1 - Bill Parcells had advice for Josh AllenJosh Allen walked across the stage a week ago to become the newest Bills quarterback. Before he even showed up in Arlington, Allen, along with Jets draftee Sam Darnold, met with NFL Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells. Allen and Darnold have the same agent that Parcells did, and that led to a meeting between the three. Parcells had advice ready for the two aspiring draft picks prior to the draft that he told John Murphy and Steve Tasker about yesterday on One Bills Live.
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"I like to use the term, 'ready to be a star,'" said Parcells. "Some players, they've been highly recruited since high school and they've had their outstanding college careers and they've been lauded as college players. Some of them are a little bit more interested in the notoriety and the commercial part of the game, as opposed to coming in and getting themselves established. And I call those players 'ready to be a star' instead of a football player."
Parcells believes Allen is a football player, and he doesn't see Allen falling into the mode of aiming for only notoriety. The two-time Super Bowl winner also had some advice for Bills coach Sean McDermott when considering how to develop a player with the potential Allen has, with some considering him not NFL ready yet.
"Give him a good fundamental base to adhere to," said Parcells. "Try to get him to get a basic understanding of the system you're using, and particularly in the quarterback's case, the concepts are important in the passing game. And you try to find out what does he know about concepts and what does he know about the particular concepts that you intend to use. Once you can start teaching players through the concept principle, then they usually accelerate their process."
2 - What Bleacher Report expects from Bills rookie classEvery team will be looking for the players they picked up last week to make an impact on their roster at some point. When it comes to the players Brandon Beane selected in his first go as a general manager, Bleacher Report made their own expectations for Buffalo's first three picks of the 2018 draft.
Josh Allen:
*He was probably the most polarizing name in the draft, which is what happens when a quarterback who looks like Ben Roethlisberger (6'5", 237 pounds) with a rocket arm completes 56.3 percent of his passes against marginal competition. *
But the arm and upside mean Allen is likely expected to compete for the starting job right away after the Bills made a lateral move in free agency by signing a backup-caliber player in AJ McCarron. If Allen can pull it off, he'll get to work with a somewhat interesting core of *[LeSean McCoy, [Kelvin Benjamin
and [Charles Clay
.*
Tremaine Edmunds:
Seemingly lost in the shuffle is No. 16 pick Tremaine Edmunds, a linebacker who will have to not only come in and start right away but assume a leadership role in the middle of the defense.
Harrison Phillips:
Considered a great value in the third round, defensive tackle Harrison Phillips out of Stanford will join the rotation behind 34-year-old Kyle Williams to bolster the unit so Edmunds' and Co. can go to work.
According to Bleacher Report, the Bills early round draft picks should be making an impact during their rookie season.
3 - NFL power ranks Bills with high potential for growthAccording to the NFL's Elliot Harrison's newest power rankings, the Buffalo Bills are the 20th best team around right now. Whether Bills fans agree or disagree, there are a lot of questions that surround the Bills roster.
Even though Harrison ranked the Bills in the bottom half of the league, he sees a lot of potential on the roster that could prove him wrong.
The Bills' slow lurch downward since the loss to the Jaguars in the Wild Card Round is not indicative of panic-worthy events. Rather, it's a reflection of how strong the team is right now. So, Bills Mafia, if you loved the Josh Allen choice, don't get angry. Because that pick doesn't do much to help the team in Week 1 of the 2018 season. He has an uphill climb ahead of him, although there are plenty of people who enjoy exaggerating that curve. Allen should be accelerating it. *AJ McCarron is also a bit of an unknown, but he has flashed potential. Tremaine Edmunds (Round 1, No. 16) should get on the field rather quickly. By the way: That guy turned 20 on Wednesday. TWENTY. I was driving a Mitsubishi Mighty Max with no power steering and working at Bank One at 20. (Yeah, that place is defunct.)*
It feels almost as if Harrison wants the Bills to prove his low rankings wrong, especially with the excitement he has over the Bills two first-round picks.
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