The Buffalo Bills could use plenty of their nine draft picks at the 2020 NFL draft on the offensive side of the ball.
But don’t overlook the defense and pass rusher, specifically.
One of the unofficial starts to draft season is the Senior Bowl and this year’s got underway on Tuesday. On the first day of practices this week, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane spoke to reporters. There, he addressed the potential pass rushers he could be targeting, starting his thoughts with a rather strong statement.
“You can never have enough pass rushers,” Beane said.
Even without thoughts like that, the Bills could realistically need a couple this offseason.
Buffalo’s leading sack-artist from the defensive end spot in 2019, Shaq Lawson (6.5 sacks) is slated to become a free agent. Trent Murphy could be a cap casualty himself. Speaking of sacks, the team’s overall leader, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, could also leave via free agency like Lawson.
The Bills could need some bodies, and overall improvement in the category, and the 2020 draft could be the ticket, according to Beane. He projects some starters in this class of rookies, and perhaps hinted the Bills might need to use an early pick, such as their first one at No. 22 overall, to get one.
“We’ll compare [draftees] to the guys we have. How quick? How smart is he? What’s his skill set? At the end of the day, there’s guys in this draft that I’m already aware of that can come right in and play for us now,” Beane said. “Those guys usually go pretty quick, though. So I don’t know how long they’ll last in the draft versus free agency. It’s a premium position.”
The top prospect in the draftee pool, perhaps overall, could be Ohio State’s Chase Young. The Bills are too far down the draft board to have a shot at him, though. Depending how things fall, Iowa’s AJ Epenesa (No. 13 on Draft Wire‘s big board), LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson (No. 15) and Penn State’s Yetur Gross-Matos (No. 22) could be on Buffalo’s radar in the first round.
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