Buffalo Bred: Draft Preview

Alright, welcome back to the Buffalo Bread Podcast. This week, Dan and JJ will tackle the draft. This will be our Bill's preview of what we believe the team needs in the upcoming draft at the end of April. And also, why it might not be linebacker. So stay tuned as we dissect the next iteration of Brandon Bean throwing darts at the board in the attempt to build an all-pro roster. That's so unfair. Dan, how are you doing? That's so unfair. You remember five years ago where this team was at, right?

I think we need to pull it back just a little bit, right? The draft strategy has, by and large, worked out better than I would say in the past. Do you remember the pod we did? Maybe it was now like less than a year ago where you literally ran through every draft pick that Doug Whaley ever made. Oh yeah, yeah, I do remember that. But I also- Pretty sure we're in a better place.

Well, I think that's just the way that fandom works though, is you're never happy with anything unless your team is winning the Super Bowl every single year, right? Oh my God, we've turned into Patriots fans. We've never won one and we've turned into Patriots fans. We're spoiled brats now that the Bills have won the AFC East three years running and gone to the playoffs consistently.

In that word, I'm saying such things as, yeah, Brandon Bean has put together probably one of the top five or 10 best rosters in the league, but how many All-Pros has he drafted in the past two drafts really? Even though he's found above average starters in the fifth and sixth round multiple times. Right, this is correct. But here's where I think the overarching criticism is fair of the draft strategy employed by Brandon Bean.

And we're going to talk about some positions, positions of need in this draft that really are ones that potentially the Bills should have been looking at two, even three years ago. And this is what I think is fair to say of Brandon Bean. He doesn't draft for the need until it comes right up on him. We were talking back before last season, how they needed to draft DBs. They didn't have a lot of depth. The Poyer was on an expiring contract, you know, Hyde only had two years left.

Who was going to be the number two opposite Trey White? It couldn't be Dane Jackson forever. All that kind of stuff, right? And he went back to back edge, the boogie Bashamir. Finally when it was staring him in the face that he needed to draft a young DB to at least time when this DB he drafted would be coming off of his rookie contract with when Trey would be coming off his most recent extension, then he finally did it.

But the guy by all accounts he really wanted, Trent McDuffie, he got leaped frog by Kansas City who drafted him panicked and then moved up to pick Kyair Elam to make sure they at least got their number two guy off the board. Right. So I think it's fair to say that Bean with just certain positions, they feel overly confident with a lot of the talent that is in house.

Anyone could look at Levi Wallace a few years ago, Dane Jackson last year and tell you these are solid players that are not starting caliber. But the belief is so strong within that building in the talent they have on the roster that sometimes they let pressing needs sneak up on them. Right. They make a lot of what I would say are luxury picks a lot of times at certain positions.

Again, boogie Basham being one of them after you had Greg Russo in pocket, and they don't often addressed where they have needs coming up in the next two or three years. So I think that's fair, right? Because it always feels like being is playing a little bit of catch up in some of these higher profile positions.

That being and there's going to be a couple we're going to talk about, we're going to talk about defensive tackle, which they have no one signed to pass this season on defense for defensive tackle. And we're probably going to talk about linebacker, I'm going to guess because they just lost Tremaine Edmonds and free agency. And they drafted Terrell Bernard last year in the third round. And they really don't know what they have in that kid either.

So So yeah, all that being said, criticism is fair. We're being bitches to some extent, though, because the roster is still very good. But yeah, being does tend to let these things sneak up on them. And this is not a draft JJ that you want to get snuck up on. It's a weird draft.

There's like, I don't know that there is at any position, including quarterback generational talent outside of Bijon Robinson, which Bill's fans don't want to talk about running back in the first round, which I get I get. So So you like the best tackle in this draft from the Northwestern kids, Skranoski at Mel Kuyper actually has mocked him as a guard now because his arms are so short. So like, that's the kind of weird draft that we're in this year.

So this is not a draft that you necessarily want to walk into with a lot of needs sneaking up on you. But that's kind of where being is at. He's at a little bit of a deficit in this particular draft. Yeah, and I think I think you're right. Your point to the fact that they let needs sneak up on them. It does feel like sometimes specifically with the draft, it's like they they are playing 40 checkers or chess when they really should be playing checkers, right?

Like they're they're like, well, you know, maybe we'll pick this elusive upside guy from a mid major conference that nobody knows about. And sometimes it turns into Taron Johnson, and sometimes it it just flames out, you know, turns into Jaquan Johnson. Yes, exactly. Exactly. That's a great, you know, sometimes it's Taron Johnson, sometimes Jaquan Johnson. Let's be on the Taron side more than the Jaquan's, right? And so, you know, I think that that's the thing that is interesting.

And you're right about this draft class. When you look at it, it's really it's it's a schmozzle in the middle. And there's like 20 prospects on the top end who look like day one starters. And then it's like a bunch of guys that could either be Odell Beckham or they could be, you know, Austin Pearl. Like you know, and it's just like that.

That's the whole middle is just and that's talking from like the latter half around two or even, you know, the bottom, you know, around two all the way down to seven is people who could be contributing, starting NFL players because the data set isn't complete or because we haven't seen enough or the competition they played against wasn't, you know, supreme or their preparation or they switch, you know, they switch positions late.

Like there's so many of those stories in this draft that I think are fascinating, but it's also really scary, I'm sure, for a GM, because if you're in a, you know, program, if you're in a position in a front office where you do not have the safety and security of multiple years winning your division, yeah, it's probably pretty risky.

And that's, I think, why so many the rumblings around the league are that so many GMs are looking to move out of the top, you know, top two rounds and collect midday picks, because GMs know if we call if we grab a bunch of darts, we're going to do a much better job and probably have a little bit more job security. If we can say, Hey, look at this guy in the fourth round, it worked out. We have three fourth round picks, two number bus and one's an all star, right?

It's where the value is in a draft that is this weird, right? It's just a weird one.

I don't want to say it's bad, like, all of everyone in this draft is like an incredible athlete, we're going to talk about measurements and all this stuff, like, like we could hack it with these guys, we know we can't like so to the general public, these are amazing athletes, but relative to past draft years, like the bills only have six picks this year, I don't know that there are six guys in the draft that make in this draft that make the bills roster, you know what I mean?

So if you're a if you're a competing team, if you're like a Kansas City who's got 10 draft picks, or if you're a team without a lot of draft capital, but but have some pretty clear needs you need to fill, I can see one of two things happening.

I can see, and I'll clump the bills in this, I could see a Kansas City, a Miami or a Buffalo get really aggressive with limited draft capital to move up, because they would rather have one of these top 20 guys than they would like you said, so eloquently throw a bunch of darts in the third and fourth round and see what sticks.

Then you're going to have other teams and the bills could fall into this bucket too, that feel like they don't have a lot of holes and feel like the holes they do have cannot be addressed by the talent in this draft. So they will trade back and they will gain assets, and they will see if they can strengthen depth at other areas that are already strengths and look to the third tier for agent market to fill some of the needs they have.

So I could see a scenario where the bills if they just fall in love with a wide receiver or an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman, let's be real, particularly interior defensive tackle, I could see them trading up to secure one of the blue chippers on this draft and then call it good. Otherwise I can very well see them trading back in the first round or even trading back in the second round and just accumulating a bunch of picks, right?

And seeing again what sticks, but there are not six guys in this draft that can make this roster. So if you're a bills fan and you hear that Bean is trading up or you see in the draft that Bean trades up and he gives up draft capital this year, that's fine because there's not a lot of really good guys that the bills are going to be able to attain in this draft.

I would rather have four good solid picks and one stud that they draft up for, then I'd have like nine guys that six of which aren't going to make the team. Well, and I think that's interesting too, because that's going to be so much, if so much traffic in the draft is going down, then there has to be somebody going up, right? Exactly. Or if the projection is that there's going to be so much traffic going down.

And so you always have to have a trade partnering and could the bills be one of those teams if they're certain of a guy. And I think that that's the question that will be posed if Brandon Bean comes out of this draft with four picks and they've used two as trade chips, which is he is more aggressive than most gems in the league. When it comes to the draft, he tends to trade up way more than he does move in any direction.

And so the possibility or the possibility that he uses a piece of draft capital to trade for a player is also on the table. I think if he thinks that that player is going to be the complimentary piece to this offense or defense. And so, you know, I do wonder if the trade up and the aggressive nature of Brandon Bean comes into play. I'm with you. I don't think that we have room for six, six players on the 53, but I'd rather they do what they need to do to get three contributors. Mm hmm. Agree.

And if we miss on one, that's reasonable, it's an imperfect science. I think I remember seeing a statistic that, you know, GMs who hit on, who have three starting caliber players in a single draft class of seven picks, normal picks, that's that tends to be job security. If you can every year have three people contributing starters and not we're not talking all pros here. We're talking just meaningful snaps, contributing starters who are considered average at their position in the league.

That's good. That's a good batting average. Yep, totally agree. I totally agree. So I'm interested to see as we talk about Buffalo's overall draft strategy, what they do in round one, because that's that is in a normal circumstance that dictates what the rest of your board strategy is going to look like based on how the board is falling.

But I think this year in particular, if they trade up, that tells you they're not interested in a lot of guys in the latter rounds, and they really want to use their limited capital to get the guys that they want. And I think the Trent McDuffie situation last year has really solidified for being that if you see a guy that you want, draft draft positioning be damned, you're going to go up and you're going to get that guy.

So it's going to be so interesting to me, I could see teams like LA, the Rams who also don't have a first round pick, I could see them being a trade partner for the bills, if the bills want to trade down. I could also see a team that has multiple first round picks.

So we're talking about the Texans, I think the Lions and the Seahawks, right have multiple first round picks, I could see the bills trading up into the lower teens with one of those teams, if it means getting a Jackson Smith and Jigba or something like that, right. It's going to be interesting.

But what they do in round one, more than any other year is going to set the table, I think for what the rest of the draft for the Buffalo Bills looks like, because it's such a shallow tail and pool in this year's draft. I think that's the most diplomatic way to say it. Like the positions that are deepest this year are running back in tight end. And these are not positions the Bills are interested in filling right now. So yeah, super interested to see what the strategy is going to be.

I am actually on team trade up. I think as we were getting into the offseason, I was like accumulate draft capital, draft a bunch of guys add to your depth, all this kind of stuff. Based on how they've approached free agency, I will be thrilled if they walk away with another blue chip interior offensive lineman that's got center that's got center versatility. So you get your Mitch Morris replacement.

But you also have a guy that can push Ryan Bates a little bit on the left side of that line if need be, and it adds to your depth on the interior in a great way. I'll be happy if they get another wide receiver. Again, someone with inside outside versatility, someone who can replace Gabe Davis if ultimately we don't extend him at the end of the season, but someone who can open up the middle of the field again for this Buffalo Bills offense.

And I know Josh's UCL strain has something to do with his limited accuracy in the short area of the field after week nine, but they just they didn't have anybody that could eat the middle of the field for him. They were basically playing with only two thirds of the field available to them. We talked about that ad nauseam last year, we looked at the splits of where Josh's attempts were going, and they started getting more to the boundaries and deeper, right? Part of it was the injury.

But part of it too was he didn't have a reliable target over the middle of the field. So I'd love to see the Bills just get a really fast guy that can run some nice short routes and can secure the ball in this year's draft. I'll be happy if we just get those two things. And then honestly, I would love a defensive tackle just so we have somebody in the event that we don't sign at Oliver long term, because Dequan Jones is on the last year of his deal. He's in his upper 30s.

Jordan Phillips also into his early 30s. Add Oliver, what is an extension really worth for him at this point? And Tim Settle is at the end of his two year contract. And he was a nice rotational piece, but not a guy that you're going to build a line around. So I would like to see the Bills walk away with those three things here. Yeah. And I'm with you in terms of my ideal is certainly, I think blue chip wide receivers probably the top of my list because I agree.

Diggs is getting older there, Gabe Davis is off the books after this year, probably if he leaves, he might not have a market if he proves the inconsistency that he showed this past year and we'll see, but that's unlikely. We saw some mid tier and second tier wide receivers get starter money every off season for the past three years because every team is looking for their stuff on Diggs and think they can uncover that uncut gem on somebody else's roster.

And so if Diggs leaves, I think that there's a void there and the Bills have made some great signings and free agency of some young talented wide receivers, but we can't count on that. And that's not going to be a cheap contract if they hit because they're one year or two year deals. And so longer term continuity there. So wide receiver, I agree with you on, I agree with you on defensive interior. I'm going to depart on... Oh, I missed that term.

I know, I'm going to depart from your course of thinking on the offensive line because I know that you had, you know, you've been talking about having the heir apparent to the pivot for Mitch Morse for a little while and I think it's certainly a need. I would agree it's a need. I just don't know that this is a great draft for it and I don't know that they're going to get the value of that position unless it's a mid or, you know, their fourth or fifth pick or something like that.

And that's possible. They could find that person that late in the draft. They could. They could trade down situation like that. And we'll talk about that. There's a couple of guys in the draft that I think they could nap. But that's that's not what I want to use a top three round pick on. I think and I think that that my thinking has changed. We talked at the end of the season. I was like draft a guard that can play center. I'm a little stunned by this actually.

I'm advocating for the line over you. I I'm not comfortable continuing this pod. Stay tuned my friend. We didn't do a full run through. I'm not advocating for the guard center in the top three rounds. I'm advocating for a tackle. Oh, someone specifically a right tackle to someone of course Spencer Brown. I listen I agree with you. I 100% agree with you. And I think that's a good segue to get into some of our stuff here.

But based on I mean, we talked about this last pod, how overly confident being in McDermott both sounded in Spencer Brown. Like I actually I worry that they I worry that it's become an emotional decision for them about Spencer Brown. Like I agree with you. I would love to get Matthew Bergeron. I would like to get love to get the kid out of Tennessee. Paris Johnson out of Ohio love to get one of these guys and one of these guys might be attainable for a modest trade up Bergeron.

Well, we could get Bergeron to pick 27 I believe I would love to get one of these guys. But they're just so stubborn about Spencer Brown. I can't see them drafting the next kid up when they still feel like there's something in the tank for brown. Now that being said, you also got to think about Dan Dawkins on the other side of the line because he's got two years left on his contract did not have a great season last year. We wonder if maybe this is the start of a decline for him physically.

I I could be persuaded for offensive tackle to push Brown, but I don't think the bills would would do that, but I could also see them again, maybe not letting this need sneak up on them next year. Getting the D on Dawkins replacement of the future in this draft because there's some guys I agree that they could pick. So I don't I don't depart with you.

I just don't I just don't think that you know, you know what I think is going to happen there are going to draft a single offensive lineman in the first three rounds that because that's what they do. That's what it does. They're gonna be like we resigned Quinn question Barry we recent and we signed we're getting like butger back right. Our depth is fine. But you're back. We've got you know, Connor Mcnever and the guard not the center and we've got Tommy Doyle coming off injury. Right?

Yeah. So yeah, I'm with you. I want beef man. Look at how look at how Philly drafts. I want beef right. But I think we're both probably wrong because I'm going to talk about guards. You're going to talk about tackles. None of them get drafted in the first three rounds for the Bills. That's just not being Zemo. It's just we both and we both cry and Josh Allen injuries. Seriously. Well, I mean, but all right. And this will be my last bit about this draft strategy piece.

And then we'll actually get into like who we think the Bills should draft if we were running the team, which no one put us in charge of a team, please. But um, but Bean has begged Josh Allen to protect himself better this season. Run less slide all this stuff. And I think that's fine. Like even you and I wince a little bit when we see Josh dive head first at like the opposing teams 40 yard line to get an extra yard on like third and seven to make it third and two. Right?

Like like we we we feel that's overly risky too. But Brandon Bean also has the ability to protect Josh Allen with the guys that he signs and the guys that he drafts. The reality is over the last two seasons, the guys that he has signed and drafted have not done a good job protecting Josh, which is why he feels the need to run for his life on almost every down. If there were a year where I would love to see Brandon Bean alter his typical draft course, it would be this year.

A show of faith to Josh that we're going to use a premium pick on a protector for you in this year's draft. We're serious about you protecting yourself more. Here is our Auntie for how we're going to protect you better. Now meet us halfway and slide. Right? Yeah. Otherwise, I feel like beans got no credibility in this argument because Conor McGovern, nice pickup but really that's going to be your interior seal for Josh. Like I don't know.

I'm with you and I think we're both going to be disappointed. We'll see a round for offensive lineman drafted like we do every year. That's just what we're going to say. And then he'll he'll be stuck behind Spencer Brown and trade him away to the Browns where he becomes an all pro. Seriously, just if you trade Spencer Brown, don't don't trade him anywhere. That's got a living breathing line coach, please. Just don't. All right. Anyway. All right. You want to get into it? Yeah, absolutely.

All right. So let's say offensive line for last then. All right. We both agree that top end wide receiver is something that the bills need to address. So why don't we start with wide receivers? So the bills currently have the number 27 pick in the first round, which seems like a good place to leverage either waiting for your guy or potentially trading up into the first round to get the guy you absolutely want. So JJ, walk me through some of your options here at wide receiver.

Who is some who are a few guys that you're looking at that you think the bills should pick up? So you've already mentioned pretty much I think most of bills mafia is talking about Jackson Smith and Jigba. Jackson Smith and Jigba is basically, you know, JSN is like the draft crush of the bills mafia right now because he's potentially in striking distance, probably about the 18th through 20th highest ranked overall of all positions, position, you know, player in the draft.

Because they're not getting up for Quentin Johnson, the probably top wide receiver in the class. JSN is second in a lot of people's mocks. And so he's a target because six foot tall, about 200 pounds coming out of the draft as a junior was at Ohio State before I'm trying to think of the two Ohio State receivers that were taking on last year's draft. Garrett Wilson. Yeah, Garrett Wilson and there was another one. Who's the other guy? I can't remember. I'll look it up.

Cool. They're both first round draft picks. And when they were all playing together at Ohio State, they Chris Olaf. Okay, Chris, a lot of it. Yeah. So Chris, a lot of a and Garrett Wilson both had excellent rookie seasons. And there was sort of an agreement before JSN got hurt last year, he was going to have the biggest season of all three of them.

And he came back this year, you know, again, injury shortened and, you know, prove some things in a short sample size, but really could be that incredible technician at the position, amazing body control, amazing ability to stem his routes and shake defenders, create separation. I think that that's a super QB friendly receiver, I think is kind of the draft notion. So that's probably my number one wide receiver.

And then you get down into the more likely to be there if the bills do not move up the draft board. And that's kind of Jordan Addison started his career at Penn State, 511 173, Zay Flowers from Boston College slot receiver kind of only think Isaiah McKenzie, but faster and more dynamic and better hands and more of an ability to get distance down the field. That's Zay Flowers from BC. Surprisingly can do over the top deep routes even as a short receiver. So that's sort of where I am.

I've got some mid round guys, but why don't you go with your thoughts on kind of top of the draft guys? Yeah, top end guys, I agree with you, say for one, right. And I was so I agree with you on JSN. I think JSN despite the the lower body injuries, despite the questions about how fast can he run a straight line, which always feels like a stupid question, right? He's such a smooth route runner. He's a reliable catcher.

We just talked about the need to give Josh a target that's reliable in the middle of the field. I mean, this kid comes in day one and he owns the slot. Like he is our middle of the field target. You can you can then spell Gabe Davis with Khalil Shakir on the outside every now and then, which gives you a really fast outside duo and opens up the middle of the field for JSN to do his like magical route running.

Like when you talk about a complete route runner, this is as complete as a route running tree as you get out of a rookie QB. He would come in day one and make an immediate impact for this offense. This is a guy who I'd like to see them spend a first round pick on. He's not going to fall to 27. He's likely the first wide receiver off the board. So this is one of those trade up situations where if the bills are just locked in on getting their guy, this is the guy that you trade up for Bills Mafia.

I also like Jordan Edison too. Addison is a little bit smaller than JSN, but again, reliable route runner, really good, really good hands comes from a pro style offense at USC, which I think translates really well. But JJ, one of the things I said that I wanted earlier in the off season was just really fast guys that can catch the ball. And I think Jay, I think Zay Flowers is one of those guys, but I think there's some, I hear a lot of mock media guys saying he's got inside outside versatility.

I get that he played on the outside a lot at Boston college, but he's only five nine barely above 180. He really does feel like more of a slot type of gadget guy, I think. And in the right offense, I think he could do really good things. I just don't know that that's a dude that the bills need right now. I look at a guy like Jaylen Hyatt out of Tennessee.

He's big, just over six feet, a little bit on the lighter side pushing 175 180 for three speed has a pretty complete route tree and vice grips for hands. This is a dude who lit up an Alabama secondary this past season for over 235 yards and four touchdowns in a single game. And that's a pro style secondary that he's playing against. I think Jaylen Hyatt comes in immediately pushes Gabe Davis for that number two outside position.

And if you can somehow line up digs Davis Hyatt and Shakir in a four wide receiver set, good freaking luck keeping up with that group. So Hyatt is another guy who I really like and I like them because word is Kansas City is targeting them too. You don't want to give a guy that fast to Patrick Mahomes. So you add a weapon while taking a weapon away from your adversary.

But those are the three guys in the wide receiver class that I think I would bunch together as I would spend a first first round pick on and Jaylen Hyatt might you might be accused of reaching because he sort of considered top of round two middle around to type prospect. But that all depends on how the draft flows. I mean we talk about this all the time. The NFL draft is a dynamic process. If five quarterbacks go in the first five picks, the whole draft board below is pushed down.

There's a lot more talent in the 15 16 position in that first round than you'd ever expect because you know people get hungry and weird once quarterbacks are in the mix. For sure. Can I talk about my my third or fourth round draft crush at wide receiver? Yeah, go for it. And I don't know if I've talked about that. I may have may not have told you my draft crush. Do you remember who I said it was? You're breaking news right now. So I'm very excited.

Tell me what you know if you know anything about Puka Nakua. I know nothing about Puka Nakua. This is not someone who I have on my my amateur board. Tell me about Puka Nakua. So Puka Nakua is a six foot two 205 pound coming out of BYU as a junior. And he played for Washington for a couple of years before finishing his college career at BYU. And he appeared in 21 games. He had some injuries, but he led the team both seasons in receiving yards and 11 touchdown grabs.

He is I'm trying to think of an analog that you would you would recognize. How about this? He is a slightly taller Robert Woods. Oh, that's nice. He is a heavy, heavy team guy, super family oriented, will grab literally anything in his in his space because Robert Woods, when he was with the Bills, played with some pretty poor quarterbacks, but seemed to always come down with the ball, even if it was way out of his catch radius. He found a way that is Puka Nakua.

After watching just a few of his games, you know, not super in depth, but I watched a number of his games and not just highlights, but rather full games. He is a tenacious run blocker at a wide receiver position, same like Robert Woods. That's why he reminds me of him is like this. He's got that dog mentality, super competitive, probably going to be around in the fourth, you know, probably not inside the top 200 players.

But one of those players that might end up surprising people and showing up in the bottom of the second or the top of the third round. But yeah, six to 200 pounds, got a little bit of size and strength, catches almost everything thrown to him, has deceptive speed. I'd say he's probably more of a long strider like Gabe Davis, where he's not the quick choppy burner, but he will definitely get behind players if they're not careful. Nice. Very, very nice.

I've got a similar third or fourth round draft crush that I actually would be totally happy if the Bills walked away with him as a wide receiver option. And that's A.T. Perry out of Wake Forest. So he is 6'3 and a half on the heavier side. So he's one of the bigger wide receivers in this group. He's pushing 200 pounds. He's 198. According to the combine, he ran a 4'4 40, which is pretty decent speed for a guy his size that's that's faster than Gabe Davis ran.

He is a smooth route runner for a big guy, played his majority of his time on the outside at Wake Forest and again, can catch the ball. I'm looking for guys that are fast and don't drop the ball. I spent a lot of time between A.T. Perry and Trey Palmer is my like third fourth round draft crush. Trey Palmer out of Nebraska, 6'1 92 ran a 4'3 40. 18 drops this season immediately took him off the board because he's a body catcher. Right.

He waits for the ball to basically attack him before he decides to wrap it up. So that's what put Perry over for me. And I also think there's like every season there's going to be an opportunity for some undrafted guys to potentially make some hay. One of those guys that I've got targeted is Braden Johnson. So he's on the smaller side.

He's 5'11 ish 195 ran a 4'3 at Oklahoma State and had a pretty good catch success rate and surprisingly for someone his size, a contested catch rate as well, which is something that is shocking for a guy that fast that he's not getting that kind of separation or the separation you would expect. So his speed doesn't often translate into his routes, something to keep in mind. And that's why he might go and drafted. But yeah, no, I love it. I think there's some interesting options at wide receiver.

It's a it's a lot of guys that do the same thing. Like I've heard a lot of Bills fans talk about Tank Dell, Tank Dell out of Houston projected third maybe fourth round pick pretty fast for 440. But he's like 5'8 165. But there's a lot of those tiny itty bitty like slot guys, those gadgety guys in here. I would prefer the Bills go go for someone who is either an exceptional route runner or a pure burner with good hands.

And to me, that's someone like JSN like we talked about another guy to keep an eye on. He could find his way into the first round, though I'd be surprised. Tyler Scott out of Cincinnati. I so so I'm going to disclose I drafted this guy in Madden and I am absolutely owning owning my Madden franchise with this guy as my fourth wide receiver option. But in the real world, he's about 510 again on the lighter side 180.

But he ran us 434 at the combine super fast, really sure handed needs to develop his route tree a little bit. But again, if you're just talking about adding pure speed to the lineup, someone like Tyler Scott is going to be available in the second or third round for you as well. So I'd like to see a premium pick on JSN, Jalen Hyatt, or Jordan Addison. But if those three guys are unattainable, I think the options we talked about are more than good for where the bills are at right now.

Well, I've got one more for you like probably a third or fourth Cedric Tillman, Tennessee. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's running me. Yeah. One of those one of those players who sort of, you know, was overshadowed by, you know, Jalen Hyatt on the same receiving core, but had a decent combine is not going to like light the world on fire with his speed. But he's 63215. He's one of those big body receivers. Yeah, really, he plays.

He plays more like a finesse player than somebody with his size and strength with you to indicate he really catches kind of in insane body positions. He's got a lot of, you know, coordination that you wouldn't expect of somebody that tall and lanky and that sort of thing.

And so, you know, Cedric Tillman is somebody that I also look for if they don't hit on someone in the first round or two, maybe somebody who they could take a flyer on in the third or top of the fourth as a good, you know, good option, especially to give to round out this receiving core, because I think that's something that's sort of the reason that Pukunakua is, you know, not just he's got a badass name, but also that he's appealing to me is he's sort of that utility player, right?

Somebody you see who does all the good stuff is probably going to be an excellent special teamer as a third or fourth wide receiver. If they're not crushing something with the second or first round pick on someone who's a definite, you know, WR2. So that's somebody I would also see is that utility player who you know is going to give it their all on blocking downs, on running downs, but also can surprise you with their catching and their speed and separation. Agreed. All right.

So to summarize, this is where we're at. Round one, we would feel good about pick 27 going to any one of these guys. JSN, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Jordan Addison, you like Zay Flowers, I like Jalen Hyatt. And those for us are collective first round wide receivers. There is also on your end, Puka Nakua, I like A.T. Perry, right? Honorable mention to Cedric Tillman and then my undrafted guy, potentially Brayden Johnson. Feel good there? I feel good.

I would add Rashid Rice from SMU in the second as a, you know, again, my, see, my, I might be, you know, a homer and that's, that's, I own this. I'm always looking for a size guy for the bills to draft because I think that's a component of their wide receiving core. They do not have as somebody that can go up for the contested ball in the end zone or the corner or get that first down just over the top of somebody.

Sort of like the bills were subject to on their defense with a couple of nasty grabs to extend drives against Minnesota, for instance. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. I think there will be options here. Yeah. I think that's the pick for Bill's mafia. This is where they just want to see a number one pick go because it'll be validation that everyone cares about Josh.

But if they're not going to use a premium pick a first round pick on a wide receiver, there's dudes that are going to be available later in the draft that I think would fit the scheme very, very well. All right. Where do you want to head to next? We were going to end with, we were going to end with offensive line. So let's, let's go to defensive line because I think that we both agree, even though it's not the sexiest of picks, that building from the trenches is always critical.

And there's nobody on the defensive interior on the books after this year, with the exception of, is it, there's one player maybe of the defensive interior? I don't think so. I think that's it. Okay. Yeah. Oh, no. They re they resigned, um, settle Tim settle to a restricted contract that he raised his pay. So, yeah, I think it's just one year. So that's, they desperately need to refill that position.

I think they're, they're trying to work on something with that Oliver, but they're pretty tight to the cap. If they drafted D if they drafted defensive tackle here, the size of that large human they draft will tell you where they feel like they're at with Oliver. Because if they draft another six, five sub 300 three tech, that tells you they don't think they're going to have Oliver beyond this season.

If they draft meet six, five, six, six, three 30, three 23, if they go for a one tech in the form of star LaTula lay who they've been trying to replace for years now, then that tells you they feel pretty good about resigning Oliver. So JJ, why don't you walk me through what your, who would you feel good about the bill spending a first round pick on a defensive tackle?

Oh my God. Jalen Carter, Brian Brisey, the top, you know, top 15 players, of course, like I don't, I don't love Brisey walk, walk me through this Brisey thing. Cause I feel like he just, he can't do anything against the run, right? Like I, I, or do I have that right? Yeah. He's not good at it. I don't feel like he's good against the run. I mean, he is, I will say he gets out of position with the run cause he's, he's a, his, of course his strength is his pass rush.

Yeah. And that's how I see him at trading three tech. And so this is what I'll say about Brisey. He plays similar to Ed Oliver is that he can blow up plays and make some amazing tackles for loss sacks, things like that. But that comes at the expense of he plays a little bit out of position at times and he can get washed out in double team situations because he's tall and he's on sub 300.

And so, but I think that what people are crazy about, and the thing that I think is his redeeming quality is that he's more of an impact pass rusher from that position than a lot of three techs that have come out on the defensive line in the past few drafts. I think that he has more of a knack for moves and setting players up and hand fighting than you see from somebody coming out of college. And I think if he had more, he was injury shortened in the last season, I believe.

If he did not miss a lot of time, he'd probably be in a top 10 just because of that kind of developing that skill set. Yeah. Yeah. So here's my thing, right, with Bricey. If he is indeed your Ed Oliver replacement, fine, but he's not going to see the field a whole lot, even with the way the Bills rotate that defensive line this particular season.

He doubles down on a strength you feel like you already have in Ed Oliver, and he doubles down on a weakness, which is the ability for that defensive line to stop the run. Add to the fact we don't have Tremaine Edmonds doing all that low key uncredited work he did in shutting down the run at the second level last year, because who knows who you're going to have back there behind this defensive line next to Milano. And I actually think a guy like Bricey is more of a liability this season only.

He's a great talent. But this season only for where the Bills roster is at doesn't feel like the best pick unless he is your Ed Oliver replacement heading into next year. But then you still have the issue of you don't really have a true one tech to eat up double teams and play next to the kid. So you're going to have him replace Oliver, and you're going to set him up for failure in exactly the same way you set up Oliver right now. You know, I have that solution for you, my friend.

And all right, where where is that solution? His name is Maisie Smith. Oh, the Michigan kid, the Michigan senior out of Michigan, an absolute bowling ball, 63337 defensive line, plays with his hair on fire, but is also a two time academic all big 10 honoree. So I love that definitely has, you know, the smart he's he's the coach, you know, coaches love him. And so, you know, he's the defensive player of the year for Michigan, four time letter winner.

So Maisie Smith, I believe the thing that he gives you is because he's never going to be the player that gets a sack by like doing some six spin move and, you know, finessing his way past. But he's a compression style rusher from the nose tech position, who just has excellent technique does not falter to double teams can occasionally split a double team and tends to be exactly where he needs to be against the run. Is that more your style?

And he could be had in the second probably if he was gonna say Smith is probably an early second round pick for some team that needs some some defensive line help. So that's a scenario where you're not technically using the pick on Smith, but you are then drafting back into the second round, accumulating multiple picks and going after a guy like that. So I'm with you, I will I will see your Maisie Smith, and I will raise you a siaki. Iku from Baylor University.

All right, six three, 335. True one tech right doesn't have penetrating like Smith struggles with gap penetration, but would be an absolute wall at the front of the line to stop runs at the line of scrimmage doesn't have a lot of pass rush versatility, but this dude eats double teams for absolute breakfast. The problem is he plays a little bit high and would have to work on his technique.

But otherwise, I think this is just a big bodied individual that you give to Eric Washington and you say mold this kid into our new one tech. Well, I'll say something about him playing high too. And that is that it certainly can be a liability if he's trying to shut down the run because low low man wins in that game. Yep. However, all the time, I've watched a couple of his like full game tapes and that dude's siaki he bats down passes like this job grabs those things like hamburgers.

That's that's the thing I think is insane wingspan. Yeah, that's the thing. I think is the benefit is I think he's playing high because he's looking for those opportunities to disrupt the passing lane because he knows he's not a penetration style, you know, pass rusher. He's not going to get there. He's not going to affect the play in the way he can, which is holding his point of attack and getting those hands up.

But yeah, that tends to get him he can get blown out of the hole if they run straight at him and he's playing that way. Yep. And we've already got and you can tell by listening to this, we don't think there's a ton of DT is that the bill should spend a number one pick on. Jalen Carter, who we kind of glossed over. That's going to have to be a trade up into the top 10.

That's like Ed, that's like Ed Oliver and our 27 going to Chicago for and depending on the number of quarterbacks that go, he might he might be at seven or eight. Yeah, there's not a lot of top tier defensive line talent in this draft. Yeah, there's probably three guys in the top 15. And so that means that the ones who are valued that high are going to go higher than they usually would. Yeah, you and you and I both like Bricey. I think I'm leery of doubling down on weakness for the team.

The other guy who I think doesn't have a first round grade on him and a lot of draft outfits, but could make a lot of sense at 27 if the bills go that route. Kalaja Kianci out of Pittsburgh. Again, pure three tech. He's a little bit lighter than even Bricey is. He's about six one ish to 85 ish. Had great measureables, a pretty solid workout at the combine.

And he is one of those gap penetrator guys that really uses leverage despite his undersized uses leverage well against bigger interior offensive linemen to get quick penetration. He uses a speed. He uses a center of gravity really, really well and could again be a good at Oliver replacement moving forward in the future.

He's also a viable option if the bills trade Oliver for a couple of more day two picks, then you could see them having accumulated ladder draft capital by trading a player and not trading other draft assets. I could see them taking Kianci in the first round or Bricey in the first round to replace Oliver outright. Bill's fans being pissed about it.

But then in the second round, using multiple picks to get guys like Josh Downs, the wider sea of right in North Carolina, Dalton Kincaid, the tight all of a sudden, all of a sudden, they can then turn at Oliver into a better at Oliver and more pass catchers for Josh. Right. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna scoff at that. I think Ed has done some nice things. But for me, it's just the inconsistency of a player who sort of disappears. Yeah. And that's that's really worrying.

Yeah, I don't want to give a huge bag of money to somebody who I can't count on to be a game changer all but you know, four games a year. Like that's just not enough for me. So Bill, go ahead. You got one more. Oh, I don't have any any more top tier. Do you want to talk about some like maybe late round steel type guys? Yeah, I mean, again, I like I really like Ica out of Baylor. I think Ica is a project.

But if you're looking for that one tech who's just going to be in the middle of that defensive line and gives you a little bit of three down lineman versatility as well. Like we've talked about Lou Amore, Amoreau. Am I saying his name right? And Arumo and Arumo. I was going to say Lou Amorela when I'm like, that's not his name. But defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, his ability to be multiple, which I think you really need to be in your defensive schemes.

I don't think as a defensive coordinator with how multiple so many offenses are, you can afford to be singular and defense. He even though they play a traditional four three in Cincinnati, he's happy to drop eight and only rush three, you get a guy like Ica or you get a guy like Smith anchoring the middle of that three man rush, eating up some double teams, all of a sudden, you can go multiple on your defensive front.

And then you can really deploy guys like Terrell Bernard, who maybe isn't the best fit to be a full time starter, but can come in situationally surprise you around the edge. You get a guy like that at your one tech, and it makes everybody else more versatile around you to make sure defense multiple. So yeah, as we go later rounds, you're gonna see here, I'm just looking at big fat guys. That's what I'm looking at. Well, I got one for you, actually, give it to me. Give me the beef.

Where are we at? If you are looking for a player, let me like I'm going to sales pitch this guy to you, Dan, if you're looking for a player in the fifth round or later, that is like a cement truck that you can park in the middle of your defense and forget about. May I point you towards Jared Clark? Number 15. I had Carolina share shanty clears.

I had him on my list to he is from Dorchester, Mass, Massachusetts, which from the northeast, not not a stranger to snow, even though we went to school in the Carolinas. He is six foot four 340 pounds. Yes. He is surprisingly agile for a manifest size, but still not the kind of penetrator you expect to get any real pass rush production from. He is an academic kind of all team.

So again, I think that's something that Brandon Bean, they talk a lot about process guys and trust the process and their kind of DNA. And so they tend to pick players who, you know, he was voted a team captain in his senior year this past year. He was on the all Sun Belt third team, you know, and he made multiple recommendations to the shrine bowl. He did a lot of different things. And the thing from watching him play is really just sort of strong awareness.

He erases that that note, the nose gaps that he's responsible for. He erases both sides of the center and can shade even both guards in terms of locking up the middle of absolutely. I watched him play Sunbelt fun belt, right? J.M.U. my alma mater played his played Coastal Carolina this year in their inaugural year in the Sunbelt Conference. So I watched a little bit of Mr. Clark in person and ESPN plus no, I love where your heads at with that. And again, I will. I had him on my list.

I also had and this is a potential undrafted free agent or undrafted free agent potentially seventh round pick. I also had in the in the spirit of Mr. Clark, one Broderick Martin out of Western Kentucky. Did you have this guy to file up on my computer? Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. See, this is why we pod. Right. So Martin, six, five ish, right. 330 pounds. This is what I love most about this dude.

Thirty five inch arms, the biggest arm, longest arms in the draft for any defensive tackle and the largest wingspan at over a three. That's crazy. 83 inches. Crazy. That is something. You could hug a small snowplow comfortably. Like that. It's insane. It's insane. Right. But as we as we talked about Smith just throwing his hands up in the air or Eka throwing his hands up in the air, this dude could do the same thing.

And there is value to both Clark and Martin is ladder round picks seventh round because because let's be real, the opportunity to use pick 27 on a prime defensive tackle, they need to invest draft capital here. And there are guys that we would be comfortable with them drafting in the first round. But the reality is, is that they're going to be pressed, I think, in other areas depending on how the board falls.

So unless they're trading up into the top 10, probably top seven, as you mentioned for a Jalen Carter, it's hard for them for us, for me at least to see them taking another ad Oliver when and Oliver is still on the roster.

So I definitely see the latter rounds, third round, fourth round in particular, and then the undrafted for Asian market with them just getting Oliver if they're really going to be committed to him, a true one tech that can gobble up double teams, cover up for our inability to stop the run by just being a wall in the middle of the line. I see them focusing on guys like that in the latter rounds and in the undrafted for Asian pool.

Yeah. Yeah. And I have one more mention and that's kind of around the area that's Yaki Eka is probably you know, sec top of the second round Keanu Benton. Oh, yeah, Wisconsin another a bit smaller than some of our other nose tackles. But in a proven conference that runs a lot. This is like the thing I heard Harrison Philip. Yeah, I would say Harrison Phillips comp right. That is like a smaller one tech.

Yeah. But yeah, no, I like this one tech who does his job right like he is dependable, reliable and consistent at doing his job of holding the center point of attack and and will not you know, not give up ground if it has anything to do with his his tenacity right like he works hard through every rep. And attainable in the second or third round potentially. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No, I love that. I love that. All right. We talked about wide receiver. We talked about defensive tackle.

What's the next area of need we want to move to? Well, there's only a couple more. Yeah, yeah, I think that we should why don't we just stay in the trenches and get our offensive line picks out of the way you're going to talk about some guards guards slash hunters and I'll give some tackles. All right, that sounds good to me. Let's start. Let's start with tackles. I'm not I'm not opposed to this idea, right? I just again going back to the beginning of the pod.

I think Bean is going to be way too stubborn to take the Dion Dawkins slash Spencer Brown competition that that he really should be quite frankly with how poorly the bills have protected Josh Allen over the past couple of years. Dawkins job minus maybe Dawkins potentially Morse should be up for competition. So the fact that the bills are willing to potentially stand Pat at the edges to me is absolutely insane. Right.

But all that being said, I I don't think they're going to draft a single offensive line in the first three rounds because this is what Brandon Bean does to break our heart. But I am personally not against a tackle. I just don't think they're going to do it. Well, they've had they've had top 30 visits with Broderick Jones from Georgia. Yes, probably the top the top 20 tackle six, five, three, eleven. A good way more nimble than he should be for his size. Big dude as an outside threat protector.

And then I believe they also had Darnell Wright from Tennessee, who you've you've mentioned as a target. I do too. I think I love right. He's six, five, three, thirty three, huge body, but still one of those guys was more agile and expect them to be at that size as an outside protector. So both of them project as tackles. But I would say they're not too tall to slide inside and have some versatility if they need to. Both of them agree to play multiple positions on a line.

If not at guard, then they've played both sides of the tackle position. So they have a little bit more flexibility, versatility, which we know the bill select for. Yes, they very rarely will pick a specialist who's only been left guard throughout his entire career on the line. Correct. Yeah. So those two are probably the top round targets I could think of. And then possibly Matthew Bergeron out of Syracuse.

But he he might be a first round target because of scarcity, because there aren't a lot of tackles that are considered NFL ready to start. And so it's possible he sneaks up into the first round. But he's 6'5", 3'18", as close as you can get to the bills without drafting a UB prospect and could be a target. So those are the tackles I could see in the first round.

I would not take, I don't think I'd take a single other player in the entire draft pool at specifically tackle that any higher or any more than these three. Yeah, I agree with you, right? I think the only one I think Bergeron I agree I think he I think someone is going to draft him in the top 25 that needs an offensive lineman. Because I think he's shown shown enough pop at Syracuse where I think he would justify a late first round tag.

You know, another guy that's interesting to me outside of the guys you mentioned that I, I could, again, he's mocked in a lot of second rounds, but I could see the bills at 27 being like, whatever we're, you know, if we have a first run great, I don't know, so be it is to Juan Jones out of Ohio State. 68374. I know, I know. He put listen, dude, he I get it. He plays tall, right? He gives up his leverage on more plays than he should. And we already have that with Spencer Brown on the right side.

I get that, right? So Jones to some extent, I get is like PTSD for people who are like over Spencer Brown. But when you look at the raw athleticism, the size of the frame, and the surprising speed at which he plays, if you can fix his leverage issues, you're talking about a lockdown left tackle that you're getting for a day. And this is why I say first round, because you're going to want that 50 year option on a guy like Jones to see what you see with with regard to his development.

I could see the I could see an argument to where Dwan Jones sneaks up into that discussion in the first round. Otherwise, I totally agree with everything that you've said. Yeah. And that's to say, I will say if anyone's listening and paying attention to draft, I'm not even talking about Paris Johnson Jr. out of Ohio State or unattainable Ronsky. Yeah, they're top 10 picks.

They're probably top, you know, at least one of them is going to go to the top five, maybe, because it's hard to find really reliable, excellent offensive linemen. I think they both categorize as excellent offensive linemen. I agree. I'm seeing Skoronsky more and more, though, and a lot of draft guides. He's not being mocked as a tackle. He's being mocked as a guard. So I've got him on my guard list. But I agree. I think he's unattainable. It's weird to say that six four is short for a tackle.

It's the arm thing. Teams are freaking themselves out about the arm length because he's got, I think, the shortest arms that would ever exist on a human being who played NFL tackle. Like I think that's what it is. But people are like at guard. You're looking at the next Quentin Nelson. So yeah. So yeah, no, I agree with you. I really like Bergeron. I like the upstate New York connection. But I like the measurables too. Right. I think he's the ideal frame.

He's the ideal size, the right amount of athleticism that the Bills look for. But honestly, I look I would be happy with him or Darnell Wright. I love the fact that Wright has played inside at guard. You could see a world where you start him there and then eventually you kick him out to replace Dawkins or Brown, whichever one falls off first. So Wright to me has short term impact now with long term flexibility down the line. He's my favorite pick just because of that.

Not anything else out of this group. Sure. And I really like DeJuan Jones' size. Yeah. I mean, he's massive. I think that the problem I see with DeJuan Jones is just like the projection. Right. He's so raw at that size and they've already got a project tackle in Spencer Brown. He just moved there from playing seven on seven tight end for most of his football life.

And so it's really tough to see DeJuan Jones coming in and being productive as a starter while they're in this window of challenging for a championship. A third, third ish round, maybe late second, early third tackle prospect would be Jalen Duncan out of Maryland Terps. I have this guy on my list. And so it's one of those he less of a project but less of a ceiling probably.

And so that's a player that's he's to give the measurable six six three twenty would be departing a little bit from their normal practice of just getting guys with the really premier RS or relative athletic score and that he doesn't have that kind of more elite speed and athleticism but is a solid starter, has kind of played again, played left tackle for a competitive team.

And so I think that's a that's a possibility in those kind of, you know, top three ish rounds and going further deeper into the draft. It gets really it's like we talked about when we opened. It's not deep. It's not really weird in the middle where you're like these guys could be out of the league in two years or they could be 10 year starters. Yeah. I think Tyler Steen out of Alabama is a player that. Oh, I had him on my list, too. Oh, man, you got to save some for me.

No. Yeah. Breakdown Steen. Yeah. He's been mid year or I'm sorry, started in Alabama, finished in Vanderbilt, been kind of a mid tier starter. And he, you know, was all SEC fourth team preseason, had lost some games to injuries. But you know, way more developed pass protector than he has a run walker at this time in his development. But really, you know, somebody that I think is interesting for the for the bills. Yeah. I'm going to add one more in here for like ladder round picks.

And this kid is a third, maybe fourth round based on most draft guides is Nick Salvadere out of Old Dominion. So six, six, three, 18. Again. Hey, man, I'm going I'm going all Sunbelt fun belt with my I just watched a lot of Sunbelt football this year, because I'm a jam you guys. So there you go. Incredible physical frame like plays good, great leverage, exceptional footwork.

The problem with him and why he's a project and projecting in the third and fourth round is because his feet are really the only thing that work about his technique. Right. So he's not he's not really fluid in the hips. He doesn't mirror very well, and his hand fighting is very sporadic. It's very punchy, right? He needs a lot of work on his upper body technique.

But he comes in knows how to play with leverage, super agile, super fast at the point of attack, just needs to lock down his hips a little bit or release his hips rather. And he's got he's got to figure out his hand fighting because that's a really a weakness for him. Sure. All right. You want to talk about some guards who you got at the top? Oh, my god, let's talk about guards. So I listen, man, I, here's why I think the bills would be crazy not to go garden this this particular draft.

They hate specialists, as we have said, they don't want guys that are good at just one thing like protecting Josh Allen, they want guys that are good at multiple things, right? And I can appreciate that I really can. But there comes a point where that versatility will kill you. But it's not going to be in this year's draft bills mafia, because this interior offensive line class again, well, not the best and not deep, lots of guys that have flexibility that can play center and guard.

So you potentially get someone who can push baits or challenge McGovern. I really don't care. I want the the best possible interior guys protecting Allen that we can get. So you can get those guys while also anchoring potentially the future in securing your Mitch more, your Mitch Morris replacement. So here's a couple of guys I like we've already talked about. Skoronsky, who I think is unattainable, he probably goes in the top, probably in the top 10.

A lot of a lot of guys, a lot of guides have him mocked as a guard. He's played tackle for a good chunk of his his college career. He's 6'4", 3'13", incredibly physical and just immeasurably physical. He's got he's got Tyrannosaurus Rex arms, though that's like he's got really short arms. And that's why people are are hesitant about him.

But unless the bills are going to trade up, and to be clear, if they trade up for him, they're trading up for him because right now he would play guard for them. And then maybe in the future switch to tackle it, they would have to give up way more draft capital I think than any of us would be comfortable them giving up for an interior offensive lineman.

So then that brings you to Osiris Torrance, who depending on which draft guide you go to, mocked as a first round, graded as a first round, mocked as a second round, it really does depend. So he's a senior out of the University of Florida, 6'5", 3'30", solid arm length plays with a lot of physicality. This dude is an absolute monster in the run game, needs some protection, needs some some work on his pass game protection, his pass blocking sets.

But if the bills are looking to unlock the run game, even just a little bit more, this is a guy who you get and then you give them to Cromer and you're like, make him protect Josh in one two. The guy do the guy like the most. So that's it. That's who I think the bills would be justified using a first round pick on. The guy I like the most, quite frankly, out of this entire group is Steve Avila out of TCU. I love Steve Avila.

He's got center flexibility, he's played center for some of his career, 6'3", 6'4", 3'32", again, plays with great leverage, great hip fluidity, needs a little bit of work on his on his hand technique. And that's about it, his hand fighting. Otherwise, though, this is a guy who you would feel great anchoring next to Deion Dawkins or potentially next to Spencer Brown. And he's got the versatility to move inside and replace Mitch Morris.

Those to me are the three guys I would feel good about the Buffalo Bills using a premium pick on guys that you can find that there's not it gets weird man, like with the offensive tackles in the latter rounds here. There are not a lot of guys to me that pass muster for a later round pick.

So to me, you're either going to burn a premium pick on what has become a premium position for you in interior offensive line, or you're gonna hope that you're going to hit on an undrafted free agent like to Shawn Manning out of Kentucky. He's 6'3", 3'27", needs work just about everywhere but is a great raw physical product. You know what I mean?

But here's why I would advocate for the Buffalo Bills considering using a top a top one of their first three round picks on one of these guys that I mentioned. You beat Josh Allen by attacking him up the middle. We saw what Cincinnati did to close off his running lanes. When Josh gets skittish in the pocket and his protection breaks down, he's looking to bolt and run, but he's not often looking to bolt and run around the edge. He breaks up the middle. Mahomes does the same thing, right?

Teams are really good at contain on Mahomes and Allen around the edges. Where they make their hay in the run game is bolting right up the middle. Cincinnati was using their defensive tackles to just manipulate the shit out of Allen and our offensive guards. So you would see they were literally manhandling our guards so much they would be able to move our guys to feign like there was a hole for Allen and then immediately move our guys back and close it off as pressure around the edge closed in.

If you've got offensive guards that are that malleable in pass protection, you need to start the hell over, right? So I'm just looking for big bodied guys who you can't do that to. That's why I like Avila. I really like Torrance. I think he can grow in his pass protection game. And then I wouldn't mind them saying bring a guy to camp like to Sean Manning, who's got the physical attributes that you need to be a man eater in the middle of that line. You just got to teach him the ropes.

That's where I'm at. Okay. I've got a couple of mid to late round prospects that I think could be worth flyers. Let me know if either of these names pop out to you at guard. Antonio Mafi. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I looked at a lot of his stuff. Yeah, yeah. The kind of player who I think has a lot of work to do on pass protection, but I think has the capability for it. I think it's more one of those questions of not, can he do it? It's that he wasn't asked to do it because UCLA was incredibly run heavy.

They had nine 200 yard rushing games and three 300 yard rushing games this season. The offensive unit as a whole was the semifinals for the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in the entire college football. Antonio Mafi played, he's one of those specialist situations which we know the Bills aren't crazy about, but played left guard kind of all the time and had one season as a full time, or two seasons as full time starter. He's an interesting prospect for me that has some upside.

And then the second player and maybe up there with Pukinakua as an all star from the name category, Juice Scruggs out of Penn State. Nice. I am not familiar with Juice, with the Juice. Juice Scruggs is a heavy riser in the draft community in terms of flying up draft boards because of some of his measureables and different things like that. And he is 6'3", 3'10", center. He is the all big 10'13' by the coaches. Honorable mention from the media. He was voted a team captain.

And so again, it's one of those situations where he was a very strong pass protector and helped a number of Penn State's very powerful offensive productions this season, both in the pass and the run game. It could be one of those developmental late round flyers on somebody that could come in and spell Mitch Morse in the center of the line without being, he has a little bit more athleticism than he has beef. He's only 6'3", 3'01".

It's worth noting we didn't talk about straight up center prospects in this draft because neither of us think that they'll spend a pick in the first three rounds on a straight up center. Maybe John Michael Schmitz out of Minnesota, I think. He's the best center prospect in the draft and has mocked in a lot of second and even third round. Right? I mean, that's just where this center class is.

That's why my preference is get someone with short term value now that can play a guard and projects to center later in their career. Well, and I think that with John Michael Schmitz, what's your, he, I mean, he blew up the senior bowl, was really good at the combine. I think that the thing that he pro, he proposes as a prospect is an athletic center only who could get bodied a little bit because he's a little lean for his 6'3 frame and definitely more athletic.

So you'd be kind of replacing Spencer Brown with, I keep saying Spencer Brown, but I mean Mitch Morse. You'd be replacing Mitch Morse with a Mitch Morse like clone who's someone who, his skill is technician and, and athleticism. It's not being a, you know, a barrier at the center of your line. Right? Yeah, I agree. I agree.

So JJ, we've covered what we think the primary positions of need the bill should address are now we left out a very important one that every other bills podcast is talking about and that's linebacker because we've got a big tray admin sized hole in the middle of that defense. And I'm fine if we want to talk about linebacker, but here is my stance on it.

We have talked very intentionally about who would we use a first round pick on at 27 or how would we leverage that pick to trade up and get somebody. I do not think there is anybody in this linebacker class that I would spend the 27 pick on other guys I would use a second round pick on or a third round or fourth round. Absolutely. But I do not think there is enough linebacker talent in this draft to justify the use of a premium asset in the first round on a Tremaine Edmonds replacement.

It's just not the class for it. Right? Well, and there's, there's only like four prospects in the entire draft at inside linebacker middle linebacker as their position that are pretty much consensus top 100 players, 100 that's three rounds more than three rounds. Right? There are four in the top three rounds that are considered, you know, they fit there. And of them, nobody, not a one is a consensus first round pick.

I think that Drew Sanders is probably top of the second round with Jack Campbell, the darling of Bill's mafia just behind him. I think that this is one of those situations where if Brandon Bean is sticking to his board and I know that the draft draft media community, whatever you might want to call it is not the NFL scouts because we see things that are surprising every year. They could be six, there could be eight, they could be ranked much higher.

But what we're seeing, what we know, what we can have access to is telling us that there's a really, really complete absence and scarcity of in inside linebackers in this draft in the first three or four rounds. And even then I think that just the quantity, it's not even about quality. There just aren't that many prospects throughout the top five rounds. I agree. I think you mentioned the best ones and those are second rounders, I think at best. Jack Campbell, I think Jack, I'm not passing.

Like if Simpson and Sanders are off the board in the second round and Campbell is there, I mean, he's an athletic specimen. Like his RAS scores are very similar to Luke Keakley and we would love a Luke Keakley on this team.

But just like 6'4", 6'5", 249, my thing with him is that he gets stuck on bigger blockers and when you play, if the Bills are going to continue to play majority nickel, when you're in that primary middle linebacker position, you are blocking much larger human beings than you or you're getting blocked by much larger human beings than you that are these big offensive linemen that are attacking the second level in the run game.

And I just, I saw Campbell in too much of his film just get stuck on some of those bigger guys. So again, he's great in coverage, doubles down on something that's already a liability for this defense. And I get it's a passing league, but when you look at that second game against Miami, what was the reason they were moving the ball on us so effectively? It was Raheem Mosterd.

It was third and six clear passing situations where McDaniel just decided to run the ball up our throat and they played physical and they did it, right? They were not extending drives because of Tua's pinpoint accuracy. He had a very bad game with the exception of a couple of big plays in that game. They were extending drives because of our inability to stop the run on third down. And Jack Campbell doesn't correct that problem.

He makes you decent in coverage again, but he doesn't add any strength that doesn't already exist to that team. That's why I'm not Jack Campbell around 27 or pick 27. Well, and I think that there's also the question of most of the top, you know, top three, top four round linebacker prospects are, they're much more a Milano type than they are an Edmonds type. And Henry Tootoa from Alabama is an exciting prospect.

That's amazing things in coverage has a knack for kind of rushing and finding lanes, you know, in rushing the passer, but he's not, he's 6'2", 220. Like he is like a safety body type. And so again, that big body washing players out of a play, you're not going to gain anything with Tootoa in the center of your defense.

I think that, you know, I'm kind of with you sort of convinced me that the fact that they need an inside linebacker shouldn't predicate them on choosing an inside linebacker with a premium pick because this might, this is not the draft for it. No, this is not the draft to waste that very valuable capital. If best player available plays a different position.

And I'm going to have a hard time believing that with the depth of wide receiver and tight end in this draft, if that the bills won't prioritize pass catcher in this particular draft if someone falls to them at 27. I just don't see it. You know, I mean, if you want Jack Campbell without the first round compensation, I mean, think about a guy like Noah Sewell out of Oregon, right? He's a third year, straight up junior.

He's like 6'2", a little bit shorter than Campbell is, but same height, same 40 speed, lightly comparable wingspan is a raw product in the run defense game, but has some coverage chops that could be taught, right? And this is someone you can stick behind Terrell Bernard because by the way, we drafted that kid last year in the third round using a high draft asset on them. You're returning 10 of 11 starters to that defense and McDermott is calling the plays.

If there were a year you were going to find out what Terrell Bernard was about. This is the year you could really set him up for success. You know what I mean? So I, yeah, I'm also happy if they don't address linebacker at all in this draft, sign a Wiley veteran, right? Is it Devin White from Tampa Bay asked for a trade today? I see a lot of Bill's fans like with the eyeball emojis, like, yeah, let's get that guy. Yeah, I would love that guy.

Do you know how much you're going to have to pay that guy? More than Edmunds got from Chicago, like, like he's on his fifth year option right now. That's the reason he wants to be traded.

He doesn't have a contract going into next year and he's going to want to get paid and go into the fine go into the go into the draft with that veteran or don't even go into the draft that veteran go into the draft and like nobody shows up in the first three rounds that you really feel crazy about Mahamud Deeb eight out of Utah.

Yeah, fourth round or fifth round who is he's kind of got that coverage profile, that athletic profile six, five to 20, you know, like, yep, looks like a big safety, but it has a little bit more bulk in size and you just plug him in again, rotating behind a vet that you have in on a one year minimum deal and kind of ride with it.

Because I think that we'll save this for another pod, but I think that you and I have some ideas about how McDermott might run this defense that's going to be surprising or different in the way in different personnel packages and different attacking styles that I agree that we might not need the very standard set of defenders that Frazier was using. Right.

When we say we need a middle linebacker and we need to use a top a top 30 pick on one, we are still framing this conversation as a fan base around Leslie Frazier's defense. We don't know enough about the defense that McDermott is going to run to make that assumption. Add to the fact that the talent isn't there to justify the pick. I feel I would feel pretty good if the Bills did not address middle linebacker at all in the draft. Right.

And they just brought in a bunch of unsigned free agents and a veteran presence to fill the void. Yep. Yeah. All right. Do you have any any last minute flyers before we get out of here? This will this will all be wrong. By the track this will everything we've said everything other podcasts have said will all be wrong because no one expected Greg Russo. No one expected Boogie Basham. We all want we all were expecting Trent McDuffie. We got Kyrie alum. The reality is is it's 32 teams.

No one knows how their boards fall. And when you're at 27 the reality is is you're reacting to what the previous 26 teams have before you have done and you can't always predict what they're going to do. So this is our best guess. 90% chance that all of this is wrong. What I hope is not wrong are the priorities we've laid out. I'm really hoping that the Bills address some of these priority areas use some premium picks on the offense. That's what I want to see this year. Yep. Absolutely.

And did you have I mean I know you wanted this to mention a tight end or two. Yeah. A tight end could be a pleasant surprise for us right. Like no one wants to say it but people are falling in love with this Dalton Kincaid kid out of Northwestern. Is that what he's out of? Yeah. I've heard comps to one Travis Kelsey who has been the architect of our nightmares for years. Great athletic profile a little bit raw as a blocker. Very natural pass catcher. The Bills have wanted to run two tight ends.

That's I think for a long time. And Quentin Morris is just not the guy. He's too raw as a blocker. He's just not the guy you're going to do that with.

You draft a guy like so if we change the priority from wide receiver and make it more general to just pass catcher you add a Dalton Kincaid or a Michael Meyer in the first or second round to this pass catching core then all of a sudden your two tight end sets you've got the threat to either run or pass and you become less predictable to the opposing defense. Every time the Bills ran the ball checking in number 69 Bobby Hart isn't eligible to receive right.

I mean like it's just it's like the Bills were so predictable in the run game and they had to literally throw out the heaviest guys they could find to get four yards in a cloud of dust. If you even have an inkling as an opposing defense that they're going to throw the ball over the seam with knocks or a guy like Meyer or Kincaid then all of a sudden you can open up things in the run game and short yardage out of those two tight end sets without becoming predictable.

So I could see the Bills and I'd be perfectly happy if the Bills focused on just pass catcher with their first few picks and one of those pass catchers was another tight end. Absolutely. And yeah Dalton Kincaid out of Utah. Utah there you go. Sorry. He's a 1940 senior from Las Vegas originally. So for that guy. Yeah. And I agree.

I think that there's an opportunity here and I you know it's one of those deals that it's going to be it's going to be interesting what how the how the first 25 20 or 24 picks go right.

Like I think the Bills with only six picks in the draft are in the world where they might not consider themselves even in striking distance of pick 18 through 22 but maybe in a we're going to trade up four or five picks and give away our sixth or another you know it's second round or next year or something like that.

You know trade up four or five picks and try to get somebody that comes in striking distance and if it doesn't then it's going to be really interesting how that best player available plays out. And I wonder if Bill's mafia is going to be upset on draft night in the first round when we end up inevitably picking a draft and another edge player. I know we we we did not talk about edge dear God we did not talk about edge because for a first round pick on an edge.

Come on man are we really going to go down that route again. Are we are we going to relive that same nightmare again. So yeah. But yeah I'll be interested to see what happens with it too. It's going to be fascinating this year more years than most because the Bills have some glaring needs unlike they've had in the past few years they're not going to be off have a lot of luxury picks but also the areas of need that they have are not really great for the street to fill with this draft.

So it'll be interesting to see what Bean does. That was fun. I love talking. I love talking draft. All right. So for all of you still listening at home thank you very much. Be sure to like share and subscribe wherever you get your podcast Google Apple and Spotify and as always go Bills Go Bills.