SoFFacet

I rationalize the Spiller pick as coming from the see-for-yourself approach Nix took to the team he inherited. He knew that there was a lot of trash that would need to be shipped out, but instead of listening to other people's opinions on the matter (nearly every player on the team had a cadre of apologists claiming that he was actually good but being put in bad situations by his coaches/teammates), he was going to find out for himself. Unfortunately that couldn't be done until the following season, so during the first draft Nix just assumed that everyone sucked and picked someone he envisioned would be the long-term motor of his offense no matter how the subsequent years went.

The more I read and hear about the pick, the more it seems that Buddy and Chan definitely got "their guy." Some fans are upset because they didn't get "their guy." I remember a lot of clamoring to trade up for Randle (ironic to note that doing so would probably have cost one of the picks that got us Bradham, Brooks, Sanders, and Carder). Anyways, TJ was the guy they were targeting in the 3rd round and they got him. From what I've read/heard, they dig his speed, specifically as it relates to running after the catch. Don't expect this guy to only catch 50 yard throws. Anyways, I will be waiting to judge the pick until I actually see him play in the offense. Time will tell if Buddy or the pundits had the right grade on this guy. But right now, for me its enough that TJ was their man and they got him.

Chan did sometimes give up on the balanced attack too often last year. However, it is a mistake to believe that we had some sort of great running game that was being ignored. We absolutely could not run the ball unless the other team was cheating pass. We were the definition of a team that needed to pass to set up the run, and on days where Fitz just didn't have it, we couldn't do either. It remains to be seen whether that will still be the case this year. However, the OL has the potential to be much better, and a good (and healthy) OL fixes a lot of our problems.

I think Corp was a good qb to take a flier on. If he hadn't gotten injured and allowed Barkley the chance to steal his job, who knows how his college career would have gone. USC starting QBs tend to go in the first round under the label "franchise." In any case I can't believe people are complaining that the UDFAs don't look promising on paper. Of course they don't, no UDFAs do, thats why they weren't drafted. You bring them in to be camp bodies and hope that someone surprises you. Also, I very much doubt that Buddy and Chan are or were ever looking for a bona fide replacement for Thigpen. Fans want it, but Chan went an entire season with Thigpen as a starter at one point. Thigpen is one of Chan's guys and will be the backup QB until they either draft someone to eventually replace Fitzpatrick, or one of the developmental qbs (like Corp) clearly passes him.

Everyone seems to be down on the Graham pick but the only reasoning I can find for it is that a few pundits categorized him at a lower round prospect. However, other pundits did have going "as high as the 3rd round." Buddy and Chan obviously think he's a good player, and at this point I trust them. I also think too much is being made of the trade-up - the difference between 7th round picks and UDFAs is negligible. Anyways back to Ron Brooks, I'm actually also in the camp that is strangely confident that he will vastly outperform his draft status. All we know is that when the pecking order was established at the beginning of the year, he was 3rd, and neither of the people ahead of him played their way out of the their spots. We can't know how close a call that order was for Les Miles, but he did go out of his way to get him on the field and gave him a glowing recommendation. Brooks might turn out nearly as good, just as good, or who knows maybe even better than the other LSU CBs.

This was a great draft. We addressed every need we had, multiple times over in most cases. Nearly every pick from the south/SEC. Excellent character abounds. Buddy and Chan clearly got the exact players they wanted in rounds 1-3 and I trust their judgement over "experts" who are paid to have an opinion, not necessarily an accurate or accountable opinion.

We're well past the point in the draft where anyone should be thinking about instant improvements to any positions. These are all projects and long term investments at this point.

I don't see how, he's not bad because he loses his man frequently, he's bad because even though he ends up where he's supposed to be he always gets outcompeted for the ball.

My impression is the exact opposite. They are getting the exact players that they want, who happen to fill the positions we need, and they are for the most part (the first two picks) staying on the beaten path by picking SEC starters with long resumes, good character, and excellent measurables. Buddy & Chan comment on day 2 Graham Conference Call

The comparing of the 2nd round OTs is silly, they had their pick of Glenn and Martin and clearly thought Glenn was better. The rest of the poll (Floyd & 3rd round CB vs Gilmore & 3rd round WR) is an interesting question.

Getting good players is far more important than following some arbitrary strategy to the letter. Teams that rebuild successfully in the draft do so because they get good players with high frequency regardless of position and pick #, not because they follow rules regarding where you can pick various positions. More importantly, your rule would have led to a terrible pick in this case. All of the LBs, OLs, and QBs available were of terrible value, and DL was not a need. The only even slightly defensible alternative was Floyd, who doesn't fit your arbitrary criteria either. Lastly, if you must insist on some arbitrary draft strategy for the modern NFL, big physical corners are pretty much the most important things to have besides QB and DL atm.

I'm glad Carolina picked Kuechly, I didn't want him at all. I would have preferred Floyd, but Gilmore was a solid pick. Some people can't see past the "DB in the first round" thing and I understand the sentiment, but relax. This was a need, the truth is that all of our CBs are either bad, injury prone, old, or unproven. With Gilmore and Williams we potentially have two big young corners well suited to defending in the modern NFL. There was no one clearly better and only a few other players of arguably similar caliber. As a matter of fact this guy's stock had shot so far up that some scouts had started putting him ahead of not just Kirkpatrick, but Claiborne. At the very least I'm really glad that we're continuing to pick D from the SEC with outstanding measurables.

Floyd + 2nd round CB > Gilmore + 2nd round WR if you ask me. The gap between Floyd and the next best WR is just massive.

Poor troll 2/10

Tbh I did only skim your post. It seemed to be a restatement of your previous posts, so I wasn't very worried about missing anything. However, it appears that you did indeed admit that our WRs are just as (un)solid as our OL, my bad.

Its fairly hypocritical to insist that the OL only appeared adequate because of our scheme, but not say the same about our WRs. The fact is that other than Stevie, none of our guys can "beat the guy across from them" with any consistency, or at all in some cases. They are 100% dependent on Chan's smoke and mirrors which can be stopped by good defenses, or simply good preparation. We don't have any NFL level WRs on this roster, other than Stevie - and Floyd is basically the definition of a Buddy Nix WR (size, physicality, versatility, vert, speed, hands, blocking... we've been through this list before). Also, enough already with the alcohol thing. The guy drank in college (the horror) but 100% righted the ship and disciplined himself thereafter. He's entering the draft with zero off-the-field worries, as far as I'm concerned.

I've seen every game he's played (ND fan, but before you call me a homer, I haven't actually wanted the Bills to draft any other Irish players in recent memory. They've been pretty bad.) Anyways Floyd does nothing but dominate. He's huge and physical, runs every route and has great vert and hands, decent speed, and is a beastly blocker. When we started the season 3-0 and 4-1 I was despairing that he would be long gone before we picked. After our lack of pass rush cost us the season, I despaired that we would have to pass on him to reach for a DE. Now I'm mostly just scared that Jacksonville will pick him (their WRs suck even more than ours for petes sake) or that Buddy might pass on him and reach for an OT.

QFT. Also, Floyd is pretty much exactly what Buddy looks for in a WR. Huge, physical, versatile, hands, beastly blocker. His weakness was supposed to be pure speed but his combine numbers were actually faster than AJ Green who went #4 last year. Buddy has shown that he not hesitate to draft what he considers a perfect weapon (see: Spiller, CJ), so if Floyd is available and isn't our pick, I'll eat my hat.

I posted my own thread but it got basically no feedback. Anyways, here are mine again (assumes Bell re-signs, which I think is likely given recent developments) 1: WR (Floyd) 2: CB 3: LB 4a: OT 4b: OT Round 1: BPA, fills huge team need. A perfect match for what Buddy looks for in a WR. Subsequent rounds: hunting for players of similar quality to what we got last year in Williams, Sheppard, and Hairston.

1 - WR (Floyd) 2 - CB 3 - LB 4a - OT 4b - OT So, a lot of my draft involves going back to the wells that (imho) served us very well during last years' draft. Ironically, our team needs haven't changed all that much since that time (other than the DL, of course). We are still set at RB and S, and our WRs, OLs, LBs, and CBs could still use work. Imho if we could get a CB, LB, and OT of similar quality to Williams, Sheppard, and Hairston, this is a massively successful draft. That of course leaves the matter of the 10th overall pick. Again, I'm going back to the well, but in a different way. Last year Dareus represented a BPA who also happened to fill a massive team need. This year I think the same description will fit Micheal Floyd. With his size, speed, versatility, and physicality, Floyd is the perfect Chan/Buddy WR. Similar to adding Mario to Marcell and Kyle on the DL, adding Floyd to Stevie and Freddie on offense would finally create the critical mass needed for each weapon to amplify the effectiveness of the others. I will admit that I don't know a ton about specific prospects that will be available at those positions in rounds 2-4, however.

With his size, speed, versatility, physicality, and blocking ability, Floyd is literally the perfect Chan/Buddy WR. I think in Buddy's mind, Floyd is the pick for the same reasons Spiller was the pick in 2010.

I don't know what to tell you man. Every ESPN guy both on TV and their website, that I've watched or read, has universally praised the move.

If they do re-sign Bell I don't see LT as a huge need. I mean, it could be upgraded, sure. But the difference between Bell/Hairston and Reiff/Martin/Adams just isn't as large as say, Donald Jones and Micheal Floyd. Buddy is a BPA guy and will swing for the fences on a franchise caliber weapon if thats what he thinks he sees (see: Spiller, CJ).

Floyd is to me, the perfect Buddy/Chan WR. Huge, physical, competitive, runs everything and catches everything, and blocks insanely well. I've gotta believe they are giving him a long look.

Besides the two games against teams of corresponding division rank from the AFC North and South, and the games against eachother, the Bills and Pats play the same schedule.