Buffalo Bills Mock Draft 1.0 By Gregory Kowalczyk The drought is over. Read it one more time; ‘The drought is over’ after 17 long years the Buffalo Bills reached the playoffs. The Bills were actually allowed to participate in the post-season with the big- boys; they were finally invited to the adult table at Thanksgiving. What an exciting time to be a millennial Bills fan, or a fan that didn’t grow up in the heart of the 90’s. The 2018 NFL draft in Arlington, TX is set to take place April 26th-28th at AT&T Stadium; home of the Dallas Cowboys. The Bills will enter the draft with tons of excitement; not only internally within the fan base, but outside as many members of the media will be following what Buffalo decides to do with their array of draft selections. The Bills will enter the draft with a lot of ammunition and flexibility including 6 draft selections within the top 96. It’ll be no surprise when the Bills trade up to get their guy. The current draft selections currently are listed below. Bills 2018 draft picks: Round 1 - 12 (from Cincinnati) Round 1 - 22 (from Kansas City) Round 2 - 53 Round 2 - 56 (from LA Rams) Round 3 - 65 (from Cleveland) Round 3 - 96 (from Philadelphia) Round 4 - 121 Round 5 - 166 (from Jacksonville) Round 6 - 187 (from Cincinnati) The Buffalo Bills finished the 2017 season at 9-7 with a wildcard loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars 10-3. Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott preached ‘trust the process’ and it was hard to follow the coach-speak that was being spewed out by One Bills Drive, where the Bills wanted to win now and also the future. Culture is a big word that’s debated in the sports world, whether it matters or not can be debated forever. When a team wins, they are said to have great culture and room, when they don’t, they need to create a winning culture. It goes hand in hand, however the Buffalo Bills may have proved the 2017 change in culture was vital to their success. Letting go of talented, high draft selections like Stephon Gilmore, Sammy Watkins, and Marcel Dareus and rotating in team players and relying on leaders to bring the group together; the Bills did just that. The Bills created a foundation, which will be built upon and it makes it a hell of a lot easier for guys to buy into a first year head coach and GM tandem helping end the playoff drought. The Bills entered the 2018 offseason with some holes like most teams and some tough decisions to make. The Tyrod Taylor decision came first. With a 6 million roster bonus set to take place in early March the Bills made it clear they’d pick up that option and hinted at shopping Taylor. The Browns stepped up to the plate and offered the Bills the 65th pick for Tyrod Taylor before the Bills had to decide on the 6 million dollar option. Taylor’s salary was reasonable at 16 million a season proving to be middle of the pack, perfect bridge option for the Browns. The Browns beat out the Broncos and Cardinals reportedly in offering the first pick in the third round. At the time the Bills only had Nathan Peterman on the roster who the coaching staff is high on but many Bills fans just keep replaying the five first-half interceptions in the Chargers game last season which luckily didn’t cost the Bills a playoff spot or McDermott would still be answering questions for that questionable coaching decision to bench Taylor amidst a playoff chase. The Bills then packaged offensive tackle Cordy Glenn, the 21st overall pick and a 5th rounder with Cincinnati to obtain the 12th overall pick and 6th rounder putting the Bills in striking distance to land their franchise quarterback. While Glenn is a top Left Tackle in this league he quickly fell out of favor with a chronic foot injury and the solid rookie season from 2nd round pick Dion Dawkins whom the Bills traded up to get last draft. According the trade value chart made famous by Jimmy Johnson and still used today for guidelines below the Bills will need to use the 12th, 22nd, 53rd, and 65th pick to get into that top 2-4 spots to land their franchise quarterback and maybe more. The Bills would still have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th round selection should this happen as Brandon Beane has been stockpiling draft selections for this very weekend. Before free agency began Brandon Beane made it clear he will pay attention to the compensatory selection process. Compensatory selections are awarded to teams based on the players lost and gained in free agency the following season using a formula the league defines somewhere between the third and seventh rounds. In order for the Bills to be eligible for extra draft picks next season Preston Brown, Jordan Matthews, EJ Gaines and Seantrel Henderson would need to sign free agent deals and the Bills remain relatively inactive spending money this off-season. The Bills signed cornerback Vontae Davis, running back Chris Ivory, and defensive end Owa Odighizuwa all before free agency thus not affecting the compensatory formula. Davis will compete for a starting spot outside next to Tre’Davious White, filling the void that EJ Gaines left and saving money in the process for arguably a better player when healthy. Ivory immediately steps into the backup running back role behind Shady McCoy and has the experience to handle a workload carrying the ball on average 170+ times over the past five seasons. With both backs over 30, the Bills could be in the market for a mid- round running back prospect. Odighizuwa will provide solid rotational depth along the defensive line being able to play multiple spots and will be able to rotate with Hughes, Lawson, and Eddie Yarbrough. The Bills made a splash early into the free agency “courting” period signing former Panthers defensive tackle Star Lotulelei who had his best season under McDermott. Lotulelei reportedly signed a 5 year deal and is in the prime of his career at 28 years old. The same day it was announced that Kyle Williams will be returning on a friendly one year deal worth up to $6 million after incentives. While the Bills are still thin on defensive line signing both will help shift the focus to finding some young depth along the line and not an immediate need with others to fill. Trent Murphy was also added within the first few hours of free-agency with a hefty three year, up to $30m deal to help bolster the Buffalo Bills pass rush. Likely to lineup opposite Jerry Hughes, Murphy possesses a quick burst of the line and a knack to get to the quarterback. Murphy had 9 sacks in 2016 and 5.5 as a rookie which will definitely help the Bills struggling pass rush. Shaq Lawson who still is on his cheap rookie contract likely returns as a rotational guy whom is both versatile enough to play inside and outside the line. Murphy has linebacker experience and came into the league as a 2nd round linebacker to Washington. The Bills quickly bolstered their defensive line rotation and depth with the signings of Lotulelei, Murphy, bringing back Kyle Williams and tendered Yarbrough to mix with Hughes, Lawson, Odighizuwa, and Adolphus Washington. AJ McCarron was brought in as Tyrod Taylor’s replacement. As the quarterbacks were flying off the board early in free agency it was often wondered whom the Bills would pick up to compete and help potentially fill the void until the rookie the Bills presumably draft is ready. McCarron was one of the few quarterbacks still on the market and Buffalo picked him up at a very reasonable $3 million salary this year and $7m next. McCaron has started 3 games in 3 seasons with Cincinnati and comes to Buffalo with a high collegiate pedigree winning two National Championships and some unknown NFL potential upside. In less exciting news the Bills signed exclusive rights deals with TE Nick O’Leary and Logan Thomas, DE Eddie Yarbrough, and CB Lafayette Pitts. The Bills also added a hard hitting safety in Rafeal Bush with starting experience to provide special teams help and third safety depth behind Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. Linebacker Julian Stanford was also signed to provide special teams and depth as well. The Bills added some competition amongst the offensive line with Russell Bodine to compete at Center with Ryan Groy. Bodine started all four seasons with the Bengals however ranks poorly among centers by Pro Football Weekly. Bodine also has experience with quarterback AJ McCarron from their days in Cincinnati. Buffalo also added journeyman offensive tackle Marshall Newhouse to the mix. Newhouse will compete at Right Tackle however also provides starting experience at left tackle and guard. Cornerback Phillip Gaines was also signed. Gaines will provide competition at the slot corner and also provides experience inside from his previous four seasons with Kansas City. Jeremy Kerley was added to the receiver room to help provide depth. For purposes of this mock I’ll try to draft based on whom I think the Bills staff will select mixed with need, and who I may want. The Bills are allotted thirty pre-draft visits and this can help gauge who they are interested in. Every year three or four players will come from this list.