It’s commonplace for the question of “why?” to occur after a day at the NFL draft.
The Bills took that to a whole new level on Friday.
On Day 2 of the 2021 NFL draft, the Bills selected Wake Forest defensive end Carlos Basham Jr. A touted pass rusher.
That sentence alone makes sense.
Putting it in context: The Bills drafted the same position with another pick, too. Their first rounder in Miami’s Greg Rousseau.
So… why?
Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane is never one to get too insightful. He tells it like it is, or at least he does more than head coach Sean McDermott.
On why that decision? The answer was almost, “why not?”
“Prior to the draft, we just try to set us up to take the best player available on out board and that’s what we’ve done. Obviously we took Rousseau last night not anticipating taking another pass rusher, but Carlos was the best player on our board,” Beane said via video conference. “And again, you can never have enough pass rushers. We thought the value was too good to pass up.”
In light of Beane’s thoughts, it really makes you believe he thinks actions speak louder than words.
Rousseau comes to Buffalo having his last season in 2019. That year he put up 19.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks in 13 games. Basham did play last season, but he missed time due to COVID-19. He still had five sacks in six games, but in 2019, he appeared in 13 games and wracked up 18 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.
Can’t have enough pass rushers indeed, Brandon.
Already on the surface, it’s clear the Bills bring these two rookies into a room that’s in-flux now. Having your top-two picks as the same position will do that, let alone factoring in AJ Epenesa, the team’s top pick last year, Efe Obada, a free-agent signee this offseason, and we still have returning veterans Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison and Darryl Johnson.
Finding playing time at that position is going to be a challenge for anyone. Basham already said he’s looking forward to that.
“I love competing, so with those guys right there, there’s definitely going to be a lot of competition,” Basham said, referencing Rousseau and Epensea.
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