Bills-scouted OTs in 2023:
The Bills souted 22 offensive tackles who’d be draftable this year, with an additional cluster who’d make nice free agents. Glad All-Pro Blind-Side Shnowman Dion Dawkins just extended his deal for 3 more years, and that he needn’t be replaced by the likes of Spencer Brown Van Demark, or Tommy Doyle. The draft has fewer talented RT prospects (Mims, Guyton, Fisher) than LTs and LGs with LT upside. In fact, the Bills met with 3 OT prospects at the Combine: RD1 prospect Graham Barton of Duke (where inner-circle Manny Diaz is now Head Coach, and whose line was pretty awesome — 17th in Yards Before Contact Per Rush), and two RD2 prospects who the Bills scouts did not see in live games: Kiran Amegadjie of Yale (wingspan 99%ile, best pass blocker out of the gate of these three, athleticism, power, & temperament, wicked smart, quad injury dropped him), and Patrick Paul of Houston, the biggest OT with swing-tackle upside, a lot like Tommy Doyle ( Pressures: 7; Sacks: 0; Snaps: 495 this year).
Let’s remove those only seen by one scout and look at the remaining 13 prospects, sorting by forty time. This is because the 3 Bills O-Linemen faster than Dawkins=6-4, 314, 5.11 and Doyle= 6-8, 320, 5.12 are no longer on the team. They are slower than this time a year ago.
Three players are faster than Dion: Delmar Glaze (3 visits), Olu Fashanu (not happening), and the Combine-visited, scouted, Kiran Amegajie. A right tackle, Tyler Guyton, may slip to #28, but LT-LG Latham –who I like better, will not. The next 2 tackles, I think, are still in the cards, and have great upside, but would need Kromer’s help at blocking: Walter Rouse in RD6 and Pitt’s Matt Goncalves in RD3, where we don’t currently have a pick.
The one that jumps out at me here, besides these two, plus the Combine-visited OTs, and Graham Barton at Duke, is Trente Jones. If you feel happy with the tackle depth you have (and maybe they do), you’d take Glaze, Rouse, Goncalves if he drops to #127, and/or Trente Jones in PFA and have Kromer develop the talent.
Editor’s babble: Many thanks to Dean Kindig for his many contributions to our blog. You can also find Dean on Xwitter @TCBILLS_Astro.
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