Buffalo Bills draft Tremaine Edmunds: Instant grade and analysis
The Buffalo Bills selected Tremaine Edmunds with the 16th-overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Here’s all you need to know about Edmunds.
Strengths
Most notably is his athleticism and ability to fly to the ball once he sees where it is going. This athleticism is representative of raw potential in the Edmunds. The guy is fast, and when he identifies where to be, he gets there and makes a good tackle. He’s gonna use these skills to do everything he can to get into the backfield and stop runners before they get going. Not to mention the he can explode after the quarterback when given a chance.
Outside of what his athletic ability allows him to do, it’s his drive and good tackling that set him apart. He gets off of blocks very well, and will always try to get back in the play. Even if his is unable to get off of a block quickly, he will keep fighting until he puts himself in a position to make a play. Once is there, he doesn’t miss tackles very often. He is going to do all of this in the NFL, as all of his strengths translate very well to the NFL game.
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Weaknesses
While his athleticism is his greatness strength, it has also contributed to his biggest weakness. He has relied too much on it, not always being able to diagnose plays quickly. He hasn’t had to. Everybody in the NFL will be more athletic and able to contend with him. This could expose the times he isn’t direct to the ball or when he takes time to process what is happening. Whether or not he will get lost in the mess on running plays are yet to be seen.
The other question mark is his ability to cover. With his athleticism he should be able to, but sometime has shown the ability to lose track of his assignment. Virginia Tech’s defensive scheme did a good job of protecting him by not exposing their line backers to man coverage very often, so it isn’t clear whether with a greater sample size he will be better. In a league that is increasingly trying to get running backs or tight ends matched up against line backers, he is going to have to do this at the NFL level.
Grade
Grade: B
Edmunds makes sense, and so the grade is a good one. Ultimately, though, it’s a bit surprising that the Bills didn’t take a receiver to help out Josh Allen.