E.J. Manuel is extremely talented & has showed great promise when he played last season. However, he was struck by the injury bug (to his knees) on a couple of occasions and he wound up missing half the season. There were also a lot of dropped balls when he did play. I'm not worried about Manuel. He'll be a good one. He reminds me a lot of Daunte Culpepper at his age.
But i was very surprised that the Bills did move up. I expected them to pick up an offensive lineman in the #9 spot unless a high-ranked player might have slipped in the draft. And when it was announced that they had made a trade for the #4 pick, i expected them to pick a defensive lineman. They totally surprised me when they picked up the #1 rated wide receiver in the draft. I didn't think a wide receiver was one of their needs since they had just picked up Mike Williams from Tampa Bay about a month ago, and already have Robert Woods & Steve Johnson at the wide receiver positions.
But i was pissed when i heard that not only had they swapped picks with Cleveland and given them a fourth-rounder next season, BUT THEY ALSO GAVE THE BROWNS NEXT YEAR'S #1 PICK!!!!
As for Johnny Football, i expected him to be a late first-round pick. I actually thought he'd be heading to Kansas City, and possibly Cleveland late in the round if he was still available. I figured the Browns would address more pressing needs & that they were satisfied having Bobby Hoyer as their #1 QB. There was also a bad history with the Browns and highly-touted QB's: they all have failed miserably over the past two decades.
Houston made a good choice with the #1 pick, but i don't know what Jacksonville was thinking by making QB Blake Bortles the #3 pick. It was way too early to pick a QB in this year's draft. But that's the Jags for you.
One player that i liked a lot was Khalil Mack, an outside linebacker out of Buffalo. The Raiders picked him up with the 5th pick. I also liked Jake Mathews, a big offensive tackle who was picked next by Atlanta.
If Buffalo really was set on drafting a wide receiver, i believe Mike Evans might have still been available at the #8 slot, even though he wound up being drafted by Tampa Bay a spot ahead. But the trade altered the entire drafting order so we will never know. Buffalo would still have their #1 pick next year had they been more patient. Time will tell if this was a good move.
