No first-round pick? No problem for Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane.
ESPN NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. still thinks Beane’s Bills hit it out of the park at the 2020 NFL Draft.
Among the NFL’s 32 teams, Kiper gave the Bills a final grade of B-plus for their draft haul. That was the fourth-best grade handed out by him.
Here’s how Kiper break it down:
After the Bills lost their two leading sackers from 2019 (Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson), I thought they should go with a defensive end in Round 2, even after adding veteran Mario Addison in free agency. And that’s what they did at No. 54, taking AJ Epenesa, a hulking 275-pounder who fits this scheme. Epenesa was inconsistent at the start of 2019, but he played like a first-rounder down the stretch. I don’t know that he’ll ever be a consistent double-digit sack guy in the NFL, but he should be a good starter.
Buffalo also added some help in the backfield with running back Zack Moss (86), whom I had at No. 50 on my board. This team has a solid one-two punch with Moss and Devin Singletary. On Day 3, the Bills stopped quarterback Jake Fromm’s (167) slide, and it’s a decent landing spot for him. Fromm had some supporters within the league, but he faded last season and his accuracy dropped. Is he ever going to be more than a solid backup? It’s unclear, but Buffalo will take that in Round 5. It also got my top-ranked kicker in Tyler Bass (188), and cornerback Dane Jackson is good value late in the draft.
The Bills certainly kept it interesting but impressive at the draft. Entering things, the Bills didn’t really have a need. Even with their defensive end losses, Buffalo still has Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison. But the writing was on the wall with their ages. Both were over 30 so you’d really like some youth there.
Behind that, Buffalo could’ve used some depth at on offense in their playmaking spots. Two wideouts and a potential starting-caliber running back? That’s an impressive haul for Beane, who also deserves credit for putting his team in a position to not have an “pressing” needs heading into the draft. Still, we’ll see how all these picks play out on the field… eventually.
[lawrence-related id=60098,60246,60131,60120]