Ryan O'Halloran - Bills should go Defense Heavy in draft

[Beast]

1 hour ago, theAteam said:

Are we going to have the capital to sign a FA wr?

GM’s love draft picks.

 

Don’t be surprised to see a draft day deal with the Bills for a WR.

 

 

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, Nephilim17 said:

Dumb. A top safety or even CB or DT or DE will NOT impact the Bills chance of winning as much as a stud WR on a 5-year rookie contract. Josh throwing to a big, fast young WR is the single biggest difference this team can make going forward.

We lack a "dangerous" player on this team and this is the draft to get a dangerous WR in the first round. Draft a CB or safety in the second but not the first.

 

How is it dumb though?  Who says you cant take a stud WR prospect and still do a defensive heavy draft?  We have 10 picks...you listed 1 need on offense while we have many many holes on defense.  Have you seen the FA list for the defense?  Not to mention Hyde is gone and Poyer isn't a lock to be back either.  Tre is probably a cap casualty too, Von is no longer Von, AJE could be out the door leaving us with no DE's.  

 

Our defense was by far the biggest reason we lost to KC because of some injuries.  Now imagine how bad our defense will be if we strip 6 to 8 other significant contributors from it next season.  

 

[strive_for_five_guy]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Only disagreement is on that early WR pick. I think most on this board understand, and are even in favor, of a very heavy defensive draft given our needs on that side of the ball.

 

I also agree with going Safety->DT->DE. Heck, I'd say Safety->DT->DE->Safety->DB->DT.

 

After our WR pick tho.

 

 

Preach, man.   You got this nailed too 💯.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

A true #2  or potential #1 WR is most pressing need. Honestly I,would prefer trading the first round pick for an established guy just as they did with Diggs if one is available. 

S, Edge, C, DT and another WR in no particular order.

Draft best punter in the 5th or 6th round. 

Before the season I would have said OT. But now I think Brown is fine at RT. They can get by with Dawkins for another year at LT. I'd be ok with an OT in top four rounds only if they fill some other holes on defense in free agency

Edited January 24 by Ethan in Cleveland

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

Look I stump for Safety being an underappreciated position. If a godly pick drops in our laps at 28 I would be tempted.

 

But in 2017 the Bills went out and picked up a pair of safeties for a combined cap hit of $15 M and they anchored those spots for 7 seasons.

 

Superb splash Defensive players you need to get in a draft. You can absolutely pick up journeyman DT3, rotational depth DE, DB depth and safety without breaking the bank so you don't NEED to hem yourselves in for a need 

 

WR2? I have a thread on this but GABE DAVIS is looking to get $13.6 M a year. You can't tell me we can afford to get into a bidding war for an upgrade.

 

Draft WR priority #1. I don't care if you live up or back but that's the priority 

[Big Blitz]

I would like to pick the best DE, Safety, and WR and I don’t care what order they’re in.  
 

We need to hit on a Puuka Nukua - that’s also not luck - that’s scouting.  The Rams know what they’re doing. 
 

Tank Dell, Nukua, St. Brown - WR does not have to be a round 1 priority anymore.   

[Shaw66]

31 minutes ago, billrooter said:

The defense has let us down every year in the playoffs, no matter what resources we spent on it in any given year. I think the scheme sucks, the zone is crap against the best QBs, hence it gets picked apart every year. Inside the 20 at the very least, why can't we play more man to man?

I can't disagree with any of that.   

 

Maybe they drafted Elam in the hope that White and Elam would give them two cover corners.  Elam hasn't made it, and White hasn't been able to stay on the field.  

 

McD always says that his D is predicated on getting pass rush from 4 guys.  If you can pressure the QB with 4, you can afford to play more zone.  Bills were fourth in sacks this season, but I think that was because McDermott blitzed more than he usually does.  

[billsfan89]

I don't mind a lot of mid to late-round defense picks but at the very least round 1 should be a WR and round 2 or 3 should also be offensive line depth. Round 2 and 4-5a could be defense there's more depth needs there but I would also still like to see one of the round 5 picks also be on offense likely a RB or WR for depth. 

[Big Turk]

Hell no.

[BringBackFergy]

2 hours ago, Warcodered said:

Kincaid is a great weapon that needs to be used more in the offense, but he's never going to be fast enough to fill that other hole we have on offense we need another guy.

Tyreek Hill. 5th round. Speedy WR does not mean 1st Round. 

[noacls]

Can't wait for the Bills to go D early in draft. This board will be priceless🤣

[CincyBillsFan]

I disagree 100% with this take. Let's start with this from the article: "The Bills proceeded to draft, trade for and sign players to surround Allen in the hopes of having a year-in-and-year-out dynamic offense. It has mostly worked."  How can anyone who covers the Bills and claims to know football say this?  A more accurate statement would be that after tearing the Bills completely down in 2018 they signed serviceable guys to allow a functioning offense.  The only thing that has worked in the Bills plan here is that Allen has been a far better & dynamic QB in his career then anyone thought he would be in 2018.

 

The ONLY high end Offensive players the Bills have signed in free agency from 2019 - 2023 were Morse & Diggs.  And the ONLY 1st round picks spent on Offensive players between 2019 - 2023 was the one to get Diggs and drafting Kincaid.

 

O'Halloran calls out the failures of the defense over the last 3 seasons and then makes a weird argument that the Bills haven't emphasized defense over that period of time when they have used multiple 1st & 2nd round draft picks to address the D as well as making the biggest FA acquisition over the last 3 years with Von Miller.

 

The only thing I like is O'Halloran's call for high volume on D selections.  Yea, lets spend a lot of 4th - 7th round picks, sign lot of rookie FA's and sign a lot of low cost FA JAGS. 

 

But the #1 priority going into the off season must be to get, either through the draft or FA, a top flight WR. 

 

 

 

 

[Brandon]

10 minutes ago, BringBackFergy said:

Tyreek Hill. 5th round. Speedy WR does not mean 1st Round. 

 

How many other WRs get drafted in R5 that don't do anything? 

[BringBackFergy]

1 minute ago, Brandon said:

 

How many other WRs get drafted in R5 that don't do anything? 

Alert: There are other rounds besides Round 1. There’s 2, 3, 4…even 7. Stevie Johnson. 

[Brandon]

It would be a very Bills thing to do to throw the kitchen sink at the defense when they could fix the most obvious problem on offense by adding one quality player. 

 

1 minute ago, BringBackFergy said:

Alert: There are other rounds besides Round 1. There’s 2, 3, 4…even 7. Stevie Johnson. 

 

You forgot round 6 and Marquez Stevenson. 

 

 

Edited January 24 by Brandon

[Tenhigh]

2 hours ago, theAteam said:

Are we going to have the capital to sign a FA wr?

Maybe Boyd

[CincyBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

 

The offense, on the other hand, is pretty well set.   I'd love to have a better running back to pair with Cook.   People moan about the receivers, but I think the moaning is way out of line with reality.  The Bills had the eighth most passing yards in the league, only 30 yards a game less than the top teams.  Kincaid now has his rookie season under his belt, and he can be expected to be better next season.  Diggs was 13th in yards and 7th in receptions in the league.  Shakir is coming on.   The offensive line was solid.   Bills will need a center, and upgrades anywhere are always nice.   However, compared to the defense, the offense is relatively set - it was one of the best offenses in the league.  

 

The numbers support your argument but I think they're impacted by the cheat code called Josh Allen.  He has proven over the last 4 seasons that he can be wildly productive with average to below average offensive talent around him.  This is what puts the Bills in the top 10 statistical categories every year and gives us a false sense of comfort.  But what the Bills are missing is the possibility of how good the offense could be if you surrounded Allen with above average talent.  Focusing on the offense sets up the possibility that we might see just how HIGH the ceiling of a Josh Allen offense can be.

 

[boyst]

2 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Only disagreement is on that early WR pick. I think most on this board understand, and are even in favor, of a very heavy defensive draft given our needs on that side of the ball.

 

I also agree with going Safety->DT->DE. Heck, I'd say Safety->DT->DE->Safety->DB->DT.

 

After our WR pick tho.

 

 

There could be the top safety prospect still on the board by the time we draft with WR being deep. If we go WR id love to go all in on MHJ and have Josh and him for eternity.

 

If we can shore up WR, and I don't see Davis getting over $9mm/yr x 3... So I'd put an offer of out as a veteran #4, depth outside guy. 

[transplantbillsfan]

He's not wrong in the sense that we have 2 positions that we need lots of bodies for, and they're both on Defense:  Safety & DT.  I just don't think you draft either in the first round.

 

And yeah, our offense should run through Kincaid and honestly I think we have lots of rosterable WRs still under contract, but the Bills need to draft the Diggs replacement this year... especially with this being a strong WR class.

 

We need a WR in round 1 or 2 and it needs to likely be an "X Receiver."

[DrDawkinstein]

1 hour ago, 2020 Our Year For Sure said:

I'm not like most on this board then. I say ignore defensive needs, intentionally downgrade the defense in order to FINALLY give Josh Allen the weapons he needs to win a Superbowl for the first time in his life. I want a young, talented, athletic, DEEP WR room. And Diggs may or may not be on the back nine. First 3 picks should all be WR as far as I'm concerned. Wide receiver was in a position of desperation 3 years ago; at this point it is way past desperation.

 

Fielding a team that has only 1 DT, 2 DEs, and 1 Safety (Hamlin) on the entire roster would certainly be the defensive downgrade you are after. But we simply cant roll that out.

 

It's not about upgrading the defense. It's about having a full starting lineup of 11 guys.

 

1 WR pick, then the rest have to be Defense. Unless you want to line up those 2nd and 3rd picked WRs as DBs.

 

 

Edited January 24 by DrDawkinstein