Buffalo Bills general manager has spoken with the media twice this offseason. First, he did a media scrum at the Senior Bowl in January. This week he held a press conference at the NFL Combine. In both places, Beane mentioned the depth in the 2019 NFL Draft as a positive for the Bills. Should that inform folks where the Bills are leaning in the first round?
“Let’s say we think o-line is deep in the draft, we think we’ll have a chance to draft some o-linemen in the first few rounds and maybe we don’t need to be as aggressive in free agency,” Beane said from the Senior Bowl. “Maybe we felt we needed a corner and didn’t think there were any in the draft, we might need to be a little bit more aggressive. So let’s pay attention to where the depth of the draft is. Also the depth of free agency and where that is and try to make the best decisions.”
Buffalo has met with every first round offensive tackle prospect in Indianapolis. With holes in at least two positions, Beane could be looking at a top option at tackle plus draft depth options at guard.
When asked about the tight-end prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft, Beane mentioned the depth at the position both in free agency and with the rookies. That would seem to indicated Buffalo isn’t looking at using their top-10 pick on a tight end.
Another telling quote from Beane came when he was specifically asked about depth:
“I think defensive front,” said Beane this week. “I think there’s definitely some depth there, it looks like, early on. I think there’s a lot of receivers, too, that, again, a lot of different shapes and sizes, but it seems like it’s a pretty good group, a pretty good draft class all around. I don’t think there’s a position that’s just, wow, thin anything like that.”
Unlike last year, when Buffalo was pigeon-holed into taking a quarterback and linebacker in the first round, there are multiple spots Buffalo can improve and lots of depth at those positions. For now, Beane isn’t tipping his hand and he frankly doesn’t need to. With Dion Dawkins able to play multiple spots, free agency yet to come, and the depth all over the 2019 NFL Draft, Buffalo’s options are wide open as we enter March.