As the Buffalo Bills and new head coach Joe Brady start to fill out their coaching staff, I figured it was time to start taking a closer look at some of the draft prospects that could be a good fit for the club. That process traditionally starts by looking at mock drafts from some of the trusted experts in the space.
Earlier this week, Eric Edholm from NFL.com released his first mock draft of the offseason. I have always appreciated Edholm’s work, and was curious to see what direction he went with
the Bills. While noting that he could see Buffalo taking a wide receiver, he opted for talented Georgia linebacker CJ Allen.
“If there’s a receiver worth taking here, I could see that happening, but the Bills also need help at linebacker. Allen is a well-rounded, high-energy defender who could emerge as the captain of a defense in time.” — Eric Edholm
Candidly, I was hoping to see a wide receiver prospect fall to the Bills, but can understand the need for a linebacker. Terrel Bernard had an injury-plagued season, Dorian Williams enters the final year of his rookie contract, while Matt Milano and Shaq Thompson are unrestricted free agents.
In an effort to get some different perspective, I noticed that NFL.com also had a new mock draft from analyst Bucky Brooks. The former Buffalo Bills wide receiver does good work around the draft, and is traditionally in-tune with the needs of his former club. Somewhat to my surprise, Brooks also selected Allen for the Bills, passing on talented wide receiver Denzel Boston out of Washington.
“If general manager Brandon Beane still believes enough in the talent within the WR room to look elsewhere here, he could opt for an instinctive linebacker to solidify the middle of the Bills’ defense.” — Bucky Brooks
While there will be plenty of mock drafts to scroll through over the next three months, Bills fans may want to start researching some of the top linebacker prospects that will be available. Edholm and Brooks are two of the more-trusted names in the draft space, and it will be interesting to see how their picks change for the Bills in the coming weeks.
