With the arrival of Mike Williams, it seems less and less likely the Bills would spend their 1st round draft choice on another WR. This particular draft is deep in receiving talent, so it would behoove the Bills to use their top 10 selection on someone who will help keep EJ Manuel upright for 16 games this season.
Enter Jake Matthews. The Bills were present at Texas A&M's pro day, so they've already indicated an interest in Matthews. Jake was a 4 star recruit to Texas A&M, a high school All-American who just wrapped up a decorated four year career at one of the nation's top schools. The SEC, regarded by many as the toughest conference in college football, named him first team All-Conference each of the past two seasons. He was a consensus All-American for the 2013 campaign.
Matthews has also tested well, with a strong performance at the 2014 combine. He also wowed scouts at the Texas A&M Pro Day. At 6'5" and 308 pounds, Matthews ran a 5.07 40 yard dash and posted a 30.5 inch vertical leap, hugely impressive numbers when you consider his enormous stature. While scouts didn't learn anything new about him, Matthews' performance certainly did nothing to hurt his stock.
Most importantly, especially in this new era of the NFL where a player's background is nearly as important as his 40 time, Matthews has drawn rave reviews from his college coach, Kevin Sumlin. According to James Palmer, Sumlin raved about Matthews' work ethic and personality, saying that those set him apart above all else.
Matthews will be in direct competition with Auburn's Greg Robinson to be the first offensive tackle taken in May's draft. In a quirky draft, highlighted by three top QB prospects (Bortles, Manziel, Bridgewater) who no pundit can seem to predict a landing spot for, Matthews can easily slide to the Bills' slot at 9. I believe he will be a 10 year starter in this league, and if you buy into the predictive power of bloodlines, his father Bruce was a 14 time Pro Bowl selection and was named to the NFL All 1990s Decade Team.
If Matthews is available, the Bills should run, not walk to the podium to make the selection. He would provide much needed stability to an offensive line that sorely needs it.
