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No thoughts on his opinion of Gatorade, but the Bills landed a prospect that would make Bobby Boucher proud during the 2021 NFL draft.
Damar Hamlin was one of three sixth-round picks by the Bills on Saturday. The Pittsburgh product, for being a later pick, was surprisingly touted by ESPN’s NFL draft guru Todd McShay.
During the broadcast, McShay predicted Hamlin would make Buffalo’s final 53-man roster out of training camp, calling him a “special teams maven.”
Typically late-round picks are asked to do a little bit extra when entering the league since it takes time for them to develop their overall game.
Speaking of a little bit extra, someone point Hamlin over the to c-c-c-cooler.
During his video conference after he was selected by the Bills, Hamlin acknowledged that he’d do the dirty work on special teams for Buffalo, no problem. Hamlin added he’d go even further than that and pass out water if he was asked to do so.
“Throughout this whole process I’ve been preaching that. I’m just willing to do whatever to be a contributor on team. I don’t care if I’ve got to pass out water at halftime. I just want to be on a winning team and contribute,” Hamlin said. “No matter what it is, I’m willing to do it.”
Music to the Bills’ ears. That’s always been the type of D.N.A. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane love to bring into the team’s locker room. It’s a good bet they liked that about Hamlin.
Following the draft, Beane shed light on exactly how important getting in Hamlin and the team’s other late-round picks was.
Beane ended up trading back in the draft. Due to COVID-19, the entire prospect pool of players that entered the draft was smaller than usual. Post-draft, teams then sign undrafted players.
With that initial pool being so small, there would be less UDFA to bring in. Realizing that, Beane moved back to make sure he could bring in a few extra players to promote competition.
“There were less guys on our priority free agent board,” Beane said. “I was just trying to get as many guys, because we had a bunch of guys in that fifth-, sixth-round range that I felt like there will be guys we like, let’s just get as many picks as we can.”
Interestingly, Beane also had several players that he selected that had connections to players on the team currently. Hamlin was one of those as he played at Pittsburgh with cornerback Dane Jackson. The Bills leaned on some of their own to help the COVID-damaged scouting process, and might have even got some help for the team’s training room staff.
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