Buffalo Bills: Complete 2015 NFL Draft Wrap-Up and Analysis

Months of anticipation and buildup culminated in 14 hours and 256 picks, as the 2015 NFL draft exited stage left as quickly as it came. 

Along the way, the Buffalo Bills added six new players to their roster despite missing out on the hoopla of the draft's first day. The Bills seemed key on never diverting from their draft board to reach for a need, something that fans of the team could grow to become accustomed to. Drafting for need means that holes exist, while drafting the best player remaining shows signs of a blossoming roster. 

Fans who expected the Bills to slide up and down in the draft may come away uninspired from a rather ho-hum three days, but the excitement of the 2015 season should qualm any concerns. There is no definitive proof until there are results on the field, but the feeling that the Buffalo Bills are back isn't an unreasonable one. 

Doug Whaley and Rex Ryan did not force the issue in their first draft together. Cornerback was a curious choice with their first actual pick in the second round, but Whaley's explanation, via BuffaloBills.com, makes sense considering the potential star power across the roster. 

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At the beginning of this thing, we said we were going to take the best player available. He was the highest-rated player on our board. Two, we can take a corner every year. And three, with the additions the other teams have made in this draft, in our division, we got to keep up with the arms race. 

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Grading each pick individually in live time can be hard when you cannot see the whole picture at the end of the weekend. I was critical of the Bills' picks at times during the weekend, but Whaley stayed true to himself from beginning to end.

We can debate fit or need all day, but each time the Bills picked, they came out with some type of value. At the end of the weekend, the Bills got deeper. For a team teetering on the edge of the playoffs, those are the types of moves that will finally push them over.

The Selections

A lot of the complaints in the days to come will be that the Bills did not take an immediate high-impact player. This assumption is unfair for two reasons. 

First, Buffalo did not possess a first-round pick in a draft where the surefire impact players did not make it out of the top 10. There was plenty of quality available in the second and third rounds, but many were players who will take time to adjust to the next level. 

Second, aside from Sammy Watkins and Stephon Gilmore, Buffalo's best picks in recent years have been of the unsuspecting variety. Kiko Alonso was widely unknown by the Buffalo fanbase heading into the 2013 draft, and the pick was mildly well received until the legend began to grow over the summer.

Preston Brown didn't have the same impact as Alonso in his rookie season, but the Bills couldn't have expected how much he would contribute to their defense in the first year. Heading into his sophomore season, Brown will be wearing a green dot on his helmet to direct the defense. 

The selection of Ronald Darby in the second round will have split support until he actually does something—good or bad—on the field. No, cornerback wasn't a high need for the Bills. Yes, it could become one relatively quickly, and Ryan sure didn't want a repeat of the injury-ravaged unit he dealt with in New York last season.

In a league so dependent on the passing game, having a few good corners is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. 

John Miller was a solid pick all around. He likely starts off the season as a backup to Chris Williams on the left side, but considering Williams' injury history and ineffectiveness, Miller could be the first rookie to earn a start. 

Running back Karlos Williams, the sixth Bill on the roster with that last name, will have to show the same returning potential he flashed in his freshman and sophomore seasons at Florida State. Williams has the talent to be a starting running back in due time, but it'll take reversing some of the bad habits he got into during his senior year. 

Tony Steward is purely a depth pickup with the potential of starting in a few seasons. 

Buffalo's picks of Nick O'Leary and Dezmin Lewis might have been its best in terms of pure value. O'Leary is a football player through and through. His hard-nosed approach to the tight end position despite limited measurables will make him an instant favorite at the Ralph. Lewis has the height-speed combo that makes coaches drool in the late rounds, and it's surprising he didn't go much earlier.

Best Pick: TE Nick O'Leary

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

There are moments when the scouting community gets too wrapped up in attributes being off the charts rather than finding a guy who knows how to play the game. 

If all you saw of O'Leary was his predraft workouts and non-football skills tests, you probably wouldn't want much to do with him. He is short by today's tight end standards and was one of the slowest prospects of the top 10 guys at his position. Frankly, there isn't much exciting about O'Leary the athlete. 

Now, O'Leary the football player is someone I can get behind. This is a guy who fulfills every single football cliche phrase in reference to a tough player. He knows his limits athletically and always finds ways to help his team win. We are talking about a guy whose team went 39-3 over his final three seasons of college football, including a national title. 

O'Leary doesn't seem to care about what he has to do to win, just as long as he can win. When he pulled up limp during warm-ups of the Rose Bowl loss to Oregon, he played through it, according to the Palm Beach Post's Tom D'Angelo (via Sporting News' Justin Ferguson). 

Tearing the cap off the defense as a tight end isn't nearly as important as the toughness to carry your team in the big moments. O'Leary was the big-moment guy for top overall pick Jameis Winston. 

That should be good enough for Buffalo.

Worst Pick: OLB Tony Steward

Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Tony Steward was the Bills' worst value selection purely based on his injury history. There is no other justification needed for putting him here. 

A collective, "Who?" was probably uttered by much of Western New York when the pick was released because Steward was not on the radar of many of the top draft analysts. You know, the guys who get paid the big bucks to watch hours of film and put lengthy scouting reports together. 

It was understandable for Steward to get overlooked considering he was a contributor to a Top 25 program for barely two seasons and only a starter on defense for one. It also didn't help that Steward was on the same side of the ball as first-round picks Vic Beasley and Stephone Anthony. 

There were moments, however, when Steward was the best player on the field for the Clemson defense. He probably isn't the same type of athlete as he was coming out of high school, when he was a top-15 recruit in the country, according to 247Sports. Two ACL injuries will do that to you. 

What does Steward's senior season of 3.5 sacks and 13 quarterback hurries tell us? He's willing to work hard.

To make the Bills' final roster, he'll have to.

What the Experts Are Saying

Draft grades are often short-sighted because analysts don't have much scope on what is actually happening in war rooms on draft weekend. They do have their place in the post-draft analysis, though, and here are a few opinions from some of the best in the industry. 

Chris Burke, Sports Illustrated: C

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The Bills started this draft at a disadvantage, having coughed up their first-round selection to add Sammy Watkins last year. They did well at No. 50 to add a borderline round 1 talent in cornerback Ronald Darby, but it's hard to guarantee any of their other picks will make an impact. Guard John Miller (No. 81) has the clearest shot. Buffalo is thin at guard and Miller, though limited overall, fits the mauler mold Rex Ryan favors. Sixth-round tight end Nick O'Leary was productive at Florida State. Can he find any playing time with two players similar to him in style, Charles Clay and Chris Gragg, ahead of him on the depth chart?​ 

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Burke's analysis is fair and not unlike what many Bills fans will see in the coming days. What fans will have to remember is that the 2015 draft was used for adding to the foundation, not rebuilding it. 

Bryan Fischer, NFL.com: C-

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If we had to give a grade for Day 1, it would be a C-minus. The Bills traded away what would have been a good pick this year in order to move up a few spots for Sammy Watkins in last year's wide receiver-rich draft. Darby doesn't exactly fill a glaring need, but he has tremendous quickness and can be a nickel guy from Day 1. Miller fits in perfectly with Rex Ryan's system, and Nick O'Leary was born to play in Buffalo.

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Fischer also makes a funny about Rex Ryan liking Florida State players. Get used to that. Fans will also look forward to the lack of Sammy Watkins trade opinions when the draft rolls around next year. 

Dan Kadar, SB Nation's "Mocking the Draft": C+

Kadar is one of the most respected guys in draft analysis circles, so his opinion should carry a good amount of weight. 

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This grade takes the Sammy Watkins trade into account. Still, there's not a lot to be real excited about. Darby is a nice choice in the second round because he's a star athlete that should develop nicely in the NFL. Miller was the necessary pick the Bills had to make. Williams is a decent short-yardage back, but he has fumbling issues. It will be interesting to see how O'Leary gets used. Obviously he's someone head coach Rex Ryan will love. Lewis put together a nice week at the Senior Bowl and could be a nice late-round contributor. He's a smooth athlete with size, giving the Bills something they don't have.

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Another Watkins reference, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. Darby and Miller seem to be the consensus favorites for immediate impact, which makes sense considering they were Day 2 picks.

What's Left to Address

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The draft gave a pretty good indication of where the front office thinks the roster is at from top to bottom.

There aren't a whole lot of holes that can be filled at this moment. Quarterback is obviously still a need, but the team is willing to let this three-headed competition spit out its winner over the summer. If I was to nitpick, safety and linebacker would be the two spots to go after. 

Brandon Spikes is still available on the market, and he would likely return to Buffalo on another one-year deal if the money was right. The next-best inside linebackers still available are D.J. Williams and Dane Fletcher. Neither would upgrade what the Bills already have on the roster. 

The pick of Darby could signify a positional move for Corey Graham in the near future. A key free-agent signing a year ago, Graham played some safety at times for the Bills in his first season with the team.

The Bills sniffed around veteran Dawan Landry at the beginning of April, but nothing came of it. Not many teams are rushing to sign the 32-year-old, which means he could be an addition if an injury occurs because of his familiarity with Ryan.

Final Grade

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Nothing about Buffalo's 2015 draft was flashy, but for a team without a first-round pick in hand, it didn't need to be. 

As the draft unwound, each passing pick made more sense for the direction of the team. Selecting at positions of strength won't do much to appease the fanbase in the short term, but it helps make the roster deeper for a run at the postseason. 

The immediate impact from the draft class will be minimal, and for that, Buffalo earns a B-minus from me. The longevity of this class will be the most important thing for the Bills moving forward. Patience now will hopefully reap larger rewards a few years down the road.