There are loads of solid contributors in that round. It's not cherry picking just a few guys. You can just look at 2023. You had Puka Nacua, Dontayvion Wicks, Kayshon Boutte, Parker Washington, Demario Douglas, and Andrei Iosivas. That is just in the 5th-6th rounds.
"And the offense has not been the issue at all."
Yes and that is called reactive thinking. Not addressing something until it actually becomes a problem.
"Yes, I’m tracking that you can’t guarantee growth. What you can do is look at the lack of talent on defense and fix it. That’s what Beane did. The two suspensions give Beane six weeks to evaluate the team overall and if they need a receiver, he can trade for one, again. What Beane won’t be able to do at the TDL is fix the defense. That had to happen now."
Again you're missing the point. I wanted defense to be drafted. I just don't like completely ignoring one side of the ball because "they were good last season" I'd rather be proactive about the offense until waiting for it to be an issue. Then next season we're forced to draft 3 WRs because nobody could get open in the playoffs.
I can do the same thing. 2024 draft:
Troy Franklin was ok as a rookie. Javon Baker made no impact. Devontez Walker made no impact. Jacob Cowing made no impact. Anthony Gould made no impact. Ainius Smith
made no impact. Jamari Thrash made no impact. Bud Means had a small impact. Jha’Quan Jackson made no impact. Malik Washington made a small impact. Johnny Wilson made no impact. Casey Washington made no impact. Tajhaun Palmer didn’t make his team. Jordan Whittington made a small impact. Ryan Flournoy had a tiny impact. Brendan Rice made no impact. Devaughn Vele was ok as a rookie with good value for a 7th round pick. Tahj Washington made no impact. Cornelius Johnson made no impact.
I know the percentages of players who make teams, and fans love to fantasize about the value and potential of day 3 picks. The reality is that 50% of first round picks will play 56 games over their first contract. That number drops to 20% for the second round, and 13% for the third round. It’s way, way less than that as you go further. Just look at last season’s receivers. The majority of those kids make no impact and unfortunately they never will. Those percentages don’t even take impact into account, just games played. The impact is much lower.
Your reactive thinking comment is missing a lot of the reality of how an NFL front office works. NFL scouts and front office interns get ground into pulp from January to March, and then again into April. From January to March, the front office is analyzing their own team, who is available in free agency, and the comparative cost of making moves.
Eg: when the Bills moved on from Mitch Morse, that came from internal evaluations, cost analysis, asking the coaches about if McGovern could play center, what they thought of David Edwards, etc. Those moves are informed by weeks of work.
That’s how a team like the Bills go into almost every single off-season and makes a series of good signings which fill the roster. It’s how the went into a rebuild year and some how got better.
Then, once that period is over, they go into draft mode. Thousands of mock drafts. Dozens of position meetings. Setting their board. It’s exhaustive.
And Beane goes into that process thinking about BPA and where that intersects need. He almost never reaches for need. Elam sticks out. Didn’t work. He said it himself, if a receiver was at the top of the board they would’ve taken that player.
And, as all that’s going on, Beane is looking at what the 2026 and 2027 off-seasons look like.
Fixing a defense required a wholesale change of players. It was a far bigger need than receiver. And if I’m Beane, I’m taking Walker in the 4th even if a kid like Dont’e Thompson was available at pick 109. Walker was a sure fire first rounder after his 2023 season. But he got hurt and fell. If he recovers, he’s a steal at a position the Bills really need help at. That’s a great value pick if it works out…. knowing that either Thompson or Walker working out is around a 10% chance.
If the Bills get to game six and the offense isn’t clicking, they can trade for a receiver. That’s happens every season. They can’t fix their defense six games in. Making that type of future plan is anything but reactive thinking.
