5 of the oddest draft picks made by AFC East teams

Famous scallywags and occasional lawbreakers, the Rolling Stones once sang, “You can’t always get what you want,” and boy, is that true when the NFL draft rolls around.

Some of the picks made by AFC East teams in 2024 only serve to demonstrate that you have to draft somebody with your picks, even if that somebody should be signed as an undrafted free agent. 

5 of the oddest draft picks made by AFC East teams

Cole Bishop  - Buffalo Bills

Not only did the Bills take Bishop a round earlier than he was projected to go, in the second when most people expected him to fall to the 82nd spot, but they also didn’t need another safety after they signed Mike Edwards during free agency to pair with Taylor Rapp. 

Travis Clayton - Buffalo Bills

Clayton has never played a single minute of football, but that didn’t stop the Bills from taking him in the seventh round. It probably should have. Like Louis Rees-Zammit, Clayton used to play rugby union and play on the wing.

But unlike Louis Rees-Zammit, Clayton played in the eighth tier of English rugby union.

Also, unlike Rees-Zammit Clayton is 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 301 lbs. He did run a 4.79-second 40-yard dash, which isn’t especially fast for a rugby union winger, but can you imagine trying to rugby tackle a left tackle? 

Even more bizarrely, Clayton projects as an offensive tackle (you would have thought he’d be a better defensive tackle). The Bills believe they’ve drafted the new Jordan Mailata, but they definitely could have signed him once the draft was over. 

Caedan Wallace - New England Patriots

It seems possible that when the Patriots decided to draft the tackle who played at Penn State, they were thinking of Olu Fashanu.

But he went to the Jets in the first round, so they went for that other guy who played tackle at Penn State and drafted Wallace three rounds higher than expected. 

Isaiah Davis - New York Jets

Some analysts were surprised when the Jets took Braelon Allen with their fourth-round pick. After they drafted Allen, the Jets had four running backs, and Breece Hall could be the best back in the league.

Hall’s backup, Israel Abanikanda, averaged 3.9 yards per touch in 2023, which is not bad for a rookie with only 29 touches. You can understand why the Jets took one back to add some competition to the group, but drafting two in the same class is discombobulating. 

Jordan Travis - New York Jets

The Jets have five quarterbacks on their roster heading into the preseason, which is more unusual than odd. But three of them are rookies, and with a starting quarterback returning from a torn Achilles, that seems a little risky.  

The odd part of the Jets’ quarterback room is that Aaron Rodgers’s primary backup is Tyrod Taylor, and they’re not all that similar. Travis is more like Rodgers. The problem there is Travis suffered a fractured dislocation of his left ankle in November.

While you can only hope there aren’t any lasting issues with such a serious injury, even if he comes back 100% healthy, there are a few red flags when you watch Travis play.

The Florida native doesn’t seem to go through progressions; he just locks onto his first option until they get open. A lot of his success came from waiting for Keon Coleman and Jaheim Bell to beat their defenders.

Travis seems to back away from the pass rush instead of stepping up into the pocket to avoid it. So, he’s got a few rough edges that need to be polished, but Travis is older than Michael Penix Jr., and people questioned the Falcons for drafting a 23-year-old project quarterback.  

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