Another selection for the Buffalo Bills and another player with a trump card trait. The selection of Toriano Pride Jr. is another call to their willingness to continue adding speed to Buffalo’s defensive back room.
It may be a seventh-round pick, but the Bills were in desperate need of cornerback depth. They’ve found that in second-round selection Davison Igbinosun and now with Pride. He ran a 4.32 40-yard dash and he plays with that speed on the field too.
Pride can really run and has the gear-down
to affect passing lanes when receivers attempt to break routes off. Pride is a willing tackler and has some reminiscent nature to that of a discount version of Maxwell Hairston.
There’s some lack of football IQ from Pride, and he tends to guess at times on what the receiver is going to do instead of playing with route recognition and smart anticipation. He can be a gambler and a bit of a wild horse, which will lead to big plays and big losses despite the athletic tools.
If you can reign in some of the wild tendencies of Pride, you may have something here because of his ability to run, break, and willingness to attack in the run game. There’s certainly some chance of his tendencies can’t be coached out of him and he becomes unplayable. But it’s a bet worthwhile of taking in the seventh round to keep him from undrafted free agency.
