Grading the 2019 Buffalo Bills Draft

[Ann]

Jay Skurski  wrote a post grading the 2019 Bills draft. There is a lot of commentary in that post, and you can read the entire article at the Buffalo New website.  Agree? Disagree? Three years later, how would you grade that draft?

 

... here is how The Buffalo News would grade each of the picks from Brandon Beane’s 2019 class – his second as the Buffalo Bills’ general manager:
 

• First round, No. 9 overall: Ed Oliver, DT, Houston Grade: B+ 
• Second round, No. 38 overall: Cody Ford, OL, Oklahoma Grade: D
• Third round, No. 74 overall: Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic Grade: B-
• Third round, No. 96 overall: Dawson Knox, TE, Ole Miss Grade: B+
• Fifth round, No. 147 overall: Vosean Joseph, LB, Florida Grade: F
• Sixth round, No. 181 overall: Jaquan Johnson, S, Miami (Fla.) Grade: C
• Seventh round, No. 225 overall: Darryl Johnson Jr., Edge, North Carolina A&T Grade: C+
• Seventh round, No. 228 overall: Tommy Sweeney, TE, Boston College Grade: C

Overall grade: B

A year ago, this grade would not have been nearly as favorable. A year from now, it might look low. The arrow is pointing up for Oliver, Singletary and Knox. Ford is a bust, and the contributions from the four Day 3 selections has been minimal, but overall, Beane can feel reasonably good about the production from his second class. If Oliver and Knox build on what they did last year, he might even feel great about it.

[KD in CA]

Hard to complain about 3 starters out of the first 4 picks.

[Ann]

43 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

Hard to complain about 3 starters out of the first 4 picks.

Yeah, but Cody Ford...

 

[Arm of Harm]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

Jay Skurski  wrote a post grading the 2019 Bills draft. There is a lot of commentary in that post, and you can read the entire article at the Buffalo New website.  Agree? Disagree? Three years later, how would you grade that draft?

 

... here is how The Buffalo News would grade each of the picks from Brandon Beane’s 2019 class – his second as the Buffalo Bills’ general manager:
 

• First round, No. 9 overall: Ed Oliver, DT, Houston Grade: B+ 
• Second round, No. 38 overall: Cody Ford, OL, Oklahoma Grade: D
• Third round, No. 74 overall: Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic Grade: B-
• Third round, No. 96 overall: Dawson Knox, TE, Ole Miss Grade: B+
• Fifth round, No. 147 overall: Vosean Joseph, LB, Florida Grade: F
• Sixth round, No. 181 overall: Jaquan Johnson, S, Miami (Fla.) Grade: C
• Seventh round, No. 225 overall: Darryl Johnson Jr., Edge, North Carolina A&T Grade: C+
• Seventh round, No. 228 overall: Tommy Sweeney, TE, Boston College Grade: C

Overall grade: B

A year ago, this grade would not have been nearly as favorable. A year from now, it might look low. The arrow is pointing up for Oliver, Singletary and Knox. Ford is a bust, and the contributions from the four Day 3 selections has been minimal, but overall, Beane can feel reasonably good about the production from his second class. If Oliver and Knox build on what they did last year, he might even feel great about it.

 

Um. Their grades need a bit of work.

 

They awarded the same grade (B+) to both Oliver and Knox. This past season, Oliver began meeting the expectations associated with his draft position. Whereas, Knox spent this past season blowing those expectations out of the water.  I think you need to bump Oliver's draft grade down to a B, based on the draft capital used to acquire him. Knox deserves an A, because he's performing much better than you'd expect from a 3rd round pick. Cody Ford is an F, obviously.

 

[Ann]

4 minutes ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

Um. Their grades need a bit of work.

 

They awarded the same grade (B+) to both Oliver and Knox. This past season, Oliver began meeting the expectations associated with his draft position. Whereas, Knox spent this past season blowing those expectations out of the water.  I think you need to bump Oliver's draft grade down to a B, based on the draft capital used to acquire him. Knox deserves an A, because he's performing much better than you'd expect from a 3rd round pick. Cody Ford is an F, obviously.

 

I think Oliver and Knox are fine at B+. I think Knox can become an A but he’s not quite there yet. I agree with Cody Ford being an F. 

[Robs House]

1 hour ago, Ann said:

Yeah, but Cody Ford...

 

 

You can't win em all.

[Fansince88]

5 hours ago, Ann said:

Yeah, but Cody Ford...

 

Shame.

[Arm of Harm]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

I think Oliver and Knox are fine at B+. I think Knox can become an A but he’s not quite there yet. I agree with Cody Ford being an F. 

 

The way I see it is this. You compare Ed Oliver's production to other DL chosen in the top 10, and give him a grade based on that. You base the Dawson Knox grade on a comparison between him and other 3rd round TEs. Knox may not be Gronkowski or Kelce, but he doesn't need to be those things to be much better than you'd expect for a TE chosen in the 3rd round. 

 

 

[Ann]

6 hours ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

The way I see it is this. You compare Ed Oliver's production to other DL chosen in the top 10, and give him a grade based on that. You base the Dawson Knox grade on a comparison between him and other 3rd round TEs. Knox may not be Gronkowski or Kelce, but he doesn't need to be those things to be much better than you'd expect for a TE chosen in the 3rd round. 

Like I said, I think he can get to an A, I just don't think he's there yet.

As for comparing him to other TEs drafted in the third round, pickings are slim. (Travis Kelce was a 5th, Rob Gronkowski was a 2nd)

[Arm of Harm]

4 hours ago, Ann said:

Like I said, I think he can get to an A, I just don't think he's there yet.

As for comparing him to other TEs drafted in the third round, pickings are slim. (Travis Kelce was a 5th, Rob Gronkowski was a 2nd)

Any time you assign grades to draft picks, you are grading the GM. In grading a GM, you want to look not just at the quality of players acquired, but also the resources used to acquire them. For example, suppose a person buys a brand new Cadillac for $10,000. Another person buys the same model of Cadillac for $300,000. The former person deserves a much higher grade than the latter, even though the two cars are the same. By the same token, a GM who uses a 3rd round pick on Dawson Knox deserves a much higher grade than would have been the case, had he taken Knox in the first. 

[Alaska Darin]

7 hours ago, Ann said:

Like I said, I think he can get to an A, I just don't think he's there yet.

As for comparing him to other TEs drafted in the third round, pickings are slim. (Travis Kelce was a 5th, Rob Gronkowski was a 2nd)

What's amazing is Knox was the 7th TE picked in that draft and the 4th (and final) of the 3rd round.  Beane really pulled a rabbit there.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Alaska Darin said:

What's amazing is Knox was the 7th TE picked in that draft and the 4th (and final) of the 3rd round.  Beane really pulled a rabbit there.

 

HE's a WITCH!!!!!!!!!

 

😉

 

[Dubs]

On 4/24/2022 at 3:08 PM, Ann said:

Jay Skurski  wrote a post grading the 2019 Bills draft. There is a lot of commentary in that post, and you can read the entire article at the Buffalo New website.  Agree? Disagree? Three years later, how would you grade that draft?

 

... here is how The Buffalo News would grade each of the picks from Brandon Beane’s 2019 class – his second as the Buffalo Bills’ general manager:
 

• First round, No. 9 overall: Ed Oliver, DT, Houston Grade: B+ 
• Second round, No. 38 overall: Cody Ford, OL, Oklahoma Grade: D
• Third round, No. 74 overall: Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic Grade: B-
• Third round, No. 96 overall: Dawson Knox, TE, Ole Miss Grade: B+
• Fifth round, No. 147 overall: Vosean Joseph, LB, Florida Grade: F
• Sixth round, No. 181 overall: Jaquan Johnson, S, Miami (Fla.) Grade: C
• Seventh round, No. 225 overall: Darryl Johnson Jr., Edge, North Carolina A&T Grade: C+
• Seventh round, No. 228 overall: Tommy Sweeney, TE, Boston College Grade: C

Overall grade: B

A year ago, this grade would not have been nearly as favorable. A year from now, it might look low. The arrow is pointing up for Oliver, Singletary and Knox. Ford is a bust, and the contributions from the four Day 3 selections has been minimal, but overall, Beane can feel reasonably good about the production from his second class. If Oliver and Knox build on what they did last year, he might even feel great about it.

honestly…that’s a reasonable take. Can’t really find any issue with this. 

[Dubs]

On 4/25/2022 at 12:38 PM, Arm of Harm said:

Any time you assign grades to draft picks, you are grading the GM. In grading a GM, you want to look not just at the quality of players acquired, but also the resources used to acquire them. For example, suppose a person buys a brand new Cadillac for $10,000. Another person buys the same model of Cadillac for $300,000. The former person deserves a much higher grade than the latter, even though the two cars are the same. By the same token, a GM who uses a 3rd round pick on Dawson Knox deserves a much higher grade than would have been the case, had he taken Knox in the first. 

you’re splitting hairs here. There’s hardly any difference between a B+ and a B or a B+ and an A. Ha. 
 

or a D and an F for that matter. 

[Ann]

10 hours ago, Dubs said:

you’re splitting hairs here. There’s hardly any difference between a B+ and a B or a B+ and an A. Ha. 
 

or a D and an F for that matter. 

 

A D is a passing grade, an F is summer school. Cody Ford doesn't have to go to summer school. Maybe he should?
 

[Alaska Darin]

11 minutes ago, Ann said:

 

A D is a passing grade, an F is summer school. Cody Ford doesn't have to go to summer school. Maybe he should?

We're going to find out an awful lot about Cody Ford this spring/summer.  This is clearly his last kick at the can in Buffalo.