These are the positions the Bills should be eyeing at the NFL combine

INDIANAPOLIS - The most laborious portion of the NFL’s calendar year - preparation for the NFL Draft - kicks into high gear this week at the NFL Scouting Combine.

The process is seemingly endless, beginning in the fall when scouts and personnel directors are on the road every weekend watching college football games to identify prospects. Lengthy lists are then formulated, and teams begin the painstaking duty of finding out all they can about each player.

They do this through a variety of tasks such as poring over game video; watching all-star game practices; and getting up close and personal at the combine where they can watch players perform drills side by side, they can conduct individual interviews with team executives, and they get detailed reports about their health via extensive medical exams.

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And then there are pro days at college campuses, and if a team really needs more, they invite players to their facility for 1-on-1 deeper dives.

All of this work, and sometimes it doesn’t even matter because some players who look like can’t-miss stars turn out to be duds, and then the last man taken in the draft, like San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy, leads his team to the Super Bowl.

Former Bills general manager Tom Donahoe loved the draft and all the time and effort that went into it. He was the head honcho with the Bills and the Steelers before that, but deep down he was a scout at heart who cherished rolling up his sleeves and evaluating players and projecting how they would fit on his roster.

But he also knew what a crapshoot it all was, and what he told me once during his tenure with the Bills has always rung true.

“We do as much work as you can possibly do on these players who will be eligible for the draft, but to be honest with you, we do not know (which players will excel in the NFL and which players won’t),” Donahoe said. “We think we know, but we do not know.”

Bills coach Sean McDermott essentially echoed Donahoe when he said recently of the draft, “It’s not a perfect science.”

Brandon Beane, about to conduct his seventh draft as the Bills’ GM, knows this, too, which is why he is facing so much pressure in 2024 because with his team in such a difficult position because of its bloated salary cap, he acknowledged, “We’re going to need to hit this draft and we need to hit every draft.”

Here are four things the Bills must be mindful of as the offseason gets rolling:

What are the Buffalo Bills options at safety?

Micah Hyde’s contract is up and he won’t be back in 2024. Well, I’m 99% sure he’s not returning, either because he retires or he finds a team willing to pay him more than the Bills can afford. I said last year that Jordan Poyer wouldn’t be back and I was wrong; he found a weak market in free agency and he re-signed with the Bills, but I don’t see that for Hyde.

As for Poyer, there is plenty of speculation about his future, again. He still has one year left on that deal he signed, but the Bills can save $5.4 million on the salary cap if they cut him. I think it would be tough to lose both Hyde and Poyer at the same time, so I think they should pay Poyer to ease the transition in the back end as they try to find Hyde’s replacement.

That player is not currently on the roster. It’s not returning Damar Hamlin, and Taylor Rapp and Cam Lewis are free agents. And the answer may not come in the draft. “I don’t think it’s a great safety class,” said NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. “I don’t even think we have one … in the second round.”

If they want to draft one, it seems like the third round - using their expected compensatory pick awarded for the loss of Tremaine Edmunds in free agency last year - would be a good spot.

Chad Reuter, draft analyst for NFL.com, has two safeties going in the second round, Washington State’s Jaden Hicks and Miami’s Kamren Kinchens, and he has two more in the third round, Minnesota’s Tyler Nubin and Maryland’s Beau Brade.

Bringing back Rapp might be an alternative, but sports contract website Spotrac.com estimates he could command a two-year, $11.5 million contract on the market and that may be too rich for the cap-constricted Bills. What about Lewis? I think he’s a career backup who can play a variety of roles, but he’s not a guy you want to start every week.

Should the Bills pick a wide receiver in the first round?

They absolutely could and McDermott referenced the need for the Bills to add explosive plays to their offense when he talked to reporters Monday at the Combine.

“I think you’ve got to be able to get the ball, either thrown down the field, or you gotta be able to complete it short and then have it run down the field,” McDermott said, acknowledging that was lacking last season. “The game is changing a little bit, too,with defenses going into more split safety looks and more zone versus man. And so it’s kind of forcing quarterbacks or offenses to be a little bit more patient at times. So the value of RAC is important then.”

The good news is that there are a ton of receivers in this draft who could probably step in and start from day one, and even if the Bills don’t take one in the first round, the second round could be the sweet spot.

“There’s a bunch of wide receivers,” Jeremiah said. “Every year we do this and every year we talk about this. It’s a really, really intriguing mix of wideouts.”

One thing to keep in mind: Since Beane began running the draft in 2018, the Bills have not selected a receiver in the first three rounds. Gabe Davis was the highest pick in the fourth round in 2020, and Khalil Shakir was a fifth-rounder in 2022. That has to change in 2024.

There have been multiple players linked to the Bills in first-round mock drafts such as Florida State’s Keon Coleman, Oregon’s Troy Franklin, LSU’s Brian Thomas, and Texas’ Adonai Mitchell.

In the second round, there are Xavier Legette of South Carolina, Michigan’s Roman Wilson, and Texas’ Xavier Worthy who could be available at 60 overall.

Is defensive line the biggest need for the Bills?

Yes, without question, and that’s why the Bills might have to wait until the second round to find a receiver who they hope can become the No. 2 man next to Stefon Diggs.

We’ve already driven home this point, but the Bills have only four linemen who contributed in 2023 signed for 2024: Edge rushers Von Miller, Greg Rousseau and Kingsley Jonathan, and tackle Ed Oliver. Also signed to reserve/future contracts who will compete in training camp are 2023 practice squaders Kameron Cline, Eli Ankou and Andrew Brown.

It looks like A.J. Epenesa and Leonard Floyd have priced themselves out of Buffalo’s reach, but Beane may want to look to bring back DT DaQuan Jones. Spotrac pegs his value at $6.8 million on a one-year deal and that may be a touch too much for the Bills, but if they can get him to perhaps sign a two-year deal with a smaller annual cost (he’s 32 but is playing as well as he ever has), that’s something to watch.

In his latest mock draft, Jeremiah has the Bills taking Penn State edge rusher Chop Robinson in the first round, saying: “The production won’t wow you, but the traits are there. Robinson could be the new pass-rushing partner for Greg Rousseau.”

If the Bills decide that DT is the first-round priority, two players who The Athletic’s draft analyst, Dane Brugler, has in their No. 28 range who might be available are 295-pound Jer’Zhan Newton of Illinois and 362-pound mountain T’Vonde Sweat of Texas who won the 2023 Outland Trophy as the nation’s top interior defensive lineman.

What is the Bills’ under-the-radar need?

On paper, the Bills look set at cornerback. Rasul Douglas is one starter and if Tre’Davious White returns and is healthy, he is probably the other starter. Taron Johnson is the nickel, and then in reserve on the outside they have Christian Benford and Kaiir Elam. That’s a very good group.

However, here’s the big picture view. White could become a salary cap casualty, or, it’s possible his second major injury affects him too much and he’s no longer the same player. Douglas is in the last year of his contract and will be a costly free agent heading into 2025. No one knows what to make of Elam and it might be that he continues to be a first-round flop.

About a million GMs and personnel directors have said of the 21st century NFL that you can never have enough cornerbacks, so don’t be surprised if the Bills take one somewhere in the first three rounds.

“I think it’s a good group of corners,” Jeremiah said. “I think I have about 14, 15 kind of with that top three round grade range there, which is a good number.”

One of those who could be lingering late in the second round, but could last into the third round because he doesn’t have great size at 5-foot-10, is Michigan’s Mike Sainristil, a converted wide receiver who made six interceptions last season in the Wolverines’ national championship season. A guy to watch in the third round might be TCU’s Josh Newton who played 58 games and more than 1,700 snaps for Lousiana-Monroe and then TCU.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out each Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills should watch these players at NFL combine as draft nears