NFL.com’s draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah reflected on the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine that was last week and decided a pass rusher looks best for the Bills in the first-round of the upcoming draft.
With the No. 22 overall pick in his last mock draft following the combine, the Bills go with an increasingly popular pick, defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos.
Here’s Jeremiah’s explanation for the selection:
The Bills could go WR here, but Gross-Matos is a big-upside player at a position of need.
In the NFL.com simulation, things follow the norm in recent mocks as Gross-Matos is the third pass rusher off the board. He’s typically the third or forth to be selected and in this scenario, Ohio State’s Chase Young goes No. 2 overall to the Redskins while LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson falls to the Bucs at No. 14.
At the combine, Gross-Matos elected not to run the 40-yard dash as he’s already known for his speed (Young also did not), but he did notch the fourth-highest vertical jump among defensive linemen at 34 inches. He did have a middling performance at the bench press with only 21 reps, though.
Gross-Matos would certainly fit the Bills, who run a rotation along their defensive line and could be in danger of losing Shaq Lawson via free agency this offseason. He had 9.5 total sacks last season.
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