Athletic article - comments from NFL people on AFC draft classes

[FireChans]

19 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Gotta love, “Josh it’s up to you to raise the level of skill around you.” That’s fireable imo. I’ve been a huge Beane supporter since he got here. I’ve been lukewarm on McDermott.
 

Phillosophically, I differ from them greatly on that. If Josh Allen were my QB, I would invest every prime asset I could in surrounding him with elite talent. You’re going to win BECAUSE of him. Their philosophy is that it doesn’t matter who’s around him because we have him. That hasn’t worked to date.
 

Please don’t talk about the assets that they invested in Diggs, etc.. I don’t want to have to pull the data again of the assets allocated to the DL over WR. It’s disgusting. Depending on how this year goes, I would be okay pulling the plug on this regime. Lots of people could win 11 games and 1 playoff game with Josh Allen. I’m ready to try something different. That’s not good enough with that unicorn playing QB. You’ve failed him. 

This is the “Fire Beane” off-season.

 

he brought his dinosaur team-building strategy from Carolina. Drafting more running backs than WR’s is fireable. 
 

There were some loyal soliders that thought Beane would “learn his lesson.” He hasn’t. They are going to treat Josh like Cam Newton and make him do everything. They have to go. Before they end his career prematurely. Josh is going to be 28 this year. Theres a chance he only has 2-3 years left.

[SoonerBillsFan]

On 5/3/2024 at 9:09 AM, dave mcbride said:

Some good stuff here: https://theathletic.com/5467312/2024/05/03/nfl-draft-afc-best-worst-classes-insider-reaction/, One takeaway from these comments: the consensus seems to be that next year's draft will be significantly deeper than this one's and that trading for 2025 picks is a smart move.

 

Bills: 

“It looks like they didn’t want a little guy in cold weather — ‘We’re a tough run team now,'” another exec said. “The risk is that Coleman is going to be covered. Those guys are making contested catches, and that is hard to do over and over again unless you are DeAndre Hopkins.”

The selection of inside runner Ray Davis in the fourth round could further signal a shift toward being more of a power team.

“There is now a big difference in the speed around Patrick Mahomes compared to the speed around Josh Allen,” another exec said. “Buffalo is saying, ‘Josh, it is up to you to raise the level of the skill around you,’ which is great, but we’ll see if he is able to do that.”

 

Broncos:

[Re: the Nix pick] “I’m betting on it (succeeding) heavily,” an exec said. “Bo has experience, he has enough arm talent and I think he is going to do what he is coached to do. Sean Payton’s system is optimal for him. Bo is not going to go off-script as much as Russ was going to do. Look, I don’t want him to be successful, but I think he is going to be legit there.”

“I’m not a Bo Nix fan, but if anybody can get something out of him, Sean could,” another exec said, voicing concerns about Nix’s accuracy and reaction to the pass rush. “He’ll program that kid to do exactly what he wants every week. It won’t be enough the first year, but Sean will buy a third year to develop the kid and see if he can get him through.”

 

Texans:

Unrelated to the Texans, and speaking in general terms, an exec from a team picking inside the top 20 made a comment we regularly hear this time of year.

“Call it pick 20 to pick 40, shake them up and throw them out, they are all similar players,” he said.

Whether or not that is true, execs agreed the 2025 draft should be deeper than the current one, so that acquiring picks next year carried additional value.

 

Chiefs:

“They won the Super Bowl, but they should be blowing dudes out like they used to,” an exec said. “Xavier Worthy will make it easier to do that with the tight end (Travis Kelce) getting older.”

“Kansas City is going to light people up with that kid,” an exec said of Worthy. “He’s a little, fast guy, and you think he’s a track guy, but he’s tough, finishes runs, fast, disciplined. He has a nice all-around game.”

 

Raiders:

“Bowers is not like Dalton Kincaid where you can create separation in the normal flow of the offense,” an exec said. “You have to move him. He would be ideal in San Francisco or Miami. Whereas Kincaid is special at the top of the route, Bowers is one-cut, catch it, break three tackles and he’s gone. Hopefully, they have a good plan for him because he can do some really unique things with the ball.”

 

Dolphins:

The Dolphins reached for their credit card. They traded their 2025 third to Philadelphia for a fourth this year, despite general league thinking that NIL implementation at the college level thinned the current crop after the first couple of rounds. As one exec put it, “If you traded this year’s fourth for next year’s third, that’s a huge win because of the nature of the class.”

 

Jets:

“They are in win-now mode, which is why I thought they would go Bowers all the way or any player that would help them win this year,” an exec said. “Instead, they drafted a tackle who might not play for them this year, and might not be well-suited to kick inside and play guard. It certainly is good long-term process, but where they are as an organization, they gotta win this year.”

The bolded part does it for me.  I have seen this change going on amd it's obvious now. We want to be a heck of alot more physical.   If KC wants to hold our WR'S at the LOS 1) good luck and 2) it will have to be so blatantly done a penalty has to be called.  You aren't easily holding a guy like Coleman and not flat tear his jersey off.

[mannc]

3 hours ago, FireChans said:

This is the “Fire Beane” off-season.

 

he brought his dinosaur team-building strategy from Carolina. Drafting more running backs than WR’s is fireable. 
 

There were some loyal soliders that thought Beane would “learn his lesson.” He hasn’t. They are going to treat Josh like Cam Newton and make him do everything. They have to go. Before they end his career prematurely. Josh is going to be 28 this year. Theres a chance he only has 2-3 years left.

Don’t count on it, even if the Bills go 7-10.  With the level of chaos right now in Pegula-land, making wholesale changes in the Bills’ front office is far too heavy of a lift.  And whatever you might think of Beane’s roster management, he’s at least a professional executive who gives off an air of competence, unlike the clowns who occupied that office before him.

Edited May 5 by mannc

[FireChans]

7 minutes ago, mannc said:

Don’t count on it, even if the Bills go 7-10.  With the level of chaos right now in Pegula-land, wholesale changes in the Bills’ front office is far too heavy of a lift.  And whatever you might think of Beane’s roster management, he’s at least a professional executive who gives off an air of competence, unlike the clowns who occupied that office before him.

I agree he wont be fired. And I agree there’s a baseline competence that makes him and McD safe.
 

If I was running the Bills and in a perfect would, I would fire him.

[GoBills808]

41 minutes ago, FireChans said:

This is the “Fire Beane” off-season.

 

he brought his dinosaur team-building strategy from Carolina. Drafting more running backs than WR’s is fireable. 
 

There were some loyal soliders that thought Beane would “learn his lesson.” He hasn’t. They are going to treat Josh like Cam Newton and make him do everything. They have to go. Before they end his career prematurely. Josh is going to be 28 this year. Theres a chance he only has 2-3 years left.

If Brady runs him as much as he did last yr it's going to happen imo

[blacklabel]

These takes about Beane leaving Josh hanging in terms of the players around him are...something, I guess. Two straight drafts now they've spent their first pick in the guy Josh wanted. He wanted Kincaid last year, they jump up a couple spots and give him Kincaid. He wanted Coleman this year, they give him Coleman while being able to gain more draft capital in the process. 

 

Some of y'all are hung up on the speed thing. John Brown, Isaiah McKenzie, Deonte Harty, even tried to get a guy like Tavon Austin going again, now they have KJ Hamler to see if he can bounce back. Aside from Brown, the speedster guy hasn't really had much impact for this team. 

 

Some of y'all said they didn't give him a #1 WR. They went out and got Diggs for him. 

 

Oh, they don't have a decent enough run game to take pressure off him. They've drafted Singletary, Moss, Cook, and now Davis. Singletary was fine, Moss didn't quite work out, Cook really came on last season and if you can't get behind a guy like Ray Davis then I don't know what to tell you. 

 

It's clear that some of you are locked into your stance on this regime and no matter what they do, they're always gonna fall short of your ever changing expectations. 

 

I dunno, man, but for me, in the grand scheme of things this is still just a game. A highly entertaining game that can be a lot of fun and I know a lot of people are very passionate about their teams. Maybe I'm just an old fart but these days it's much easier for me to sit back with the wait and see approach and not get worked up about this draft pick or this trade or which guy KC got and blah blah blah. I'm guessing some of you didn't live through the drought years where there was real, actual incompetence running the show. That is not the case with this front office. 

Edited May 5 by blacklabel

[FireChans]

20 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

These takes about Beane leaving Josh hanging in terms of the players around him are...something, I guess. Two straight drafts now they've spent their first pick in the guy Josh wanted. He wanted Kincaid last year, they jump up a couple spots and give him Kincaid. He wanted Coleman this year, they give him Coleman while being able to gain more draft capital in the process. 

 

Some of y'all are hung up on the speed thing. John Brown, Isaiah McKenzie, Deonte Harty, even tried to get a guy like Tavon Austin going again, now they have KJ Hamler to see if he can bounce back. Aside from Brown, the speedster guy hasn't really had much impact for this team. 

 

Some of y'all said they didn't give him a #1 WR. They went out and got Diggs for him. 

 

Oh, they don't have a decent enough run game to take pressure off him. They've drafted Singletary, Moss, Cook, and now Davis. Singletary was fine, Moss didn't quite work out, Cook really came on last season and if you can't get behind a guy like Ray Davis then I don't know what to tell you. 

 

It's clear that some of you are locked into your stance on this regime and no matter what they do, they're always gonna fall short of your ever changing expectations. 

 

I dunno, man, but for me, in the grand scheme of things this is still just a game. A highly entertaining game that can be a lot of fun and I know a lot of people are very passionate about their teams. Maybe I'm just an old fart but these days it's much easier for me to sit back with the wait and see approach and not get worked up about this draft pick or this trade or which guy KC got and blah blah blah. I'm guessing some of you didn't live through the drought years where there was real, actual incompetence running the show. That is not the case with this front office. 

We lived the drought and pre-drought.

 

The smart teams invest a lot more than the Bills do in the WR position, this is a fact.

 

The Bills have not been forward-thinking in regards to the WR position, this is a fact.

 

The Bills have their value of drafting RB’s completely contrary to the market value, this is a fact. 

 

Josh Allen spent his last playoff game throwing balls to Trent Sherfield, which is not good, this is a fact. 
 

There are obvious flaws here. We’d all be better off admitting it.

[BarleyNY]

On 5/3/2024 at 10:40 AM, BuffaloBill said:

I like the idea that the Bills are getting “heavier.”  The trend is for defenses to get lighter so There is a zig and zag league aspect to this.  Josh can throw the ball all day long but the Bills will be much better with a dependable run game.  I do not see the Bills going heavy run, maybe its 60 / 40 pass.  The issue is whether that 40 consistently gets meaningful yards.

 

That’s changed over the last couple seasons as teams have been working to get more stout against the run. The spending on IOL and RBs shows that many teams are still committed to improving their run game however. As a counter I expect teams to run more MOFC coverages that are better against the run. That means more cover 1 and 3 on early downs rather than 2 and 4. I’m also interested in seeing how teams that go more man heavy do. 

[mannc]

3 hours ago, FireChans said:

I agree he wont be fired. And I agree there’s a baseline competence that makes him and McD safe.
 

If I was running the Bills and in a perfect would, I would fire him.

The time to do that would have been two years ago...

[Billl]

3 hours ago, FireChans said:

We lived the drought and pre-drought.

 

The smart teams invest a lot more than the Bills do in the WR position, this is a fact.

 

The Bills have not been forward-thinking in regards to the WR position, this is a fact.

 

The Bills have their value of drafting RB’s completely contrary to the market value, this is a fact. 

 

Josh Allen spent his last playoff game throwing balls to Trent Sherfield, which is not good, this is a fact. 
 

There are obvious flaws here. We’d all be better off admitting it.

When Beane was building the roster 6 years ago, he had a very clear plan that he stuck to religiously.  Now, there’s a glaring lack of intentionality in seemingly everything he does.  He clearly didn’t intend to trade Diggs.  His hand was forced.  Then when it was time to replace him in the draft, he traded back twice.  

 

Even if Coleman turns out to be a superstar, it was a bad move for Beane to let three more teams take WRs before Buffalo drafted him.  BB just seems a bit lost at the moment.  It’s easy to say in hindsight that he’s trying to get bigger and stronger on offense and that’s why they drafted Coleman, but that’s nothing more than shooting an arrow and then painting a bullseye around it.  SF could have just as easily drafted him.  Then if Buffalo took McConkey or Pearsall, the same people would be saying that Beane is clearly trying to do (insert whatever narrative would have applied to the player he picked instead of Coleman).

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, Billl said:

When Beane was building the roster 6 years ago, he had a very clear plan that he stuck to religiously.  Now, there’s a glaring lack of intentionality in seemingly everything he does.  He clearly didn’t intend to trade Diggs.  His hand was forced.  Then when it was time to replace him in the draft, he traded back twice.  

 

Even if Coleman turns out to be a superstar, it was a bad move for Beane to let three more teams take WRs before Buffalo drafted him.  BB just seems a bit lost at the moment.  It’s easy to say in hindsight that he’s trying to get bigger and stronger on offense and that’s why they drafted Coleman, but that’s nothing more than shooting an arrow and then painting a bullseye around it.  SF could have just as easily drafted him.  Then if Buffalo took McConkey or Pearsall, the same people would be saying that Beane is clearly trying to do (insert whatever narrative would have applied to the player he picked instead of Coleman).

I actually don’t agree that he had a strict roster building plan. 
 

I think him and McD gutted the whole roster. And then you can sign or draft whoever you want because you have needs everywhere and you have a blank check salary cap wise. And to their credit, they put together a pretty good roster.
 

The harder task is keeping a competitive core around your franchise QB when players get old, get hurt and have big fat contracts. That’s why their lack of understanding of positional value hurts so much more. It doesn’t really matter when you have $50M-$80M in space and you draft RB’s high or sign safeties to big deals. You need the talent more than you need the space. 
 

But they have failed to adjust as the salary cap belt has tightened. And we  and Josh are gonna pay for it.   

[MasterStrategist]

8 hours ago, Rubes said:

There's something to be said about an offense that runs the ball well enough to force a safety into the box, opening up much more of the passing game. I think Brady understood that last year, and it worked reasonably well. We'll see if that's the plan this year.

 

Exactly.  Problem LY, we didn't have a player who could win 50/50 downfield passes.

[ToGoGo]

7 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Gotta love, “Josh it’s up to you to raise the level of skill around you.” That’s fireable imo. I’ve been a huge Beane supporter since he got here. I’ve been lukewarm on McDermott.
 

Phillosophically, I differ from them greatly on that. If Josh Allen were my QB, I would invest every prime asset I could in surrounding him with elite talent. You’re going to win BECAUSE of him. Their philosophy is that it doesn’t matter who’s around him because we have him. That hasn’t worked to date.
 

Please don’t talk about the assets that they invested in Diggs, etc.. I don’t want to have to pull the data again of the assets allocated to the DL over WR. It’s disgusting. Depending on how this year goes, I would be okay pulling the plug on this regime. Lots of people could win 11 games and 1 playoff game with Josh Allen. I’m ready to try something different. That’s not good enough with that unicorn playing QB. You’ve failed him. 

This is the year to fix everything that has been wrong the last 6 years. Not all of it is on Beane and McDermott. Life has a way of forcing you into certain situations and the only way out of them is time. 
 

Next year we have the cap money and the true help is coming. But the turn around begins in 2024 (on a budget) and amplifies in 2025. 

[Kirby Jackson]

35 minutes ago, ToGoGo said:

This is the year to fix everything that has been wrong the last 6 years. Not all of it is on Beane and McDermott. Life has a way of forcing you into certain situations and the only way out of them is time. 
 

Next year we have the cap money and the true help is coming. But the turn around begins in 2024 (on a budget) and amplifies in 2025. 

I hope that you’re right. I don’t love their philosophy. I believe you give Josh the stars. They believe, Josh will just elevate average guys. We will see I guess…

[Saint Doug]

I personally like the makeup of this offense. If you want to go watch fast Smurfs, you can watch Miami. Not only do we have a QB that will run over a linebacker, we now have WR/TEs and RBs to run through them. This offense will wear defenses into the ground. And once that happens, Josh can throw some daggers, ones only he can throw, to put them out of their misery. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

9 hours ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

 

RIGHT?

 

That's what I'm saying, what's the point of having a guy with a cannon when all you're gonna do is dink and dunk and run the ball. Need a guy with a big brain for that, not a big arm.

 

So who were we drafting to break the high cover 2 shell? Worthy? Nope not even Hill can do that against us, amd no one in the draft was going to in cold weather.

14 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I hope that you’re right. I don’t love their philosophy. I believe you give Josh the stars. They believe, Josh will just elevate average guys. We will see I guess…

Which other than Moss, Tom Brady did that in NE.

[Turk71]

8 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

The bolded part does it for me.  I have seen this change going on amd it's obvious now. We want to be a heck of alot more physical.   If KC wants to hold our WR'S at the LOS 1) good luck and 2) it will have to be so blatantly done a penalty has to be called.  You aren't easily holding a guy like Coleman and not flat tear his jersey off.

Unfortunately Coleman was not very good vs press man and single coverage.

Being bigger doesn't necessarily make you better at getting off the line, Troy Franklin at 180 lbs was top 2 yprr vs press man and top 3 vs single.  Footwork and hands are what beat the press.

[Richard Noggin]

10 hours ago, Slippery Rubber Mats said:

 

Worthy should have gone top 15 with all the praise he's getting all of a sudden. Great player

 

His combine 40 kinda broke a lot of brains. He's a decent prospect even if he didn't run that record-(and brain)-breaking time. I thought he might go a bit earlier. 

 

7 hours ago, blacklabel said:

These takes about Beane leaving Josh hanging in terms of the players around him are...something, I guess. Two straight drafts now they've spent their first pick in the guy Josh wanted. He wanted Kincaid last year, they jump up a couple spots and give him Kincaid. He wanted Coleman this year, they give him Coleman while being able to gain more draft capital in the process. 

 

Some of y'all are hung up on the speed thing. John Brown, Isaiah McKenzie, Deonte Harty, even tried to get a guy like Tavon Austin going again, now they have KJ Hamler to see if he can bounce back. Aside from Brown, the speedster guy hasn't really had much impact for this team. 

 

Some of y'all said they didn't give him a #1 WR. They went out and got Diggs for him. 

 

Oh, they don't have a decent enough run game to take pressure off him. They've drafted Singletary, Moss, Cook, and now Davis. Singletary was fine, Moss didn't quite work out, Cook really came on last season and if you can't get behind a guy like Ray Davis then I don't know what to tell you. 

 

It's clear that some of you are locked into your stance on this regime and no matter what they do, they're always gonna fall short of your ever changing expectations. 

 

I dunno, man, but for me, in the grand scheme of things this is still just a game. A highly entertaining game that can be a lot of fun and I know a lot of people are very passionate about their teams. Maybe I'm just an old fart but these days it's much easier for me to sit back with the wait and see approach and not get worked up about this draft pick or this trade or which guy KC got and blah blah blah. I'm guessing some of you didn't live through the drought years where there was real, actual incompetence running the show. That is not the case with this front office. 

 

[Kirby Jackson]

48 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

So who were we drafting to break the high cover 2 shell? Worthy? Nope not even Hill can do that against us, amd no one in the draft was going to in cold weather.

Which other than Moss, Tom Brady did that in NE.

He played with a top 3 TE all time and a top 3 WR all time. He had a good OL. He had Corey Dillon in his prime. He had elite slot receivers. He went to Tampa and had Evans and Godwin. Brady had at least 3 pass catchers that are in, or going to, the HOF. Moss, Gronk and Evans are either in Canton or going. 

[Richard Noggin]

8 minutes ago, Turk71 said:

Unfortunately Coleman was not very good vs press man and single coverage.

Being bigger doesn't necessarily make you better at getting off the line, Troy Franklin at 180 lbs was top 2 yprr vs press man and top 3 vs single.  Footwork and hands are what beat the press.

 

I really thought Franklin was a fit. So curious why popular opinion (and my own) was mostly wrong about his draft value?