The Athletic ranks each teams quality of drafting

[Einstein]

Bills came in at #8 over the past half decade. Lions were #1 and Chiefs were #2.
 

8. Buffalo Bills (8.46)

Top 50 picks: 4
Pro Bowls: 1
Starting seasons: 33
Best pick: edge Gregory Rousseau (No. 30, 2021); Worst pick: CB Kaiir Elam (No. 23, 2022); Best value: WR Khalil Shakir (No. 148, 2022)

Like the Chiefs, the Bills have done a terrific job maxing out the draft, despite spending most of the last five years near the bottom of the first round. The Elam miss hurts, but picks such as Shakir, James Cook, O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown have been huge — and a testament to Buffalo’s scouting department.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6284249/2025/04/20/nfl-draft-power-rankings-lions-chiefs-ravens/

[The BLUES Brothers]

Keep it up and then some - They need to nail this one!

[SoonerBillsFan]

7 minutes ago, The BLUES Brothers said:

Keep it up and then some - They need to nail this one!

This is one where we need 4 rookies to really make an impact 

[Big Blitz]

18 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

This is one where we need 4 rookies to really make an impact 

 

Last years class and this years will take us to Josh’s age 32-33 season.  
 

Everything should be done with extreme urgency.  

[YattaOkasan]

Weird they only went back half a decade cause most draft classes take three years to be evaluated. 
 

also no mention of Christina benford lol. Easily the best value. 

Edited yesterday at 12:29 AM by YattaOkasan

[Doc Brown]

A very good but not elite grade.  Shocking.  Benford was a better value than Shakir.

21 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

 

Last years class and this years will take us to Josh’s age 32-33 season.  
 

Everything should be done with extreme urgency.  

Chic-fil-A diet > TB12 diet

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

What was hard to figure out how they came up with the rankings as overall NE was ranked #30 with an overall score of 5.58, 9 top 50 picks, 2 pro bowls, and 29 starting seasons.  Basically better stats, but yet overall rank was so much lower.  

 

Having said that, I'll be the first to admit NE's draft record the past ten year years or so has been terrible, but hard to see why NE is so much lower when you just look at that numbers the article lists.  There were a couple other teams where I also saw similar numbers, Vikes Jaquars, even the Giants

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I have hard time with the Elam pick’s impact because of Benford. Benford started against the Rams in the opener that season. He is all-pro caliber. So did Beane miss on Elam, yeah. He still got a stud corner from that draft. I don’t know. I don’t get caught up in the miss because of the home run later in the draft.

[Cray51]

Roughly where I would have them.

 

if they added 2017-2019 they would be higher, but agreed I’d have them around 7th given their draft position and output

[FLFan]

27 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

What was hard to figure out how they came up with the rankings as overall NE was ranked #30 with an overall score of 5.58, 9 top 50 picks, 2 pro bowls, and 29 starting seasons.  Basically better stats, but yet overall rank was so much lower.  

 

Having said that, I'll be the first to admit NE's draft record the past ten year years or so has been terrible, but hard to see why NE is so much lower when you just look at that numbers the article lists.  There were a couple other teams where I also saw similar numbers, Vikes Jaquars, even the Giants

There is a pretty easy metric of draft effectiveness in my opinion.  Did you win?

[transient]

47 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

What was hard to figure out how they came up with the rankings as overall NE was ranked #30 with an overall score of 5.58, 9 top 50 picks, 2 pro bowls, and 29 starting seasons.  Basically better stats, but yet overall rank was so much lower  

Without looking in too much depth, what these numbers say to me is that with more than twice as many top 50 picks (9 to the Bills 4, which is a marker of NE sucking and drafting in the top half of the league in all but 1 of the 5 drafts) they managed to get 1 more pro-bowl (a truly pointless award nowadays) but fewer starting seasons (despite being a less talented roster over that timeframe). Seems like worse stats to me.

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, The Cincinnati Kid said:

I have hard time with the Elam pick’s impact because of Benford. Benford started against the Rams in the opener that season. He is all-pro caliber. So did Beane miss on Elam, yeah. He still got a stud corner from that draft. I don’t know. I don’t get caught up in the miss because of the home run later in the draft.

 

Benford is awesome. But he doesn’t excuse missing so badly on a 1st rounder.

[Doc Brown]

2 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

Benford is awesome. But he doesn’t excuse missing so badly on a 1st rounder.

Agreed.  Just happened to be the same draft class at the same position.  You don't cancel out the Cody Ford bust because we drafted Spencer Brown.  Zach Moss with James Cook.  Boogie Basham with Groot.  Jack Fromm with Josh Allen (I kid).  This article really just confirms in the last five years that Beane and company overall has been good but not great in the draft.  A lot of singles and doubles.  Few strikeouts or home runs.

[CSBill]

8 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

Benford is awesome. But he doesn’t excuse missing so badly on a 1st rounder.

 

Yeah, he has been the one truly awful miss in the Beane era. But it is not an exact science, so overall the grade seems fair.

[HOUSE]

Brandon Beane payed big bucks for the ranking

[SoonerBillsFan]

10 hours ago, The Cincinnati Kid said:

I have hard time with the Elam pick’s impact because of Benford. Benford started against the Rams in the opener that season. He is all-pro caliber. So did Beane miss on Elam, yeah. He still got a stud corner from that draft. I don’t know. I don’t get caught up in the miss because of the home run later in the draft.

Because missing that big on a 1st Rounder is huge.  

8 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Brandon Beane payed big bucks for the ranking

And here was me thinking maybe your wallet helped pad the ranking.

[Mr. WEO]

Rousseau their best pick in 5 years...

[bills6969]

How is Groot our best pick over guys like Benford, Shakir, Brown?

[The Cincinnati Kid]

2 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Because missing that big on a 1st Rounder is huge.  

Well, maybe. I think it depends on the goals of the draft. I think the goal, based on the Elam pick, was to get a stud corner for years to come. And we did in Benford. So if Benford was the pick in Round 1 and Elam was the 6th who flamed out, do we care? Of course not. The goal was the get a stud corner and they did. I get missing isn’t great. But reality is that many more draft picks fail than succeed, especially to the level that Benford has, regardless of draft position. We have seen Number 1 Overall picks be absolutely terrible and Mr. irrelevant and UDFAs get paid and/or go to the HOF. 
 

To each their own, but for me, I don’t really worry about the Elam pick or Beane and company’s ability to evaluate and draft players. 

[Logic]

I think Sal C said it well:

The FLOOR of Beane's drafts has generally been pretty high, but the CEILING has not been as high.

That's why teams like the Chiefs are ranked higher than us. They've had as many misses as we have -- maybe more in some cases. But they've also had more big time hits.

As many of us have said over and over again, he needs to find a way to raise the ceilings on his draft classes a bit, even if it makes the floor less stable.