Dan

yes

For me... yes. A player drafted that high should be expected to make the probowl at least a few times in their career. However, I think you can't expect the probowl for at least 3-4 years. Firstly, because it takes several years for most players to develop and become dominating-type players. Secondly, it takes several good years for a player to get the league-wide recognition and be selected to the probowl. So, should he make it? Yes. Should he make it in the next 3 years. No. I think you have to look at this pick in a few ways though. First of all, you clearly think we should have drafted a lineman. Myself, and many others, would agree with that. However, I think we have to consider the possibility that the coaches and FO staff disagree with that. We see Fowler as a liability. Perhaps the FO doesn't. We see guard as an area of upgrade; we see the lack of depth as being a problem. Again, the front office must disagree. Certainly, if they saw the line as an area in need of help they could have drafted for that. And I'm not talking about with pick 11 or even 41. There were plenty of decent linemen on the boards in the later rounds, yet they steadily passed them by. So, my only logical conclusion is that the coaches and FO see the state of our lines differently than we do. Are they right? I don't know. But, I'm certain we'll find out by mid-season. If they're right and the line is creating holes and pass protecting well (regardless of who's in there), then this pick will look alot better. If Trent is rushed and Lynch is fighting to reach the LOS, then this pick will look like a bust, regardless of Mclovin's play. IMO. I think another way you can look at this pick is one of value. They looked at the players and many had McLovin rated in the top 10. So, if a top 10 pick slides to you - do you take him? Add to that the CB is/was a position of (marginal at least) need. And I think they felt they had to select him. If McLovin is off the board, would they have selected a CB? That's perhaps a more important question. Finally, I'll add.. Lori put up some numbers yesterday along the line of 11 starters in the secondary last season, 4 of which are no longer on the team. Just looking at that at face value, CB definitely seems like a much higher need position that OL. So, if you have a highly touted CB and a very good OL guy (Albert) on the board, wo do you pick? The guy that will likely be a starter by the end of the season or a guy that will be a backup? (Again, assuming that they like our line and have no intention of moving a new starter in.) Well, that's all I got as far as trying to justify this pick. My initial reaction was one of uuugh. Similar to the Whitner pick. Although, if he can solidify a spot as well as Whitner has (because like it or not, Whitner has solidified our safety postion) and the line continues to progress as it did last season, then it'll all be water under the bridge. So, we just have to be patient and see if the FO's plan works. But, IMO, they don't have long - one more season. No playoffs this year and heads should role.

Exactly.... different people have different motivations. For some it may be competition with a friend. For others, the drive to be in the HOF. For some it's just plain old money. The key is finding out what motivates the guy and using it. If it's money for this guy... no problem give him an incentive laden contract and gladly hand over the cash when he puts Brady's head on stake and delivers it to you.

Well seeing as how the Chiefs were all about saying they expected 6 starters; I'd say a team gets out of a draft what they want (for the most part). And yes, they may have tried to trade up and/or down and couldn't. However, I would think that if they wanted to move up a few spots sinto the high second or mid second, they could have. Plenty of teams moved around with fairly reasonable offers - why couldn't the Bills if they wanted to? My guess is they didn't because they didn't want to. Really, do you think they don't know Fowler blows? do you think they don't know they could vastly improve at TE? That's exactly what I'm suggesting. Just because you or I think they blow, that doesn't mean that Jauron does. I would rather that they waited until next year to fill a position with a top pick or in free agency than waste picks on marginal players that aren't any better than the guys they already have. I agree.

When was the last time there was pre-season hype about the Bills outside the city of Buffalo?

Under the title of... FWIW... NFLN TA just ended with a quick segment..who's under the radar and had a good draft. Tom Waddle selected the Bills. Said we made alot of good moves and got some great talent.

They have all the pundits talking about them and saying how great they did. And, come on, isn't that really what's important.

OK.. not sure why.. but this was funny as sh--.

I think you've hit on something here. We could trade our best 2 players each year and get some great draft picks. That way we could win the draft every year!

Agree 100%. I'm still very optimistic for the season, but then again, I'm always optimistic about the Bills.

No. But that's my point. If the Bills' brass really thought we needed one, they could have traded up and gotten one. In the past 2 drafts they've traded back up to get players. This year they seemed content to get those situational/depth kind of guys. That's my point. Many think we needed a stud TE or a new C, apparently, Brandon doesn't.

Must say.... that was one hell of a highlight video. Very well-done. I think we just got the steal of the draft.

Going in most posters here thought we had a few glaring holes to fill - WR, TE, CB, OG, DT. Well, upon reflection (while washing my truck for the last bit), I can only come to one logical conclusion. The FO came into the draft thinking we only needed to find about 2 starters - WR and CB. It's fairly obvious that they started selecting BPA to fit certain need areas in the 3rd round. If they really wanted a starting TE out of this draft, there were just too many options to select a better prospect than Fine. If they really wanted depth on the Oline, they could have easily selected a few guys for that. And so forth. IMO, they got the 2 guys they wanted - a starting CB and a starting WR. Then they just started filling the roster with depth type players that could be good on Special Teams and possibly surprise us all and step into as starters roll in a few years. So, I ask, is it possible that the team is closer to competing for a playoff spot than many posters think? Personally, I thought we were still 1 year away from a draft like this. Apparently, the FO disagrees. I guess we'll see in November.

Hey... I'm tryin over here.

It has been said before that defense wins championships.

See what happens when I get up to use the bathroom.

And that's my primary hope. They think we have plenty of quality starters and are just taking BPA, fillers that can make the team on Special Teams.

Yep. They need to get Dukes out of there and put him on ESPN. He tries to get his point across by shouting, no matter how stupid it is. I've actually seen Mayock raise his hand a few times to try and get a word in. It's annoying - actually made me flip back to ESPN a few times.

He's no Hamdan.

Sorry. The draft turned sorry with that Corner pick so I tried to have a little fun. And getting the next "Official" pick post from you was my last best effort. Perhaps the day2 is not so bad afterall

Did I beat him to the punch???

I'm gonna guess we shake it up a bit and get another great DB.

I see what you and others are saying. But, case in point, we got 6 turnovers against Dallas, but still lost the game because our offense could only score 3 points. At some point, you have to do something on the offensive side. We had a really bad offense last season, what have we done to address it?

Apparently depth on the Oline is too much to ask for. But, I agree with you.

I'm not sure anyone can. Did they wake up and forget there was another day to the draft? Ellis now Corner, no trade ups to preserver your late round picks. Someone enlighten me.