Packers 2016 Draft: Last minute NFL mock draft

Pick #19 — Buffalo Bills

Noah Spence

Somewhat surprising to myself, I’ve actually kind of enjoyed this Buffalo team in recent years, despite itself. The Rex Ryan factor has a certain boisterous charm to it that I usually never find myself liking and they have some excellent players who are fun and worth rooting for.

Still though, this team just always finds a way to not reach the postseason despite the intrigue surrounding them.

That can be explained through multiple awful decisions regarding the construction of the roster. For every guy like Marcell Dareus, Sammy Watkins, and Tyrod Taylor who can make the kind of plays you want to rewatch over and over again, there are others who probably shouldn’t even be in an NFL uniform. And they make boneheaded moves that just keep putting up more roadblocks in their path.

Take Watkins for example; he is undoubtedly a dynamic young receiver, but they traded up for him in a draft that may go down as the best in terms of overall receiver talent. Or LeSean McCoy, who they traded for on a sizable contract, and then gave him a hefty extension on top of it; he plays a position where you can get a decent percentage of his production at a fraction of the cost — and they even proved that within their own moves by the addition of Karlos Williams.

They overpaid Charles Clay with a contract structured specifically so the Dolphins couldn’t afford to bring him back, while the Dolphins (not exactly known for prudent moves these days) went out and signed Jordan Cameron on a short-term deal as a capable replacement. They kept Jerry Hughes on a large contract despite having other high-paid talents in that same area, and had to cut one of them (Mario Williams) just to get themselves under the cap (also of note; they had a top-2 defense before Rex, but then decided to switch up the scheme despite that success and a roster suited to the previous style).

There are many assorted examples, but suffice to say, this team is a frustrating mess with little room to actually fix their problems.

The draft is their only potential source for any kind of step forward now, so whatever they do better work or that seat will get mighty hot under Ryan.

In looking at where they could go here, based on what’s left we probably should start and finish in the trenches.

They have a strong left side of the line behind Cordy Glenn and Richie Incognito (one of the best additions any team ended up making last year, by the way) but the rest is a mess. All the guys who applied to the Colts’ line also apply here; any one of them would help out with giving Taylor some breathing room on his dropbacks.

On the other side, they do have good players and depth, but they could stand to give Dareus some higher-end help if possible; the defensive linemen noted for the Colts also apply here as well.

Still, many mocks I’ve come across like to toss a pass rusher here; there is only one left this high, and that is where I think they eventually go.

As mentioned in the Falcons’ slide, Spence has his previous issues to consider, but even before considering that he’s made a concerted effort to let teams know it is no longer a problem (including apparently sending around about 20 consecutive negative drug tests), we should know by now that Rex is the type of coach willing to look past personal problems to give guys a chance if he thinks they can contribute to his team. Remember, he added the guy who broke Geno Smith’s jaw pretty much the second the Jets let him go last summer, and that is an end of roster at best guy; someone with Spence’s talents should be a no-brainer in his mind, and that likely shows if the draft plays out in this fashion.