Report Cards Are In: NFL Analysts Grade the Bills Draft
The highly anticipated (and always accurate) draft grades have been trickling in the last couple of days. Boy, does the national media not like the Buffalo Bills draft results. I take these with a large grain of salt for multiple reasons. The first is, that these are analysts who do not have the time to know what every team needs, and what every team is looking for in prospects. They also are all grading on different metrics. Some are upset with a team’s draft because they didn't pick who they mocked to that team or chose someone on their website’s rankings that was lower than another available player. A lot of the grades seemed to be more hung up on the trade with Kansas City than on the players that were drafted. It seems there were a lot of people who were expecting a big move up the board by the Bills to draft a WR early in round 1 and more than 1 WR overall.
A real draft grade probably can't be handed out until 3, or 4 years after the original draft year. I am more worried about the development and coaching all of the players will receive now that they are Buffalo Bills. I trust Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott with that part, more than I trust the opinion of a disgruntled analyst whose mock draft got disrupted.
Below are 13 analysts and a synopsis of their grades for the Bills. I added the link to the article as well. I’m sorry for the ones behind a paywall.
20th Dane Brugler The Athletic: The only grading system I saw that ranked drafts in order of how they liked the picks with Buffalo being 20th out of 32 teams. “ I don’t use any special formula or analytical metric to come up with the order — I simply go by which team got me the most pumped about their draft hauls. Obviously, teams with multiple early-round picks will show up higher in the rankings than those with fewer selections.” Favorite pick was Coleman and a potential surprise pick was Ray Davis.
Dane Brugler The Athletic Draft Ranking
C- Matt Verderame Sports Illustrated: Not a lot of analysis on the overall picks but seems to be skewed by “trading back twice, including once with the Kansas City Chiefs.” Feels Coleman has limited speed but liked the Bishop pick. Best pick is DeWayne Carter.
Matt Verderame Sports Illustrated Draft Grade
C- Kyle Dvorchak NBC Sports: Dvorchak doesn’t think the Bills got good value making their two 1st round trades along with WR being the picks made by the teams they traded with. He calls Coleman a “weird fit” and that they reached on their picks of Bishop and Carter. “My biggest issue with Buffalo’s draft is that they took one project at receiver and called it a day at the position.”
Kyle Dvorchak NBC Sports Grade
C Danny Kelly The Ringer: “It’s tough for me to get excited about the Bills draft haul.” Kelly considers Coleman a “boom-or-bust” prospect and likes the pick of Cole Bishop. He doesn’t view the remaining picks as having a “big difference-maker.”
Danny Kelly The Ringer Draft Grade
C+ Charles McDonald Yahoo Sports: “The Bills played this draft safe and took home 10 players, although only one wide receiver.” His favorite pick was Ray Davis and his least favorite was DeWayne Carter. He thinks Davis is the perfect compliment to James Cook and feels they could have gotten a more disruptive player than Carter with that pick.
Charles McDonald Yahoo Sports Grade
B- Mark Schofield, James Dator, & Joseph Acosta SB Nation: “This is a bit of a weird class to evaluate. The Bills didn’t do anything wrong, but they also didn’t do anything remarkable. It’s the lukewarm bathwater of the NFL.” They feel the Bills did not take any risks and all of their picks are “solid” and “make sense.” Coleman is being called a “wait and see” pick.
B- Trevor Sikkema PFF.COM: Sikkema seems to be basing his grade off of the PFF big board and gives minor breakdowns of each player without a lot of insight into the pick as good or bad. It appears he has Coleman and Bishop as reaches with their first 2 picks based off of that.
B- Henry McKenna Fox Sports: McKenna feels Beane “might draft for need as much – or more than – any other executive in the NFL. This draft is a perfect example of that.” He mentions that he thinks they reached but for the most part, “there’s more to like about this draft.”
Henry McKenna Fox Sports Grade
B Pete Priscoe CBS Sports: Priscoe’s best pick is DeWayne Carter in the 3rd round. He is not a fan of Cole Bishop and thinks there were better options on the board even though he fills a need for the team. He liked the way Beane managed his picks and the addition of Keon Coleman as a necessary bigger target.
B Chris Trapasso CBS Sports: Trapasso is not a fan of Coleman from his film. “Buffalo then countered with a stellar selection - Bishop in Round 2. He’s going to be a star with Sean McDermott.” He likes Carter, didn't like the Davis pick, and seemed to be happy with the remaining picks but ended with “My disagreement with the first selection sinks this grade a bit, and I'm surprised they didn't double-dip at receiver.”
Chris Trapasso CBS Sports Grade
B Mel Kiper ESPN: Kiper seems to be bothered that the Bills traded with KC and that “Mahomes was handed the fastest receiver in NFL combine history.” He does seem to think Coleman will get a lot of targets and was happy with the selections of Cole Bishop, Ray Davis, Dewarne Carter, and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger. He mentions Edefuan Ulofoshio as a “riser”
B BR NFL Scouting Department BleacherReport.COM: BR liked the trades made during the draft by Beane and had Coleman ranked as their 5th best WR. They had Bishop ranked as their 41st prospect so some value getting him at pick 60. Davis and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger are considered as possible day 3 “gems.”
BR NFL Scouting Department Bleacher Report Grade
B+ Chad Reuter NFL.COM: Reuter believes Coleman is the big-play receiver they need but makes a point to mention their 2 round 1 trades were “for relatively small gain.” He also brings up the point that KC drafted Xavier Worthy and if it “comes back to bite the Bills.” He feels Bishop will be a good starter and that Carter adds leadership to the DL but was picked earlier than he expected.
Chad Reuter NFL.COM Bills Grade
