Who is your choice at pick #30?

[JP51]

Myles Garrett

[buffaloboyinATL]

19 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

He did little with his physical tools in his college career until the playoffs. Now everyone is acting like he’s a Bosa

I wouldn’t say that Sawyer “did little” in his college career, I would say he progressively improved throughout his 4 years at Ohio State.  23 career sacks, culminating with 9 in his senior year.  He improved statistically every season.

 

Definitely not a Bosa, or there would be zero chance that he is available at the end of the first round, or possibly even early second.  I feel as though he has plenty of room for growth and would not be surprised to see him move up the draft board between now and April.   

[OldTimer1960]

On 2/19/2025 at 5:05 AM, GunnerBill said:

Okay, so my list of guys I'd consider at #30 who I think have a reasonable chance to be there:

 

Defensive Tackles (working on the basis that Mason Graham is already off the board)

Walter Nolen - I have a 1st on Nolan and while I slightly fear the Bills will just see him as too similar to Ed Oliver he is just better for me than the other guys likely to be in and around this pick. He may well now be gone. When I did his film and graded him in mid-January having a true first him was a bit of an outlier. It seems since the Senior Bowl the world has caught up. Would you want he and Ed out there together vs Baltimore or Detroit? Probably not. But Nolen is a very good run defender and against anyone other than the elite power run teams I think you could combine he and Ed and just blow interior offensive lines up.

 

 

I just watched Nolan vs Florida and I see why you rate him so highly.  He is quick and powerful and moves pretty well for a DT.  He seemed to be able to hold the line of scrimmage effectively - sometimes even against double teams, but more importantly he had several disruptive plays in that game.  

[TheWeatherMan]

In rounds 1 and 2, I want whoever Beane doesn’t want.  After that I want whoever Beane wants.  

[billsfan89]

5 minutes ago, TheWeatherMan said:

In rounds 1 and 2, I want whoever Beane doesn’t want.  After that I want whoever Beane wants.  

 

I think it is a bit over blown how bad Beane is at drafting in rounds 1-2. Since 2021 he's had some good picks there. Groot, Cook, Torrence, and Kincaid have all been starters. Keon had a nice rookie season and Bishop also flashed in his limited time. Have there been some busts? Yeah of course Elam and Boogie were not good picks but seems like the other picks are solid to good players at least. 

[Augie]

24 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

I think it is a bit over blown how bad Beane is at drafting in rounds 1-2. Since 2021 he's had some good picks there. Groot, Cook, Torrence, and Kincaid have all been starters. Keon had a nice rookie season and Bishop also flashed in his limited time. Have there been some busts? Yeah of course Elam and Boogie were not good picks but seems like the other picks are solid to good players at least. 

 

I’m just praying we are due for some home runs to pop out at us. 

[billsfan89]

1 hour ago, Augie said:

 

I’m just praying we are due for some home runs to pop out at us. 

 

I hope so too, but if you listen to fans about how bad Beane is at drafting in rounds 1-2 you would think the Bills picks are all like Elam and Boogie. Which is just not the case.

[TBBills Fan]

Myles Garrett please

[HappyDays]

On 2/19/2025 at 5:05 AM, GunnerBill said:

Okay, so my list of guys I'd consider at #30 who I think have a reasonable chance to be there:

 

Defensive Tackles (working on the basis that Mason Graham is already off the board)

Walter Nolen - I have a 1st on Nolan and while I slightly fear the Bills will just see him as too similar to Ed Oliver he is just better for me than the other guys likely to be in and around this pick. He may well now be gone. When I did his film and graded him in mid-January having a true first him was a bit of an outlier. It seems since the Senior Bowl the world has caught up. Would you want he and Ed out there together vs Baltimore or Detroit? Probably not. But Nolen is a very good run defender and against anyone other than the elite power run teams I think you could combine he and Ed and just blow interior offensive lines up.

 

Kenneth Grant - You just don't find many guys at this size that move this well. Experience playing both in the A gap and the B gap, would dominate in the run game, and definitely is the most natural of the three DTs I'd consider in terms of his fit next to Ed Oliver. Actually thought he rushed the passer better in 2024 than in 2023, even if his sack production went down slightly though he probably gives you less in the pass game than the other two. 

 

Derrick Harmon - I'd love to slide back and take Harmon after picking up an extra draft pick but I'd be willing to do it at #30 as well if that made sense. Mainly a 3T in college with the most pressures of any interior Dlineman in the FBS last season, but plays with the technique and pad leverage to play as a 1T. Seen him compared to DaQuan Jones and I see that, but I think he has a bit more juice than Jones. If he can add like 5-8lbs in weight he is built to be one of the more active 1Ts in football IMO. 

 

Defensive Ends (working on the basis that Abdul Carter, James Pearce and Mike Green are already off the board)

Princely Umanmielen - I'm higher on Princely than others but he is similar to Mike Green for me in that the risk you'd take is he is not at this stage an all around defensive end. He is just a pass rusher. But he has length, he has bend, he has explosive burst.... the knocks on him other than his edge setting in the run game are his hands could improve and he could add some nuance to his pass rush but he has the traits to be a high end pass rusher. 

 

Nic Scourton - Great understanding of how you rush the passer, his approach is nuanced, varied and productive and I love his hand use which is fast, heavy and deliberate. Played a bit bigger this year at Texas A&M I'd want him back down to his Purdue weight where he was more explosive but he is going to be pro-ready to go against NFL tackles right off the bat. 

 

Shermar Stewart - Athletic freak, technical mess, the bust potential is high but the ceiling here is an elite perennial all-pro type pass rusher. If he can just be coached up to better understand his leverage, get rid of his tendency to lean into offensive linemen and to use his arms and hands better the overall physical package is worth a shot. 

 

Corners (working on the basis that Travis Hunter and Will Johnson are already off the board and so is Shanon Revel unless his medicals are so bad he is fully off the board)

Jahdae Barron - Versatile chess piece or starting corner? I think for a team that is going to be mainly a zone defense he is a starting outside corner. Measurements will be interesting for him. If his arms come in short then he is out of consideration here but he got better every year at Texas and while his tackling technique in run support needs work I think he can be a really effective boundary player. 

 

Wide Receivers (working on the basis that Travis Hunter, Tetairoa McMillan, Emeka Egbuka and Luther Burden are off the board)

Matthew Golden - Big play receiver who needs to be more consistent. Can play outside or from the slot, but needs to sharpen up his route running, has a tendency to round routes off rather than getting in and out of breaks and his hands need to be more consistent. He can be a game breaker though and if he runs in the 4.3s at the Combine probably cements himself as a late first round pick. 

 

 

In terms of how those guys rank on my big board currently:

 

1. Jahdae Barron

2. Walter Nolen

3. Princely Umanmielen

4. Nick Scourton

5. Derrick Harmon

6. Kenneth Grant

7. Matthew Golden

8. Shermar Stewart

 

Barron and Nolen are sufficiently separated from the pack as true 1sts by my grades that if either is there I'd just take them (not sure the Bills will, especially Nolen) after that, genuinely the other 6 are sufficiently clustered that I consider them in the same tier of prospect and it becomes a bit you pays your money you takes your choice. I'd probably lean away from Harmon and Grant if it was me because DTackle is the position that I am most confident of getting a good player at the end of the 2nd. So would come down to a pass rusher or Golden. 

 

EDIT: should add if the rumours @gonzo1105 shared about Pearce sliding to the bottom of, and maybe out of, round one due to character concerns are true then unless those character concerns are of the very most serious in nature the Bills should be confident in their culture to keep him in check and sprint to the podium. 

 

I'll start the draft rumors thread in April like I usually do. Here's what Charlie Campbell has to say about Nolen and Pearce:

 

Quote

The 2025 NFL Draft is loaded with good prospects on the defensive line and one of the most intriguing players in that group is Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen. Nolen was a star recruit out of high school who played at Texas A&M for two seasons before transferring to Ole Miss. In speaking with sources at five teams, the opinions were very split on Nolen. A couple felt that Nolen’s excellent physical talent and improved play at Ole Miss could lead to him being a first-round pick. Sources at three teams said character concerns and bad tape had them projecting Nolen to day two. One playoff team said they had Nolen as a mid-rounder. Hence, Nolen has emerged as a real love/hate prospect.

 

The 6-foot-3, 305-pound Nolen is fast, athletic, and has quality size for an interior disruptor. In 2024, he had 48 tackles with 6.5 sacks for the Rebels. The previous season he had 37 tackles and four sacks with Texas A&M. Even the scouts that like Nolen acknowledge that he had ugly moments on his tape with the Aggies, but they felt he showed significant improvement at Ole Miss.

 

“He got better at Ole Miss,” texted an NFC National Scout. “I think he could go in the first.”

 

“He got his ass destroyed some,” texted an AFC Director of Player Personnel. “With the character, we have him 2nd or 3rd.”

 

Thus, Nolen is a hard player to project in the 2025 NFL Draft. Sources believe that Nolen will work out well and impress in the pre-draft workouts. However, doing well in the interview room could be more important for Nolen than the field work. In my latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft, I have Nolen cracking the top 50, but his stock is very fluid entering the NFL Scouting Combine.

 

Quote

Throughout the NFL, many team sources feel the interviews and pre-draft visits with NFL teams are more important than the workouts at the NFL Scouting Combine or pro-day. While those workouts have some value, teams base their grades on players’ college game tape. The character evaluation is also critical, and character concerns get vetted during the interviews at the Combine and on pre-draft visits. One player who needs to ace these interviews is Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce Jr. While Pearce has multiple seasons of good tape hunting the quarterback, team sources say that Pearce has significant character concerns and he is in a precarious position on draft boards.

 

“He’s in danger of getting dropped off our board,” said the director of player personnel for an AFC playoff team. “Granted, we are a strict team in terms of character, but we have a lot of concerns, and I think he probably isn’t a fit for us.”

 

Pearce was a big-time presence for the Volunteers over the past two seasons, making a lot of splash plays and producing a lot of pressure on the quarterback. In 2023, he totaled 27 tackles with 9.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception. In 2024, Pearce recorded 38 tackles, 7.5 sacks, one forced fumble, and one pass batted. Multiple team sources have said that Pearce reminds them of Brian Burns coming out of Florida State. Burns was a mid first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, and in my latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft I have Pearce going in that range. However, he must do well in his interviews to keep teams from dropping him from their boards in the weeks to come. That could cause a huge slide for Pearce in the 2025 NFL Draft.

 

On Pearce - when Campbell's source is director of player personnel from an "AFC playoff team" that is a "strict team in terms of character" there is one team in particular that sticks out in my mind.

 

So my take based on those blurbs is that Nolen would be a legit option for us if he does well in interviews, but Pearce probably would not be.

[GunnerBill]

8 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

I'll start the draft rumors thread in April like I usually do. Here's what Charlie Campbell has to say about Nolen and Pearce:

 

 

 

On Pearce - when Campbell's source is director of player personnel from an "AFC playoff team" that is a "strict team in terms of character" there is one team in particular that sticks out in my mind.

 

 

It's us or Houston. They are the only two that fit that description. I confess I'd be pretty pissed if the Bills left Pearce on the board. He is a top 10 guy in this class for me. I don't think he dominates as a rookie (though he'd make some plays) but by year 2/3 I think that kid could be really, really good.

Edited Thursday at 10:49 PM by GunnerBill

[HappyDays]

3 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

It's us or Houston. They are the only two that fit that description. I confess I'd be pretty pissed if the Bills left Pearce on the board. He is a top 10 guy in this class for me. I don't think he dominates as a rookie (though he'd make some plays) but by year 2/3 I think that kid could be really, really good.

 

I've said I would like Beane to be willing to take more risks in the 1st round. Medical concerns, character concerns, anything that causes an elite talent to fall down the board unless it's completely beyond the pale. We need more elite talent and that probably means taking some risks on players that don't check every single box we look for.

[4merper4mer]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

I've said I would like Beane to be willing to take more risks in the 1st round. Medical concerns, character concerns, anything that causes an elite talent to fall down the board unless it's completely beyond the pale. We need more elite talent and that probably means taking some risks on players that don't check every single box we look for.

Are you still mad we missed on Ruggs?

[gonzo1105]

4 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

I'll start the draft rumors thread in April like I usually do. Here's what Charlie Campbell has to say about Nolen and Pearce:

 

 

 

On Pearce - when Campbell's source is director of player personnel from an "AFC playoff team" that is a "strict team in terms of character" there is one team in particular that sticks out in my mind.

 

So my take based on those blurbs is that Nolen would be a legit option for us if he does well in interviews, but Pearce probably would not be.

 

Nolan's tape at Texas A&M is not good all the time. That could be the concern as well that evaluators are seeing and he turned it on at Missisissippi but he still does have issues. I just think the upside is too much for him to fall to the 2nd round.

 

As for Pearce man I hope thats not us saying that but it sure does sound like us. The things that makes me hold out hope is that usually the Bills don't let things leak very often but it would kill me to see Pearce drop to us, exactly what we need on the defensive line for him to end up in KC or Philadelphia and kill it.

[cale]

Trade the pick to KC. Then watch them trade it to Cleveland for Garrett. 

[Jay_Fixit]

BPA