0:04

Hey there Buffalo Bills

0:06

fans! Welcome

0:23

back to the Bill Leave

0:25

Podcast, a proud and founding

0:27

member of the Buffalo Rumblings

0:30

family of podcasts. My name

0:32

is Jon Bacaccino, being

0:34

joined as I always am by

0:36

my good friend, my colleague, my

0:38

better half, Jamie D'Amico. It

0:40

is great to have Jamie on as we

0:43

have finally turned the corner to draft

0:45

month buddy. It's nice to finally be

0:48

looking ahead and thinking that

0:50

in less than four weeks we'll

0:52

be actually able to analyze what

0:54

Buffalo does in the

0:56

draft. And Jamie, welcome back to the podcast

0:58

buddy. Man, I gotta say, you

1:01

mentioned that I am always with

1:03

you as a... that's

1:05

not true. I sit out

1:07

a number of rounds, but hey,

1:09

thank you for allowing me back

1:11

in the door. Buddy,

1:14

you are the perpetual and

1:16

eternal co-host of this podcast

1:18

and I actually took a couple

1:20

of weeks off myself so we really haven't... we

1:22

didn't record much of Bill Leave in

1:25

March because I don't know, I didn't really have a lot

1:27

to say. Yeah. This

1:30

is the tough struggle, you know, speculative.

1:34

I mean, we talked about the free agency cuts

1:37

that took place and I want

1:39

to be fair to our listeners. I want to

1:42

give you a reason to tune

1:44

in and not just to hear me

1:46

bloviating about some current events

1:49

topic that suits me. Like I want

1:51

to have a purpose with our pods.

1:53

So that's kind of, you know, that and being

1:55

burned out and wanting a couple of weeks off

1:58

led to a little hiatus. But Jamie, even

2:00

when I record without you, you're still always

2:02

there in spirit. Oh, that's

2:04

sweet. I'm thinking how you

2:06

would question and crush some of

2:09

my optimistic leanings. Yes,

2:11

yes, that's what I'm here for,

2:13

to bring the negativity. The

2:16

yin and the yang, my friend, the world

2:18

is a balance, and the

2:20

Baccasino D'Amico Billy podcast range shall

2:23

last a thousand years or something.

2:27

Love it. But it is,

2:29

it's great to have Jamie back on.

2:32

It's great to be talking with you,

2:34

Bill's fans. I wanna encourage you all

2:36

please to get involved with Jamie and

2:38

myself on social media. Jamie is at

2:40

the Jamie D'Amico, and I am at

2:42

John Baccasino. We're good followers,

2:44

we think, on social. We won't fight,

2:46

and we'll definitely make sure to engage

2:48

in some lively discussions.

2:51

And Jamie, this

2:53

week's podcast, I'm excited because our next

2:55

three episodes have been mapped out, which

2:58

is rare for us. We don't normally plan

3:01

much farther ahead than a couple hours before

3:03

a show. But

3:06

the draft, like I mentioned, is coming up at

3:08

the end of this month, and we really wanted

3:10

to start our dive into the

3:12

draft process. And here's what we're gonna get.

3:14

Here's what you can expect over the next

3:17

three Billie episodes. This

3:20

week, we're gonna be talking about the

3:22

offensive prospects that we like as targets

3:24

for the Bills to go after in

3:27

the first two to three rounds.

3:29

Really two, but some of these guys could fall

3:31

to the third round. So we'll say offensive

3:34

prospects that we like, that we think would

3:36

be good fits for the Bills. The

3:39

following episode is going to be the

3:41

counterpoint, the defensive prospects that we are

3:43

enamored with. And then as you've come

3:45

to expect, we are gonna do our,

3:47

I believe this is our third annual

3:50

live believe draft, where we are

3:53

gonna get in the war room,

3:55

play Brandon Bean, wheel, deal, and

3:58

make our draft pick. and

4:00

we want our fans to get involved with each

4:02

and every one of those episodes. Jamie,

4:04

it's really a fun time because I don't

4:06

know about you, but there's

4:09

only so much I can

4:11

handle with mock draft season before. It's

4:13

like, all right, just get to the

4:15

dang draft already. Oh my

4:17

gosh. Yes. Because nowadays with the

4:20

draft simulators, not only are you

4:22

getting mock drafts from every which

4:25

direction, but the other

4:27

thing is we end up falling prey

4:29

to how the individual draft

4:31

simulators ranks players. I've played with them

4:33

enough to know that, you know, in

4:35

the fourth round, these are going to

4:37

be the players that are going to

4:39

be available for me to select. And

4:42

there tends to not be any real

4:44

variance in it. The problem with that

4:46

is these simulators are

4:48

not true to how teams actually

4:50

grade the players. So you'll have

4:52

somebody like, okay, Ivan Pace Jr.

4:55

last year, it looked like he

4:57

was going to be a second round pick. According to

4:59

the draft simulators, he

5:01

wasn't drafted at all. Now granted,

5:03

he ended up starting for Minnesota

5:05

and was a good player. So

5:08

perhaps the NFL had that had

5:10

that player miss

5:12

graded. But the point

5:14

is, we don't know what's

5:16

going on within these scouting departments. So

5:19

it's just a crapshoot as

5:21

to what we're looking at right now. And

5:24

there's another downside to it, which is

5:27

this causes us to fall in love

5:29

or out of love with players. Without

5:32

really spending the time studying

5:34

them, I'm just as

5:36

guilty of that as everyone else,

5:39

really. Well, and you bring

5:41

up a valid point in both

5:43

the over evaluating and over ranking

5:45

of players, because again, as much as

5:47

I was reading an article the other

5:49

day about players whose stock was

5:52

on the rise or fall based on their

5:54

pro days, and that's just such a ludicrous

5:56

premise. And, you know, in my opinion, the only

5:59

way that a player's stock

6:01

should rise or fall without

6:03

games actually being played is

6:05

if you discover something in

6:07

their medicals or, I

6:10

love this, I was listening to one

6:12

of my favorite national sports podcasts and

6:14

they were talking about how scouts, they

6:17

kind of laugh with all the mock drafts that are

6:19

put out there because they'll, you

6:21

can see a highlight of a player.

6:24

I mean, any player can look good

6:26

and should look good in a short

6:28

highlight reel. But if you watch

6:30

the whole game film, that really tells the

6:33

whole story. And obviously Jamie and I

6:35

don't have the time nor the expertise

6:37

to accurately study all these

6:39

prospects. But the scout was saying how one

6:41

of the best ways they used to judge

6:43

a prospect besides the

6:46

measurables and the game tape

6:49

performances was how he

6:51

treated like the equipment manager and

6:53

the locker room guys and the

6:56

parking attendants. I mean, the guys who

6:58

are not the head coach, like he

7:00

wanted to see how he would get

7:02

along with the other staff

7:05

members and administrators and how does he

7:07

treat people. You can really glean a

7:09

lot about whether someone's gonna be

7:11

a head case or they're gonna fit

7:13

in perfectly to your scheme based on

7:16

how they treat people. And I just love that

7:18

because it gave me a glimmer of hope that

7:20

in this cold and calculating business

7:22

that is the NFL, there can still be

7:25

some common sense when it comes to evaluating

7:27

a prospect. Well, it

7:29

is Marv Levy who said talent

7:31

without character cannot win. And

7:34

character can mean a lot of different things, but

7:37

you don't want toxic personalities in a

7:39

locker room because eventually they clash with

7:42

everyone. So yeah, I want somebody who

7:44

treats people well. And I

7:46

mean, isn't that true to life though? It's

7:48

a supply that's in short stock when it

7:51

comes to our humanity. So be nice to

7:53

each other. And Jamie, you lead by example,

7:55

buddy. Oh, thank you. Though

7:57

I don't think I'm anywhere near as nice as.

8:00

you are. I put on a

8:02

good face. Or, you

8:04

know, I could fool you over the microphone, but I try

8:06

to be a good person. And, you know,

8:08

that's the thing with this podcast too, you know,

8:11

we're sitting here, it's fun for

8:13

Jamie and I to get together

8:15

and record Believe, but we are

8:17

recording this podcast on the heels

8:19

of some, you know, pretty seismic

8:21

news. As by now when this

8:23

podcast drops, you'll have known that Stephon Diggs

8:25

was traded away, you know, from the bills

8:28

to the Houston Texans. And I

8:31

don't know, man, I think that

8:33

that whole move is necessitating this

8:35

conversation about the draft, because if

8:37

we had recorded this podcast a

8:39

week earlier, I'm not saying

8:42

it'd be vastly different, but this

8:44

changes things dramatically with

8:46

regards to the prospects

8:48

and the needs that the bills have. Do

8:51

you, does your perspective, I guess,

8:53

on the needs for Buffalo's roster,

8:56

how much did that change with

8:58

the Diggs trade? Well, the interesting

9:00

thing about it is the needs

9:02

didn't change for me. However,

9:05

I received

9:07

a message, a telepathic

9:09

message from Brandon Bean who listens

9:11

to this show. And

9:15

what he told me is we

9:17

are confident that we can get

9:20

a starting caliber receiver in the

9:22

number 28 position. I think

9:25

a lot of bill fans would like to hear that. I

9:29

think they are very confident in what they're

9:31

going to be able to pull out of

9:33

this draft. And if this draft is so

9:35

deep, they may not

9:37

have to even go receiver in the first

9:39

round. Which

9:43

if you think about it, the bills have picked 28

9:46

as is currently constituted and

9:48

pick 60. And It's interesting

9:50

that in the whole time that Brandon Bean

9:53

has been calling the draft shots in Buffalo,

9:55

the Bills have never taken a wide receiver

9:57

on day one or the day one. The

10:00

To. But. You're right, this

10:02

draft class. I mean, there's so many

10:04

sick receivers who could come in and

10:07

really contribute. you know, right away arm

10:09

that the Bills? Either The Bills were

10:11

going to take a wide receiver or

10:13

two. Before. The

10:16

Digs deal and now it's like, well, maybe

10:18

they could take three. I mean, as with

10:20

with eleven draft picks and such a deep

10:22

breath class, you know you're you're You're almost

10:24

like you need to go out there in

10:26

just test the limits and see what kind

10:28

of. Receivers. You can get

10:31

soaked. With that being said, Jamie let's

10:33

get a dive into our our topic

10:35

here and I will give you the

10:37

honor of leading off. We're going to

10:39

nominate a bunch of our players that

10:41

we have like crosses on that are

10:43

often says prospects Jamie who is your

10:46

top prospect that you are crush and

10:48

on on the opposite side of the

10:50

ball. Okay I I have to go

10:52

with. Added. I mutual a

10:54

D. Mitchell from Texas. Six.

10:57

To. Two hundred five

10:59

pounds. He has thirty two

11:01

inch arms. He ran the

11:03

forty yard-in four point three

11:05

four seconds is vertical leap

11:08

at six to was almost

11:10

forty inches. Holy.

11:12

God this guy is long, he's

11:14

lean, he can move, his split

11:16

times are decent on top of

11:19

it. So I feel like this

11:21

is a guy who has a

11:23

chance to be a very good

11:25

receiver in the Nfl and also

11:28

as like his hands, he seems

11:30

to catch the ball. very fluid.

11:32

Lee and naturally I've lobby the

11:34

Mitchell and if he ends up

11:36

being available at the number twenty

11:39

picks I want that one. Yeah.

11:42

I think A D R A.a Mitchell

11:44

could definitely be. I mean, he should

11:46

be available on at peak twenty eight.

11:49

There's a lot of similarities, you know,

11:51

to what. I think stuff

11:53

on digs brought to this team

11:55

on that Mitchell brings as well

11:57

I'm he's incredibly acrobatic on. Before

12:00

you know he even mention his measurable and

12:02

some of his Us numbers. It really jump

12:04

off the charts that you he's a quick

12:07

move or he's got great breaks in a

12:09

lot of his route running abilities arm. He's

12:11

a really high catch point to and I

12:13

feel like he's somebody who I don't know

12:15

if he's going to last to pay twenty

12:18

eight. Nobody knows what's really going to happen

12:20

on on draft day, but I think if

12:22

the bills go after this guy, the above

12:24

the rim receiver who can really high point

12:27

the ball well I think he might make

12:29

Bill Saints forget. That Digs is no longer on

12:31

the team. I I I

12:33

think that's true. You know the guy

12:35

is a. He's a

12:37

fluid mover. v Concerns about him

12:40

is that he doesn't attack the

12:42

ball in the air so he

12:45

could be better against at with

12:47

contest catches bites. It seems to

12:49

me that with this Bills offense

12:52

they need guys who can get

12:54

themselves opened against man to man

12:57

coverage because. What

12:59

I'm hearing: his Joe Brady does not

13:01

scheme. people open very well. So.

13:04

I. Think that A D.

13:06

Mitchell is a guy who can probably

13:09

win With size you can win was

13:11

quakes and he's a dude who can.

13:14

Show. Himself to the quarterback

13:16

regularly. Yeah, I

13:18

think the bills and you mention some

13:20

valid points against him enough. since I

13:22

want to preface all of this conversation

13:24

like I kind of alluded to earlier

13:26

that day Mean, I like every episode

13:28

we do. We bring you a fan

13:30

perspective. You know we're not out there

13:33

like Been Bruegel are. Breaking. Down

13:35

Dean film consistently you know, Knighted

13:37

in Night Alpha Jamie brought up

13:39

some really good concerns that the

13:41

Bills my have about last Edi

13:43

missile and that's why for for

13:45

my exercise see me I had

13:47

a missile a somebody I liked

13:49

but I'm not. A match

13:51

and hammered with a not smith enough. It.

13:54

depends on the value of where he is and

13:56

if he makes it's it's when he ate i

13:58

wouldn't have any issue with the Bills taking him.

14:01

But for my first guy I'm going to

14:03

toss out there, he's someone I am

14:06

absolutely in love with, an offensive prospect

14:08

that would be a game changer, and

14:10

I say his name knowing

14:12

that the Bills are going to have to trade

14:14

up to get him. I know where you're going.

14:16

All right buddy, spill the

14:19

beans. Who is my guy? Brian

14:21

Thomas Jr. Bing, bing, bing, bing,

14:23

bing, that was talented wide receiver.

14:25

And I say this because and

14:27

I say this with even more

14:29

conviction now that the Bills have

14:31

that second rounder in next year's

14:33

draft as a result of the

14:35

Diggs trade to Houston. I'm

14:38

Brandon Bing right now. What I want

14:40

with my first round pick is I

14:43

know this is a very deep wide

14:45

receiver class. And when

14:47

you talk to the experts out there, when you

14:49

read the opinions, they'll tell you that this class

14:51

easily goes 15, 16, 17 deep

14:54

who are going to be really good players

14:58

in the NFL. But

15:00

there's only two or three that

15:03

are supposed to be game changers,

15:05

game breakers, difference makers at the wide receiver

15:08

spot. And you're not going to be able

15:10

to trade up high enough to get

15:12

Marvin Harrison Jr. You're

15:14

not going to be able to

15:16

trade up high enough to get

15:18

anybody above him, you know, Romeo,

15:20

Adunze from Washington, Malik

15:23

neighbors, the LSU teammate, it's going to cost

15:25

the Kings ransom to move up to get

15:27

them. I think Brian

15:29

Thomas Jr. is that guy who

15:31

if you're going to make a

15:33

move up for a difference maker,

15:35

this is the guy you do it for.

15:38

And it's not just because he led all

15:40

of football in touchdown receptions last year with

15:42

17. He is really

15:45

in the spread

15:47

offense that LSU ran. That

15:49

translates very well to what I think the Buffalo

15:51

Bills can operate out of

15:53

with the bills don't need slot

15:55

receiver help, they need help in

15:57

the X position. They need help.

15:59

help in the boundary wide receiver

16:02

positions. And you look at

16:04

what Brian Thomas Jr. brings, he's

16:07

incredibly athletic, he's tall at over

16:09

six foot three, he

16:12

can outrun a lot of the

16:14

speedster cornerbacks that he went up

16:16

against. His catch rate is phenomenal

16:18

and he has fantastic yards after

16:21

the catch ability. He's an outstandingly

16:23

already polished wide receiver option. I

16:25

think to me, Jamie, depending what

16:27

the price is, I'm willing to

16:29

trade up dramatically into, let's

16:31

say it might take you going up

16:33

into 15, 16, 17 range to

16:37

get Thomas, but sign me up every day of the

16:39

week. In a TikTok video that

16:42

I saw today, Thank you for bringing this

16:44

up. The Leake Neighbors was

16:47

asked where Brian Thomas Jr. was gonna go

16:49

and the Leake Neighbors said, oh, he's gonna

16:51

be a Buffalo Bill. So

16:53

obviously there have been conversations had,

16:56

I'm willing to bet that the

16:58

Buffalo Bills told Brian Thomas Jr.,

17:00

hey, we are going to trade up

17:02

for you. I

17:05

would love everything about that if that comes

17:07

true because you clearly just heard me gushing

17:09

Jamie, I could go on for 20 minutes about

17:12

Brian Thomas and how much I am enamored

17:14

with him. Is there anything that concerns you

17:16

about him? Yes, and it's

17:18

only because of personal experience, but when

17:20

I look at film of Brian Thomas

17:23

Jr. when he's making

17:25

receptions, that

17:27

route tree has been one route

17:30

every single time. It's been a nine.

17:33

It's been him just running straight down

17:35

the field, past the defensive back. I

17:37

haven't seen his ability to get open

17:40

in short to medium

17:43

routes. That's all. Yeah,

17:46

that's again, it's a fair point. And I should have

17:48

mentioned with the route tree,

17:50

yeah, he could use some improvement with

17:52

those crossing patterns, but I don't

17:54

know how much the Bills are going to ask him in

17:57

their offense with Curtis Samuel and with Khalil

17:59

Shaqif. Year and whoever else and of

18:01

drafting on. I feel like with the development

18:03

that Thomas has he can learn he can

18:06

be calm. A I don't think this is

18:08

a version essentially of Gay Davis. To point

18:10

out, I want him when that out there.

18:12

For the record I want to give to

18:14

worry about. Thomas. Not developing

18:16

the route running skills that Davis

18:19

really kind of lacked in his

18:21

time with Buffalo and. Got.

18:24

It I I once again you have

18:26

convinced me that this is the way

18:28

to go. I get on very malleable

18:31

when it comes to our conversations. It

18:33

is so common for you to convince

18:35

me of something I'd otherwise didn't police

18:37

assistance or asked if it's well you

18:40

know I. I appreciate the the compliments

18:42

and and I just try to bring

18:44

some. The of these are just little

18:46

thoughts I have and none of these

18:49

and even Marvin Harrison is not up.

18:51

A perfectly polished. Product. At

18:53

the wide receiver spot and every one of

18:55

these receivers has a small thing or two

18:57

they can work on. I just love. The

19:00

price. Point and the bang for the buck

19:02

that it would take to go up and get

19:04

Brian Thomas. I would like to as I would

19:06

like to ask a question here though. Yeah.

19:09

Of course everybody has gushed about

19:11

what a great receiver class this

19:13

is is owed. Sort of the

19:15

best in years and on and

19:17

on and on. Well the we

19:19

have heard this in the past

19:21

it with other position groups I'm

19:23

thinking of the twenty twenty one

19:25

quarterback class in which five to

19:27

bees were drafted in the first

19:29

round. Specially. Bred up in

19:31

the top ten. And only one of

19:33

them remains on the team that selected.

19:35

And because the rest of Flamed Out

19:37

is this. With what I

19:39

guess what is the possibility that we

19:42

end up looking at this class and

19:44

say and while everybody really misjudged loves.

19:48

I think you're more likely

19:50

to see. Receivers drafted

19:52

in like the third and fourth

19:54

round may be outperforming. some of

19:56

the receivers who are selected at

19:58

the end the first or the

20:00

second round. I'm kind of thinking

20:02

of guys like. Either. Dot

20:04

there's There's some big names up

20:06

there that are being bandied about.

20:08

You know, like the Bills and

20:11

Fry Franklin or the Bills with

20:13

Xavier are worthy. You know some

20:15

of the smaller receivers out there.

20:17

They might get outperformed by guys

20:19

like Zealand Poll. On

20:21

or guys like Malik I Corley.

20:24

I think that's where this wide

20:26

receiver position gets confusing because the

20:28

guys at the back the fifteen

20:30

to twenty range might outperform and be

20:32

better value pics then the reaches

20:34

the guys who again or more

20:36

gifted physically but maybe don't have that

20:38

route running ability, arm as some

20:40

of the other options. That's kind of

20:43

where I think you might see

20:45

some discrepancy in the draft class. God

20:47

it's well that leads me to

20:49

the next person on my list

20:51

of. Players that I would be happy

20:53

with the Bills drafting it latest round

20:55

one. Center.

20:58

Jackson Powers Johnson from Oregon.

21:00

Now I do here is that

21:02

the media is higher on this

21:05

guy. Van and a file scouts

21:07

are. However, Everything. I've seen

21:09

from him. He has. He reads our.

21:12

But. Can move. The. Guy

21:14

can he can play center or

21:16

guard in both a. Man.

21:19

Or gap blocking seen scheme Also

21:22

he couldn't he says zone blocker.

21:24

He can basically do anything you

21:27

ask of him and the. Is

21:30

the number of videos I've seen

21:32

of him pancake in people and

21:34

playing with these fears nasty attitude

21:36

Makes me want to sign up

21:38

for this guy because when the

21:40

Bills improved their often sublime this

21:42

past season we saw a tremendous

21:44

dividends right out of the gates.

21:46

And I don't know is I'm

21:48

sold on David Edwards as of

21:50

yet. But. it's the

21:52

kind of thing where and my

21:54

buddy big newt says this all

21:56

the time you usually don't miss

21:58

on offensive line prospects because If

22:00

you're a good blocker, you're a good

22:02

blocker and that translates. Yeah,

22:05

I think you're absolutely right. And that's where I'm

22:08

glad you brought up JPJ. I want to dive into him a

22:10

little bit here too, because he actually was one of my He

22:13

was my to give our audience some background on this.

22:15

I only came into this exercise with

22:18

three positions targeting

22:20

and their wide receiver guard center

22:23

and tackle I think the Bills need to

22:26

heavily invest this draft in the interior of

22:28

their offensive line and their wide receiver position

22:30

and i'd like to see a tackle brought

22:33

in as well. And for everything

22:35

that Jamie mentioned the David Edwards Experiment

22:38

moving to left guard you're taking connor

22:40

govern to center a position. He's played

22:42

very sparingly I think he

22:44

has 18 snaps in the nfl

22:47

at center So this interior is

22:49

a sneaky area of need for

22:51

the Buffalo Bills and JPJ Man,

22:54

he is phenomenal as a prospect. I

22:56

mean I I wouldn't be upset at

22:58

all if Buffalo goes in and takes

23:00

him At 28. He's such

23:02

an established player in the trenches. He

23:05

was a star at the senior bowl

23:07

He's a great combo of agility and size

23:10

Jamie. This guy is 334

23:13

pounds and he excels at downhill blocking.

23:15

Imagine some of the pin and pull

23:18

Schemes that Aaron Cromer could execute

23:21

having a behemoth like JPJ on

23:23

this team yeah,

23:25

and That would make

23:27

him at his size one of the biggest centers

23:29

in the history of the nfl imagine

23:32

that The Bills could

23:34

be revolutionary if they bring in uh, Jackson

23:36

Powers Johnson the center out of Oregon. I

23:38

like him a lot Jamie, um, I feel

23:40

like you're right though, too Blocking

23:42

carries over blocking is not something

23:44

that has to travel, you know

23:47

with you It's about ethic work

23:49

ethic and it's about agility and

23:51

footwork And I think that it's

23:53

you never go wrong It's not a sexy pick

23:56

but Man the bills with this wide receiver

23:58

class being as deep as it is. A

24:00

Why not hit at a position that might

24:02

be a little scarcer to find a like

24:04

the interior of the O line? A

24:07

buddy. Well I

24:09

will give you total credit for Dpj. Ah

24:11

is you mentioned him first that he obviously

24:14

someone that you ever. Done.

24:16

Good research on he's he's listed as

24:18

a sensor according to a lot of

24:20

the draft prospects sites, but he honestly

24:22

Jamie could move to one of our

24:24

the guard spot to. I'm like you

24:26

know, He I think he's

24:28

gonna play as a center but he

24:30

also could rotate around. He's got the

24:32

flexibility on to be a sensor, aura

24:34

guard or in a zone or a

24:36

man gap blocking concepts. I think he

24:39

got some flexibility and we know that

24:41

the Bills love the versatility when it

24:43

comes to their cause when it comes

24:45

to their lineman on both sides of

24:47

the ball. Yes, They definitely do.

24:49

And death, Yes, a Gp Day is

24:51

a really solid interior office of lineman

24:53

candidates. The guy I'm going to mention

24:55

next see me as someone who is

24:57

not. A. Guy wants the bills to

24:59

teach at pick twenty eight but I

25:02

feel like he be a good day

25:04

to. Contributor and he's also

25:06

on the interior, the offensive line

25:08

and he has got his area

25:11

of expertise that is really tugs

25:13

at Sonic Durham. It's heartstrings, Your

25:16

I'm going with this one, I don't. Guards

25:19

that Fraser out of

25:21

West Virginia. Oh yeah.

25:24

And. You know why it's his his

25:26

his skills are phenomenal on he's

25:29

a really he could be a

25:31

sensor arm a center. He's versatile

25:33

and schemes he can contribute to.

25:35

But before I rattle off one

25:37

I like about his measurable that

25:39

Fraser they for time West Virginia

25:41

High School State Wrestling champion. We

25:46

know Mcdermott loves his wrestlers and

25:48

I'm saying that tongue in cheek

25:50

because clearly you don't draft somebody.

25:52

picks sixty solely because. There. are

25:55

wrestler but it shows victor i'm

25:57

it makes the character that is

25:59

this played by these wrestlers. And

26:01

then you factor in that of

26:04

all the snaps that Frazier took

26:06

at West Virginia as a three-time

26:08

captain, he allowed zero

26:10

sacks and was second team

26:12

All-American last year, his pressure

26:14

rate against 1.1%. He's

26:19

got a phenomenal combination of

26:21

athleticism, footwork and

26:23

agility and strength. And

26:26

for when you're talking about the interior of

26:28

the offensive line, you want someone who

26:30

is a versatile guy who can recognize

26:32

and excel in the different schemes out

26:34

there. I think Zach Frazier is a

26:36

phenomenal addition in day two. I

26:39

agree with that. I absolutely agree with

26:42

that. I've seen, I've seen highlights of

26:44

him. I can't say watched film with

26:46

him. And I love what I see.

26:48

Same sort of things that we said

26:50

about JPJ, the agility,

26:53

the power, the nasty

26:55

streak, it's all there. And

26:57

the way the NFL is going is

27:02

defenses are sending pressure packages up the

27:04

middle. I am becoming

27:06

a stronger and stronger believer that you build your

27:09

offensive line from the center out. And

27:11

with the bills having locked up

27:14

Deon Dawkins for the foreseeable future,

27:17

I did, it seems like there's not a lot

27:19

of need on that offensive line right now, but

27:21

if you can level up, well,

27:24

I'm all for it. And I think that would be

27:26

a great selection on day two. Thanks

27:28

buddy. Trying to speculate on some realistic

27:31

prospects out there that the bills

27:33

could go after. Hi,

27:40

this is Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU

27:42

Stern School of Business and host of the Prof

27:44

G-Pod. If you don't know me,

27:46

the New York Times calls me the Howard Stern

27:49

of Business, Garrett Swisher, super

27:51

frigging insightful in Elon Musk and

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27:55

think we're gonna make up. I think we're gonna go somewhere

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and do ketamine together. Each week on my show. the

28:00

Prop G Pod. We bring you insights from

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28:04

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of cereal. Is it a tasty sugary snack?

28:37

Nope. It's the dog.

28:41

So we've each given you two of our

28:43

candidates that we like on the offensive side

28:45

of the ball. Jamie, let's try to do

28:47

a little bit more of a lightning round

28:49

with our next, we're going to be at

28:52

five players total, roughly, for prospects

28:54

that we like on the offensive side of the

28:56

ball. Who do you want to go to next?

28:59

I would like to go with Lad McConkie.

29:02

And I'll tell you why with a caveat.

29:05

This is under the assumption that the bills

29:07

are going to add an X or

29:10

a boundary receiver, sometime

29:12

before or after the draft, because Lad

29:15

McConkie is not going to be a

29:17

jump ball type of receiver. But according

29:19

to Greg Cosell, he's a plug and play

29:22

kind of player. And outside of the

29:24

top three, Greg Cosell

29:26

thinks that McConkie is going to be the

29:28

one who's the most ready on day one.

29:30

And hey, that's not a bad thing, right?

29:33

That is definitely not a bad thing, especially

29:35

again, with digs, you know, being gone. If

29:37

the bills I'm telling you right now, Jamie,

29:40

the bills are going to draft, in my

29:42

opinion, two, maybe

29:44

three, who knows maybe four wide receivers

29:46

with their probably not four, but I

29:49

can see Brandon Bean taking two or

29:51

three wide receivers from this class to

29:53

add to the receiver room. Lad

29:56

McConkie, it's an interesting case because we

29:58

talked about the route running a bill. of

30:01

Brian Thomas and AD Mitchell.

30:03

I think McConkie of all the runners out

30:06

there has the best route running skills of

30:08

any receiver in the class. Yes,

30:11

absolutely. It just seems like he's

30:13

open no matter what and he

30:15

just confuses the hell

30:17

out of defensive backs.

30:20

Steve Tasker was talking about him

30:23

yesterday. It's like he places the

30:25

defender. They talk about that apparently.

30:28

You put the defender in one place

30:30

while you are elsewhere. It's

30:33

kind of a funny concept, but you see it in this

30:35

guy's game all the time. I

30:37

like that pick. I like the addition of McConkie.

30:41

I don't know. I love, you'll

30:44

get exactly what I'm saying when I say this.

30:47

I love the player comps

30:50

for lad McConkie and how they reference

30:52

his work ethic and he's quicker and

30:54

faster than you think he would be.

30:57

No, the guy is just a darn good wide receiver

30:59

and if the Bills go off there and get McConkie,

31:01

I think he'd be a value add for sure. Cool.

31:05

Where are you going next, buddy? I'm also

31:07

sticking with the wide receiver position, but this

31:09

is somebody I think that's not gonna be

31:11

a number 28 pick. I

31:14

think it's someone in the Bills would go after in

31:17

the second round of

31:19

the draft, but for me, the guy

31:21

I'm hyping up big time is Xavier

31:23

Laguette out of South Carolina. Love

31:26

it. So what I like about

31:28

him, he's got that prototypical size speed

31:31

combination that you're looking for out of

31:33

a wide receiver. He's more than, he's

31:35

six foot one, 221. There's

31:38

legit breakout potential around Laguette.

31:41

There are some questions too

31:43

about his abilities. He

31:45

doesn't have the best route running

31:48

talents of some of the receivers that

31:50

we mentioned at the very top of

31:52

the class, but his athleticism is intriguing.

31:54

So is the blend of size and

31:56

speed. His instincts are really

31:58

good on the field. And I feel

32:01

like when you you talked about the

32:03

freight train Prospect of

32:05

somebody who is an athletic wide

32:07

receiver gaining yards after the catch

32:09

in spades I think Xavier

32:12

Legette could really be that guy. He's built

32:14

like a linebacker He's quick

32:17

quicker than your typical linebacker might be and

32:19

he's athletic. I can go up and

32:21

get the ball He does need work

32:23

again on the route running tendencies But

32:26

man, this guy could be a real

32:28

solid potential ad for the bills early

32:31

to mid second round I'm thinking I

32:34

I like him a lot and

32:36

I think you're dead on

32:38

if you weren't going to select him next I

32:40

was going to because I

32:42

I just think that the guy has a world

32:44

of potential and you know, there's

32:48

There's not a lot of people that come

32:50

out of college Ready when it

32:52

comes to technique in the NFL. These

32:55

are people that can get coached up if you

32:57

get coached up Well, you

32:59

you could be good now. It kind of

33:01

comes down to what is his makeup? Is

33:03

he coachable like we've seen Josh Allen be?

33:07

You know, that's I hear good things about

33:09

him and I think he's gonna end up being a good

33:11

player and one of the things

33:13

Jamie I want to mention too is the fact

33:15

that what's one area that the bills? Really

33:18

were lacking in from their receivers

33:20

last year. Well size

33:23

and deep ability Correct

33:25

the ability to make contested catches

33:28

and that's really what I think

33:30

Xavier Laguette would bring to the

33:32

table He's got great tackle

33:35

breaking abilities. He's great in catching

33:37

passes in traffic So for me

33:39

Xavier Laguette is my third Offensive

33:42

player that I am crushing on who is

33:44

your next one buddy got two left sticking

33:47

with wide receiver I'm going with Roman

33:49

Wilson of Michigan and You

33:52

know according to pro football focus what they write

33:54

about him is in a different class Wilson

33:57

would be much higher on

33:59

the rankings. He

34:01

not only brings NFL level speed

34:03

but also NFL level determination at

34:05

the catchpoint and when blocking.

34:07

We know that the bills like their

34:10

their downfield blocking. So at 192 pounds

34:13

at six feet tall, he's got a

34:15

thick frame for a receiver. And it's

34:17

interesting because the size of receivers seem

34:19

to be going in the other direction.

34:22

But this guy is he's solidly

34:25

built. And he to

34:28

me has the ability to be a

34:30

receiver who can get himself open and

34:33

whoever selects him is going to look

34:36

back on the 2024 season

34:38

and say wow this guy really had

34:40

a lot of receptions. Is

34:44

there any wild card anything you're concerned with about

34:46

him? Yeah,

34:50

he kind of looks to me like

34:53

he's going to be more of a.

34:55

At times

34:57

he looks like he's going to be more

35:00

of a role player than an

35:02

alpha like number one receiver. But

35:06

I don't know enough about him to have

35:09

picked that apart completely. I was

35:12

just curious because I think it's a valid exercise

35:14

to go through for us and mention

35:16

both are you know that the players we like

35:18

and then if there is any sort of you

35:20

know draw back to them. So I appreciate your

35:22

honesty on that one. Yeah, yeah.

35:25

I'm here to tell the truth buddy. Well

35:29

for me, my fourth one, my fifth one

35:31

is going to be another wide receiver. I

35:33

don't want to bore our audience with all

35:35

this wide receiver talk back to back to

35:37

back. So spoiler alert, my last one is

35:39

also a wide out. My next one I'm

35:41

going to bring up to you. I don't

35:43

necessarily know Jamie where you

35:46

would have to go to get this

35:48

guy. I'm not sure. I'm pretty

35:50

sure he would be a second round selection.

35:52

You might have to go up and get

35:55

him at the end of the first round.

35:57

But I really like Tyler Guyton, the offensive

35:59

tackle. The Oklahoma had a feeling you're

36:01

gonna go there cause that was going to

36:04

be my next one hundred. We think alike

36:06

sometimes more often than not. And

36:08

I were. Always on the same wavelength of these types

36:10

of. Discussions. Here and what

36:12

I like about Titan is again he

36:15

you. When you're talking about the offer

36:17

to tackle position you wanna find your

36:19

measurable as you want to find the

36:21

blocking skills that will carry over. but

36:24

you also want to look at the

36:26

intangibles and this guy is six Eat.

36:28

Three. Twenty Two, But he is

36:31

so glued with his movements and

36:33

yet he can punch you in

36:35

the face use an explosive blocker.

36:37

He's really good on the polls

36:39

and the trap. please. I think

36:42

Guyton will be a really intriguing

36:44

prospect if the Bills were due

36:46

again. Get him and like be

36:48

early to mid second round. Eyes

36:50

that raw by high potential highest

36:52

lettuces. I'm for an offensive tackle.

36:55

Is. One of the absolute most

36:57

athletic offensive linemen out there. And

37:00

we know the Bills are really

37:02

looking at raw, athletic score and

37:04

legs when it comes to their

37:07

tackles these days, So he's very

37:09

much in the Spencer Brown more

37:11

there. Except he's far more polished

37:14

than Spencer Brown was coming out

37:16

of college, so I I really

37:18

like it. I think that. He

37:21

is the Anglican the.com cade of

37:23

tackles because of how smooth he

37:25

moves out there are. He does

37:27

have some negatives in the run

37:29

game though the you would as

37:31

you can imagine a player of

37:33

his height. Dirt. As

37:36

times he allows defenders to get under

37:39

his pad level, which you know when

37:41

it comes to leverage, that's never good

37:43

thing. but when it comes to pass

37:46

blocking. Those. Long arms that

37:48

he has, They certainly work in his

37:50

favor. and i believe

37:52

titans one of the guys who is already

37:54

i think he played it's three forty or

37:57

at one point so he's already said eighteen

37:59

plus pounds Maybe he can continue losing

38:01

the weight become a little more of a

38:04

better run blocker I I'll tell you this if

38:06

you're gonna come to a team to learn

38:09

how to become a better run blocker Aaron

38:11

Cromer is a great place to start as

38:13

far as a coaching role model Yep,

38:16

I'm a hundred percent on board

38:19

with that All

38:22

right Jamie who is your last one

38:24

round out our podcast who is your

38:26

fifth offensive prospect, okay This

38:29

might surprise you a little bit. It's a receiver what?

38:32

Yep, I have Keon Coleman

38:35

Okay, and the reason I've Keon Coleman

38:37

despite his terrible testing numbers when it

38:40

comes to like the 40 yard dash

38:43

his play speed and they measured him

38:45

when he was running the gauntlet at

38:47

the At

38:49

the combine he was running the

38:51

gauntlet at over 20 miles per hour players

38:55

that were Two three

38:57

tenths of a second faster than

38:59

him. We're going slower on that

39:02

drill that is That

39:04

is play speed and that's

39:06

what's important and he's a

39:09

tremendous all-around athlete. He's he's

39:11

got leaping ability his

39:14

agility is Decent

39:16

his route tree is pretty good. The

39:19

one issue that he's going to have

39:21

is He doesn't

39:23

separate real well So

39:25

he's going to end up being the kind of

39:28

player who You

39:30

have to throw to when he's covered because

39:32

he has the ability to fight defenders for

39:34

the ball Now is that something that the

39:36

bills are comfortable with that? I'm not sure

39:40

but the lack of Separation means that if

39:42

the bills aren't into that which it

39:44

doesn't seem like they are they may pass

39:47

on him But he could still be a

39:49

good player It's

39:51

really hard to argue with Keon Coleman his

39:54

just his freaky Ball

39:56

handling skills again. He's he's

39:59

one of those catch guys who

40:01

is big and physical and go up

40:03

and come down, you know, with the

40:05

play. He's incredibly fast. You mentioned the

40:07

game speed abilities. Where do you

40:09

think a guy like Keon Coleman would have to

40:11

get selected to find his way to Buffalo? I

40:15

think it would end up having to be third round. Third

40:18

round? So you're not, you're not thinking he

40:20

would be available or selected even before, even

40:23

on day high second round pick?

40:27

I don't think he would be a high second round pick.

40:29

No, he's going to be end of second. Okay.

40:34

Well, Jamie, you mentioned another wide receiver and I told

40:36

you I'm going to tease you with a wide receiver

40:38

as my fifth and

40:40

final offensive prospect. My guy is also,

40:42

I think he's not as

40:45

highly viewed as Keon Coleman, but

40:47

I think his potential and his

40:49

reliable production would make him a

40:51

really good number two wide receiver

40:53

in the league. I'm going with

40:56

Jalen Polk out of Washington. Hmm.

40:58

Okay. And here's why I

41:00

like Jalen Polk. I think he's gonna fall

41:02

further down the draft board than some of

41:05

your more hyped wide receivers because Romeo Adunze

41:07

is the one who drew all the attention

41:09

and all the love catching the deep balls

41:12

from Michael Pennicks Jr. Well

41:14

Polk, last year 69 passes, 1,519 yards,

41:16

nine touchdowns. Those are incredibly

41:21

impressive numbers and he's six foot

41:24

two, 2-0-4. He could eventually be

41:27

a wide receiver one on an

41:29

offense, but I think he's a really

41:32

solid number two wide receiver option. He

41:35

again has that really unbelievable

41:37

vertical ability. He's great at going

41:39

up and getting the ball in

41:41

traffic, coming down with big catches

41:44

when he's faced against physical corners.

41:46

He can separate on his own.

41:48

He's not the best

41:50

athlete and he's not as explosive as

41:53

my other two wide receiver picks I

41:55

mentioned, but I think he's really able

41:57

to get separation in spite of... that

42:00

and his route running is pretty darn solid.

42:02

So I will say Jaylen Polk is my

42:04

fifth and final offensive prospect that I am

42:07

enamored with. Great. And

42:09

you know, when it comes to the second

42:11

round, I want to give an honorable mention

42:13

of Jevon Baker from Central Florida. I think

42:15

he looks good, but I have to tell

42:18

you a couple of

42:20

players that I would

42:23

probably warn people about. Yeah.

42:25

Who is who is your

42:27

red flag? Stay away

42:29

from prospect or two. Yes.

42:32

Two, Xavier Worthy, all

42:35

worldly speed, but

42:38

does he have anything other than the

42:40

speed? And the other

42:42

one is Troy. What's

42:46

his last name? Oh,

42:49

Franklin. Yeah, Troy Franklin. Thank you

42:51

very much. Yeah. I,

42:54

man, watching him at the combine, he's

42:56

not a natural catch. He doesn't catch

42:59

the ball naturally. And

43:01

if you're a receiver, your number

43:03

one job is to catch the ball

43:05

and he just doesn't look like it.

43:08

It's something he's going to do well. Yeah,

43:11

Franklin, Franklin kind of concerns me. I

43:15

don't know, there's a couple of guys and

43:17

Xavier, Xavier Worthy, if

43:20

the bills didn't already have Khalil

43:22

Shakir and Curtis Samuel,

43:24

I would maybe give Worthy a

43:26

little bit of a longer look,

43:28

but the bills don't need three

43:30

of the same slot type receivers.

43:33

It's a lineup for Josh Allen to throw

43:35

the ball to. So I'm a little skeptical

43:37

of his abilities out there. I would say

43:40

that definitely put a red

43:42

flag up between before drafting Xavier Worthy, especially

43:44

with some of the way these mocks are

43:46

going with him going towards the end of

43:48

the first early second. I think that's

43:50

a bit of an overreach in my

43:53

estimation. Somebody's going to draft him way

43:55

too high because of that speed. Remember

43:59

John Ross? Do I ever? I'm

44:03

not saying that worthy is the next John

44:05

Ross, but you know the

44:07

late Al Davis used to love to

44:09

draft players solely based on speed. I

44:12

would have loved to see how he

44:14

would have overreacted to Xavier Worthy's. Again

44:16

he's incredibly fast, but being fast doesn't

44:18

mean you actually can catch the ball

44:20

and make plays afterwards. So I would

44:23

caution Bills fans not fall

44:25

in love with Xavier Worthy. One

44:27

other player Jamie, real quick I want

44:29

to mention again for someone who

44:31

I think the Bills might want to do some

44:33

homework on in the second

44:36

round potentially. Maybe he's more beginning

44:38

of the second round, but do

44:40

your research on Graham Barton from

44:42

Duke. I think he could be

44:44

a really versatile, again he's a

44:46

center whose physical he's 6'5",

44:49

3'13". He has everything you want

44:51

to look for in a guy to

44:53

lead and anchor the offensive line.

44:56

Definitely worth doing your homework on Graham Barton

44:58

as well. Okay. Well

45:01

Bills fans we've given you, gosh we've

45:03

been doing this for 45 minutes and

45:05

we've had fun every step of

45:08

the way. We want to hear your feedback.

45:10

What are your thoughts on the Bills prospects

45:12

we mentioned and who are some of the

45:14

offensive players you're enamored with heading

45:16

into the draft. Jamie is at

45:18

the Jamie D'Amico and I am

45:20

at John Boccasino. We'll be back

45:22

next week doing the defensive prospects

45:24

we love here on Bill Leave,

45:26

a Buffalo Bills fan podcast.