I originally posted this roughly a month ago, but now that the college regular season is over, I figured I'd post an update. A guy on Twitter named Chase Goodbread tracks which teams get credentialed for college games and tweets them all out, so I've used his account to track which college teams Buffalo has scouted. I've combined this with Matt Miller's updated big board where he ranks the top 10 at each position so that we may be able to get an idea of who specifically we're looking at, positions that have emerged as high priorities, etc.

First things first: links to the two sources mentioned above:

https://twitter.com/ChaseGoodbread

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2810100-2019-nfl-draft-big-board-matt-millers-latest-rankings

Takeaways

Schools that were scouted multiple times:

Alabama (3 times)

Notre Dame (3 times, including twice in the past month)

Georgia (2 times)

LSU (2 times)

Michigan (2 times)

Penn State (2 times)

Houston (2 times)

Oklahoma (2 times)

Oregon (2 times)

Of the 140 players that Matt Miller ranked, Buffalo has already gone to see 97 of them in person, or roughly 69%. I'm not sure if that's the norm but that feels pretty high.

QB: 7/10 have been scouted, including scouting Shea Patterson (#7 QB) twice. My personal guess is that we don't take any of these guys, but we'll see. From my own personal scouting (which only includes 5 of these guys so far), I think Shea would make sense as a Day 3 selection to groom behind Allen.

RB: 6/10 have been scouted. Damien Harris (#2 RB) has been scouted 3 times, while Rodney Anderson (#5 RB) and Karan Higdon (#8 RB) have been scouted twice. Obviously Alabama has far more than just Damien Harris that worthy draft prospects, so it could be as simple as having interest in a lot of their players, but scouting 3 Alabama games, plus Daboll's connection to the offense there, plus the fact that Damien Harris fits like a glove = I think there may be legs there as the Bills 2nd round pick. I'm also personally high on Karan Higdon so I'm pretty happy that they've seen him twice. Rodney Anderson is thought by many to be the most talented RB in the class, but he comes with major injury issues.

WR: 12/15 have been scouted, including Marquise "Hollywood" Brown twice. They had only scouted 6/10 as of the last update, so they've done some catching up here. My personal favorites of the bunch (in order of Matt Miller's rankings) are Harry, Metcalf, Collin Johnson, and Deebo Samuel.

TE: 7/10 have been scouted, including each of the top 5. Irv Smith Jr. (#2 TE) and Alize Mack (#10 TE) have been scouted three times while Foster Moreau (#7 TE) has been scouted twice. I'm not reading too much into Smith and Moreau in particular since their respective teams would appear to have higher priority guys for us to scout, but it does seem like we should expect TE to be addressed in some way this offseason as Charles Clay appears to be a likely cut candidate.

OT: 6/10 have been scouted. Jonah Williams (#1 OT) has been scouted 3 times and Bobby Evans (#10 OT) has been scouted twice. I don't think anyone would really be surprised to see Jonah Williams be the Bills 1st round pick, but they haven't done all that much work on OTs so far. The front office has been out to scout Oklahoma twice in the past month; this could be to take a look at WR Marquise Brown but they also have arguably the best offensive line in the country and Evans is a part of that. My guess is that we bring in at least one of their offensive linemen when it's all said and done.

OG: 4/10 have been scouted, with Oklahoma's Dru Samia (#5 OG) and Ben Powers (#10 OG) being scouted twice.

C: 6/10 have been scouted. Ross Pierschbacher (#3 C) has been scouted 3 times, while Lamont Gaillard (#8 C) has been scouted twice.

IDL: 14/15 of these guys have been scouted. Quinnen Williams (#1), Raekwon Davis (#7), Jerry Tillery (#9), and Isaiah Buggs (#13) have all been scouted three times. Ed Oliver (#2) and Rashan Gary (#3) have been scouted twice. I think the takeaway here is pretty clear; Buffalo is almost certainly targeting another interior defensive lineman.

EDGE: 10/15 have been scouted, including 6 of the top 7. Anfernee Jennings (#13 edge) has been scouted three times. Chase Winovich (#7) and D'Andre Walker (#11) have each been scouted twice.

LB: 7/10 have been scouted. Mack Wilson (#3 LB) and Te'von Coney (#9) have each been scouted 3 times. Devin White (#1) and Devin Bush (#2) have been scouted twice. I'm not really sure what to make of this given the emergence of Milano and the commitment to Edmunds. Perhaps they envision utilizing the EDGE skills that Edmunds showed in college more often and they'd slide one of these guys into the lineup that way...I'm not really sure. Could also be as simple as them scouting other guys from these teams, but I think this is something to at least keep an eye on.

CB: 12/15 have been scouted, including all of the top 10 CBs. Julian Love (#5 CB) has been scouted three times. Greedy Williams (#1), DeAndre Baker (#3), and Amani Oruwariye (#10) have each been scouted twice. Much like IDL, I think we can pretty much take it to the bank that Buffalo will be drafting another corner. Even with the potential emergence of UDFA Levi Wallace, I think this is a pretty major need and this appears to be a good class for it.

S: 6/10 have been scouted. Deionte Thompson (#1 S) has been scouted 3 times.

Conclusion/Mock Draft:

Based on who Buffalo has scouted, IDL, CB, WR, and EDGE seem to be four of the biggest priorities this offseason. I also personally think Damien Harris is a very real possibility at the RB position and expect to see a move made at TE at some point.

An early mock draft (assuming no trades for now) based off of these findings might look something like below (two different versions below):

Round 1: D.K. Metcalf, WR - Brandon Beane made the trip down to Mississippi personally to attend an Ole Miss practice and watch their game. Metcalf unfortunately could not play as he had already injured his neck at this point, but no doubt they would have used the time at practice and pre-game to ask about Ole Miss' talented trio of WRs (Metcalf, Brown, and the lesser known DeMarkus Lodge). They could easily fancy AJ Brown over Metcalf, but I think in terms of what this team needs, as well as the physical tools that Beane seems to value, Metcalf makes sense. Alternative pick: Ed Oliver, DT; Buffalo has now been to Houston twice, and while Oliver did not play the second time around, it wouldn't be surprising if they were able to ask more questions about him prior to the game. Houston isn't exactly stacked with NFL talent.

Round 2: Damien Harris, RB - I'm going to continue to expect this match to happen until they actually pass on him in April. Daboll coached him at Alabama, they've been down to scout players there three separate occasions this year (for good reason since they're stacked with NFL talent), and his skillset fits what Daboll is looking for like a glove. McCoy's struggles in terms of his play as well as his more recent injury only increase the likelihood that Buffalo spends a draft pick on their future RB IMO. Alternative pick: Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, WR. Buffalo has scouted two of Oklahoma's games. In those two games, Brown racked up 331 yards and 3 TDs. Buffalo appears to be shifting towards a preference for speed and there is no better speed guy in this draft than Hollywood Brown.

Round 3: Dru Samia, OG - As mentioned previously, Buffalo has scouted two of Oklahoma's games this year, and I imagine they would have come away pretty impressed with Oklahoma's offensive line as a whole. Samia might be their best offensive lineman with both the skills and the athleticism to potentially play right away in my opinion. Alternative pick: Kaden Smith, TE. At 6'5", 250 lbs, with plus athleticism, Kaden Smith represents a worthy developmental project. Guys with his size, body control, and hands are relatively rare but he needs work as a route runner and blocker.

Round 4: Terry Beckner, DT & Andy Isabella, WR - Beckner is 6'3", 285 lbs, and he has the athleticism to get after the QB that Buffalo could really use on its interior. Isaiah Buggs was another consideration here. Andy Isabella will be an interesting guy to watch at the Senior Bowl as he gets an opportunity to face more NFL talent. However, the returns in that regard this season have been strong so far, as he posted a combined 20 receptions, 315 yards, and 2 TDs against Boston College and Georgia this season. Isabella probably will play in the slot in the NFL, but he has the killer combination of change of direction skills to get open underneath as well as the pure speed to be a deep threat for Josh Allen. Alternative picks: Karan Higdon, RB & Michael Jackson, CB. Karan Higdon is in contention to be my personal favorite RB in the draft class. He reminds me of Ronald Jones from last year's class, who has really struggled as a rookie, but I believe they both have skillsets that should eventually translate. Higdon is a short but thickly built runner who runs with a very aggressive and explosive style. Michael Jackson has the height and length that I would expect Beane to covet in his corners, and I would expect that Jackson could compete for playing time as a rookie.

Mock Draft 1 Final Results:

D.K. Metcalf, WR Damien Harris, RB Dru Samia, OG Terry Beckner, DT & Andy Isabella, WR

Mock Draft 2 Final Results:

Ed Oliver, DT Marquise Brown, WR Kaden Smith, TE Karan Higdon, RB & Michael Jackson, CB

This is where I will stop my mock drafts for now, but if you're interested, you can see the full position-by-position breakdowns in the tables below. Names highlighted in green have been scouted 3 times. Names in blue have been scouted 2 times. Names in yellow have been scouted 1 time.

Edit: As requested, here is the list of the matchups Buffalo was reportedly scouting:

Wyoming - New Mexico State

Oklahoma - UCLA

Auburn - LSU

Buffalo - Rutgers

Georgia - Missouri

Michigan - Nebraska

North Alabama - (my guess here: Campbell)

Houston - Tulsa

Notre Dame - Pittsburgh

Washington - Oregon

Michigan - Michigan State

Alabama - Tennessee

Penn State - Iowa

Clemson - Florida State

Alabama - LSU

Kentucky - Georgia

Alabama - Mississippi State

Ole Miss - South Carolina

Arizona State - Stanford

Ohio State - Penn State

North Carolina - Miami

Oregon - Utah

Tulane - Houston

Oklahoma - West Virginia

USC - Notre Dame





