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00:00Right. So the draft, do you feel like the draft has gotten, uh, gotten short shrift? I feel like
00:07I talked to sale for 20 minutes on Monday and like, now I've got you today and we talked to
00:13sale for a little bit yesterday. I think this is the least talked about draft for me in my career.
00:19I feel like because of the Sabres have sort of overwhelmed us all. Uh, but anyway, I'm glad that
00:24you're here to help us put the lid on it. Um, early, the bills got a lot of credit for
00:30moving
00:30down. Then it seemed like nobody really liked what they did on Friday. And then Saturday was
00:36redemption day. How'd I do? Yeah. That's that pretty much how it went. Yeah. 100%. I mean,
00:42I said it all, uh, leading up to the draft with, with you and Mike that I have trade down
00:48written
00:48in my, in my Twitter bio, because I'm a huge believer in that second time in three years
00:53that the bills have made 10 draft picks. So that is the way philosophically to have the
00:57correct process. I didn't hate the TJ Parker pick. I totally understood it because I think
01:03in a kind of a smaller bucket of the standup rush linebackers on the outside, he had the
01:09fewest red flags. We talked obviously about Cassius Howell with the short arms, Derek Moore
01:14from Michigan did not test very well. Um, there weren't a lot of those guys left even at 35.
01:20Um, so I was completely fine with that pick. I didn't love Igbenosin. And then Jude Bowery,
01:27uh, the second selection in round four was a little bit underwhelming. And I was like,
01:31what's happening. But like you mentioned, then the rest of Saturday, I think they did a tremendous
01:36job and it wasn't the sexiest draft, but it didn't need to be. They're bringing back 12 of their top
01:4213
01:42snap snap percentage players on the offensive side. So this is a team that's already still really,
01:48really good. And I completely agree that in Buffalo, like the, the hockey market is as good
01:55as any in America. I mean, we all saw the tweet last week where like the last, what, 10 years
01:59of
01:59the playoffs, the ratings have been the best in Buffalo and the gold medal games, the last few
02:04Olympics highest in Buffalo. So it does feel like that, that the Sabres have kind of overshadowed
02:10this draft. And I think that's completely justified, but yes, Saturday really redeemed themselves.
02:16And that's what happens when you have a ton of extra picks, you get more swings to redeem
02:20yourself. And Skylar Bell, the linebacker from TCU, Jalen Kilgore. I think those three selections
02:26consecutively were outstanding.
02:28Draft grade book, excuse me, draft grade book.com is where you can find a lot of Chris's work. And
02:34also now as of right this week, I think, right. Did you start with a draft recap at Buffalo rumbling
02:40site producer there for that site? And I know we talked about this last week and congrats on that.
02:44And the content's already there and I retweeted some of it. So I would encourage folks to go
02:48check out what Chris is doing on that site. Now, again, at buff rumblings is where you can find
02:54a lot of that work or just right off Chris's Twitter feed, which is at Chris Trapasso, which
02:59is convenient because that's your name. Um, Parker, the thing about Parker to me was that
03:05threw me off Friday night when they made the pick is that I was excited. We talked about it
03:10like maybe a different with a new coordinator looking at some of the guys that were effective
03:15in Denver. Like maybe it's time for like a speed. I wasn't as worried easy for me to say
03:21about the short arm thing. Um, with, with Howell specifically, like, get me the guy that like,
03:26yeah, he might not be much against the run and maybe more of a situational guy, but someone
03:31who maybe has an elite trait or something like, like speed around the edge bend. And so Parker
03:37felt a little bit more like the prototype that Brandon Bean has been drafting since he got
03:42here. And none of those guys have smashed. That doesn't mean Parker can't smash. Uh, it
03:49just means it's a little too familiar, I guess. Is that a, is that an unfair criticism? You
03:54think? Um, I don't think it's totally unfair, but I, I do think he is the most like this new
04:02bendier, burstier outside rush linebacker that we've all been clamoring for than any of the,
04:08the previous, the AJ F and that says, okay, Russo, uh, any of those types. I mean, TJ Parker's
04:1410 yard split. That's how fast you're running. The first 10 yards of the 40 yard dash was one
04:19six, one, which was the fourth fastest among all edge rushers in this year's draft class.
04:24I talked about it, that Cassius Howell had the fastest and it wasn't drastically faster.
04:29It was one five eight. So three hundredths of a second difference in terms of just get off.
04:34He has reasonably long arms, TJ Parker, um, which was obviously was a big concern with Cassius Howell,
04:39um, does play the run well. And that's something that I don't think the bills,
04:44and I certainly don't place at the top of the priority list, but guys that were picked after
04:48him, like Cassius Howell, like our Mason Thomas from Oklahoma, they're smaller and simply just not
04:54good against the run. So you would have been going in saying, okay, they are situational.
04:58And they're not quite, when it comes to our Mason Thomas or Derek Moore, who were picked
05:03like five or six selections after Parker, they're not as big, not as athletic to not test as well
05:09as Parker. And they're a little bit older than TJ Parker. And I think we do have to remember that
05:14when we're, especially now in the NIL era, transfer portal, all of that, I understand the idea like,
05:22hey, we want someone that's going to come in right away and be awesome this year. The Superbowl
05:26window is wide open, but I think we have to really almost view these prospects in different
05:33lights. When you're Cassius Howell and you're already 23, you're going to be 24, or you're
05:37TJ Parker and you're turning 22 in September. That's a big difference. There is a huge amount
05:42of upside. And if you're weighing those two prospects against each other, like we were now,
05:48it's not obviously not just contingent upon age. What we saw from Cassius Howell, he did that at 23,
05:53while TJ Parker was doing everything last season at 21 at Clemson. So I think that's a big difference
05:59in terms of what they were able to show earlier in their careers in college and what it suggests
06:05about their futures, that there's just not as many older prospects, 23, 24, 25, who even in their
06:12first season are really good because what they showed in college, the dominance against mostly
06:18younger players, kind of gave them an unfair advantage. So I do think TJ Parker's age also
06:24factored in as well.
06:25Chris Trapasso, you are talking me into this car. I might be ready to buy. I have one more
06:30question about TJ Parker. How much stock, if any, do you put in the much better year he had
06:38in 24 versus 25 and that there could be like sneaky value there? And there were reasons why the new
06:47coordinator, the team wasn't as good. A lot of guys had a down year on that defense and he was
06:52one of
06:52them off of what he did. Like, do you think there could be like some, some hidden value there?
06:59Yeah. And I think that's a great question. It kind of harkens back to your first question about like,
07:04you know, wanting that situational, just pass rusher, second and long, third and long.
07:09That's the role that he was in, in 2024. This new coordinator at Clemson last year asked him to do
07:15a lot more dirty work and play the run and you're not going to rush the passer. You're setting the
07:20edge. You're making sure that the quarterback isn't rolling out and getting a free 10 to 15
07:25yard run, or that there's not a tight end floating into the flat. There was a lot more, ironically,
07:31like Sean McDermott level asked from TJ or of TJ Parker last season, as opposed to when he was a
07:40big
07:40recruit. And even as a freshman, and then certainly as a sophomore in, in 24, when he had the 12
07:46sacks,
07:47the 51 pressures, and he looked like, Oh, this is a future top 20 pick. So when we saw TJ
07:52Parker in a
07:54pin your ears back, just get after the quarterback role. Okay. Occasionally play the run. If it is
07:59on second and long, a run play or a third and eight run play. Great. But last year, I think
08:04the biggest
08:05part, it's kind of similar with Deion Walker to different things, more asked of them. And I think
08:11that happens a lot when these players show success and show that they're capable of so much early in
08:17their careers, even if it's only in one area, the coaches say, all right, you're an upperclassman.
08:22Now we're going to ask you to do a lot more and handle a lot more responsibility. So yes, I
08:27do think
08:28there is hidden value, especially if the bills are like, we're not going to ask you to be a Sean
08:33McDermott defensive end. We're going to ask you to just mostly get after the quarterback in this
08:38Jim Leonard scheme. Site producer for Buffalo rumblings and draftgradebook.com founder, Chris
08:44Trapasso on the Western hotline with us here going over the bills activity last weekend in the draft.
08:51You mentioned in sort of an overview here that you weren't nuts about Davison Igbeneson,
08:57the second round pick, the cornerback. Lay that out for me.
09:03So Igbeneson in 2024, I believe he, I don't know if he was the most penalized corner in college
09:08football, but he was near the top. So that's similar. I mean, his, his second to last season,
09:13we're not going to totally bash him because it was two years ago. And in the case of Parker,
09:18you want to highlight that. But the penalties did come down a little in 2025, but I think at
09:246'2", 190 pounds with long arms, a lot of aggression. And the way he wins is by suffocating
09:31at the line of scrimmage and winning the press coverage game. I'm not going to say it's a one
09:36for one comparison, but that was kind of the book on Kyer Elam that he did that at Florida. It
09:42was man,
09:42he's big, he's long, he's physical. He's just going to beat you up and didn't, and had some penalty
09:47issues at Florida. Igbeneson did too. So he's someone that I think has the traits and is probably
09:54a better route mirror type corner than Kyer Elam was. He's, he's more fluid. He's not quite as stiff
10:01as Kyer Elam was, but I just get worried if you're like, Hey, the way I win is just destroying
10:07these,
10:08these wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, because every receiver in the NFL knows how to
10:12beat press, ultra quick. And we've even seen, of course, the last five to 10 years, a lot of
10:18these receivers have gotten smaller and even more twitchy and more sudden. I don't love him as a
10:22tackler. I think he's, he's aggressive as a tackler. And I think Jim Leonard and the bills
10:26probably like that. Is he going to be a sure tackler in space a ton? I didn't see that on
10:31film
10:31at Ohio state. And it just felt like at 62, they traded up a few selections to pick him. They
10:37could
10:38have been a little bit more patient. There were a few other longer corners if they really wanted to go
10:42that route. And I don't really think any of us expected it, but we now get it. If they wanted
10:47to go that route, then trading up for Igbenosin. So that was one that I didn't really like in this
10:532026. Well, you certainly have explained your feelings on the prospect. What about the positional
10:58need? Like you sort of alluded to it there. Like now they've explained it and maybe it makes a little
11:02more sense. But I think on Friday there was a lot of a corner. Yeah. When Brandon Bean said that
11:11we
11:11were like, Oh, that, like he said, I thought the biggest need for us was corner or like
11:15what? But then when you really think about it, it's like, okay, yes, that is the, like
11:19one of the few positions on defense that have the two written in pen. And I ironically, Brandon
11:26Bean said written in pencil, I think starters in Maxwell Harrison and Christian Benford.
11:32After that, the depth is essentially nothing. So I think maybe you could say he's overweighing,
11:39having recency bias for that divisional round loss to the Broncos in the season before they're in the
11:44AFC title game and Kyer Elam is trying to cover on an Island and just was completely lost. But I
11:50do
11:51think there is something to that in general where long season, you're going to be playing ahead more
11:57than most teams. So your corners are going to take a lot of snaps in coverage. He doesn't want to
12:01have to throw out, you know, Dane Jackson out there cold or, you know, bring back Tredavious
12:07White at, at 31 years old. So he's like, I'm going to invest early in this draft at the cornerback
12:12position. I don't necessarily hate that. I think we just got enamored with edge, defensive tackle
12:17and wide receiver, but it certainly is a need, especially in this Jim Leonard defense. It's going
12:23to be asking a lot blitzing wise and complex coverages from their defensive backs. I think it
12:31actually did make sense for them to relatively prioritize the cornerback position, even if that
12:36means that Igbenosin or maybe even Maxwell Hairston aren't playing a ton right away. I do think Hairston
12:44will ultimately win the job, but to have a second round pick that does have some natural man coverage
12:49talent, that's not the worst thing in the world in today's NFL. Yeah. Interesting. I think, you know,
12:56maybe Bean, once he's explained it, it makes a little sense. It clicks for you because of what
13:01happened in Denver and even Kansas City the year before, like you said, with Elam. Bean has said,
13:07I mean, as far back as that first AFC title game, he said, your final game can, I don't know
13:14the
13:14phrasing, but basically like inform what you need to do in the off season. Like it can tell you where
13:20your weaknesses are. And I've never really completely agreed with that a hundred percent.
13:24Cause it's like one game is going to tell you what your weaknesses are. I'm not sure. Like that's a
13:30small sample, but certainly, you know, in both of those instances, they got sunk by their depth
13:37corners. Well, yeah, I mean, right. I mean, before the draft outside of D Alford in the slot, they had
13:43Christian Benford, Maxwell Harrison on, on the boundary. So I think that's what, why we were confused.
13:48Cause on the surface, it's like, Oh, you got your two starters and they're both pretty good,
13:51especially Benford. And, and certainly Hairston showed that when he's healthy, he can be a
13:56difference maker. And he has all the man coverage ability in the world. After that, uh, the cornerback
14:01depth chart was to Corey couch, MJ Devonshire. And we're not really going to count Dorian strong
14:07because we don't know there's so much uncertainty with his, his neck injury. So, I mean, I probably
14:13would have picked it maybe a round or two later, but maybe it was just a spot where the
14:18bills were like, Hey, Igbenosin is kind of sticking out. Let's trade off a few selections.
14:22We have all these picks and get the guy that we want. So we don't run into this problem,
14:26whether it's just in the playoffs or when we're facing good quarterbacks in the regular season,
14:32because again, that is a position that does have a pretty high injury rate compared to others.
14:37So it is important in today's NFL to have a bunch of cornerbacks and defensive backs that can do a
14:43lot
14:43of different things. And the bills are starting to build that out for Jim Leonard.
14:46If you've got anything that needs to be heard about Jude Bowery, the tackle, the first fourth
14:51round pick, feel free to squeeze it in here, but I want to make sure we leave time to talk
14:55about
14:55those three picks after that, that are kind of the meat of the draft, I think for the bills that
15:00you already alluded to. So do you have anything on Bowery that we need to hear?
15:05Super quick. There are like, I think that's the pick that needs the most, uh, nuance because there
15:10were other guard only prospects I had graded higher, but he absolutely is the tackle guard
15:17versatility swing interior or on the outside type blocker. And I think that's why they picked him
15:23big time athlete film. Wasn't amazing. Only turns 23 this year. So I think that was more baked into
15:30that pack as opposed to just the straight grade that you would give to him.
15:33All right. We'll just fire through these here. Uh, elaborate as much as you want. Uh, Skylar
15:39Bell. I said yesterday on our show that I would bet on him being significant, like on the field
15:45and three receiver sets by Halloween. Uh, what do you think of Skylar? That's a great, I love that
15:51prediction. I think that's really, really good because he isn't the separator of Casey Concepcion's,
15:57uh, ability. I got to throw him out there one more time. Just give him one last, uh, plug,
16:02but he's not far off. He was one of the better separators in the class, what the bills need.
16:07And what I like to at his size, he's not super small. He was like six foot one 90. He's
16:11like big
16:12size, great tracking the football down the field. So he's not just, Oh man, if you crowd him or you
16:18get physical with him, he's not going to be able to be strong at the catch point. He absolutely has
16:23a
16:23well-rounded game. We saw last season at UConn over a hundred catches tested extremely well. So yeah,
16:29I think he will be part of the rotation. It's hard to say how many targets he'll get because
16:34they are going to try to spread it around, but I completely agree with you. That is a player that
16:39at his age, he's a little bit older, but with the athleticism and the production,
16:42he is one of those NFL ready high four wide receivers that I think is going to be really
16:48good in this office. Real quick before we move on from receiver, how much stock are you putting in
16:52clean slate with Keon Coleman? I, I mean, I'm not going to call them liars. Um, and I think they
17:02want to give him a chance, but to me, I think clean slate means, all right, we're not going to
17:08necessarily hold anything against you, but the presence of Skylar bell and a healthy Josh Palmer
17:15that I don't think we've talked about enough. And hopefully he's fully recovered from that, those,
17:19that laundry list of injuries that he suffered last year. If we're by Halloween, if Keon Coleman
17:26is just not producing, but he's still showing up for meetings, I don't see how he can be on the
17:31field and be getting six, seven, eight, nine targets a game. So I think they're okay with
17:36keeping him as opposed to, Hey, maybe he got some trade offers and they could have swapped him for
17:41a sixth or a seventh rounder. Maybe they weren't quite as ready to give up on him as I am.
17:47And a lot
17:49think that they're going to like try to force him to football like they, I think kind of foolishly
17:53did for a long stretch early last season. Caleb alarms or fourth round pick linebacker TCU. Um,
18:02is he someone you could see on the field? I don't want to say right away, but is he, is
18:07he like a
18:08starting caliber linebacker in your view? 100%. He was my a plus pick for the bills ready for this.
18:15I had a top 20 grade on Caleb alarms or when you're, when you're, yeah, when you're scouting,
18:22when you're scouting the entire draft, you do come across a few of these every year where you're like,
18:27you have a guy as the 32 overall player and he gets picked in the fifth round and vice versa.
18:32That was this one for me because he was someone, his film was outstanding. In my opinion,
18:37look at all the numbers, his tackle rate, he barely missed a tackle. He was really good in coverage,
18:43running with tight ends, understanding where to be in zone, making plays on the football and
18:48coverage, which you don't see a lot of in the college level, especially, you know, TCU is not
18:53necessarily known for having a bunch of awesome linebackers in the league. That conference big
18:5812 doesn't really play a lot of defense, honestly, and it's very spaced out. And he then tested extremely
19:04well. He ran four, four, seven, had a 40 inch vertical big time broad jump. So he's super explosive.
19:11That's picking all the boxes for me. If your film is good, your analytics are really good.
19:15And then you test athletically extremely well. I didn't see why he shouldn't be the second off
19:22ball linebacker off the board. So when he was still sitting there in the fourth round, I thought
19:27that absolutely was a home run of a pick, especially given Terrell Bernard's injury history and maybe the
19:35uncertainty in terms of a contract into the future for Dorian Williams. I think he's like
19:39a better, more refined version of Dorian Williams, where you won't have as many
19:44like, you know, he was sucked in on play action or he didn't know where the football was in coverage
19:49a lot headier of a player, but with the same aggression and range and explosiveness of a
19:55Dorian Williams. So yes, I do think he is a starting caliber player. My comparison for him
20:00pre-draft was Quincy Williams, who's just a play who plays with his hair on fire and was really a
20:07difficult player for the Bills to play against the last couple of years with the Jets.
20:11Chris, my memory is not so great. So I'm not sure if this is like our third or fourth year
20:15doing
20:15this with you where, you know, like, you know, for a couple of months before the draft weekly and
20:21then, and then this recap, but so I don't know if you know this about me or not, but I
20:26am a sucker
20:26for the position list guys. Um, you know, it's part of the reason I love Emin Worry as much as
20:32an ideal last year, right? Um, Kilgore is not athletic. He's not the physical specimen that
20:38Emin Worry was and did not have the combine that Emin Worry had certainly, but Jalen Kilgore
20:43feels like one of these guys that's kind of like, is he a small linebacker? Is he a big safety?
20:48What
20:48am I doing with this guy? And I love throwing a dart on a guy like that. That's exactly what
20:56I think
20:56teams should do more of, especially in the fifth round. I had a third round grade on Jalen Kilgore.
21:01And it's funny that you referenced, oh, he didn't work out like Nick and Man Worry. Well,
21:04a lot of that is because Nick and Man Worry had one of like the best workouts that we've seen
21:08at
21:08the safety position ever. Jalen Kilgore at 6'1", 210 ran 4'4", flat 37 inch vertical and an almost
21:1511
21:16foot broad jump. So he is a big time athlete played in the same defense, obviously as Nick and Man
21:22Worry
21:22and moved into the Nick and Man Worry role at South Carolina last season when Nick and Man Worry was
21:27wrecking everyone on the Seahawks last year. So he absolutely is that type of player. He's in the
21:34box. He covers the slot really well. Most of his snaps, I believe around 70% of his snaps came
21:39as
21:40like a slot defender. And what's so fun about that is, and how the Seahawks use a Man Worry,
21:45he's in the slot, he's covering your tight end, he's covering your slot wide receiver and has the
21:51suddenness to do so. And then suddenly he's blitzing off the corner and he's got that 4'4 speed and
21:55that explosiveness. And he's to the quarterback as a free runner in like two seconds. So he's
22:00someone that absolutely fits the modern day NFL, not very uncomfortable in space and has range and
22:08can do so many different things. I don't know. And we always were banging the table for this in
22:12the Sean McDermott era, and they never really drafted that player. But it feels like with Jim
22:17Leonard, who's going to ask so much in terms of different responsibilities of his front seven,
22:24I'm going to even put Jalen Kilgore into that front seven and say, sometimes he's going to be
22:29a linebacker, like next to Terrell Bernard or next to Doreen Williams, and then other times he's going
22:35to be part of the secondary. So in round five, for a round three guy with that athleticism and that
22:40experience from the SEC, that was a great pick. Is there anything, we're already over on time here,
22:46but just real quick on the last four picks, Durant, Pride Jr., Doman, and Reed Adams, is there
22:50anything that needs to be said? Not really. I mean, Toriano Pride ran 4-3-2 and Reed Adams
22:59is older, but there are some reps where you're like, whoa, he looks like someone that can be
23:05something as a run blocker or when dealing with power as a pass protector. So he has upside,
23:12even though he's a little bit of an older prospect. All right, Chris, excellent job all through here,
23:16March, and I think we had you even longer, you know, started earlier than ever with you,
23:21and I know our audience appreciates it, and we certainly do as well. Congrats again on the
23:26Buffalo Rumbling stuff, and we'll make sure and stay in touch, and I'll be definitely hitting you
23:30up for some golf at some point. Whenever it stops raining, absolutely, and thanks for having me the
23:36last couple of months. It's always a lot of fun. All right, there you go. Chris Trapasso,
23:39Buffalo Rumbling site producer, draftgreatbook.com. That's the
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