2003Contenders

It is always better to look at a draft as a sum of its parts rather than on a pick-by-pick basis. For example, how many 6th or 7th round players even make the final roster? Not many. Hence, to grade such a player (like Cox or Omon) with a less than passing grade is a bit misleading. It doesn't really matter to me in what rounds they were drafted. (Think any Patriots fans are complaining about misses that the Pats may have made in the first 5 rounds of their 2000 draft?) The bottom line is that the Bills came away from that draft (to date) with an up and coming play-maker at WR, a decent starter at LT, a fringe starter at CB, and a nickel CB. So the overall C- sounds about right to me. Also, does anyone know if the Bills picked up any decent UDFAs after the draft that year? They normally do.

Every Bills fan should welcome this pick by the Patriots. Billy B's tastelessness and lack of respect for his veteran QBs is well-documented. Remember how he did Bernie Kosar and Drew Bledsoe? We all know what is going to happen. He's going to get wowed by Mallet's big arm -- then start blaming everything that goes wrong on Tom Brady. Then he's going to start using the term "diminished skills" when describing Tommy Boy. This is the Belicheat MO. Then Mallet will get the starting nod. Mallet will alienate his teammates, and the Pats will begin their downward spiral. Maybe pretty soon I'll start believing this myself.

Here is how I look at it: There are 4 consensus Blue Chip players in this year's draft in Dareus, Miller, Peterson, and Green. If the scenario unfolds where Carolina passes on Newton and decides to take Dareus/Miller and Denver takes the other, then that means that the Bills will be have to choose between Peterson and Green (provided that they do not believe that either Newton or Gabbert is a franchise QB). In that scenario, I would HOPE that they go Peterson over Green.

One thing I liked that Mayock said about him (regarding his mock and going to the Bills) is that he is versatile enough to play 3 positions -- and for the Bills he would be an upgrade at all 3 positions.

Nothing wrong with that. They should do their due diligence to: A.) Maintain trade possibilities. B.) Scare a team that really wants him to trade up with Denver so that they get first dibs at their defensive player of choice with Newton/Gabbert both gone. C.) Make sure that they are not by-passing a credible franchise QB in their own right. I just hope this doesn't have Ralph's fingerprints on it... Remember, he is the one who sent Buddy out on the road to scout college QBs last fall.

Regarding Dalton, I remember a quote from Nix a few weeks back explaining what all the Chargers liked about Phil Rivers when they indirectly drafted him back in 2004: highly productive, smart, leader, appeared in numerous Bowl games and came up big in all of those games. The Chargers were willing to overlook Rivers' questionable mechanics and less-than-elite arm strength because of the other traits he did possess. I wonder if Nix has a similar view of Dalton. Depends on what they meant by the comparison. Did they mean that he has many of the same traits (intelligence, ability to get of the ball quickly, etc) but could be a better version of the real Fitz (more accurate, etc.)? Or, do they believe that his upside is to be like Fitz? If it is the latter, then I agree with your sentiments.

I agree with you 100%. If they do not see a franchise QB in this draft, why bother investing even a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a guy who is unlikely to ever be any better than Fitz? Considering that Levi is the only other QB on the roster, I believe that they do need a backup. Of course, they can probably address that in free agency. Otherwise, I would be OK with them taking a heady/polished/career-backup type (like McElroy) in the last couple of rounds. That's what the Pats thought they were doing when they selected Brady in the 6th round back in 2000.

The only problem with that is that the latest reports are that many teams are talking about trading up to the end of the first round to try to get Ponder. I doubt that Andre has any inside knowledge anyway. Obviously, Ponder played well at the Senior Bowl, so Chan undoubtedly has positive things to say about him. Doesn't mean they draft him. I just hope that if they are set on drafting Ponder that they don't freak out and waste picks to move up to get him.

Remember when Ryan Leaf blew off the Colts when it became clear that they were targeting Manning?

The Bills did OK from 1988-1993, the years immediately BEFORE the salary cap.

I don't know. These scouts tend to have decent size egos. They want to believe that they can make accurate predictions on how these players will pan out in the NFL, and given the promise of anonymity, I suspect that they would tell a gushing reporter the truth about how they really feel about a player. Moreover, writers who have been in the business long enough are pretty good at identifying when they are being leveled with and when they are being used to spread misinformation.

I love these somewhat hateful writers, who make blanket statements, believing that they have facts on their side -- WITHOUT taking the time to dig into the "facts". Yes, Chan and Buddy decided to draft Spiller as their first ever draft choice last year, which is not the position that you normally target for building a cornerstone for your team. Had the Rams not taken Bradford, he undoubtedly would have been the choice. I suppose that this clown is one of the "experts" who criticized the Bills for NOT taking Clausen. Now, a year after Clausen was drafted by the Panthers, it looks like they are going to invest the #1 overall pick on another QB! In a vacuum, this writer is correct. A franchise with new blood and new leadership should target their franchise QB and allow him to grow with the team. Of course, all of this assumes that the QB that we are talking about drafting at #3 is a legitimate franchise QB. If the Bills are convinced that either Newton or Gabbert has the real potential to be such a QB, then I believe they would select him there. If they have doubts, they should pass. Missing on a QB drafted #3 overall could set the franchise back for YEARS. They simply CANNOT afford to miss on another high draft pick.

Marv was brought in to be the anti-Donahoe. That is, during his tenure as GM (and Team President), Donahoe had a reputation for being an autocrat. Marv came in to be a delegator and someone who could build a consensus. That 2006 draft was about as uncertain as this one in terms of the players available: 1.) QB. We discovered after the draft that the Bills had Jay Cutler as the top-rated QB in that draft class. There have been various reports that Modrak was pushing for Cutler. However, Marv said leading up to the draft that he did NOT want to place undue and unrealistic expectations on a highly drafted rookie QB, especially since the verdict was still out on JP Losman. 2.) DT. I believe that there was serious disagreement about which DT to take. Ngata was the top-rated, but there were concerns that he took too many plays off (lazy) and was primarily just a 2-down player (primarily a run stuffer). Broderick Bunkley appeared to be a better fit for Jauron's Tampa Cover-2 scheme, but his body of work in college had been sketchy, and some scouts perceived him as a late riser on draft boards. 3.) OT. I was hoping and praying that D'Brick would fall to the Bills, but he went #4 to the Jets instead. (Why does it always seem like the Jets wind up with the players that I HOPED the Bills would draft?) 4.) DB. Recall that the Bills had recently released Lawyer Milloy, and Troy Vincent didn't even make it through the prior season. Nate was drooling thinking about free agency, and Marv had already whipped out the franchise tag for fear of losing him (and promised NOT to re-use it in 2007 to boot). I really think in the final analysis what happened was this: The team had a beloved but terribly inexperienced GM running the show. By nature a delegator and consensus builder, he was more concerned with keeping everyone happy than picking the best players for the team. In Whitner he believed that he had found a player that everyone could live with. Whitner filled a position of need, came out of a great program for churning out DBs, was perceived as versatile enough to play multiple secondary positions, had no real character flags, and seemed at the time like a "safe" (low bust factor) pick. The consensus at the time was that Whitner was a reach (more of a late first rounder than a top 10 pick) but that he would probably be a decent player for the Bills in the long run. The decision to trade up for McCargo was likely a bone that was being thrown to the crowd who wanted Ngata/Bunkley. The DT pool was VERY thin that year; after Ngata/Bunkley/McCargo there wasn't another DT taken until the 3rd round. The Bills' spin was that McCargo had been so dominant at NC that he made stars of Manny Lawson and Mario Williams. We now know different. In a way, the selection of Kyle Williams in the 5th helped to negate the miss on McCargo, although it is doubly bad that McCargo cost the team two picks. The funny thing is that after the season was over, that draft looked pretty good. Whitner had been a Day 1 starter, 4th rounder Ko Simpson had arguably been an even bigger impact player at safety, Kyle Williams and Brad Butler were both 5th round starters by season's end, and 6th rounder Keith Ellison was a starting OLB. There was hope that Ashton Youboty and McCargo (both of whom has injury-shortened seasons) would make the draft look even better in the years to come. Looking back, Whitner is exactly what everyone thought he was: a decent and versatile player, who was a reach at #8 overall.

A month or so ago in an interview Gailey was pretty emphatic that Maybin was a hard worker. So, I think we have to take him on his word (coupled with Stevie's defense of Maybin) that this is true. In a way, I find that even more alarming than McShay's refuted suggestion about Maybin's work ethic. That is, if the problem did center around a laziness issue, then at least that would be something that Maybin himself could correct with added maturity and motivation. However, if he really is doing the best he can, that means he either doesn't "get it" -- or he physically cannot do the job. If it is the latter, then the blame rests 100% on the scouts/front office folks who made the decision to draft him 11th overall back in 2009. If it is the former, then there could be a number of factors at play: -- Is he just not coachable (code word for "stupid")? -- Is he a poor fit for the defensive schemes? -- Is it an experience issue -- given his lack of playing of meaningful playing time in college? -- Has he been hindered by the rookie hold-out, coupled with the change in schemes in his second year? Probably a combination of all of the above. I wonder if Maybin may become something of a pet project for Wanny? Remember last year, Gailey commented that Maybin was unlikley to see much individual coaching once training camp was over. Also, I suspect that we will know more about what the coaches REALLY think of him based on what choices are made in the draft. If they do (as appears to be the growing consensus) select Miller at #3, given their apparent faith in Merriman and the glimpses that Moats showed last year, I would have to believe that the writing is on the wall that the odds of Maybin making it onto the final roster are slim.

2006. a) Hoped that D'Brick would fall to us. b) Really wanted the Bills to trade down with either Denver or Philly to pick up an additional 2nd rounder. c) When they stayed put at #8, I was hoping for Cutler. d) When they traded up for McCargo, I was hoping it was for Winston Justice. 2007. I wanted Darrelle Revis 2008. I admit that I wanted Leodis McKelvin and was happy when he was still there for the Bills. 2009. I wanted Orakpo, but had heard rumors that the Bills were down on Texas players after the Dockery and Mike Williams fiascoes. Excluding him, I wanted Michael Oher. 2010. a) I was hoping that the Seahawks would pass on Okung. b) When they didn't, I agreed with the Bills that CJ Spiller was the best player on the board. 2011. Hoping for Von Miller. I think this kid could be a dynamic difference-maker, whose mere presence could add a spark to the defense. I'm not sold on any of the QBs, and I really do not see DT as a problem. Yes, the defense was gouged in the running game last year -- but that came mostly as a result of poor pursuit rather than getting pounded up the middle. In fact, I think the LB corps is in such need of repair that I would advocate drafting another in the middle rounds.

True, but his teams were usually pretty good even without one. Fitz is probably better than any QB that he ever had. Just goes to show how many deficiencies a good defense can hide.

Most everyone is high on Miller, except for some paranoid souls around here that worry that he may be the next Aaron Maybin.

Actually, the Bills had already signed Flutie BEFORE the RJ trade. Flutie signed an incentive-laden contract that paid something paltry like a $50K signing bonus. Coming off the terrible Todd Collins/AVP season of 1997, Flutie thought he had a legitimate chance to win the starting job. A few weeks later, the Bills made the trade with Jacksonville for RJ, redid his contract to pay him like 10 times what Flutie was getting paid and pretty much closed the door on Flutie's promise of an open competition to win the job. Although I remember the sequence, I cannot quite remember the distance in time between the two signings. It could be possible that Marv was still in the picture when Flutie was signed, and that the RJ trade was made right after Wade took over. At the time, I assumed that the Flutie signing was more of a publicity stunt to help engage the Canadian fan-base. Of course, Johnson went down in the season opener at San Diego, and Flutie almost led the comeback (thwarted by a rare chip-shot miss from Christie as time expired). Johnson made it back on the field for the next few games, but a few weeks later, he injured his ribs against the Colts, and the rest is history. The funny thing is that Flutie achieved all of his incentives, and the Bills were forced to redo his contract the following year by converting the performance incentives to a signing bonus (and adding additional years) just to stay within the cap.

Agreed. If Kolb was so great, the Eagles wouldn't be willing to part with him.

Interesting... and with both Locker and Mallet still on the board too.

Am I the only one tired of hearing about this silly Parcells formula? Bill Parcells was a great coach -- but not the greatest personnel man in the world -- and far from a great evaluator of QB prospects. He had two good QBs who played for him: Simms and Bledsoe. Simms he inherited when he took over as head coach for the Giants -- and this bally-hooed criteria doesn't even apply to Bledsoe, who came out of school early.

Let's hope that Bills fans cheer for whomever is drafted -- regardless of whether we like the selection or not.

Hplarrm, the NFL is indeed a unique entity -- as is all of professional sports. There are many distinctions between the manner in which the NFL operates and, say, the IT industry that you allude to. I won't even touch on the money situation -- that is to say that I doubt very many people graduating with a BS degree in Computer Science with no experience are going to command a salary in excess of $200K from day one. While all 32 teams represent a separate franchise and business unto themselves -- and indeed compete against one another -- the league itself is a singular entity. That makes it very unlike IBM vs. HP vs. Microsoft, etc. all of which are very different entities. You won't find a singular payscale, for example across each of these companies -- although the market drives competitive wages -- whereas, a payscale may exist within the confines of each company. Moreover, each player that enters the NFL draft fully understands the rules that he must abide by. If he chooses not to conform, he does have other options including the CFL, USFL, Arena League, etc. Or he could just choose another means of making a living. Obviously, it would be absurd to choose one of these options over the NFL for financial reasons.

Frank Gore.

As much as I would love to quench my curiosity, I am very glad that this info is NOT available. There are 31 other teams that would also have access to it then. Moreover, the draft is still almost a month away. The Bills themselves do not have their draft board ready yet.