extremely important for maintaining long term success.

 

The draft should be done with an eye towards future finances- safety (Poyer $13M), LB (Edmunds $15M), even CB (Wallace $4M), WR (Sanders $6M) all make more financial sense than Hall ($3M) replacing Singletary ($2M).

Long term, there’s isn’t a strong case for RB I’m the first either as few will justify a second contract.  

[BeavercreekBillsFan]

22 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

The criteria of "Will this pick help us win now" is the epitome of short term thinking I hope our FO is not using in the draft.  The draft should be for the future benefit of the team.  Cap management through the draft is extremely important for maintaining long term success.

 

The draft should be done with an eye towards future finances- safety (Poyer $13M), LB (Edmunds $15M), even CB (Wallace $4M), WR (Sanders $6M) all make more financial sense than Hall ($3M) replacing Singletary ($2M).

I think this is how Beane views it too unfortunately. Most of us see this team as sooo close and want this to be a “cherry on top” draft and “increase our fastball” draft where we give josh weapons. Or at least address CB in the first. I would love that BUT I’m preparing myself to be disappointed as I think Beane sees exactly what you’re seeing. Big contracts coming up at LB and Safety and trying to find cheap replacements for those but that doesn’t help us short term. LB/S are the 2 positions I don’t want us to draft but feel like we will in the first 3 rounds. Our heads will explode but my money is on Lewis Cine in round 1. At which point we will all scream “please get a WR or CB!”

[BillsSbSoon]

Booth is written all over this team. I think tres injury plus losing levi when they didnt want to lose him pushed corners way up beanes board than he intended. So its not like he will be reaching for a corner, its that the corners in general changed his board. Just imo. Prolly will be way off.

Trade down doesnt make a lot of sense unless it involves future picks. 8 picks as it is arent making this roster. Its a trade up year

 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by BillsSbSoon

[Magox]

44 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

The criteria of "Will this pick help us win now" is the epitome of short term thinking I hope our FO is not using in the draft.  The draft should be for the future benefit of the team.  Cap management through the draft is extremely important for maintaining long term success.

 

The draft should be done with an eye towards future finances- safety (Poyer $13M), LB (Edmunds $15M), even CB (Wallace $4M), WR (Sanders $6M) all make more financial sense than Hall ($3M) replacing Singletary ($2M).

I completely disagree.

 

Its not the only criteria but it has to be a part of the decision making.   The Bills are very close to winning it now, many other successful organizations have made “win now” decisions such as the Rams, Bucs and Saints.

 

When you are in that window, you have to seize the opportunity.

 

And let’s not pretend by selecting a RB that this somehow damages the long to mid-term outlook, that is preposterous.

[RichRiderBills]

26 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

 

You may be correct.

But in 4-5 years of following this regime, I can't think of ANY verifiable draft information that has slipped from One Bills Drive.  Same thing with our targets in free agency.  History shows that rumors surrounding this team never come true.  Which makes you wonder if "leaks" are done on purpose, to create a smokescreen for our true intentions.

 

Last year, all the pre-draft rumors were about Travis Etienne.  He was obviously taken before our pick, so we will never know for sure.  But I don't recall a single article or tweet before the draft suggesting we had heavy interest in Greg Rousseau.  But obviously we did.

 

Two years ago, Defensive Tackle was the most obvious need on the team.  Based on draft position and value, Ed Oliver should have been given to us in 99% of mocks.  But the week of the draft, we kept getting rumblings about the Bills wanting Quinnen Williams and trying to trade-up for him.  Nothing about Oliver.

 

Even in 2018... when EVERYBODY knew we were trading up for a Quarterback... nobody could put their finger on which one we wanted.  To this day, people speculate if Josh Allen was the #1 quarterback on our board.  The trade-up for Tremaine Edmunds came totally out of nowhere just a few picks later.

 

 

 

My own memory had plenty buzz about Groot to Buff in many mocks. Not sure much came from OBD.

 

I strongly doubt fake buzz came from OBD to get teams to reach or move up. That seems totally unsubstantiated.

 

But on that note, don't think we really had a ton of buzz on Etienne that he was a Bill for sure. Most of this came after or during the actual draft. 

 

A solid amount of RBs have been taken in round 1 the past 10 years. Teams will pull the trigger. Honestly the bust rate of RBs in round 1 vs positions like WR is probably even less.

Edited April 28, 2022 by RichRiderBills

[Alphadawg7]

50 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

 

You may be correct.

But in 4-5 years of following this regime, I can't think of ANY verifiable draft information that has slipped from One Bills Drive.  Same thing with our targets in free agency.  History shows that rumors surrounding this team never come true.  Which makes you wonder if "leaks" are done on purpose, to create a smokescreen for our true intentions.

 

Last year, all the pre-draft rumors were about Travis Etienne.  He was obviously taken before our pick, so we will never know for sure.  But I don't recall a single article or tweet before the draft suggesting we had heavy interest in Greg Rousseau.  But obviously we did.

 

Two years ago, Defensive Tackle was the most obvious need on the team.  Based on draft position and value, Ed Oliver should have been given to us in 99% of mocks.  But the week of the draft, we kept getting rumblings about the Bills wanting Quinnen Williams and trying to trade-up for him.  Nothing about Oliver.

 

Even in 2018... when EVERYBODY knew we were trading up for a Quarterback... nobody could put their finger on which one we wanted.  To this day, people speculate if Josh Allen was the #1 quarterback on our board.  The trade-up for Tremaine Edmunds came totally out of nowhere just a few picks later.

 

 

This.  I think people grossly over look the fact that our intentions are pretty much never known and what rumors do get out there never seem accurate. 
 

Everything I have seen and read suggests Greg was their number 1 target entering the draft and even considered moving up for him but it was determined to be too costly.

 

Beane said multiple times after the draft that they went him zeroed in on improving the pass rush.  Draft day footage of days 1 and 2 show them anxiously awaiting both Greg and Boogie to get to them.  
 

IMHO the interest in Etinenne definitely has a possibility to have been a smoke screen.  Smoke screen potentially could get a team to trade up in front of you to get said player, but also prevents a team behind you to try and get in front of you for the player you really want if they don’t think you’re interested.

 

Best way to disguise a smoke screen is to legit meet with and express interest directly to the player and let them leak that out.  
 

This year, Bills have met with all the top WR’s and Hall.  They have met with very little other first round potential targets.  Makes me wonder if our primary won’t be offense in the first and likely a defensive back such as Hamilton, Hill, Stingley, Booth, etc all depending on if we stand pat or move up.

 

That being said, the one known proven thing about Beane is that he will stay true to his board and go BPA.  So if the guys they hope will be there are gone, he won’t reach for another at the same position.  So obviously anything is in play at 25, especially given how hard to predict this years draft is given the lack of QB clarity on where they will go and how many will go ahead of our pick.  

 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Alphadawg7

[whorlnut]

The thing that makes me really believe that running back is NOT a smokescreen is that we made an actual play on JD McKissic. That can’t be faked. We literally offered him 4.5 million a year to be our pass catching specialist out of the backfield.

 

To those who are opposed to Hall in round 1 because he would take the ball out of Allen’s hands…really?  McKissic is a pass catching back that caught 100 balls in a season. Hall is a pass catching running back who also runs really well when needed. He’s also good in pass pro. To me, he’s exactly what the Bills have been looking for. 

[davefan66]

17 minutes ago, BillsSbSoon said:

Booth is written all over this team. I think tres injury plus losing levi when they didnt want to lose him pushed corners way up beanes board than he intended. So its not like he will be reaching for a corner, its that the corners in general changed his board. Just imo. Prolly will be way off.

Trade down doesnt make a lot of sense unless it involves future picks. 8 picks as it is arent making this roster. Its a trade up year

 

 

I don’t see them going RB, it will be the best CB available.  Unless there is run on that position and there isn’t a 1st round graded CB left.

 

Yes, Tre injury plays into it.  As far as Wallace, I don’t think the Bills tried too hard to keep him.  His play in the playoffs was not good.  And let’s not forget about Taron Johnson.  Got a nice pay bump last year and is scheduled to make 4.5 million this season and Levi’s on the Steelers books for 2.5 million.  I feel if Beane wanted to keep Wallace, that move would have happened early last season.  Instead they paid Taron.

[Einstein's Dog]

16 minutes ago, Magox said:

And let’s not pretend by selecting a RB that this somehow damages the long to mid-term outlook, that is preposterous.

It's not pretend.  Many (myself included) think that taking an RB in the first damages the mid to long term outlook.  You are ignoring the financial impact of the draft choice in hopes of a short term boost.

 

If the Bills could draft a WR, safety, CB, LB you can see the logical use from a mid term perspective - they will be groomed to replace expensive spots with a $3M player.

 

What if the RB is average?  You have an overpriced player occupying a spot on your roster.  If the WR is average at least they are occupying the Sanders spot of $6M.  It is risky picking an RB.  And contrary to many, I particularly don't like Hall, I thought from the interview I saw he came off pompous and arrogant.  Seems like our FO has a different view.

[Fan in Chicago]

20 minutes ago, RichRiderBills said:

 

My own memory had plenty buzz about Groot to Buff in many mocks. Not sure much came from OBD..

 

But on that note, don't think we really had a ton of buzz on Etienne that he was a Bill for sure. Most of this came after or during the actual draft. 

 

A solid amount of RBs have been taken in round 1 the past 10 years. Teams will pull the trigger. Honestly the bust rate of RBs in round 1 vs positions like WR is probably even less.

Let's think about this as an example - did Rousseau help the team more than Etienne would have? My answer is a "yes". The run game may have been somewhat better but blocking would have restricted Etienne's effectiveness anyway. Hence, even if we had the choice, Rousseau would still have been the better choice. 

Fast forward to today - in the first round, a lockdown corner, fast/YAC WR or even a stud OT would help the team this year a whole lot more than a RB would. 

[TOboy]

Just now, whorlnut said:

The thing that makes me really believe that running back is NOT a smokescreen is that we made an actual play on JD McKissic. That can’t be faked. We literally offered him 4.5 million a year to be our pass catching specialist out of the backfield.

 

To those who are opposed to Hall in round 1 because he would take the ball out of Allen’s hands…really?  McKissic is a pass catching back that caught 100 balls in a season. Hall is a pass catching running back who also runs really well when needed. He’s also good in pass pro. To me, he’s exactly what the Bills have been looking for. 

Maybe, but we also signed Duke Johnson presumably for that role. 
 

I wouldn’t be shocked if we DID take Hall given all the the talking heads seem to think we will, but Hall would be drafted as a lead back. That’s not the role they were signing either McIssic or Duke for. 

[whorlnut]

3 minutes ago, TOboy said:

Maybe, but we also signed Duke Johnson presumably for that role. 
 

I wouldn’t be shocked if we DID take Hall given all the the talking heads seem to think we will, but Hall would be drafted as a lead back. That’s not the role they were signing either McIssic or Duke for. 

Singletary and Johnson are on one year deals. Moss is basically a non factor at this point. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see Hall being added. 

[BillsSbSoon]

8 minutes ago, davefan66 said:

I don’t see them going RB, it will be the best CB available.  Unless there is run on that position and there isn’t a 1st round graded CB left.

 

Yes, Tre injury plays into it.  As far as Wallace, I don’t think the Bills tried too hard to keep him.  His play in the playoffs was not good.  And let’s not forget about Taron Johnson.  Got a nice pay bump last year and is scheduled to make 4.5 million this season and Levi’s on the Steelers books for 2.5 million.  I feel if Beane wanted to keep Wallace, that move would have happened early last season.  Instead they paid Taron.

About levi, thats fair but beane was clearly pissed talking about it during the mckissic deal. They wouldve kept him had that whole thing not happened the way it did. 

[mannc]

12 minutes ago, whorlnut said:

The thing that makes me really believe that running back is NOT a smokescreen is that we made an actual play on JD McKissic. That can’t be faked. We literally offered him 4.5 million a year to be our pass catching specialist out of the backfield.

 

To those who are opposed to Hall in round 1 because he would take the ball out of Allen’s hands…really?  McKissic is a pass catching back that caught 100 balls in a season. Hall is a pass catching running back who also runs really well when needed. He’s also good in pass pro. To me, he’s exactly what the Bills have been looking for. 

You’re overlooking the fact that a perfectly reasonable McKissic replacement can be found in rounds 2-5 in practically every draft, including this one…

[PonyBoy]

25 minutes ago, whorlnut said:

The thing that makes me really believe that running back is NOT a smokescreen is that we made an actual play on JD McKissic. That can’t be faked. We literally offered him 4.5 million a year to be our pass catching specialist out of the backfield.

 

To those who are opposed to Hall in round 1 because he would take the ball out of Allen’s hands…really?  McKissic is a pass catching back that caught 100 balls in a season. Hall is a pass catching running back who also runs really well when needed. He’s also good in pass pro. To me, he’s exactly what the Bills have been looking for. 

Didn't the Duke Johnson signing fill that void though??