Originally Posted by
ghz in pittsburgh
It's why drafting is so difficult because it is a projection of the player's growth.
Just for the Bills, we have guys like Pat Williams who, due to the lazy, take play off reputation in college, went undrafted. He took that humiliation to heart and never skipped workout, took a playoff in NFL for a 14 year career.
Then we have Marcel Dareus who had all the natural ability to play in NFL and toed the line of Nick Saban performed well in college, and yet never had the motivation to improve his game in NFL, even though his natural ability got him to a Pro Bowl. After he got paid, he tanked completely.
In my opinion, a lot of top college players may have topped their ability right there, especially in almost all pro schools like Alabama where what you see is what you'll get the best of them. That includes guys like Lawrence - not a bad player but maybe he's already near his ceiling. Think of guys like Sam Darnold, Rosen, Mayfield. On the other hand, guys like Allen, Brady never got to learn and max their potential in college, and they got to prove it in the pro.
So when we talk about the top 3 WRs in the draft, they are probably good enough already to play in NFL now. But how many of them can go another level up all the way to HoF type of players? If Mitchell go the Pat Williams route, can he be as good as the top 3 or even better? The statistics say someone will in the next tier. Getting the right one is always an educated guess. I don't know the Bills have the right eyes to single out the right one, even among the top 3. Playing odds (drafting multiple) might be the better approach.