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Todd McShay is very confident in his sources, evidently,
The ESPN NFL draft guru is the one who started the fire on Monday. He reported that the Bills are interested in trading up in Round 1 of the 2021 NFL draft which begins on Thursday.
In his final mock draft, he stuck to his guns.
McShay projected the Bills make a trade up to pick No. 22 in a deal with the Titans. In doing so, Travis Etienne is the pick, the player he also said this week the Bills were interested in landing in a move.
Here’s McShay’s breakdown:
Many teams have Etienne ahead of Najee Harris (Alabama) as the class’ top running back, and only six franchises in the NFL got fewer rushing yards out of their running backs last season than the Bills (1,301). Etienne can hit the home run any time he finds daylight, and an offense featuring Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and Etienne would be scary.
In the initial report, McShay indicated the Bills wanted to jump ahead of the Jets to land Etienne… who pick at No. 23 overall.
McShay noting that the Bills do, in fact, trade up in his final mock… does hold some weight. One of the longtime connected people around NFL draft buzz… he’s clearly confident in whatever he was told. Buffalo truly could be moving up.
In Etienne, there’s a bit of controversy surrounding him potentially being the target to move up. Simply put, folks think teams can get value in running backs in the mid-to-late rounds of the draft… and the Bills might move up for one?
We’ll have to wait and see what Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane is thinking on Thursday evening. Shipping out picks to take Etienne would be bold.
That said, he is a very highly-touted rushing prospect. He’s more of an all-around back as opposed to Zack Moss and Devin Singletary in Buffalo’s current backfield.
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