The Buffalo Bills are in the midst of a rebuild centred around a raw quarterback. Here is how they can help themselves in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Last year the Buffalo Bills were coming off their first playoff appearance in over 20 years, but the roster was about to be drastically changed. They traded starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor and watched as their offensive line was torn apart by injuries and retirements. The writing was on the wall that 2018 needed to be the start of a rebuild for the Bills. Luckily the front office was smart and attacked that plan with vigor.
Buffalo used offensive lineman Cordy Glenn to swap first round picks with the Bengals. That was the first domino in what was later another trade up that landed them their first building block offensively, quarterback Josh Allen. Later in the draft they traded up again, this time for a defensive quarterback in linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. With those two first round picks it was clear. Buffalo was banking on their player development to take raw players and make them consistent professionals. Allen and Edmunds were boom-or-bust type prospects and both impressed in their rookie season.
The Bills struggled in 2018 on the field. An injury to Allen did not help, even if he showed that he was not fully ready. Allen showed toughness and competitiveness throughout the season. Defensively the team played well, with corner Tre White continuing on his impressive rookie season in his sophomore campaign.
The team is still feeling the loss of center Eric Wood, and guard Richie Incognito up front. They will have a massive hole to fill on the defensive front with the retirement of Kyle Williams. Luckily there are very few free agents for this team to sign. They have ten draft picks, including two in each of the fourth and fifth rounds. There is ammo here for this team to rebuild in a hurry.
Here is a pre-combine mock draft for the Buffalo Bills. This was done using Fanspeak’s On the Clock tool.