Archive for the ‘Buffalo Bills’ Category

The Bills are connected to pretty much every quarterback in this draft. Expect for, of course, the supposed best quarterback in this draft. Don’t worry, we still love you Geno.

Along with the Jets and their two picks, the Bills will be one of the most intriguing teams tonight, mostly because if both of those teams pass on our boy Geno Smith, he’ll fall. And then he’ll fall some more. He could then have to wait for a team (likely the Jets or Bills, again) to trade back into the round, and take him somewhere in the vicinity of 25th overall.

If their reported draft board means anything (and as we all know, reported draft boards mean EVERYTHING eight hours before the first round), the Bills could be set to do their part and start Smith’s fall. But surprisingly, they won’t be doing it by taking a quarterback.

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There are a few maybes and could haves that surround Matt Barkley. Most notably, this one: had he declared for the draft last year and both Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III didn’t exist, he could have been the first overall pick. Therefore, since Luck and RG3 are real people, there was a damn good chance that he would have been a top 10 pick last spring, or at the very least top 15.

Barkley may have even changed the NFL and our universe forever, because at No. 12 the Seahawks would have been tempted to take him in the first round, and the Russell Wilson in Seattle show would have then just been something for our imaginations. I can’t live in that world.

Now, Barkley has fallen due to arm strength that’s good and sufficient, yet far from great. Although there’s still a faint chance his name will be called tomorrow night, the far more likely outcome for him is being a second-round pick Friday, which is just fine. Some lucky head coach and general manager will get a quarterback with a bright future who just needs a bit of development and seasoning, and he’s not quite ready to start right away. So ideally, a bridge QB will be in place until Barkley is ready.

The Buffalo Bills have that in Kevin Kolb, which is why they’re continuing an effort to confuse the hell out of us. They want Barkley.

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A year ago in this exact same space during this exact same exercise with Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings, I wrote about the the value of selecting a player at a certain position in the draft, and the role that value plays in determining whose name gets called, and when.

Now that concept of value will still highly influence the Bills’ draft plans, and it’s why they likely won’t be drafting a quarterback in the first round unless he’s named Geno Smith. Or maybe even if his name is Geno Smith.

The Bills are on the clock with the eighth overall pick, and with his scattered projections, there’s a chance — albeit maybe a slim one — that Smith will still be available. But as a likely top 10 pick, is he really that far ahead of, say, Ryan Nassib and E.J. Manuel, who will be taken at the very minimum about 20 picks later, and they could fall into the second round?

Maybe, but probably not, and that’s one element that could lead to the Bills passing on Smith, even if he falls. This year in the 2013 edition of our Bills draft prognosticating, Galliford thinks Nassib should be Buddy Nix’s primary target.

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Being wrong is a hobby I take great pride in. While others boldly(?) call Geno Smith a top five or even top three quarterback, I still firmly believe that he’ll tumble from that pristine pedestal, and be there for the Bills at No. 8.

When I wrote about the anatomy of that slight fall from the top five’s good graces, it ended up reading as more of an elaborate process of elimination. That alone is telling; whereas last year teams were clawing to get Robert Griffin III when St. Louis auctioned off their pick, and the Dolphins were even more than eager to draft Ryan Tannehill and make him a top ten QB, this year many of the QB-needy teams drafting early are making moves to shake that status, and avoid Geno Smith.

No one really knows what the hell the Jaguars are doing at No. 2, especially the Jaguars. With Matt Flynn in Oakland and Carson Palmer in Arizona, Jacksonville still feels like the only hurdle for Smith to clear before landing in the strange combination of snow and fire that is Buffalo.

When he arrives there, all he’ll have to do is beat out the Bills’ version of Alex Smith.

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