NFL draft: best fits between draft prospects and teams

Buffalo Bills – Michael Pittman Jr., WR, USC

It is no secret that the Bills have the smallest receiving corp in the league, with their top three receivers measuring in at 5’11”, 5’8” and 5’8” respectively. While John Brown quietly might have had his best all-around season as a pro and Cole Beasley had some nice performances for them out of the slot, they need that big-bodied wideout, who can make plays vertically and bail Josh Allen out if he isn’t perfectly precise. Pittman was incredible in several games for the Trojans and through two days of Senior Bowl practice, where basically nobody could cover him and he didn’t even need to use his catch-radius too much. Obviously a guy like Tee Higgins at the back-end of round one could be a target for them as well, but the USC receiver somewhere around pick 50 seems to be a sweet-spot for Buffalo. Pittman shows remarkably quick feet for a big guy to defeat press and he is a long strider with excellent ball-tracking skills on vertical routes. Moreover, he only dropped five of 176 catchable passes during his collegiate career and would give the Bills’ young signal-caller a lot of confidence by handling what’s coming his way. With Devin Singletary really coming alive late during the year and in an excellent Wildcard performance, as well as tight-end Dawson Knox coming into year two, who I really liked out of Ole Miss, this offense could make Buffalo a serious threat to finally win the AFC East, if they can add a couple of pieces.

Tennessee Titans – Bradlee Anae, EDGE, Utah

One of the surprise teams of the 2019 season, the Titans rolled all the way to the AFC Championship game with a monster at running back in Derrick Henry and a defense that made big plays when they needed them to. The biggest question for Tennessee will be if they can find a way to re-sign Ryan Tannehill while handing out a big contract to Henry as well, but assuming they find a way to keep that end the way it is, with some talented young players at the skill positions, this makes me shift my focus on the defense. Not a lot of teams have spent more money and draft capital on the secondary in recent years, which has allowed the Titans to be very versatile on the back-end and I love their duo of young inside linebackers, but if there is one area they need to improve at, it is the pass rush department. Harold Landry will be a fixture for this defense for years to come, but Tennessee needs somebody to come off the opposite edge, especially without Dean Pees drawing up creative ways to create pressure. At 38 years old Cameron Wake is a short-term solution at best and with the money that will be needed to keep the offense in place, they should be looking to the draft. As I mentioned before, there is a huge drop-off after Chase Young when it comes to edge defenders. So instead I am looking more somebody who can fit the bill on day two. Anae recorded 13 sacks for Utah last season and would complement Landry really well as more of a power-based rusher. While there are guys with more upside, he can make an impact right away.