Buffalo Bills Post Draft AFC East Division Odds 2020

The Buffalo Bills will enter the 2020 season paying $140 for every $100 bet to win the AFC East following an NFL Draft whereby most analysts graded the Bills with a B+ or B for their Draft efforts.

2 (34). Michael Pittman Jr., WR, USC
2 (41). Jonathan Taylor, RB, Wisconsin
3 (85). Julian Blackmon, S, Utah
4 (122). Jacob Eason, QB, Washington
5 (149). Danny Pinter, G, Ball State
6 (193). Robert Windsor, DT, Penn State
6 (211). Isaiah Rodgers, CB, Massachusetts
6 (212). Dezmon Patmon, WR, Washington State
6 (213). Jordan Glasgow, LB, Michigan

Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN.com writes:

Top needs: Edge, RB, CB, OT

Buffalo gave up its first-round pick to get 26-year-old wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who should help quarterback Josh Allen. But that means general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott sat back and waited on Day 1.

After the Bills lost their two leading sackers from 2019 (Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson), I thought they should go with a defensive end in Round 2, even after adding veteran Mario Addison in free agency. And that's what they did at No. 54, taking AJ Epenesa, a hulking 275-pounder who fits this scheme. Epenesa was inconsistent at the start of 2019, but he played like a first-rounder down the stretch. I don't know that he'll ever be a consistent double-digit sack guy in the NFL, but he should be a good starter.

Buffalo also added some help in the backfield with running back Zack Moss (86), whom I had at No. 50 on my board. This team has a solid one-two punch with Moss and Devin Singletary. On Day 3, the Bills stopped quarterback Jake Fromm's (167) slide, and it's a decent landing spot for him. Fromm had some supporters within the league, but he faded last season and his accuracy dropped. Is he ever going to be more than a solid backup? It's unclear, but Buffalo will take that in Round 5. It also got my top-ranked kicker in Tyler Bass (188), and cornerback Dane Jackson is good value late in the draft.

We need to count Diggs as a part of this class, and he's the top-tier wideout who will help further evaluate Allen in Year 3. And with two excellent picks on Day 2, the Bills are high on my list.

The Bills have the 11th shortest odds to win the 2021 Super Bowl at 28-1 and they are priced at -110 on both the OVER and UNDER 9 regular season wins.

Andy Benoit of SI.com gives the Bills a B:

It was a deep wide receiver class, yes, but trading a first-rounder for Stefon Diggs was still shrewd. The Bills were one quality receiver away from having an offense with no weakness. They’re coming off a playoff season and their division’s big bad monster might finally be weakened for the first time in two decades. Now is the time to go all-in. What you know for sure about Diggs that you can’t truly know for sure about any rookie wide receiver is that Diggs can be productive in the NFL.

So as not to ignore this draft’s talented receiver glass altogether, the Bills spent fourth-and sixth-round picks on Gabriel Davis and Isaiah Hodgins. Both give Buffalo’s receiving corps the one thing it was grossly lacking: size.

In the second round, the Bills went defense. You wonder if they might run into the same problem with A.J. Epenesa that they had with former first-rounder Shaq Lawson: a lack of top-flight explosiveness. Like Lawson, Epenesa does not quite wow you with his flexibility or second- and third-step burst. But Lawson’s downfall was he never became technically savvy enough to fully overcome his pass rushing limitations. Epenesa, on the other hand, has drawn praise for his technique. Still, with Buffalo’s one-gap attacking 4-3 scheme, this doesn’t appear to be an ideal player and scheme fit. But if anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s Bills GM Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott. Their defense performed like one of the best-coached and constructed units in football last season.

The third-round selection of Zack Moss likely means the end for future Hall of Famer Frank Gore in Buffalo. Moss was a steady, workmanlike back at Utah and has even draw some comparisons to Gore (stylistically). He’s a smart investment by the Bills because their top running back, Devin Singletary, does not quite have the build to play more than 50 snaps week in and week out.

Pro Football Focus grades the Bills with an A-:

Day 1: The Buffalo Bills traded away their 2020 first-, fifth- and sixth-round picks as well as a 2021 fourth-round pick in exchange for wide receiver Stefon Diggs and a 2020 seventh-round pick. With Diggs, John Brown and Cole Beasley, the Bills have one of the best wide receiver trios in the NFL.

Day 2: A.J.Epenesa, PFF’s 20th-ranked prospect and EDGE2, fell right into the Bills’ laps at pick No. 54. While there’s some concern with how his below-average athleticism and lack of burst off the line will translate to the NFL, we still very much viewed Epenesa as a first-round talent in this draft. He has incredible power and great versatility — he had a win rate of over 31% when rushing from the interior in 2019 (54 such reps).

 “If he falls to the second round, it’s gonna be a huge steal. He produced on the football field and his game is not athleticism — his game is power. His game is the way he uses his hands, and his game is versatility.” – PFF Lead Draft Analyst Mike Renner on Epenesa prior to the 2020 NFL Draft

There wasn’t a more elusive running back in the 2020 NFL Draft than Zack Moss. He broke 0.33 tackles per rush attempt ever since his emergence as a true sophomore in 2017 and has broken 33 tackles on 66 catches in his career. Moss isn’t going to wow you with his speed, but he does pretty much everything else at a high level. He was PFF’s RB2 and has the size, vision, hands and elusiveness to succeed in the NFL.

Day 3: It was a pretty big surprise to see Jake Fromm end up on the Buffalo Bills, but this was a great value pick. Fromm was PFF’s QB5 and 69th overall prospect in the class. He’s a “game-manager,” but he takes incredibly good care of the football and is a sharp decision-maker. In 2019, Fromm produced a turnover-worthy play rate that ranked fifth among FBS signal-callers and had just one turnover-worthy play on his 98 dropbacks under pressure. Josh Allen has a quality backup for the time being in Jake Fromm.

- Ean Lamb, Gambling911.com