tennesseeboy

Ask me in a couple of years and I'll tell how this draft was. I don't see a Peyton Manning or Bruce Smith in the group, but there are a lot of very good players at certain positions.

we are DOOMED DOOMED......

I'd like to poker

I'm a professor of law at a law school in Virginia, but University Counsel here. Also the University pays into my retirement (12%) plan with TIAA-CREF, and there is a nice SRA available as well.

Wow...your boss let's you take his wife with you on a business trip? Now that's a neat perk.

whoops...clements cornerback.

Capable of going far into the playoffs? Certainly. Losman is looking like a first rate quarterback. McGahee is a slightly above average running back who MIGHT be better than that. the Price, Reed Parrish combination is held questionable by some but I think they make a very good #2 and #3. Evans on the other hand is a premier receiver. Royal is a vast improvement at tight end (although a possible soft spot.) Special teams are as good as anyone's and we have a superbowl punter and kicker. We have good tackles and have to shore up the center (hence the draft and free agency...two players.). Defense? Whitner and Simpson are good rookies and will be better next year. Spikes should be recovered next year and Crowell and Ellison are looking good. Fletcher is a (many disagree with me apparently) good linebacker, but if we have to get someone else it will be through free agency. A rookie MLB is not going to take us into the playoffs next year. I think Clements is one of the best centers in the game. Pay him and keep him in my scenario. McGee had a less than stellar year, but lets see what Youbooty or Thomas has to keep the pressure on. The D line can't stop the running game, but is solid at the defensive end position (keep Kelsay.) I think Williams, Triplett, and maybe McCargo are nice, but we need a run stopper outstanding DT with our first pick to make things happen..Okoye or Branch. I see NO reason we shouldn't go to the playoffs. Hell we were one game from getting there this year with piss poor run blocking and going through a good part of the season with no pass blocking and getting better with a two tight end, and Cieslak at fullback gerrymandered pass blocking scheme. I think we can fix those things and do well. Some people look at things the way they are and say why, Others look at what might be and say "why not?" Winning is about attititude. Get with the winning attitude.

I think that I'd maybe draft a tackle who has proven he can play gaurd (Aaron Sears of Tennessee comes to mind) but I'd think as a FA I'd want someone who has actually had some success playing that position. Backup tackle? Yeah...but he'd better come cheap at backup tackle money. I like Marv's position about signing our own. I like Clements (beaucoup) and think we've got to strain the purse strings a bit, but should make a serious run for him. Kelsay is a nice player and I'd try to keep him as well. I'm in the minority I know, but I think I'd get serious about keeping London Fletcher as well.

He was an all time great. However I'll never forget Booker Edgerson running him down from behind while the tv announcer, not watching the play, was saying something like "There isn't a man on this planet who can catch Alworth from behind once he gets going"...One of my all time favorite Bills memories.

Free college tuition for my kid Free gym and olympic pool membership Free graduate courses Ability to travel internationally Great health and okay dental benefits Nice atmosphere. Interesting legal work I think I have the best job in the world.

Polian is a good example of turnaround, making the Colts competitive in two years (12-3 record in his second year). He came to Buffalo in 1986 and moved quickly to build a winning team out of what had been a nightmare. I believe now the "future" is a much shorter time frame to work with...three years at most. Draft Clements...Draft Winfield. Play together...lose Winfield...lose Clements...hardly much room to build a great team. I think the way to build a winning team is by instilling a winning tradition. Winning begets winning. Hence build the best team you can for next season. You do that by improving your teams weak areas. Run defense and pass blocking...hence Okoye, Branch, Blaylock or plug in your favorite offensive or defensive lineman in an area of need. That's where we have to improve to begin winning on a regular basis.

I suspect I'm in the minority, but I thought Fletcher has done a pretty good job at MLB. If we can keep him for a year or two I'd be more than happy to leave him there and develop a replacement with a third round pick or draft a MLB next year. I just can't blame the inability to stop the run at the line of scrimmage on him, and I've kind of liked his overall play. I might be wrong, and I get the sense most of the posters don't think much of him.

In Khmelnetsky Ukraine I was supposed to meet a Ukrainian professor in a small town I was to lecture. I took the night train from Kiev and my daughter and I went to get off the train to meet the professor. WOW one of the most beautiful women I have ever set my eyes on. Turned out to be a wonderful hostess as well, taking my daughter and I through the countryside and touring some remarkable cities.

oh boy...he was one of my favorites. There were some great receivers back then...Maynard, Alworth,et al. The AFL was famous as a passing league in its early years....of course we can't let an Elbert Dubenion escape notice on a Bills Board, can we?

He was okay, but from what I saw of him, I certainly would not rate him in the top twenty players...might have him in the top thirty though.

hmmmm...big hands, adam's apple....

There seems to be four or five defensive backs in the top twenty five, and I like Wade out of Tennessee as well. Not to fall in love with a player based on one play but the late add cornerback from East Carolina University looked pretty darn good on that interception in the Senior Bowl and might be worth looking at. I suspect we'll be looking pretty seriously at other free agents if we can't work a deal with Clements. i'm naive, but it still seems to me that we should be able to work a deal with Clements. We're here and he's here, he's a team leader, he's familiar with our defense, and he's probably in his "last move" mode. Those seem to be pretty good facts justifying his staying here, all other things (meaning money of course) being equal. On the other hand I can see Snyder coming in and offering an OUTRAGEOUS contract, and they we'd have to go our own free agency route to get a replacement.

Seriously the problem in the past for the Bills has been a "build for the future" mentality. Drafting Willis M. is an example. We had a pro-bowl back and waste a first round pick on a guy who literally can't play for at least one year and then get rid of the probowl back. We cut players and let our best players leave in free agency. What on earth makes you think we had a "win now" attitude before this? Since Wade Phillips what coach has said "we're going to the playoffs this year?" ( he didn't either...but he certainly began the season with that expectation, as did Marv before him) NONE...The problem is we DON'T have a win now attitude. I think that may change with the present administration. In my opinion they should have drafted Ngata last year, but the Whitner selection paid off...THIS YEAR as did most of their picks. I think the Bills have had a history kind of like the way an admissions counselor makes love...he sits on the side of the bed and tells you how good its going to be. As the poet says..."A man's reach should exceed his grasp..or what's a heaven for?" Time to get down to business and win, baby, win.

I'm afraid you are right and I suspect we might not get a chance to get Okoye. In case that happens, Branch or Blaylock or a few other options come to mind. There will definitely be a good defensive or offensive lineman available for us. As long as we address the problems in the trenches.

paris hilton-hot?

I agree with you. I'm wrong. Come to think of it since we are building to win the superbowl in ten years drafting okoye sounds better as he is young enough to actually be around then. Maybe...come to think of it...we could trade all of this year's first three draft picks to someone who is foolishly thinking short term..and get four picks for next year...next year we trade the four for FIVE picks in the next year. Then about three or four years before we are going to win the superbowl we might have ten or twelve first round and second round picks! Seriously the way to win is simply to win. Get into the playoffs next year...and draft wisely to make that team better...and better. Draft the people who are going to make the team better sooner rather than later.

sooooo...we're looking at a 5 year plan? 7 year plan? 10 year plan? Seems to me we ought to be planning to get into the playoffs...far into the playoffs next year. Maybe I'm wrong. We can hope to do that about the year JP gets into his free agent year and when WM's replacement gets up to speed. Schobel on the verge of retirement. Yup...silly me... I believe the future is now and we do not need much to make a serious playoff run. But hell..let's draft a middle linebacker who isn't even in the top twenty five players and who is susceptible to getting knocked on his ass on running plays...let him develop and we'll be great in 2010! By then Okoye will be 23 and in free agency and we can get him to anchor that defensive line we never could get to stop anyone...and he'll be mature!!!

Why on earth did we trade Darryl Lamonica

Would that it were about long term. With free agency and parity long term is a three year window at most. That's why I say we have to go for the playoffs (and beyond) in the upcoming season or at worst in the season after. Wilson will die sooner or later and the team will go through a transition. The better players will consider free agency. Injuries, coaching or general manager changes make long term planning probably a thing of the past. What lineup and what changes will place in the best position to win next year? Do we try to keep Clements (big bucks!) Fletcher (pretty good) and beef up the line or draft linebackers, running backs and wide receivers and try to make do with poor run stopping and bad to mediocre pass blocking (remember some of our changes that made us look better last year such as the two tight end and moving Cieslak to fullback were strategies that minimized other offensive options and probably will not be a surprise to teams we play this year). In any event, short term or long term...our needs are in the trenches more than linebacker, receiver or running back.

As the greatest football scout of all time, Mick Jagger, once said: "You don't always get what you want...you get what you need." Okoye, Branch, or Blaylock. I don't care if Otto Friggin Graham is available.