Bills shore up their backup needs in draft
GM has used team’s salary cap space to add key veterans to roster
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Brandon Beane’s objective upon arriving in Buffalo was to build competition at every position.
Three years later, the Bills general manager took a significant step toward realizing his vision.
With few trade-able assets, Beane mostly resisted the urge to trade up and down the NFL draft order as he had done the previous two years.
And having addressed the team’s most immediate needs in free agency and the acquisition of receiver Stefon Diggs in a trade with Minnesota last month, Beane spent much of the three-day draft shoring up secondary positions.
The standing-pat approach paid off in the early rounds.
Without the benefit of a firstround pick, which Buffalo traded in the deal for Diggs, Beane targeted backup needs by selecting Iowa defensive end A.J. Epenesa and Utah running back Zack Moss on Friday.
With Buffalo’s final five picks on Saturday, he turned his attention to adding competition at various positions — from drafting a quarterback, Georgia’s Jake Fromm, to adding a place-kicker in Georgia Southern’s Tyler Bass.
Beane was able to stay patient in making his selections, knowing the Bills had fewer needs after spending the past two offseasons using Buffalo’s newfound salary-cap space to add veteran free agents.
Beane also placed an emphasis on adding veteran players to fill immediate roster needs, because they should be more comfortable learning a playbook as opposed to counting on rookies to develop with the coronavirus pandemic cutting into off-season practice time. Beane acknowledged he wasn’t anticipating selecting a quarterback in the fifth round, but found Fromm difficult to pass up with the No. 167 pick.
Fromm, who led Georgia to the College Football Playoff title game in 2018, isn’t expected to challenge Josh Allen for the starting job.
And even veteran kicker Stephen Hauschka was sent his latest reminder of his job not being secure with Bass being selected 188th overall. Hauschka struggled last season in missing six of 28 field-goal attempts, including two in a 19-16 loss to Cleveland.
ON THE RECEIVING END
Adding Diggs to a group of receivers that includes John Brown and Cole Beasley didn’t stop the Bills from stocking up on the position in the draft.
Central Florida’s Gabriel Davis was selected in the fourth round (128th overall), and Oregon State’s Isaiah Hodgins was chosen with pick No. 207.
Buffalo’s depth chart already includes returning backups Andre Roberts, Isaiah McKenzie, Robert Foster and Duke Williams.
“Yeah, they’ve got deep guys, but you come to the NFL to compete,” said Davis, who set a single-season school record with 1,241 yards receiving as a junior last year.
MOSS MEANS BUSINESS
Moss’ physical straight-ahead running style is expected to complement starting running back Devin Singletary’s shiftier approach.
Beane cited a statistic in which Moss broke at least one tackle on 38 per cent of his carries, and has a chance to earn a job in short-yardage and goal-line situations.
Moss, who set the Utah career record with 38 touchdowns rushing, said he enjoys bowling over defenders.
“I like to be physical, trying to have defences make a lot of business decisions in making tackles against me,” he said.