VJ91

Panthers or Broncos, eh? Why not? Lost-man is just good enough to knock around the NFL for a good 10 more years backing up the starters, and then backing up the back ups. Nice easy work if you can get it. Too bad Donahoe was the GM for the Bills when he traded back into the first round to add him into the Bills all-time list of first round draft flops in '04! At least Butler didn't draft Todd "15 year back up" Collins until the third round back in the mid 90's when Jimbo was slowing down.

Or....the Eagles paid fair market value for a two time Pro Bowl LT that will anchor their OL for the next 8 years. Only time will tell.

Yeah, and today's theme around this board is how much of an elite talent every scout and guru thought Mike Williams was. If the Bills draft Oher or another tackle that starts half way through this season without getting injured, that will be "elite" enough for me!

How could he have been better sitting on the bench with a bad back??

5 rookies that make solid contributions this year, filling the OT, DE & OG/C weaknesses.

Ok, what if he was? A rookie that actually earned a fraction of his overpayment. A refreshing thing to see. Still you are missing my point entirely. Peters decided to stop playing football as soon as Miami paid Long all that money. He may have worked out on his own, but he skipped the entire training camp. Of course he did not have a good as sesaon as if he would have come to camp. Now that he is earning a little more money then Long, we will be able to see just how good Peters is....for the Eagles of course.

Comedy writers for David Lettermen could not have been funnier then this paragraph from the article, titled "No Excuses" No excuses Williams offered no excuses for his Buffalo years but he did say it wasn't easy playing for three different line coaches in his four seasons as well as two different head coaches. And maybe, he said, thinking he had to carry the hopes and dreams of a franchise on his large but relatively young 22-year-old back had been a bit overwhelming. "But I was a professional and as a professional they expect you to adjust." Allow me to re-write that paragraph with just a hint of honesty included: EXCUSES Williams offered the following excuses as to why he sucked so much during his Bills' years: 1) It was hard to play football. (Despite who was coaching him) 2) He was too lazy and immature at 22 years old to even try to live up to his high expectations.

Bucky Gleason makes an excellent point in his article in today's Buff News. Why in the world do the NFL owners agree to pay rookies so much money in the first place? Peters did not make his final decision until he watched how much un-deserved un-earned money the Dolphins paid Jake Long after picking him number 1 last year. So why do they pay the rookies so much? The Players Union? The agents? Fear of a "strike" by college kids who already make nothing but the quiet dirty money funneled to them from dirty coaches and/or dirty alumni? They certainly can't live off those few bucks per season. With the economy bottoming out deeper every day, now is the perfect time to stop the insanity. Come up with a real rookie cap, one that awards veterans for their years of service, while still allowing the best rookies to buy their mom's homes and buy their SUV's and their bling. For example: Nobody can pretend to know just how arrogant and selfish and egotistical Jason Peters is. That has been beaten to death out here. However, since he was an undrafted free agent, perhaps if Jake Long, the number one pick in the entire draft, was paid only 3 Million Dollars per season for two years, with just a 4 Million dollar signing bonus, Peters would have not become so angry and jealous! At the same time, Long could have used his 2 Million dollars after taxes, from his signing bonus, and done some of the things the young rich athletes love to do. WIN WIN. If he earned the big contract after two years of being worth the number one pick in the draft, then sign him to the mega-deal. I guess this just makes too much common sense for the NFL owners to actually do. All we can hope is they agree to pay less money then what they are paying for top 5 to 10 picks today, when they re-do the collective bargaining agreement.

Orakpo would be a great pick. In my opinion, so would any of the other best DE's, or any of the top 5 or 6 OT's, at the #11 pick.

I'm not a full time draft guru like McShay, but no way does Mack last all the way to 42! In this case, I sure hope I'm wrong and McShay's right!

Donahoe did get Crowell and McGee later in this draft, but look at some of the talent he missed on early: Here are some players chosen after McGahee in the first and early into the second round, that Donahoe could have drafted instead: 24 Dallas Clark TE Iowa Indianapolis Colts 27 Larry Johnson RB Penn State Kansas City Chiefs 28 Andre Woolfolk CB Oklahoma Tennessee Titans 29 Nick Barnett MLB Oregon State Green Bay Packers 30 Sammy Davis CB Texas A&M San Diego Chargers 31 Nnamdi Asomugha CB California Oakland Raiders 32 Tyler Brayton DE Colorado Oakland Raiders 33 Eric Steinbach G Iowa Cincinnati Bengals Here are some players chosen after Kelsay in the second round, that Donahoe could have drafted instead: 54 Anquan Boldin WR Florida State Arizona Cardinals 55 Bryan Scott SS Penn State Atlanta Falcons 56 Osi Umenyiora DE Troy State New York Giants 57 Anthony Adams DT Penn State San Francisco 49ers 58 Mike Doss SS Ohio State Indianapolis Colts

Are those the same people that were telling us Cutler was going to be a Bill? Listen, neither Gil Brandt nor Buffalo "Deep Throat" nor Skooby know who the Bills will draft at any pick at any round. All I know, is that the Bills should get their DE and their OT with those two picks, in whatever order they choose. And in the last couple of drafts, I have to admit the circle jerks have drafted for their obvious needs. Donte Whitner under Levy was the last jaw dropper, so I don't expect any shocks, be it Ayers, Oher, or other DE's or OT's taken.

Use the $ saved?? Have you noticed, other then the 6.5 Mil for renting Owens for one season, the Bills have no intention of using their saved $ on high profile free agents! Also, what good is paying all that money for Boldin, if Edwards won't have time to take a 3 step drop on most passing plays?

Here's a 20/20 Hindsight possible draft of players that were still on the board from that horrid draft for the first few rounds: 1) Keith Bulluck instead of Erik Flowers 2) Brad Meester instead of Travares Tillman 3) John St. Clair instead of Corey Moore 4) Clark Haggans instead of Avion Black To be fair to the that last Butler/Smith draft for the Bills, they were drafting late in every round due to their 11-5-0 record from 1999, and as you can see above, there was not a plethora of talented players left drafting so low in every round. Still, for John Butler, he went out with a wimper. He could have tried to trade up to get some better talent - that really was a horrible effort!

And here's the line in that article that explains why the Bills "settled" for the #28 pick instead of the #21: "Sheldon's comments under the circumstances actually serve to devalue him in a trade if we were willing to consider it; which we are not." Peters actions holding out and not giving the Bills any respect at all, served to devalue him. So that's why I was in favor of the Bills not trading him at all, and letting him waste the last two years of his contract if that's what he thought he needed to do. by sitting on his big butt. Nothing would have prevented the Bills from drafting the best OT on the board with their existing #11 pick anyway, and then they could have lived without that extra #28 pick while they let Peters rot at home, if that's what he wanted to do. In the long run, they still would have missed his talents on the field, but I would have respected them more for their toughness. Ironic that the Eagles are showing the same toughness with their unhappy CB above, while they stole Peters from the Bills. Talk about going north and south at the same time.

Just let it go. Peters is gone, so move on. I like Rhodes' attitude. Don't forget he had over 100 yards rushing in the Colts' win against the Bears in the SB a couple years ago. That should be great for the locker room.

Before the Peters trade, I was hoping the Bills used #11 on Mack, reach or not. Now, I'm leaning more towards one of the best OT's at 11 or 28, and grabbing one of the other centers or guards later on, even though I know Mack will be long gone by the third round. I like that kid a lot, but the Bills need one of the top tackles more now. Of course, if Mack falls to the Bills slot in round two, that would be awesome!

McNally coached Munoz, Max Montoya and other lesser known O-linemen that were good enough to get the Bengals into two SB's in the 80's. Later, he coached an O-line of unknowns in New York that got the Giants to the SB against Baltimore in the early 2000's. In between, he spent the better part of 20 years coaching good OL's everywhere he went. I think he did as good a job as any coach could in his few years in Buffalo, given the lack of talent he had to work with. I'm sure he takes great pride in turning Peters into the highest paid OL in NFL history, as well he should.

Well, for one thing, we certainly got some good football from Clements and Winfield during their first 4 years with the Bills. So if I'm choosing between drafting good and having talented players for 3 or 4 years, or drafting bad and having bad players for 3 or 4 years, I would have to side with drafting good.

Mike Schopp is an egotistical jerk who loves to hear himself talk, and also is forever trying to take the "different" or "unique" approach. I have no idea what he means if he is saying the Bills should concentrate on people who "have the ball." All the Bills have to do Saturday is what everyone who follows the draft around the country think they should do. Draft DE, OT with their two first round picks, or OT, DE. If they choose any other positions, if they try to sell us on any other players being the best "on their board" at 11 or 28 other then DE's or OT's, then the circle jerks will once again prove their stupidity. Take the TE in round 2 - 4. And after that, then they can take their "best athletes on their board."

And to make you feel worse, here's a list of some of the rookies the Bills could have drafted instead of Mr. Bust, in the 2002 talent-laden first round: 7 Bryant McKinnie T Miami (Fla.) Minnesota Vikings 8 Roy Williams FS Oklahoma Dallas Cowboys 9 John Henderson DT Tennessee Jacksonville Jaguars 10 Levi Jones T Arizona State Cincinnati Bengals 11 Dwight Freeney DE Syracuse Indianapolis Colts 13 Donte' Stallworth WR Tennessee New Orleans Saints 14 Jeremy Shockey TE Miami (Fla.) New York Giants 15 Albert Haynesworth DT Tennessee Tennessee Titans 17 Phillip Buchanon CB Miami (Fla.) Oakland Raiders 20 Javon Walker WR Florida State Green Bay Packers 21 Daniel Graham TE Colorado New England Patriots 24 Ed Reed SS Miami (Fla.) Baltimore Ravens 26 Lito Sheppard CB Florida Philadelphia Eagles 29 Marc Colombo T Boston College Chicago Bears 30 Kendall Simmons G Auburn Pittsburgh Steelers

And that might happen in this decade.

I really don't see either Mack or Unger still being on the board when the Bills make their second round pick. And even if they are there, I don't trust the circle jerks. I mean it would just make too much sense for the Bills to take the best DE and OT in round one, and then grab either Mack or Unger if they are still there with the second round pick. Don't get me wrong, I know the Bills have Hangartner to plug in at center and I know our needs for TE. So if the jerks go DE, OT and then TE instead of Mack or Unger, fine. But I think we all fear that mouth dropping pick that will make no common sense to us, is coming somewhere on day one! Remember last year? First round-McKelvin - excellent. Second round - Hardy-OK, we needed that tall receiver. Third round - Chris Ellis....WHO??

I'll give you Owens, Evans & Reed. That is only THREE receivers that any rational football fan would rate better then Parrish as a wide receiver on the current Buffalo Bills' roster. You say he's a terrible receiver? I say the Bills' OC's since he came in have been terrible, in how they have "used" him as a receiver. I think Parrish can put up 40 - 50 catches a year for 500-600 yards and 5 or more TD's per season, year in and year out with his speed. But I'm sure I won't get a chance for my point to be proven on the Bills, since they seem intent on dumping Roscoe and his 3 Mil a year for yet another 5th round draft pick anyway. I'll be interested in looking at Roscoe's final 2009 receiving stats next winter for his new team, compared to the day 2 draft pick the Bills get in return for his salary dump. And oh by the way, keep his 21 punt returns for 15.3 yards avg. and his (1) 63 yard TD in the back of your mind he had for the Bills in '08 too. Everyone says anybody can duplicate those numbers running behind Bobby Aprils' punt return team. I sure hope so, since you know the Bills will need every offensive yard they can get this year to end this playoff-less streak. I seem to remember a few of his punt returns having big impacts on those 7 wins the Bills did manage last year!

This is pure craziness. The mock draft above has Buffalo being able to draft Oher with the number 28 pick of round 1. This thread started out with another article saying the Bills had better waste draft picks to trade up to Jacksonville's #8 in order to have a chance of drafting Oher. I don't like this huge difference of opinion on this guy. No way should the Bills trade up just to be able to draft Oher. Now I'm thinking they should either draft him at 11 if he's still there if they love him so much and not waste picks, or draft their DE at 11 and worry about the OT later.