Bills 4th Round Pick : Deone Walker - DT - Kentucky

[BigAl2526]

He's got the size and the physical ability.  He needs a ton of work on technique.  I don't think they will get much production out of him this season.   The future depends on how coachable he is. 

[Success]

1 minute ago, CEN-CAL17 said:

To who????

 

Forrest & ideally, Bishop.

 

[Bill from NYC]

At least we are not neglecting offensive weapons. Who needs them?

[BullBuchanan]

1 minute ago, T.E. said:

I was referring to how we spent a decade trying to build up the defense to stop Brady and never did. We also had no chance of beating him because we didn't have enough resources for pffense. Then the Eagles played him in the Super Bowl, and won because they could score lots of points. 

 

We are making the same mistake with Mahomes. A McDermott defense is not going to shut him down in January. It never has. He is not going to suddenly get good at generating a pass rush.

We've tried outscoring them for 5 years and we've failed at every time. It's not an either/or decision when it comes to offense and defense. You need both.

What the eagles proved is that, with an elite defense you can take Patrick Mahomes from the best football player on the planet to merely very good. You can beat very good, if you're elite. The Eagles offense on paper is digusting, but what won them the game was their defensive line. It's also what allowed the Giants to beat the Pats twice.

We already have an elite offense. We're lacking a WR #1, but we weren't getting that in this draft without trading up to the top 10. Now we need an elite defense, or we'll keep losing to teams that have both.

[Magox]

 

If someone would have told me that the composition of this draft was going to be CB, DT, DE and DT with the first four picks I don’t think I would have been happier.   Just hope they turn out to be good players.

Edited 15 hours ago by Magox

[BullBuchanan]

32 minutes ago, Steptide said:

Are the bills seriously comfortable at wr? I feel like they're taking a big risk trusting the guys they have 

For this year, they're gonna have to be. Who else were they going to get?

The miss was not getting Metcalf. I also liked Palmer as a 3rd guy on the outside as $4m a year or so, but what do I know?

WR should be a priority next year.

[Sierra Foothills]

1 hour ago, Chandler#81 said:

 

 

Nice highlights here and there. There are condensed games on Youtube of him playing against Georgia and Ole Miss from 2024. You can clearly see what he needs work on but also, how he possesses abilities that are simply not coachable. Walker's upside is very high. One trait which jumps off the screen is his backfield vision. He always seems to know where the play is... good instincts and vision.

 

1 hour ago, GolfandBills said:

2023 he was really good.  Played through injuries this year so looks like a bit of a gamble here that could pay off in round 4. 

 

Yes, after 2023 the belief was that he was a 1st or 2nd rounder.

 

The back injury he played through this year limited his effectiveness but it's a non-concern for me. I don't remember McBeane being bitten by a pre-existing medical condition. Have they ever drafted a medical risk? Anyone?

 

Separately, one thing not being mentioned is that Walker excelled during Senior Bowl week.

 

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

My concern is that,  at his height,  he may have trouble with playing too high and losing the leverage battle in the run game. 

 

But, he does have potential,  especially with a year or two of coaching and time in the strength and conditioning program.  

 

To your legitimate first point, I can't remember ANY DL or OL prospects coming in at 6'7" where there WEREN'T concerns about knee bend/pad level/playing too high, etc. NFL football is the next level up (or in this case, down) and it's a natural progression for draftees to improve their techniques. This is a 21 year old kid who was in love with the idea of playing basketball. He is a diamond-in-the-rough with god-given abilities that cannot be coached.

 

1 hour ago, starrymessenger said:

If he ever gets in shape, is coachable and learns to lower his pad level he could be pretty good. There’s stuff there to work with.

 

Absolutely. NFL strength and conditioning... NFL coaching... NFL dietary plan... I'm expecting Walker to improve significantly.

 

54 minutes ago, KOKBILLS said:

Joe is the guy I listen to more than anyone. There is no one I respect more than Joe Marino. And I think some of his takes on Walker are 100% valid. 

 

But you can also make a few full shows on all the misses Joe has had... When you have to have as many opinions as he has to have, you end up being wrong a lot too... He was convinced Miami had one of the top 5 Rosters in the NFL before the 2024 season... So... 

 

Agreed.

 

It's interesting how confirmation bias works... going all-in on one person's opinion... and/or choosing one player ranking over another...

 

People should either withhold judgement and admit they have no idea, or base their judgement on having done due diligence.

 

The posting of uninformed opinions doesn't benefit anyone... it's like pollution on a message board.

 

[buffaloboyinATL]

1 hour ago, mannc said:

Nothing wrong with taking a low floor, high ceiling prospect on day three…that being said, there were a lot of guys on the board I would have preferred.

Hopefully a high floor, high ceiling guy…

[Sierra Foothills]

 

[BullBuchanan]

8 minutes ago, T.E. said:

What's ironic about it, exactly? Who do you think will have a bigger impact for his respective team?

What's ironic is that you think a player is bad because he's 9th, while the guy you wanted was 17th.

We're not some aspirational wild card team. Neither one is/was going to be in a position to have a material impact this season. A WR drafted in the 4th would have been fighting for the 7th or even 8th most targets on the team behind Palmer, Shakir, Coleman, Samuel, Kincaid, Cook.

I'd much rather get d line talent that will be getting significant rotational reps day 1. Both the DT and the DE should get 30-40% minimum, and our CB will hopefully be a day 1 starter. Getting 3 starting caliber players out of a draft is a reasonably best-case scenario.

furthermore, we have multiple WRs locked up on relatively inexpensive long term deals. Replacing Shakir, Palmer and Coleman are not financial priorities. Jones is in the last year of his deal and Oliver is entering year 3 of 4. Replacing both of them with cheap talent on rookie deals going into next season allows us to spend money elsewhere, like buying a weapon on offense.

[T.E.]

1 minute ago, BullBuchanan said:

What's ironic is that you think a player is bad because he's 9th, while the guy you wanted was 17th.

I said the 9th guy in our rotation, not the 9th DT picked in the draft.

[BullBuchanan]

1 minute ago, T.E. said:

I said the 9th guy in our rotation, not the 9th DT picked in the draft.

My bad. Doesn't really change anything. Both would likely be inactive on gameday barring injury unless the WR could play special teams. Our top 4 WRs are locked in for now. Maybe we do another trade at the deadline to augment the top 3 if Coleman continues to struggle, but there's no reason to do that now. We have a luxury that we should be able to coast with an imperfect WR group during the regular season letting young guys get reps, and if an elite player comes available later you can go get him.

[bills_fan]

2 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

Is this one fat enough for all of you or do we need to go 4bills with the next one?

No. I want that 450lb kid from Florida in the 7th. Seriously. 

[Another Fan]

I wonder if Stevie Johnson’s overall success with the Bills has anything to do with choosing Kentucky players 

[JerseyBills]

20 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

That's great tape, finally we have a big man other than Jordan Phillips

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Why do the Bills hate me ???

 

Joe Marino said this wss his number one player he didn't want. Very weak lower body and tall in the middle is always pushed around and on the ground and we pass pass over Ty Robinson !?!?!? Ridiculous 😵😵

 

 

[Big Blitz]

 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Whoever scouts DT for the Bills needs to be fired immediately.

 

 

[BillytheKid]

1 hour ago, glazeduck said:

I acknowledged that defense is the problem. Our offense is currently made up entirely of short and intermediate route runners. To pretend that a guy to stretch the field vertically wouldn’t help with that shirt area traffic is either naive or uninformed. We spent most of our resources in FA on defense and now 6 draft picks of draft capital on defense, yet refuse to give THE MVP OF THE LEAGUE more help. I stand by my point, there are opportunities on both sides of the ball but apparently only interest in fixing one of them (and I’m lukewarm at best on the attempt there…)

I’m not against another guy to stretch the field by any means. It would definitely help in certain situations. 
 

Im just happy with what they are doing on the defensive side of the ball though. Or at least trying to do. We will see if they take a WR today at any point. If they feel anybody left has value. 
 

They can always get someone before camp doing different things. So all is not lost on getting another receiver yet. 

[Orlando Buffalo]

The Bills need to only pick high ceiling guys today, and I think he fufills that requirement. He likely is cut and then practice squad but in two years could be a monster