Here’s the Bills news of note for April 9.
By Jadon Ceravolo / Contributing Correspondent
1 – McDermott confident Bills will improve with bevy of picks
With nine picks in the 2018 NFL Draft, six of which coming in the top-100, the Bills have plenty of ammunition to make a move up the board. However, if the team holds on to all their picks, they’ll undoubtedly bring in a ton of talent.
Bills head coach, Sean McDermott, recently spoke on The Howard Eskin Podcast. Eskin asked McDermott about adding a quarterback in the draft, which would likely require trading some of the team’s early-round selections.
“Well, we’ll see,” said McDermott. “We feel at this point, with Nate [Peterman] and AJ [McCarron], that we’ve got some good quarterbacks in house.”
Currently, AJ McCarron and Nathan Peterman are the only two QBs on Buffalo’s roster. McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane have consistently expressed confidence in those two signal-callers.
McCarron signed a two-year deal with the Bills in mid-March. Previously, he served as Andy Dalton’s backup in his four seasons (2014-2017) with the Cincinnati Bengals. In 11 games (three starts), McCarron managed to complete over 64-percent of his passes, for 920 yards, with six touchdowns, and two interceptions.
For Peterman, he was the most recent QB to be drafted by the Bills. He was selected in the fifth-round of the 2017 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, he played in four games and got two starts under his belt.
The Bills could very well take a top QB prospect in this year’s draft to pair with McCarron and Peterman. But if they don’t, what’s their plan of attack?
“We’re just going to look to improve our football team,” said McDermott. “Whatever position it is. We’ve got a multitude of picks and at the end of the day we’re going to come out of this thing with some good football players.”
2 – Buffalo makes massive trade to take QB in CBS’ mock
There has been a bunch of buzz around the New York Giants and their second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. It’d take a ton of draft capitol to get up there, but the Bills certainly have enough.
On Friday, CBS Sports posted ‘2018 NFL Mock Draft: Two trades in top five, Giants go linebacker after moving down.’ The Bills were one of those teams to trade into the top five and the Giants were on the other end of that mock deal.
Tom Fornelli of CBS has Buffalo turning its two first-round picks (12,22) into their quarterback of the future. With the second overall selection, he has the Bills drafting former UCLA QB Josh Rosen.
Here’s what Fornelli had to say about Buffalo winning the bidding war in the AFC East and landing Rosen.
The Giants create a bidding war between division rivals in the Bills and Patriots, and Buffalo’s two first-rounders are more attractive than New England’s. The Bills move on their QB of the future.
For months, many experts have etched Rosen into that second overall slot. He’s highly regarded as the purest passer in this year’s draft.
In three seasons (2015-2017) with the UCLA Bruins, Rosen put up respectable numbers. In 30 games, he threw for 9,340 yards, 59 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. He’s not known for his mobility, but Rosen also added six rushing TDs during his college career.
3 – Which prospects are attending the 2018 NFL Draft?
The 2018 NFL Draft is rapidly approaching, with this year’s event taking place on Apr. 26-28 in Arlington, Texas. Of those three days, the most anticipated is the 26th, as that’s when the first-round selections are made.
NFL.com recently released the names of all 22 prospects attending this year’s draft. Those nearly two dozen players are hopeful to hear their name called on day one.
Of those 22 players, there are five defensive backs, five linebackers, four quarterbacks, two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, two offensive tackles, and two running backs.
Here’s the complete list of players attending the draft:
Jaire Alexander, CB, Louisville
Josh Allen, QB, Wyoming
Saquon Barkley, RB, Penn State
Taven Bryan, DT, Florida
Bradley Chubb, DE, North Carolina State
Sam Darnold, QB, USC
Marcus Davenport, DE, UTSA
Tremaine Edmunds, LB, Virginia Tech
Rashaan Evans, LB, Alabama
Minkah Fitzpatrick, DB, Alabama
Shaquem Griffin, LB, Central Florida
Derrius Guice, RB, LSU
Josh Jackson, CB, Iowa
Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville
Derwin James, S, Florida State
Kolton Miller, OT, UCLA
Josh Rosen, QB, UCLA
Roquan Smith, LB, Georgia
Leighton Vander Esch, LB, Georgia
Vita Vea, DT, Washington
Denzel Ward, CB, Ohio State
Connor Williams, OT, Texas