1 - Beane prepares for QB-hyped draft
On Thursday, Brandon Beane will select his first draft pick ever as a NFL GM. There have been a lot of questions surrounding what the Bills will do, but Beane's approach is rooted only in preparation.
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"I'm excited," said Beane. "I'm sure there will be nerves. It's like when you play sports, you practice all week, but when it gets to game day there is a different feeling."
Beane has several areas that he could focus on in this year's draft, but the quarterback position appears to be the biggest area of needed improvement for the Bills. With A.J. McCarron and Nathan Peterman being unproven in the NFL, a QB may be coming off the board when the Bills time on the clock is over.
"What we've done is we've identified each quarterback that we would consider and laid out their strengths and weaknesses on the field and off the field," said Beane. "If we draft this player, this is our plan and how we'll do it."
But there has been a considerable amount of hype surrounding this year's draft class, with at least five QBs being considered possible top fifteen picks. For Beane, he understands the hype.
"They've all shown they belong as people, and players. I mean watching the tape on these guys is a lot of fun," said Beane. "Do they have flaws? Yes. What you want to figure out is what flaws you're most willing to deal with. And they got all the strengths. What strengths do you like that fit your system, your team?"
Beane and his staff did their own versions of mock drafts Monday morning to prepare for Thursday and Friday.
"We went through five different mock drafts," said Beane. "The first two we did only went up to pick 22. I assigned each person in the room a certain pick. When we got to pick 12, then the person made the pick and then we debated. I'm not saying who we selected. I did not put myself there. I wanted those guys to have the freedom to say who they would select and then they've got to validate it. We debated our first pick. There wasn't a consensus in the room, that it was the right pick, but we had a healthy debate over it."
Beane gets his first opportunity to lead the Bills war room on draft day, this Thursday.
2 - What all the mock drafts say the Bills will doThe draft is in two days and mock drafts have flooded every website that covers the NFL. The media relations staff at One Bills Drive gathered over 100 mock drafts since January and broke down what most prognosticators think the Bills will do on Thursday.
Topping off the list is Josh Allen. In the 123 mock drafts compiled, the Wyoming standout was chosen in 20 percent of the mock drafts. He was followed by Maurice Hurst the defensive tackle from Michigan at 15 percent, Mason Rudolph the QB from Oklahoma State at 14 percent, Josh Rosen the QB from UCLA at 11 percent and Lamar Jackson the QB from Louisville at 11 percent. It is worth mentioning that most of the mock drafts that have the Bills selecting Hurst are from before the Bills traded pick 21 and Cordy Glenn for pick 12.
In 84 of the 123 drafts compiled, the Bills select a quarterback in round one. In 38 of those drafts, the Bills took a DT, in big part due to the 19 times Hurst was taken. Rounding out the top five positions are OLB at 23 times taken, CB at 21 times taken and WR at 16 times taken.
There is a possibility Beane could trade his picks to move up in the first round. In 24 of the mock drafts, the Bills only had one selection in the first round due to trading up.
With mock drafts probably coming out until the first selection on Thursday, there is still a lot of time to guess.
3 - The range for the first five QBs off the boardWith the draft on Thursday, we will finally know which quarterback will be drafted to which team. The Bills still are holding on to picks 12 and 22, but there is the option to trade up along with staying put.
So, the question everyone is asking is, when does each QB come off the board in the draft? The more important question may be, how far could each QB fall?
Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller set a range for each of the top five QBs in this year's draft.
Sam Darnold, Picks No. 1 through No. 3 overall
He is seen by NFL scouts as the safest and best quarterback in this class and won't be waiting long to hear his name called Thursday night.
Josh Allen, Picks No. 1 through No. 5 overall
Based on multiple conversations with teams this week, it doesn't sound like the strong-armed Wyoming quarterback gets out of the top five.
Baker Mayfield, Picks No. 3 through No. 5 overall
The expectation right now is that Darnold goes first and the Jets take Mayfield at No. 3. If it's Allen at No. 1 and Darnold at No. 3, the Denver Broncos wouldn't let him slide past the No. 5 pick.
Josh Rosen, Picks No. 3 through No. 12 overall
This is the pick Miller believes is the most likely the Bills will make their move.
There is a scenario where Rosen is the Jets' pick at No. 3 overall, even if they haven't been directly linked to him by any of my NFL sources. The same goes for a team like the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills or New England Patriots attempting to move up for Rosen should he slide past the No. 5 overall pick. The floor for him is pick No. 12, where the Bills are on the clock and need a quarterback.
Lamar Jackson, Picks No. 15 through No. 40
As of last week, I was hearing consistent information that he would be drafted in Round 1, so it is likely he'll be selected on Thursday.
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