tennesseeboy

If what you say about Davis is true, I'm downgrading him in my book. I think coming to the combine not prepared is a really significant message. Good thing there are so many other good first round tackles. Okung, Williams, Baluga and Campbell are going in the top 15 and I'd be happy with any of thiem.

Where is the depth? Wood is a question mark, Incognito could explode at any moment and Bell is a revolving door. If we had pretty good depth Bell would not be a starter.

This is a truly exceptional offensive line draft especially at tackle. I suspect the best player available when we get to our second pick will be a tackle and I think we should consider getting a second tackle. I'll go further and say we should get a good solid veteran tackle in free agency as well. I say this because we need not only quality but also depth in the offensive line. A solid gaurd wouldn't be a bad pick up either given the uncertainty of Woods. QB? Frankly the qb class is weak this year and in any other year Clausen would be a low first round or high second round pick, and probably not the guy to bet the farm on. Bradford will be gone by the time we pick, and if he isn't the need for a quality tackle and the fact that blue chip tackles will be available at nine trumps the desire to get yet another qb to fail behind a poor offensive line.

add...sign Michael Vick at qb. and we'll be cooking with gas. There are a couple of interesting d-line acquistions in free agency that we might pick up as well. Frankly it would not be all that hard to turn us into a competitor for the playoffs in one year with some gutsy moves. I heard on Sirius as two of the speakers were going on about Butler's retirement one of them point out that the fact that it was the Buffalo Bills might have been a reason...something to the effect of "how many games will the bills win next year with New York, New England and Miami in that division?" and the other fellow responded..."five-maybe" I think he's accurate with the team we have, but with the right changes it could be an interesting fight in the AFC East, and we could be in the thick of it.

I'd rather have McLain than Clausen. That's what we face this year. Would I rather have McLain than Joe Montana or Peyton Manning? HELL NO. Quarterbacks aren't fungible. Neither are linebackers.

How can you possibly say not one LT is worth a top 10 pick? Most knowledgeable people are predicting up to FOUR going in the top ten and a goodly number see Okung going as the second pick? Where do you come up with this crap?

The guy is good and maybe a late round choice. I think we might draft two LT's in this draft. I'm thinking that we might even go with three -Chris Brown of Tennessee and move him to gaurd.

he's a hell of a player and certainly would be a great pick at two. He might even be the momentum for some creative trade down/trade up ideas. That being said...number nine is for the best left tackle available. There are four or five very good LT prospects and we should go with that at nine. Williams is a very tempting prospect though!

Actually if we aren't going to fix the offensive line the guy you want in the backfield is Vick. At least he can run for his life, and like Flutie, draw the attention of the defensive front seven as a legitimate running threat. In fact, even if we do get two good tackles in the draft, Vick would probably be the best guy to take us to the playoffs next year. Neither Clausen nor Bradford are going to be anybody's vision of the future.

Bell was less than impressive, but may be worth keeping. The argument that 3 of 5 of our starting o-line was hurt is interesting in light of my post about the need for depth at the o-line. It seems that it is not at all uncommon for there to be significant injuries on the o-line and great teams need depth. It is probably almost as true for the D-line as well. If our starting 5 suck (and with the exception of Wood and Levitre they do) what does that say about the players who couldn't beat them out to start?

cow farts....I shoulda guessed that. I have a little brother who probably should have a bell on him as well.

Actually I didn't post to argue the selection of a qb over an LT (although I believe our first pick should be an LT this year given our needs and the quality of players who will most likely be available at the position) I was speculating that in building an offensive line one should not just consider the 5 guys on the field but also the likelihood (I'm not sure of this but it seems that offensive linemen in general seem to get hurt a lot). of injury that every effort should be made to have quality back ups. The qb/LT thing is kind of a dead horse. Some think line, some think qb. I'm in the line category partly because I'm not all that impressed with the two qb's being discussed.

I really think we should concentrate on bringing in both left tackle and right tackle prospects in the draft. One reason is even if Bell should start (I'd be shocked) Recent posts made me wonder whether there were more tackle injuries in a season than qb injuries. The Bills and many others suffered injuries to offensive tackles and relied on backups. I wonder if we should not just be thinking about the starters (who suck) but also the need to have people to step in in case of injury. I guess my point is that we had better not just think of "fixing" our terrible starting offensive line but of drafting, trading or going to free agency to get three or four quality tackles in here? Now qb's get hurt as well, but it seems that there are significant rules to protect qb's and one of the ways to best protect a qb is to provide a quality offensive line that gives him time. Gee with all my talk about tackles and defensive line in the draft folks are gonna think I'm partial to fat guys! I know..I know.. Pat Williams is all muscle.

Can she actually be as dumb as she appears?

Right...we really should go for the tenth best Offensive tackle who as a second team all Big ten selection in our position of most critical need. That should make sure we don't suck.

yeah....that's the ticket...get Rob Johnson...oh...get JP Losman.....oh...get Trent Edwards....oh....get jimmy clausen. That's how not to suck....

There are four very good OT's out there and we would be derelict if we don't take one of them at 9. I have been touting A. Davis from the get go, and Baluga as well, with the assumption that Okung would be long gone. Okung is a fine fine choice. Trent Williams is the fourth of these guys and many on this board want to go with him at nine too. I think the Bills HAVE to get one of these guys at 9.

Geez...read my posts over the last month. I think I'm probably the strongest poster on the board for a Tackle choice. I've pointed out that under no circumstances would I pick either of the top two quarterbacks at nine.

Motivation was more just to give what Casserly was thinking. There were two surprises for me. The first was that this class was comparable to last year's very strong LT class. This did not seem consistent with what I was seeing in a few posts here that the class was kind of weak. The second was the statement about being so well-coached at Iowa about Baluga and perhaps that he was as good as he was going to get. I thought that was wierd at first and then played around with the thought and figured it might be a legitimate observation. I have a very good friend who runs one of the best Div. III wrestling programs in the country. Has been a national champ on a number of occassions and by now has nearly 60 all americans. He looks to recruit the guy from a small school who gave the hotly recruited star a great match and looks to what coaching he received in his high school in evaluating how good he could be. Has had tremendous success over the years picking guys who have a tremendous upside. I like Baluga, and from what I see would be happy to have him or Davis. I assumed it was a given that Okung would be the number 2 or 3 pick, but apparently he might even be in the mix with Williams.

he is a remarkably good DT. Remember Tennessee under Fulmer produced some remarkable defensive linemen, such as Haynesworth, Henderson, and of course Reggie. His performance through the year was good in the SEC, and he made some very good plays in the senior bowl. A definite grab for round 2, but I think his stock is rising and he'll be in mid round 1 pretty soon. Can't have enough Tennessee players in round 1! I wouldn't whine too much if the Bills took him, but I'd rather a good LT choice or McClain if available first.

Iagree...it would be pretty hard to go wrong. I still think the best option is to get the best offensive tackle available at 9 though. Picking a player like McClain or a fine DT or even DE is a possibility depending on what talent is available when we pick. DB is out...and in my opinion, qb should be out as well.

boy, these cuts are devastating!!!

Heard Charlie Casserly on the NFL station while getting ready for work. He indicated (contrary to what some on the board asserted that there were at least four first round OT's and he would not be surprised if they are all chosen before the tenth pick. Here is his assessment as best I recall...He said that he was talking about hem in no particular order. Trent Williams Very talented but probably a right tackle. Okung very high but did not discuss him as the best offensive tackle but high in the mix. I would have expected him to say he was the top candidate. Brian Baluga. Extremely talented with two possible concerns...short arms and something I hadn't thought of as a consideration-he warned that Baluga had been extremely well coached and developed at Iowa and that perhaps what we were seeing was the best we were going to see...I don't think he meant it as a slam, but rather that he comes with a perhaps limited upside. Anthony Davis-Extremely talented with the physique and athletic ability to perform at the next level. Extremely long arms. Did not identify him as a right tackle option. The two compared this draft class at this position to last year's class.

Butler staying healthy isn't the problems...its the quarterbacks staying healthy with a porous offensive line. Butler is not the answer.

not fixed the o-line that is. We do need help on defense as well though...and we should try to fix that in the draft as well.