BuffaloRush

As the draft talk swirls around this message board its interesting to look back at the Bills draft history to see where some of the players were drafted and the level of succsess they had with the team. We all know about the numerous disappointment the Bills have had in the first round - Losman, McCargo, Maybin, EJ Manuel, Lawson, but what I find more interesting are the players who turned out to be stars that were drafting toward the end of the draft. Below are the Top 5 Low Round Draft Picks That Succeeded. Each of these players were drafted in the 7th round or lower. #5 - Carlton Bailey 1988 9th Round GM: Bill Polian Bailey was a steal as a 9th round draft pick. Drafter in 1988 he rode the pine for a few years before beating out starter Ray Bentley at ILB. Bailey would start for two more seasons for the Bills and had a memorable TD to get the Bills to the Super Bowl. A stellar job by Polian, Butler, and Crew/ #4 Kurt Schultz 1992 7th Round GM: Bill Polian He knows nothing! Schultz contributed on special teams for a few years before moving in as starting FS in Wade Phillips' defense alongside Henry Jones. Schultz has several 6 INT seasons and solidified one of the top defenses in the NFL. Ironically he had one of his best years with Detroit the season he left town. Still an excellent find for Polian - one of the more underrated Bills defensive players #3 Jay Riemersma 1995 7th Round GM: John Butler After missing his rookie year, Riemersma came out of nowhere to be a solid target for Buffalo Bills. Essentially he was the player the team hoped Lonnie Johnson would be. Reimersma was a good blocker and solid target in the red zone that helped the team to multiple playoff appearances. The knock on Jay could be injuries. While the player most games during the year, he was often hobbled which affected his play. Still a 7th round pick went on to be one of the top target on offense. Great pick #2 Howard "Da House" Ballard 1988 11th Round GM: Bill Polian Ballard was drafted in the 11th..yes the 11th round and sat the bench for a few seasons before moving in as a starter for nearly 6 seasons. While Will Wolford got a lot of acclaim, I always thought House was a bit underrated on the Right. #75 was a great run blocker and excelled in pass protection..not bad for an 11th round pick! #1 Stevie Johnson 1996 7th Round GM: Russ Brandon (w/ Dick Jauron/Tom Modrak) Yes sir - the only man in Bills history to gain over 1,000 yards receiving for three consecutive seasons was a 7th round pick. When Chan Gailey came to town, Stevie's career seemed to take off. An unlikely star thanks to an unorthodox running style and a larger than life personality, Stevie became "The Face of the Bills" during the early 2010's. He had a huge impact both on the field and off the field and is one of the most beloved players in Bills history. Well that’s my list. It’s ironic that out of all the great picks that Hall of Fame GM’s like Bill Polian and John Butler made, it’s Russ Brandon - quite possibly the worst GM that made the best pick. Also telling that some of the more unsuccessful GM’s didn’t make this list. Lets hear your thoughts!

Trade for Tom Brady and then try to make an offer to get Bill Belichick as Defensive Coordinator.

Allen at #1 could be a good thing for the Bills. I get the impression they want Darnold or Rosen

Not really...sounds like a lot of nostalgia... with laughs from Fitzpatrick. I wasn’t there to see, so I stand by what I wrote

Cool... thanks for the update. Like I said, I stand by the original post. I also said that Fitz would be the best

Call me crazy but I think his is 100% spot on. I think a move to the slot would be best. He is not an outside WR

Tough to tell whether it was actually funny. Sal is an employee from WGR so of course he’s going to talk it up. The ASSumptions I made was that Fred is a likeable person and there’s not a whole lot of material to “roast” him about. I stand by this 100% Fitz is a funny guy. Share some of the jokes...

That’s pretty cool - does anyone know this dude? It’s a great site

Point was already made....

Wow these two are hilarious...

Curtis Brown played well before my 30 year requirement. Not eligible for this thread

You can make that argument for sure - but when you look at the names on that list, I think Tre is in good company

For what it’s worth, I thought that Ramsey was much stronger than Bouye at CB all year long

Nope. Calling Jerome, Felton Spencer was truly a mistake

Dennison never really coordinated that great of a run game.

Where is Steph Gilmour on that list?

Great QB’s (or great players) don’t become head coaches because they don’t need to! A head coach position is a crazy grind and a high-pressure position. Why put yourself through that stress and scrutiny when you are set financially? I thibk Easy Ed Reed found that out last season

Leslie Frazier will get another shot at HC after guiding the Bills to a Top 10 defense

“the pit of misery?” Ugh.... this event won’t be very funny. As i states, Fred is the wrong player to roast

Fair assessment. I think he did hold the edge fairly well but like the rest of the DL he didn’t get much pressure

You could be correct about Butler but it seems that if he wanted to spin it, he’d use injuries as an excuse. That’s an easy out. If Bucky made a full recovery, and got beat out by low end receivers, it doesn’t say much about Butler as a talent evaluator. You can’t afford to miss that badly on high picks. That’s why I believe Butler here. I just think Bucky wasn’t very good

The worst part is that FOX doesn’t have the analysts or the on-air personalities that ESPN has. Camt wait to hear Curt Manafee say “Let’s go down to the podium” while Howie, Terry, JJ and a jacked up Jay Glazer talk draft...ugh

Good move. Probably not productive enough to be a regular starter but a good depth player who can step in when needed

He never recovered? In this article from 1995 John Butler said that he DID make a full recovery and that he was cut because of “tough completion.” Which by the way was Damon Thomas and Justin Armour. Yes the injury could have been a huge factor in his lack of success but I think it’s fair to say he’s in bust territory. http://buffalonews.com/1995/08/23/the-buck-stops-here-as-bills-release-brooks/

Exactly - people are assuming I’m saying Bucky is unqualified which never was the case. Like I said - it’s just a little odd that the guy talking about draft pick busts was semi-high profile draft bust himself Yep - you see this quite a bit with NFL coaches It definitely did seem that injuries were a factor. Then again he did make a full recovery in camp and still didn’t sign on with any teams as WR. So I don’t think injuries were the only factor