Ozymandius

Why are Arizona and St. Louis worried about Detroit drafting Cutler? The Lions have Kitna, McCown, and Harrington on the roster. They might as well be worried about the Bills drafting Cutler. Arizona will just stay where they are and be able to draft Cutler anyway. And why are the Rams interested in a QB again?

Yep, could be any of those guys. The problem, though, is none of those teams directly behind us will have much motivation to trade with us.

It could easily refer to Ngata as well. But it does seem to rule out Huff. And that's only assuming he's not lying. But I don't think Marv lies.

I've been a Ngata basher but I've said before I would take him over Bunkley, who I consider to be an even greater injury risk and possesses less upside. I'd rather the Bills take neither and trade down.

The reason small market teams in baseball like Oakland can survive is because they are excellent evaluators of college talent and consistently trade for more draft picks. That's the Bills should follow, imo. Ensure that you have enough experienced scouts to really comb America and be able to have second and third opinions on every player from every region. Always be making moves for more draft picks. Like I've said before, I don't have much confidence that this new regime will succeed. But if they do, it'll be because they drafted very well.

LOL. I think you're dead on.

No, YOU said you were going to ignore me. I said that was good for me b/c it would save me time as well from responding to you. As for your "question" to me, I'm pretty sure you always get good answers from people that you dis with the tired fast food insult, right? FWIW, I really really don't give a crap. Let's make up kiss now, okay? Mwah.

Exactly. He was too risky to draft that high and TD should have known that.

Yeah, I do think there are a number of really good interior linemen on both sides of the ball in rounds 2 and 3 this year. I think my current "favorite" draft is the one where the Bills trade down twice and pick up at least two more Day 1 picks.

For the record, I do think it was unprovoked hostility. But I don't really care, seeing how "you" are just a screenname to me as well.

Dude, for all you know, I AM Erik Meyer. Your assumptions about me and whether I've seen so and so play are ridiculous and obviously hypocritical, considering you're trying to ridicule me for having an opinion on someone I supposedly haven't seen. "I" am just a screenname to you; last I checked, "you" don't know anything about who I am or where I live or whether I wear briefs or boxers.

Excellent. That way, neither of will waste time out of our day.

Oh, shut up. Ignore my posts if you think I'm full of crap but I'm not going to spend time justifying every single opinion I make on the draft. Why would I want to be a pro scout? Their jobs suck. No, seriously, how have I offended you in any way? I can only explain it by you not liking the tone of my posts being so authoratative. Well, don't let me catch you making any opinions that aren't hedged by "I'm not a scout or GM so take this for what it's worth". Like I said before, I would hope people would just assume that so I don't have to repeat that constantly.

Nah, I've been posting opinions all over the place about this year's draft prospects without the benefit of seeing them play in the pros. The intent of my post wasn't to comprehensively give opinions on every single player we've ever drafted. But since I obviously haven't seen Everett play in the pros, either, here's my opinion: blah, mediocre impact. Best tight end on this team will be Euhus. Sorry, I don't mean to suggest that any fan can know everything about every prospect but you can definitely make a judgement on a draft immediately. For example, I figure if the Bills draft Bunkley, you'll say that's a good pick based off watching him a lot.

What I liked was that Ngata seemed to be knowledgeable about how defensive tackles in the league play. The more he studies his peers, the more he'll learn. I also like that he mentioned he will use the loss of his parents as motivation since they'll finally get a chance to see him play together. Hopefully, his motor will be 100% on all the time when he reaches the league.

True. I do think overall he didn't spend enough picks on the lines, though. I know many of us questioned his accuracy in both player quality AND position choice for many of his draft picks.

Yes, general managers and other league management types are paid well. Good for them, I can respect that much. As for access to information that we don't have, I'm sure that is beneficial in some cases but can be detrimental in others. Maybe part of the problem of draft failures is paralysis by overanalysis. Ultimately, the most important aspect to predicting future professional success on Sundays is how they played in games on Saturday. "One of the main reasons I feel comfortable going on and on in my posts is that I do not think at all that my views are better than the retards who run NFL teams." Neither do I, as that's an irrelevant exaggeration that doesn't describe any poster here. What I do believe I have is knowledgeable opinions about football players that I've watched and I'm not afraid to state them strongly. I don't feel like hedging every comment I make with "in my opinion" -- I just figure most folks would assume that I'm not stating fact, just opinion. Ultimately, if Eric King doesn't turn out to be a good nickelback, or if Paul Pinegar doesn't suck, then my opinions will be disregarded. That's fine with me. "This game is fascinating to me exactly because I do not know what will happen next" Except that if the Bills draft AJ Hawk, that would set the team back, right? Obviously I understand that is just your opinion (and a ridiculous one, I think). But I point it out because I don't think you're any more modest than anyone here. You may carry a pretense that you are, though. And you're wordier than most.

Now I'm all worked up about the Bills drafting mistakes. Taking Mike Williams at #4 overall was just damn retarded. You basically have the veritable pick of the litter except for three players, and you end up with a freaking fatass weight/motivation risk. Arggh, that's the kind of stupid risk management decisions that I'm talking about. You also NEVER take a QB unless you have a line in place to aid his development. You build teams from the inside out instead of the outside in because skill players are way more dependent on trench players for their well-being and success than the other way around. I know this, you know this, but Tom Donahoe didn't know this. I'm supposed to respect him just because he got paid to do his job. Please.

Please. The management of professional sports teams is completely retarded. I can write you a book about this but don't have the time to do so now. Rambling on and on and on is more your thing anyway. Just look at what happened in baseball where the game is now being revolutionized by so-called "stat geeks" like Bill James, who started doing Moneyball-type analysis about 20 years ago. Baseball teams are JUST learning now how to draft, e.g. avoid high school pitchers, and what kinds of players are really valuable, e.g. players that understand the strike zone and can take a pitch. Nobody in the NBA has any clue what the hell they're doing except for maybe Jerry West. Just read Bill Simmons and you'll understand what I mean. And in the NFL, nobody has been able to master the simple concept of risk management when drafting. Trust me, don't overrate management just because they have jobs. Joe Theisman has a job to analyze football games -- do you think his analysis is more reliable than your own? It's the same way with the folks who work for NFL teams. Many of them have jobs just b/c they've been "part of the game" for a long time. Whatever. The only thing that is laughable is when people actually put blind trust in their team's management. We WILL know right away with this draft whether this regime will succeed or not. I've said it before. If we're entering a new age in football where the high market teams can dominate the small market teams in free agency, then we better be able to draft very well to keep up.

Nah, if you follow college football, you'll know whether Marv can draft pretty much right away. I didn't have to wait three years to know that Mike Williams was going to be a bust, that drafting Losman or any QB before an offensive line was built and in place was bad news, that Kelsay and Denney wouldn't be able to rush the passer, that Tim Anderson wasn't worth a 3rd rounder, that Eric King was going to be a very good nickelback for us, that Lee Evans was the real deal, that Travis Henry was going to become a good RB (unfortunatley, I didn't know he liked young girls and was stupid), that Peerless Price was good value in the second round. I've been wrong as well. I thought Josh Reed was going to become a very good receiver because he was absolutely dominant in college. But for the most part, watch a lot of college football, and you'll know who's good.

Pinegar sucks. He has poor arm strength and no quickness in the pocket, in other words, he brings nothing to the table. The only QB I have marked as draftable by the Bills is Erik Meyer because obviously I don't want the Bills to be using the first rounder on a QB or trading up for Leinart or anything stupid like that. It needs to be a mid-rounder if at all and Meyer is probably going to end up being one of the top 3 QBs from this draft, if not the best.

The Bills need to become a Moneyball team in the NFL.

I'm usually not for dramatic statements like "most important draft in team history", but you're right, this IS a very important draft for the Bills. Marv needs to prove that he can draft. If the future of the NFL favors big market teams in free agency, then the Bills must become dominant in drafting in order to compete. In an ideal world, Marv becomes the Billy Beane of football and is able to consistently uncover diamonds in the draft.

Yes, I watched that game and, like you, I wasn't impressed by Ngata either. He was actually doubled most of the first half but in the second half, you're right, he was handled by a single blocker, which freed up another blocker to block somebody else, and the Sooners started running with great success. Then Ngata got injured and Oregon seemed to start playing better with his replacement in there. Incidentally, that single blocker wasn't Davin Joseph as mentioned above but rather Chris Chester, who is a first day draft prospect himself. Based on that game, I wouldn't draft Ngata any higher than I'd draft Chris Chester, who I like a lot.

Wimbley. His on-field production was better and they're both ridiculous athletes. They're very close, though, and whoever was healthier should the nod.