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Bills Draft: 1st 3 Rounds Edition

AFCE

Bills Draft: 1st 3 Rounds Edition
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The Bills got their HC and have a decent idea of what direction they will go on defense. They also have an idea on what the offense will look like and now comes the job of deciding which players to get over the .500 hump.
 
1st) Malik Hooker: Safety from The Ohio State (Choke U)
 
Usually when a Head Coach takes over, his first pick will be on that side of the ball.  This has been true for the last five Bills head coaches going back to Mularkey who drafted Lee Evans in his first draft. With McDermott, I expect this to continue and the Bills to go defense yet again and this time get one of the most talented safety prospects to come in years.  The Bills safety play was horrendous last year as Corey Graham has clearly lost a step and Aaron Williams hasn’t been the same since that injury week 2 of 2015 and should hopefully retire. They desperately need an elite safety and in this defense, a top safety would help a lot, especially since the Bills lack a Luke Kuechly who can cover the deep middle pretty well.  Assuming the Bills make the right choice of re-signing Gilmore, a solid corner duo of Gilmore and Darby along with a solid center fielder in Hooker would help mask the coverage problems of the linebacker corp and avoid the major coverage holes in the secondary last year.
 
2nd) Patrick Mahomes QB from Texas Tech
 
The Bills don’t know what they are going with at QB next year. Technically Tyrod Taylor is under contract and the smart thing would be to pick up his option but that doesn’t look to be certain especially with a new HC who would probably want his own guy. Assuming they go another direction and based on the two coordinators they are looking at they probably are, going QB in the 1st two rounds will definitely be a must. With defense being the priority they can wait until day #2 to get the top QB remaining and the #4 QB overall.  Mahomes played in an Air Raid system that required to make every throw possible and carry the offense to victory. He has a solid arm, solid athlete (not Tyrod athletic but who is) and is fairly athletic. The only concern for him is the scheme he ran in college and whether he can transition to the NFL. Coming out of college he is very similar to Derek Carr which makes him fall to the 2nd round. He’s fairly talented as a passer and based on the offensive coordinators they are looking at, would have a coaching staff that would make an easy transition.
 
3rd) Malachi Dupree WR from LSU
 
The Bills WR corp will be pretty barren next year. Sammy Watkins and Walter Powell return and even then there are concerns with Watkins with his inability to constantly be 100%. Robert Woods will be a goner and so will Goodwin (finally) which means the Bills will definitely need a #2 WR to give them something of a WR corp. Dupree has been hurt badly by a LSU offense that hates the forward pass. During his time there the QB position has been a joke and the offense has been all about feeding Fournette. This has greatly hurt Dupree as he hasn’t gotten the touches he deserve and show the film scouts want to see causing him to fall. If the Bills get him in the 3rd, it will be a steal. Dupree is a vertical deep threat who tracks the ball very well and runs a very good vertical route tree.  The big concerns for him are his speed and consistency especially over the middle. However with how barren the WR position is, he is almost a must need as WR is probably the worse position for the Bills after safety. Dupree fits a need and can fill in for Woods pretty easily.

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