By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Writer
(Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series)
So, come Thursday night, it’s finally here. The 89th annual National Football League draft — aka Player Selection Meeting for those who prefer the stuffier title — will be staged at Green Bay’s iconic Lambeau Field.
Round 1 starts at 8 p.m. Thursday, rounds 2 and 3 are set for 7 o’clock Friday evening and rounds 4-7 will be staged starting at noon Saturday.
ABC-TV, ESPN and the NFL Network will televise the entire proceedings.
And it will be an interesting weekend for the Bills.
Baltimore and San Francisco lead the league with 11 draft elections. Buffalo is in a seven-way tie for third with 10 choices, but get this, the Bills have no third-round picks and none in the seventh and final round.
But that could change.
Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane , in his first seven years, has traded up or down in the first round four times and, over that span, has made deals for draft choices other than in the opening round.
THE BILLS will make only three draft selections in the first 108 picks.
Because they lost in the AFC Championship Game, they choose at No. 30 — third from last — in the opening round.
In Round 2, Buffalo has the 56th pick from the trade that sent wide receiver Stefon Diggs to Houston, plus its own choice at No.62.
With no third rounder, the Bills’ next selection is its own in the fourth round at 109 and Chicago’s at 132 in the trade of offensive lineman Ryan Bates.
Buffalo then has three compensatory fifth-round choices, none of its own, but rather for players lost.
On that list are wide receiver Gabe Davis (Jacksonville) 169, cornerback Kaiir Elam (Dallas) 170 and edge rusher Leonard Floyd (San Francisco) 173.
Finally, in the sixth round, Buffalo gets its own selection at 177 and No. 206 from the Giants for edge rusher Boogie Basham.
TEN DRAFT picks is a good number for the Bills, a team that needs depth. Those four trades and a trio of compensatory choices figure to make a difference.
In the past few days, the area that required the most help changed as Buffalo re-signed cornerback Tre’Davious White, its No. draft choice in 2017, with Rasul Douglas having opted for free agency after holding the Bills only obviously open starting job.
Still, there’s a need for more cornerback depth, a legitimate concern at defensive tackle and a seeming hole at wide receiver.
The hopeful answers will commence on Thursday night.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
