Ozymandius

Leinart will be better than Nall and Losman but I'm not sure that's saying much. He can be better than them AND still not be worth a top 10 pick if he becomes just a so-so QB that can't avoid pressure. Because that's what he'll be with the Bills. You never draft a QB high unless you have the infrastructure in place to develop him (Cincy/Palmer, Pittsburgh/Ben), and the Bills don't have that in place yet. We're installing a new offense. Our offensive line is poor. There's no proven #1 receiver. There's no proven red zone threat. The earliest we can think about drafting a QB high is two years from now, imho. Hopefully by then we'll have a good offensive line, Evans is a #1 receiver, and Euhus/Nance have developed into a reliable possession receiver / redzone threat.

That '83 draft was special. The bust rate for first round QB's is too high to justify drafting a QB that high, imo. At the very least, you need to have a good offensive line in place first (Cincy/Palmer, Pittsburgh/Ben). Marv made a big deal about how Nall is ready to play and doesn't need to be developed as much, and I think that's how he's going to look for his QB's during his regime. Let someone else develop them, and sign them like Delhomme or trade for them like Hasselbeck, who is great QB.

We're going to draft OT Joe Thomas with our first pick next year.

Marv will never take a QB high in the draft and that's one thing I like about him.

Hey Bill, thanks for the kind words. I, too, have faith that we will have a great offensive line again one day after *sigh* over a decade of witnessing ineptitude in that area. When we do get that great line in place, I'll raise a toast to you, brother, because there's nobody on this board who deserves to see a great offensive line more than Bill from NYC. The one thing you've wished for offseason after offseason after offseason has been for our beloved team to give us a line that can driveblock and hold a pocket. Let's hope the wait doesn't continue much longer.

Exactly. It was a good pick. Lot of upside, very little downside.

It IS bitching. You and I are both annoying, let's not pretend otherwise. But there's validity to the idea that you build a team inside out so I don't feel like I'm a bad guy, just someone with a different opinion than the positive folks. BTW, stuckincincy, I actually gave it a D+, not a D-. It's not like I don't like Whitner, Simpson, Youboty, and McCargo as players. I just think, for example, Davin Joseph (after accepting the tradedown with Philly or Denver) and maybe Darryl Tapp would help protect our skill position players better. EDIT: whoops, of course McCargo counts because he's on the line.

Whitner doesn't need to be Ronnie Lott but he needs to be a great player. He needs to make some Pro Bowls. He's a safety picked in the top 10 of the draft so great expectations are only natural.

That's true. I'm still very concerned that we only have one defensive end that is consistently effective rushing the passer.

No. That's still my grade, but it's preliminary and meaningless. What I'm saying is I hate this draft but I could be wrong. If Tutan Reyes can lock down LG and play well there, then a large part of my objection with this draft is gone, for example.

Draft day grades are, of course, meaningless and based on a set of assumptions. If those assumptions turn to be wrong, then the grade must change. I really dislike this draft because it didn't focus enough on offensive line and defensive line with first day picks. Specifically, I felt we needed to grab at least one guard and a passrusher. While it's obvious that we weren't going to be able to fix every hole on the team with one draft, I feel strongly that a team should put a focus on fixing the lines first and foremost even if that means waiting until next year to address the secondary. The idea is to build a team inside out because perimeter players and skill players are much more dependent on the lines for success than the other way around. The trenches are of primary importance. The assumptions I've made are that the Bills' offensive line and pass rush suck. If I'm wrong, then the grade must go up. Here are the ways that the Bills might've had a very good draft: (1) The starting offensive line is probably going to be Gandy-Reyes-Fowler-Villarial-Peters. Can they provide even adequate protection so that whichever one of our young QBs wins the starting nod, he can begin to develop his game in our offense? Can they runblock adequately so that our young skill players are not consistently facing third and long? If they can accomplish those things, then the draft haters will be wrong. I have my doubts. I think the offensive line is going to struggle bigtime and we'll end up wasting one year of development of Nall/Losman, who will get battered around, and of Evans/Parrish/Davis/Euhus/Everett, who won't receive enough catches. I think we're going to end up signing a big name o-line free agent next year and also drafting another high in the 2007 draft, but 2006 will still be a wasted year in terms of the development of these players. The X-factors: it's still possible the Bills could trade Clements or other assets for linemen help before this season begins. It's also possible the Bills got complete steals with the late round o-linemen they drafted. (2) The starting defensive line is probably going to be Kelsay-Trips-Anderson-Schobel with Denney, McCargo(3-tech), and Williams(1-tech) rotating in constantly. Can this line provide an adequate passrush so that our young secondary players like McGee, Whitner, King, and Youboty aren't taken advantage of again and again? Can they stop opponents from demoralizing us with third down conversion after third down conversion? Can Kelsay/Denney demonstrate adequacy in rushing the passer in this upfield system? I again have my doubts. I think, first of all, teams are going to run on us with very good success, but that's to be expected with a young interior line like ours. If Trips, McCargo and Williams aren't busts, runstopping is something that should improve in coming seasons as THEY continue to improve. I'm more concerned about third downs. If Kelsay/Denney can't rush the passer, then we should've spent a day 1 pick on a passrusher since that is so important to this defense we're implementing. I think we will end up using a high pick on a passrusher next year, but that means we'll have wasted one year of development of a young passrusher by not having him in place this year. (3) Finally, regardless of need and the idea of building teams inside-out, the Bills will have had a great draft if they ended up drafting four or five really good players. Forget not focusing on the lines enough. If Whitner, McCargo, Youboty, Simpson, and Williams all turn out to be good players, then it's an A+ draft because that's an excellent batting average. Typically, with your first five players drafted, you're probably looking at two good players, two average players, and a bust. If I had to guess right now, Whitner will be a star, Simpson will be very good and a steal in the fourth round, McCargo will be an underachiever, Youboty will be inconsistent and unreliable, and Williams will be completely average. But if they all turn out good... So yes, the draft day grades are preliminary, and we'll wait to see how it all shakes out. I think that is fair.

I don't think the complainers are guessing in the dark when they say we need o-line help and another pass-rushing DE. The secondary needed addressing as well but I think help along the lines should've taken priority.

Thanks. He'll be good depth at nose for them.

Yeah, he'll have to beat out Aiken for that sixth spot, if it even exists. Then, we also have Jonathan Smith who's made plays on special teams as well.

Do we keep six WRs? Evans, Davis, Parrish, Reed, Price, Nance

Thanks for maintaining this list. I agree with frogger that we should be able to get a decent LB prospect through UDFA. Nance was a good pickup. I'm surprised he chose Buffalo. Watch out for Charlton Keith (Browns) and Erik Meyer (Bengals). Good pickups there. I want to know where Steve Fifita goes, probably to a 3-4 team, but I think he can play 4-3 and be a force on run downs.

Youboty and Simpson were good values but I don't think I'd characterize them as absolute steals. DBs were arguably the deepest position in this draft so it was nice but not surprising that we got good value in the third and fourth. I agree that defense wins championships but I still believing improving the secondary ranks behind improving the o-line and d-line for reasons listed above.

No, you have me all wrong. I can dig up a post I made a month ago that said we're not going to be able to fill all our holes with this draft. I know that--it's obvious. It's the holes that we chose to fill that I have a problem with. I would have eschewed fixing the secondary entirely for fixing the offensive line and getting at least one more useful defensive lineman out of this draft. You can't build a team from the perimeter in. It's ass-backwards and won't be successful, and I think you know this. You do realize that either Craig Nall or JP Losman is going to be our QB this year, right? You do realize that whoever wins that battle, his development into a competent QB over the next couple of years is going to be a key to this team's future, right? You do realize that we have several other young skill players on offense that we've invested high draft picks and millions into, right? McGahee, Evans, Parrish, Euhus/Everett, Davis, Reed, etc. Given all this, PRIORITY #1 of this draft should have been the offensive line. The development of these players will continue to be stunted until we can runblock and passblock at least adequately. We needed to invest more draft picks into the offensive line in order to help bolster the team's development of its young players. It's just good business sense.

You have to define win. Do you mean play .500 ball? It's going to be very difficult and that fact has nothing to do with this draft. Our QB is either going to be a first year or second year starter and our offensive line is going to be below average. That alone probably makes us a losing team. Now on defense, we're going to be very inexperienced with two rookies in the defensive line rotation. We also don't have a single player on the line that's going to be dominant at the point of attack. Add in a new coaching staff, new schemes to learn, inexperience playing with each other... Realistically, this is going to be a bad season. The upside of this is that if the Bills somehow play better than expected, you'll know that we're very close to contending because we're a young team that should continue to improve over the next couple of years.

Trips and Cargo will play together on passing downs. My only point has been that on running downs, i.e. starting downs, Anderson/Williams will be on the field. Trips and Anderson will the starters.

I meant Simpson will be the Bills' best value pick, not this entire draft's best value pick. But yeah, he'll be a good safety. Like I've said before, outside the context of rebuilding the Buffalo Bills, I have no problem with any of our first four players drafted. This is probably even a great draft for a team that has good lines and needs to bolster their secondary. I think it "sucks" that we drafted two fewer useful linemen than we could've and should've.

If Vincent is healthy, I'd take that bet. King is more polished right now than Youboty, who has more upside. You should be happy with King... he's a good player.

Check the grades/writeups. I actually have nothing against these four as players. If I had to predict, Whitner will be very good, McCargo will be considered an underachiever, Youboty will be maddeningly inconsistent, and everyone will remember Simpson as the best value pick from this draft. This draft should've been so much more, though, and should've focused on the lines. I'm not sure how we can "bet" on that opinion, though. I guess I could put $100 on the Bills being a losing team for the next two years, money I'd desperately hope to lose. But I doubt I would. I really need to reiterate. Outside the context of rebuilding the Buffalo Bills, I have no problem with any of our first four players drafted. This is probably even a great draft for a team that has good lines and needs to bolster their secondary. Unfortunately...

Let's hope you don't ever make any judgements about any these players before 2009, or else you'd be a big hypocrite. This draft sucked a$$.

??? Why is McCargo going to contribute any more than Brick or Mangold? Youboty will be a dimeback, Simpson a backup his first year. We're not getting any more instant contributions from rookies than other teams. In fact, it's probably the exact opposite since we drafted so many juniors.