Revisiting 2024 draft

[JerseyBills]

,.Hopefully Keon , Bishop , Carter take a leap in year 2. Keon and to a lesser extent Carter showed flashes before injuries,  Bishop didn't play much but should move to starter so it's possible 

[Thurman#1]

Much too early.

[Jrb1979]

2 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

Much too early.

Not really. These guys will most likely be good players for the Bills. Already you can say they won't be elite playmakers that this team desperately needs. 

[Thurman#1]

6 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

Not really. These guys will most likely be good players for the Bills. Already you can say they won't be elite playmakers that this team desperately needs. 

 

 

Really.  

 

Nobody knows yet. There's a possibility they all go right along the trajectory already established. Probably several will. Anyone who thinks that we already know what will happen to all of them is absolutely kidding himself. Some might make huge steps up. No way to know for sure. 

 

Much too early.

 

Look at Benford or Taron Johnson or Milano out of hundreds of similar examples. Hell, look at Josh. None looked like an impact playmaker after their first year. Some elite playmakers are already recognizable after their first year. Plenty more are not yet. 

 

Kid yourself if it makes you feel better. We just don't know. That's an irritating feeling, which reflect reality.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Thurman#1

[GASabresIUFan]

We should re-title this thread, I hate Beane thread no. 147.

 

None of the early picks were reaches. None.  For example Kiper had Coleman at 33 (He was pick 33). Kiper had Bishop 61 (He was drafted 60th).  Kiper had Carter at 93. (He was drafted 95th).  Davis wasn’t a reach either and SVPG was a bargain pick.  
 

With the exception of Bishop and Coleman, none of these guys were expected to start.  They were nearly all drafted to be developmental depth, but nearly all played.  Grable and SVPG were effective OLine depth.  Solomon shows spurts on good play as did Carter until he got hurt.  Coleman, despite everything had decent rookie stats but the concerns on draft day about separation came true and we’ll see if he progresses in year 2.   Bishop was fine.  I’m not sure what people expected?  He was in a competition for the starting job with Edwards and Hamlin.  Bishop and Edwards got hurt and Hamlin won the job, but by season’s end he has pushing to be the starter.  We’ll see what happens in year 2. 
 

I honestly find in hilarious that this board is trying to evaluate last year’s draft class after one season.  It often takes 3 years before guys become starters or significant contributors.  We also didn’t have starting slots available  to be won by rookies outside of WR and S.  Even there Beane brought in vets to have adequate depth in case the rookie wasn’t ready such as keeping Hamlin, and signing Edwards at S, and signing Hollins, Samuel, and all the other WR spaghetti he threw at the wall.  

@Pete Did you really expect rookie OL to supplant any starter on the OL?  Did they expect a 5th rd draftee  to supplant Milano, Bernard or Williams at LB, or Davis to supplant Cook at RB after Cook had a 1500 yard season?  Was Carter expected to push Groot, Oliver, Jones or AJE out of the lineup?  I don’t think so.   
 

I think we all hoped that Bishop and Coleman would have done better as rookies, but it’s hardly surprising they struggled.   Remember Shakir and Cook had about 150 yards each as rookies.   

[Jrb1979]

8 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Really.  

 

Nobody knows yet. There's a possibility they all go right along the trajectory already established. Probably several will. Anyone who thinks that we already know what will happen to all of them is absolutely kidding himself. Some might make huge steps up. No way to know for sure. 

 

Much too early.

 

Look at Benford or Taron Johnson or Milano out of hundreds of similar examples. Hell, look at Josh. None looked like an impact playmaker after their first year. Some elite playmakers are already recognizable after their first year. Plenty more are not yet. 

 

Kid yourself if it makes you feel better. We just don't know. That's an irritating feeling, which reflect reality.

 

 

I'm not saying they are going to be bad players. I said they will most likely be very good players. McDermott is a very good coach for developing players.  What I am saying is while they may end up really good like Milano and company, I don't see them getting to the level of an AL Brown, Myles Garrett of the world. 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Beane’s biggest error in building this roster in terms of drafting in the early rounds, is that he allows positional need to steer him too often toward less talented players, rather than taking the most elite player regardless of position. 
 

It’s what lead to the trade up for Elam after losing out of McDuffie, the trade up for Kincaid after watching 4 WRs fly off the board immediately before, and the settling for Coleman (WR8) after having all day to mull it over. 
 

In each of these circumstances, positional need lead to selecting players that aren’t the most talented player.

 

Drafting blue chip players at 25-30th overall is challenging. This is revisionists history. It is easy to sit here and say “should have taken DeJean at 33.” Beane doesn’t have the luxury. Fans do. I like a lot about what Beane has done, although my concerns about this team since 2020 has been the same: 

 

Is our top end talent elite enough to get it done when it matters? The answer has been no, at many positions for many years…which is why I am hoping they go get Garrett and leave no doubt. 

[Kirby Jackson]

1 year in, it looks like a bad draft class. Rookies are contributing all over the league these days. The Super Bowl Champs are a great example. 
 

I wasn’t a fan of the Coleman pick (at all). The Bills were in desperate need of a WR at the top of the depth chart. They draft a project that can’t get open. Through one season, he looked like a project, and never got open. He flashed an ability to get down the field, solid run blocking, run after the catch and good ball skills. Coleman was better than I expected but he’s a role player IMO. There were better WRs available. It was such a huge need last year and they didn’t do well with the pick. It’s not time to close the book on him and he did flash. With that being said, he’s behind where they need him to be and behind the some of the other options available at that pick (Worthy & McConkey for sure).

 

Bishop looked lost. I’ve been told by some on here that he improved quite a bit later in the year. I guess that I didn’t notice but I hope that’s right. He has the athletic ability to play there. It’s such an important position in the McDermott defense. He needs to get up to speed quickly. He’s behind where his peers are (Dejean and Bullock come to mind) but that is hopefully a function of learning a complicated role. I hope that he turns into a quality starter.

 

Carter was my favorite pick at the time. He looked so good at the Senior Bowl. I thought that he would be a 12 year, rotational DT, on Day 1. He was okay before the injury but not as ready as I had hoped. He needs to improve and be a part of the rotation this year.

 

Davis looks like a fine rotational RB. That’s what you hope for in the middle of the draft. He can do a little of everything and does it pretty well. He has a lot of mileage for a rookie (only 70 less scrimmage touches than Cook through college & pros) but looks like has had the body to hold up. He’s a guy that should give you a few, solid, dependable years. 
 

Of the rest of the guys, I was excited about SVPG & Solomon. Solomon has a knack for getting to the QB. He’s going to be a solid rotational player. That was a strong pick. Grable looks like a player as well.
 

The Bills did a nice job from round 4 on. That’s been a consistent theme. It’s a big reason that their roster has had such great depth. The struggles early in the draft are the reason that they don’t have enough top end talent. That’s why they shouldn’t hesitate if Garrett, Crosby, etc.. are viable. The roster lacks top end talent. That’s a function of Elam, Kincaid, Coleman, Epenesa, Boogie Basham, etc going early. 
 

This draft is only a year old. It’s not time to panic. They aren’t where they need them either. Both of those are true. The Bills have developed some guys in this regime. They need these guys to contribute. I suspect Coleman will still be a role player (albeit an improved one), Bishop an everyday starter along Rapp & Carter needs to be in the rotation. If that happens, with the contributions from the rest of the class, it will work out okay.

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Kirby Jackson

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

1 year in, it looks like a bad draft class. Rookies are contributing all over the league these days. The Super Bowl Champs are a great example. 
 

I wasn’t a fan of the Coleman pick (at all). The Bills were in desperate need of a WR at the top of the depth chart. They draft a project that can’t get open. Through one season, he looked like a project, and never got open. He flashed an ability to get down the field, solid run blocking, run after the catch and good ball skills. Coleman was better than I expected but he’s a role player IMO. There were better WRs available. It was such a huge need last year and they didn’t do well with the pick. It’s not time to close the book on him and he did flash. With that being said, he’s behind where they need him to be and behind the some of the other options available at that pick (Worthy & McConkey for sure).

 

Bishop looked lost. I’ve been told by some on here that he improved quite a bit later in the year. I guess that I didn’t notice but I hope that’s right. He has the athletic ability to play there. It’s such an important position in the McDermott defense. He needs to get up to speed quickly. He’s behind where his peers are (Dejean and Bullock come to mind) but that is hopefully a function of learning a complicated role. I hope that he turns into a quality starter.

 

Carter was my favorite pick at the time. He looked so good at the Senior Bowl. I thought that he would be a 12 year, rotational DT, on Day 1. He was okay before the injury but not as ready as. I had hoped. He needs to improve and be a part of the rotation this year.

 

Davis looks like a fine rotational RB. That’s what you hope for in the middle of the draft. He can do a little of everything and does it pretty well. He has a lot of mileage for a rookie (only 70 less scrimmage touches than Cook through college & pros) but looks like has had the body to hold up. He’s a guy that should give you a few, solid, dependable years. 
 

Of the rest of the guys, I was excited about SVPG & Solomon. Solomon has a knack for getting to the QB. He’s going to be a solid rotational player. That was a strong pick. Grable looks like a player as well.
 

The Bills did a nice job from round 4 on. That’s been a consistent theme. It’s a big reason that their roster has had such great depth. The struggles early in the draft are the reason that they don’t have enough top end talent. That’s why they shouldn’t hesitate if Garrett, Crosby, etc.. are viable. The roster lacks top end talent. That’s a function of Elam, Kincaid, Coleman, Epenesa, Boogie Basham, etc going early. 
 

This draft is only a year old. It’s not time to panic. They aren’t where they need them either. Both of those are true. The Bills have developed some guys in this regime. They need these guys to contribute. I suspect Coleman will still be a role player (albeit an improved one), Bishop an everyday starter along Rapp & Carter needs to be in the rotation. If that happens, with the contributions from the rest of the class, it will work out okay.

 

 

 

Agree with all this. My worry with both Coleman and Bishop is the things they have struggled with as rookies in the NFL are the things they struggled with in college. Coleman was a non-separator and Bishop was someone who had a tendency to get lost in coverage, especially in zone coverage. So while, of course, both can improve and get better (and they can help Bishop out a ton by playing him much more in the box) this is not a pace of the NFL thing. This isn't one year of issues that as the game slows down for them you expect them to turn around. This is who they were coming into the league. And don't take my word for it. Here is what NFL.com said about them:

 

Keon Coleman - first four bullets under weaknesses:

• Press coverage can blanket his release and catch a ride.
• Below-average acceleration getting out of breaks and cuts.
• Could struggle finding separation to avoid excessive contested catches.
• Needs to play through downfield corners to secure catch space.

Cole Bishop - first two bullets under weaknesses:

• Desire to make plays causes him to vacate coverage zones.
• Below-average eye balance between route and quarterback.

 

[Augie]

It’s too soon to tell, and it’s harder to make an instant impact on a good team. (Despite the sentiment here, we ARE a good team.) I think we should wait a year or two before judging. 

[Logic]

Rather than re-litigate the "Coleman over Worthy" thing, which has been discussed to death...

I will instead point out that for all of Beane's talk about drafting BPA and not being a prisoner to need, his track record shows that he ABSOLUTELY drafts for need in the first and second round most years, and 2024 was no exception. I think every draftnik and their brother had Cooper DeJean rated ahead of Keon Coleman, but WR was the bigger need, so Coleman was the pick. 

In retrospect, Cooper DeJean and Xavier Worthy likely would both have been superior picks. Each of them scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl for their team as rookies, while Keon Coleman (who, yes, may still wind up being a productive role player or even a WR2/3) was near the bottom of the league in separation created.

The book on this draft won't be written for a couple more years, but early returns are not promising.

Brandon Beane needs to put his money where his mouth is and stop drafting for need, because he has left some great talent on the table by not truly drafting BPA.

 

8 minutes ago, Augie said:

It’s too soon to tell, and it’s harder to make an instant impact on a good team. (Despite the sentiment here, we ARE a good team.) I think we should wait a year or two before judging. 

While I agree that it's too soon to tell, it's tough to hear and agree with "it's harder to make an instant impact on a good team" when Cooper DeJean and Xavier Worthy scored three touchdowns between them in the Super Bowl a couple Sundays ago.

Edited 6 hours ago by Logic

[SoMAn]

I can't really argue too much with any of your player assessments or the grade. My only hope is that the team is able to develop a few of the questionable rookies into dependable veterans.

But right now, I don't see anyone from the 2024 draft that has any more value than a journeyman 'prove-it-deal' one year signee.

 

[BarleyNY]

2 minutes ago, Logic said:

Rather than re-litigate the "Coleman over Worthy" thing, which has been discussed to death...

I will instead point out that for all of Beane's talk about drafting BPA and not being a prisoner to need, his track record shows that he ABSOLUTELY drafts for need in the first and second round most years, and 2024 was no exception. I think every draftnik and their brother had Cooper DeJean rated ahead of Keon Coleman, but WR was the bigger need, so Coleman was the pick. 

In retrospect, Cooper DeJean and Xavier Worthy likely would both have been superior picks. Each of them scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl for their team as rookies, while Keon Coleman (who, yes, may still wind up being a productive role player or even a WR2/3) was near the bottom of the league in separation created.

The book on this draft won't be written for a couple more years, but early returns are not promising.

Brandon Beane needs to put his money where his mouth is and stop drafting for need, because it has left some great talent on the table by failing to do so.

Beane’s chronic habit of leaving a hole at one position to be filled with their first round pick (or pick 33) in the draft has been very harmful to this roster. It’s allowed us to get jumped for players like KC did for McDuffie, required trade ups to get players at that position of need because every team knows what we’re drafting and resulted in better prospects being passed over because we had to fill that roster hole. I’ve given Beane a lot of credit in the past, but he’s made too many mistakes in strategy as well as execution of picks and trades for me to really believe in him these days. I hope he turns that around this offseason. 

[KOKBILLS]

2 hours ago, Pete said:

Round 2 • Pick 1 (33) • WR Keon Coleman

Round 2 • Pick 28 (60) • SAF Cole Bishop

Round 3 • Pick 32 (95) • DT DeWayne Carter

Round 4 • Pick 28 (128) • RB Ray Davis

Round 5 • Pick 6 (141) • C Sedrick Van Pran-Granger

Round 5 • Pick 25 (160) • LB Edefuan Ulofoshio

Round 5 • Pick 33 (168) • EDGE Javon Solomon

Round 6 • Pick 28 (204) • OT Tylan Grable

Round 6 • Pick 43 (219) • CB Daequan Hardy

Round 7 • Pick 1 (221) • OT Travis Clayton

how do you feel about this draft now?

 

2-Keon- I hated the pick at the time.  Keon played decent pre-Poyer hit.  But was almost useless after.  Keon was first player selected Day 2.  So Beane has all night to contemplate that pick and turn down draft picks.

 

2-Cole - an ok selection.  Hopefully he can make big progress this season.

 

3- DeWayne big fat F.  2% pass rush win rate is horrendous.  Horrible pick Beane.

 

4-Ray Davis- finally a solid draft selection.  Ray will be a productive Bill for years.

 

5- Ed- hardly saw the field- TBD

 

5–Solomon looks like a good situational pass rusher.  Beanes second decent pick.

 

6-Tylan - best pick of the draft.  Tylan sounds like a great find!

 

6-Hardy- undersized, good practice squad depth, return ability.

 

7- Clayton- potential.  
 

so one lukewarm hit in the first 3 rounds.

 

Keon was awful in playoffs, and Cole has potential.

 

Ray, Solomon, and Tylan look like Bills going forward.

 

All those draft picks, and your 6th round draft pick looks to be best pick.  Way too many whiffs, again.

 

I rate this draft a D-

 

 

 

I just want to point this Carter pick out because it's at the core of the frustration I have with BBB... And don't get me wrong... I do think he's a good GM... But it's picks like that Dwayne Carter one that drive me insane...

 

I was a little blindsided by the Coleman pick last year. I thought the Bills needed that down the field, over-the-top, split the zone kind of buster on the outside, and I did not see Coleman as that guy. But I did understand the need for some of Colemans skill set and my thought was, with all these picks we're going to double up on WR anyway...

 

Well... Imagine my surprise when we get to #95 overall and both Troy Franklin (4.41) and Dez Walker (4.36) are still available. Now before anyone jumps up and says they both did nothing as rookies understand, I'm looking for a 15-20% of the snaps on Offense field stretching WR... That is NOT too much to as for as a rookie. Not to mention they would now have a year in this Offense with Josh under their belt going into 2025, so maybe it's 25-30% of snaps this year. Both are very talented. They have nice upside and SPEED...

 

Instead we Draft the under-sided 3-tech because he's a team Captain and great in the community... OK... Mind you this off season has been wall to wall talk about upgrading our defensive line and you will not hear Carters name mentioned...Not once... In fact I was listening to a Mock Draft pod yesterday, and the guy running it is a Bills fan, and he says "The Bills only have one DT under contract after the 2025 season." I'm like... THAT is how impactful Dwayne Carter was as a rookie...lol

 

I should also mention the lack of that down the field threat led to the MVS signing which busted pretty quickly...

 

Maybe Carter comes out in 2025 and proves me wrong...sets the world on fire... We'll see... But that pick is driving me nuts... It has since last April... I really wanted us to double dip at WR there... Anyway... 

Edited 6 hours ago by KOKBILLS

[chongli]

3 hours ago, Pete said:

Round 2 • Pick 1 (33) • WR Keon Coleman

Round 2 • Pick 28 (60) • SAF Cole Bishop

Round 3 • Pick 32 (95) • DT DeWayne Carter

Round 4 • Pick 28 (128) • RB Ray Davis

Round 5 • Pick 6 (141) • C Sedrick Van Pran-Granger

Round 5 • Pick 25 (160) • LB Edefuan Ulofoshio

Round 5 • Pick 33 (168) • EDGE Javon Solomon

Round 6 • Pick 28 (204) • OT Tylan Grable

Round 6 • Pick 43 (219) • CB Daequan Hardy

Round 7 • Pick 1 (221) • OT Travis Clayton

how do you feel about this draft now?

 

2-Keon- I hated the pick at the time.  Keon played decent pre-Poyer hit.  But was almost useless after.  Keon was first player selected Day 2.  So Beane has all night to contemplate that pick and turn down draft picks.

 

2-Cole - an ok selection.  Hopefully he can make big progress this season.

 

3- DeWayne big fat F.  2% pass rush win rate is horrendous.  Horrible pick Beane.

 

4-Ray Davis- finally a solid draft selection.  Ray will be a productive Bill for years.

 

5- Ed- hardly saw the field- TBD

 

5–Solomon looks like a good situational pass rusher.  Beanes second decent pick.

 

6-Tylan - best pick of the draft.  Tylan sounds like a great find!

 

6-Hardy- undersized, good practice squad depth, return ability.

 

7- Clayton- potential.  
 

so one lukewarm hit in the first 3 rounds.

 

Keon was awful in playoffs, and Cole has potential.

 

Ray, Solomon, and Tylan look like Bills going forward.

 

All those draft picks, and your 6th round draft pick looks to be best pick.  Way too many whiffs, again.

 

I rate this draft a D-

 

 

 

What about Sedrick Van Pran-Granger?

[BillsVet]

This is the first draft review thread I've seen in a long time that emphasizes it takes 3 years to judge a draft class.  As true as that is, this sentiment only gets mentioned if the class wasn't all that impressive.  Then again, we're in year 2 of the 2023 draft and that one doesn't really appear much better.  

 

Their last few drafts are really similar in they've been about building depth/rounding out the roster with low positional value selections.  The last time they drafted dominant physical players was 2021 when they took Rousseau and then Brown.  And even then, they were drafting at the bottom of the round, so it shouldn't be viewed as unlikely to find players.   

[Kirby Jackson]

12 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

This is the first draft review thread I've seen in a long time that emphasizes it takes 3 years to judge a draft class.  As true as that is, this sentiment only gets mentioned if the class wasn't all that impressive.  Then again, we're in year 2 of the 2023 draft and that one doesn't really appear much better.  

 

Their last few drafts are really similar in they've been about building depth/rounding out the roster with low positional value selections.  The last time they drafted dominant physical players was 2021 when they took Rousseau and then Brown.  And even then, they were drafting at the bottom of the round, so it shouldn't be viewed as unlikely to find players.   

Do you think that the Eagles are saying, “don’t judge our 2024 class for 3 years?” What about the Commanders?

Edited 5 hours ago by Kirby Jackson

[KentuckyBillsFan]

I thought this was a mediocre class when it was drafted and nothing has really made me believe differently to this point.

[Malazan]

Remember when James Cook was a waste of a draft pick?

[SCBills]

Too early to tell, but what we do know is that we need more production out of rookies.

 

It shouldn't take 2-3 years before rookie contract guys start making contributions.

 

Sure, some will take time.. but too often, under Beane's FO, this is the expectation and we can't keep getting next to nothing in years 1-2 from rounds 1-3 picks.

 

Cole Bishop dealt with injuries, but he was always the high upside player, but we won't know until next year because this staff will almost always play a limited guy like Damar Hamlin over the low floor/high ceiling young guy.

 

Keon and Carter... can't have this.  Two completely useless players after both showing some promise before getting injured.