This is now on Beane, no question he needs to step up.

[stlbills13]

I think it's underrated how important it is to even have 1 stud on the defensive line to draw attention. Whether it be a double team, forcing the pocket to move, forcing the QB to be even slightly jittery or speed up his eyes, etc. 

[Don Otreply]

47 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Its not drafting for need thats the issue, its drafting the WRONG players

This right here ^^^

 

I like Beane, but he outsmarts himself at times, 

[Heavy Kevi]

2 hours ago, Logic said:

I agree.

Beane has been good at hitting singles and doubles and even the occasional triple his whole GM career, but he too rarely hits homeruns. 

The Bills don't have enough difference makers. Don't have enough "very good to elite" players. Sure, he drafts guys that stick around the league and are in the "pretty good to good" category. But he doesn't draft enough KILLERS.

And no, the "we pick too late in every draft" thing is not an excuse, and I hate when Beane says any version of it.

I like Brandon Beane overall as a GM, but I agree: When it comes to evaluating college talent and drafting, Brandon Beane needs to step it up, ESPECIALLY in rounds 1 and 2.

 

I think the biggest change is he needs to stop leaving a glaring must-draft position group.

 

Then every team knows what we are drafting and we end up drafting the scraps.

 

This is how we ended up with Elam, Coleman, Rousseau, and Epenssa. 

 

Maybe actually make it possible to draft the best player vs panicking and drafting Elam because KC took McDuffie, and then being forced to start Elam because there is nobody else. Sure, he got lucky on Benford that year, but that's the only reason CB isn't a total wasteland.

 

Imo beane has been much better with trades so far and so I would have no qualms about trading for a known quantity.

[GunnerBill]

46 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

Gunner, it’s all a bit of semantics. I look at a guy like Epenesa. He was a beast at Iowa playing against elite offensive line Big Ten opponents. After drafting him the Bills immediately changed his body type and tried to make him into something he isn’t. Likewise with Oliver….they went for a smaller DT hoping he’d become the next Aaron Donald. In both cases they’ve force fed their ‘smaller dude’ scheme onto the players they’ve selected. Then add in the complete swing and miss with Elam and Basham and you’ve got a total mess on your hands. It’s been pretty bad! 

 

Well Basham was a bigger dude. How did that work? It isn't about scheme, or small vs big, it is about talent evaluation and they haven't found enough difference makers because they haven't evaluated talent well enough. Simple as that.

[GunnerBill]

44 minutes ago, Yobogoya! said:

 

Yeah, I suppose if there was a big divide between McD/Beane we would have heard some sort of rumbling out of the rumor mill by this point. 

 

But I hope they do some deep self-scouting about the "process" this offseason and figure out how to be more flexible with their priorities. 

 

I mean hell, you have Josh Allen who is going to win you 9-11 games by sheer willpower alone... you can AFFORD to swing and miss on a high ceiling, high risk prospect. If a Jalen Carter is there for you to take, you can afford to weather it if he doesn't pan out. 

 

We can't afford to swing and miss on the Boogie Basham's of the world. What's that guy's ceiling? What's the best case scenario with a day 2 pick like that one? With Josh Allen, there's no reason not to put a premium on talent and go big, because he'll probably get you to the playoffs anyway. 

 

Agree. Although obviously we don't know if they'd have swung on Carter. It's speculation.

[Old Coot]

3 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Beane has been average on his drafts and horrible at evaluation of DL.  I have to wonder if we need a change in our scouts? 

 

For all our (esp. My) ripping of McDermott it seems he gets that we need a change and is making coaching changes/ Adds to back that. So what's left?  Beane MUST do better in his evaluation of talent and who he picks.  We all saw what McClusky and BTJ did this year vs Coleman, that is a miss for me.  He picked a bad DL who is  no longer here vs a guy who became an all pro center. There are way too many instances of this.

I agree that our eveluation process for draft picks needs to be better.

 

That said, presumably McD or the relevent asst coaches are part of the e v a l process. I can't imagine that Beane makes his decisions without that input.

 

To my mind, Elam has been the biggest miss to date. He's terrible and McD knows it. When questioned at half-time of the Chiefs game about who will step up with Benford sidelined (it was Elam) McD momentarily had a deer-in-the-headlights look becore recovering his poise.

[Allen2Moulds]

The one thing that sticks out to me with Beane's drafts is this.

 

Beane claims that early in the draft, he goes BPA, and that later in the draft, is more when they go position by position. But if you look at his draft history, it actually suggests the opposite. He seems to always force the issue in the 1st with attacking an area of need vs. Truly going bpa.

 

I think this is why he does better in 2-7, vs. The first round.

Edited 12 hours ago by Allen2Moulds

[zow2]

How many players on the Bills defense now would start on the Eagles defense?   I do feel like the Bills overachieved this season.  It was Allen, Cook, Shakir, the OLine...some role guys stepping up in the most random moments (like Ray Davis vs NYJ) and some great takeaway numbers on D. 

Now it's time for Beane to take the next step with building this defense in to an AFC power.

[billieve420]

Poach someone Eagles front office/scouting department. Whatever philosophy they have in terms of talent evaluation is miles ahead of us.

[Peter]

2 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Its not drafting for need thats the issue, its drafting the WRONG players

 

We reached on KE because of the need. No reason to reach.

[DeltaDigital]

3 hours ago, Jerome007 said:

I admit yesterday it was almost a shock to see both defenses. KC's defense played well for 3 quarters, and all year, really. The Cheaps' O was barely average all year expect... against the Bills.  The Eagles created huge QB pressure with just the 4 DLinemen, that was the surprise of the game IMO. And we can't expect that in one year. But wow, the Bills D, especially the DLine, looks weak compared to the two we saw yesterday. Or the Ravens for that matter.

 

Our offense is great though. The OLine, running backs...and the MVP. Yes, yes, one good WR could change things. But that's quite impressive. Just one would open up everything more, and yet the O is already the strength. It's the D that is weak. I know here the complaining was that all the picks went mostly to the D. Well, it needs to happen... again.

 

Oh, it's a good thing we will change special teams coach too!

we can absolutely expect the DL to be lights out in 1 year. PHI did it. and they rode it all the way to the superbowl trophy. Demand more from these guys. they all must do better. 

[Thrivefourfive]

4 hours ago, DJB said:

Beane really needs to start hitting on those early picks. It’s been his drafting downfall. 
 

If we trade the picks for an impact player like Crosby or Garrett I’d be ecstatic. If not he needs to pick a stud DL with that first . 

He needs to use that first and move up to draft where the studs get drafted 

[Thrivefourfive]

1 hour ago, Allen2Moulds said:

The one thing that sticks out to me with Beane's drafts is this.

 

Beane claims that early in the draft, he goes BPA, and that later in the draft, is more when they go position by position. But if you look at his draft history, it actually suggests the opposite. He seems to always force the issue in the 1st with attacking an area of need vs. Truly going bpa.

 

I think this is why he does better in 2-7, vs. The first round.

It should always be BPA. You’re obviously not going to draft six straight left guards if they are BPA. But The Bills have all these holes for top talent, yet have a steady stream of steady Eddie’s. Not only are we in BPA mode, but we’re in move up mode to extend our range of BPAs

[Back2Buff]

Anyone notice how the Bills no longer list their Front Office on their website?

 

I feel like there has been some front office loses since Beane has been here that has hurt.  I think losing Joe Schoen was a big loss.  We also lost Dan Morgan, but I dont think he did much for the draft.

 

I also think the Bills should look at replacing Terrence Gray.  Our recent drafts have not been good.

[SoCal Deek]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Well Basham was a bigger dude. How did that work? It isn't about scheme, or small vs big, it is about talent evaluation and they haven't found enough difference makers because they haven't evaluated talent well enough. Simple as that.

We agree there, but I still maintain that the Bills are way off of the old Best Player Available theme. They appear to be drafting players with certain traits (ie: character, size, athleticism, league-wide trends). While that can work in the long run it also has a good chance of failing. As an example, league-wide trends change much faster than a five year rookie contract.

[HamptonBillsfan]

Here’s the problem with Beane, he’s got us in cap purgatory and there is  one special player on our entire defense, Oliver. He keeps running it back with unproductive or injury prone players. Epenesa. Von, Jones, Hamlin, Rapp, Phillips, Milano. We don’t get consistent pressure against top QBs and it’s bend don’t break and let’s win shootouts. If we can’t assemble a more impactful defense through the draft and 2nd tier FAs, there will be other teams catching up with us and the Chiefs, Ravens, and Eagles being there every year.We will have to pay Cook, Shakir and Rousseau and drafting way back. He’s painted himself into a corner.

[KentuckyBillsFan]

Beane is a bigger contributor to our inability to beat the Chiefs than McDermott IMO.. 

[Whkfc]

It also seems like Philly and Baltimore more than any other teams get studs to fall to them like Hamilton falling to Baltimore or DeJean falling to Philly i feel like they take more advantage of that than any other team. Like Dejean or Coleman as better overall players who you taking?

[nosejob]

1 hour ago, billieve420 said:

Poach someone Eagles front office/scouting department. Whatever philosophy they have in terms of talent evaluation is miles ahead of us.

Didn't they spend 3 1st rounders in a row...from Ga. on the Dline? How did they end up with both Mitchell and Cooper? They picked an area of need and stuck with it until done.  People do forget where we draft every year.

[Flip Johnson]

The more truthful statement is that the Bills need to put more resources into the defensive line, which is hard to do from the back of the draft.

If you look at his drafts re: DLine in the Allen era, they are okay, not a lot of big hits or misses. Everyone is about on level with their draft class - Basham was a bust, Oliver has been very good but not a star, and Rousseau has probably been a little better than you would expect for a #30 overall pick. Guys like Epenesa and Harrison Phillips basically performed at the level they were projected.