Final mock draft/prediction time.

[Brandon]

For the last week, its seemed pretty clear that the Bills want to trade out of this pick and I have them trading twice. Additionally, I also think there is a very good chance that they are targeting a player that we are overlooking and I am projecting one such possibility as our 1st round pick. As such, I'm going out on a bit of a limb with this one, but with all of the predictions of Ngata, Bunkley, Huff and Justice we've seen, I thought it would be interesting to see what could happen if they went another direction.

 

Trades

1) Bills trade 8th overall pick to Cleveland for pick 12 and 43 overall. Cleveland selects DT Haloti Ngata.

2) Bills trade 12th and 105th overall picks to Dallas for the 18th and 49th overall picks. Dallas selects LB Manny Lawson.

 

 

18) DE Mathias Kiwanuka, Boston College

As far as I'm concerned, the Bills need for a pass rushing DE from this draft is being vastly underestimated. There will be little to no blitzing out of a cover 2 defense and the Bills front four of recent years has generated very little pass pressure on their own. Kiwanuka seems to have fallen out of the top 15 picks, but I'm not buying the rumor that he's no longer a 1st round pick unless he has an injury issue (he was slowed by a knee sprain this past season) . I think he could beat out Kelsay and Denney for the LDE spot immediately, but even if it takes him a year or two, I think he could make a major impact as a pass rushing specialist in the meantime. Additionally, he is working on his graduate degree and is known as a high character-type person off the field, making him a perfect fit as a Marv Levy draft pick. 37 career sacks and 65 tackles for loss don't hurt, either.

 

42) S Daniel Bullocks, Nebraska

43) OG Max Jean-Gilles, Georgia

49) LB Thomas Howard, UTEP

70) DT Jonathan Lewis, Virginia Tech

73) DT Babatunde Oshinowo, Stanford

134) OT Rashad Butler, Miami

143) CB Charles Gordon, Kansas

178) TE TJ Williams, NC State

216) OT Jabari Levey, South Carolina

248) OC Marvin Phillip, California

 

The rest of the picks fill significant needs. OT is a higher need than what it seems based on this draft, but I am not a fan of the 2nd tier OTs this year at all. The need for an OG is a little less with Reyes signed, but I'd still like to get a very good one out of this draft. Davin Joseph is my #1 OG this year, but I think he'll go late in the first or possibly very early in R2. Max Jean-Gilles is my 2nd choice.