Help me understand "building through the draft"

[BillnutinHouston]

Am I the only one who is somewhat mystified by Buddy's statement that he plans to "build through the draft"? To me this statement begs a ton of questions that I've not heard the answer to. Can any of you enlighten me?

 

Specifically, here are my questions:

 

1) How does this approach offer a competitive advantage for one team over another? EVERY TEAM gets to draft from the same pool of players, so presumably your plan for improvement relative to your competition involves not only a) improving your draft classes over past (dismal) history but b) consistently drafting better than your competition, because they are drafting the same time you are.

 

2) Is "building through the draft" really just code language for "no quality free agents will come here, and we don't have enough money to build that way anyway, so we'll have to build through the farm team approach and see how far we get fielding a team consisting of players in their initial contracts, several lower-tier free agents and a select group of "name" free agents"?

 

3) Have the Bills significantly upgraded their college scouting resources to achieve an ability to consistently outdraft the competition? Nix was plucked from the scouting ranks to become GM, and Whaley was added on the pro personnel side, so what COLLEGE scouting personnel were added to replace Nix? Here is the college scouting group in the front office now (according to the Bills website):

 

Tom Modrak Vice President of College Scouting

Doug Majeski Coordinator of College Scouting

Darrell Moody National Scout

Rashaan Curry College Scout

Brian Fisher College Scout

Brad Forsyth College Scout

Matt Hand College Scout

Shawn Heinlen College Scout

Tom Roth College Scout

Dave G. Smith Scout Emeritus

Dave W. Smith Scout Emeritus

Jacky Kosmowski Scouting Assistant

Michael LaFlamme Scouting Assistant

C.J. Leak BLESTO Scout

 

4) Has there been a conclusion drawn that the quality or quantity of the scouting itself is not the problem, it's draft day decisionmaking that has led the Bills astray? Is the approach to achieve "addition by subtraction" by changing the decisionmaking process or excluding certain unnamed individuals from the draft room? If that conclusion was drawn, has Buddy succeeded in weeding out the questionable decisionmakers?

 

Thoughts anyone? What does Buddy's plan really entail?

Edited December 8, 2010 by BillnutinHouston

[PromoTheRobot]

I think what Buddy means is that it's extra hard for the Bills to attract top shelf free agents because a) the team has a history of losing, and b) the city and region have an undeserved bad reputation due to the economy, weather, etc. Yes you can overpay for free agents but that creates problems as well; salary cap if/when it returns, and jealousy among your own players.

 

PTR

[NoSaint]

no, it means when a star player gets to free agency you can tack on an extra 2-3 million a year, and often times those are guys that are let go for a reason. they also have to learn an all new system (like when you bring in a new coach)

 

a homegrown, product of your own systems, with known values, work ethic and talent is much less risky to invest in, and often comes cheaper.

 

theres a reason that teams like the steelers, pats, and colts drafted a huge percentage of their own starters.

Edited December 8, 2010 by NoSaint

[JohnC]

Am I the only one who is somewhat mystified by Buddy's statement that he plans to "build through the draft"? To me this statement begs a ton of questions that I've not heard the answer to. Can any of you enlighten me?

 

Specifically, here are my questions:

 

1) How does this approach offer a competitive advantage for one team over another? EVERY TEAM gets to draft from the same pool of players, so presumably your plan for improvement relative to your competition involves not only a) improving your draft classes over past (dismal) history but b) consistently drafting better than your competition, because they are drafting the same time you are.

 

2) Is "building through the draft" really just code language for "no quality free agents will come here, and we don't have enough money to build that way anyway, so we'll have to build through the farm team approach and see how far we get fielding a team consisting of players in their initial contracts, several lower-tier free agents and a select group of "name" free agents"?

 

3) Have the Bills significantly upgraded their college scouting resources to achieve an ability to consistently outdraft the competition? Nix was plucked from the scouting ranks to become GM, and Whaley was added on the pro personnel side, so what COLLEGE scouting personnel were added to replace Nix? Here is the college scouting group in the front office now (according to the Bills website):

 

Tom Modrak Vice President of College Scouting

Doug Majeski Coordinator of College Scouting

Darrell Moody National Scout

Rashaan Curry College Scout

Brian Fisher College Scout

Brad Forsyth College Scout

Matt Hand College Scout

Shawn Heinlen College Scout

Tom Roth College Scout

Dave G. Smith Scout Emeritus

Dave W. Smith Scout Emeritus

Jacky Kosmowski Scouting Assistant

Michael LaFlamme Scouting Assistant

C.J. Leak BLESTO Scout

 

4) Has there been a conclusion drawn that the quality or quantity of the scouting itself is not the problem, it's draft day decisionmaking that has led the Bills astray? Is the approach to achieve "addition by subtraction" by changing the decisionmaking process or excluding certain unnamed individuals from the draft room? If that conclusion was drawn, has Buddy succeeded in weeding out the questionable decisionmakers?

 

Thoughts anyone? What does Buddy's plan really entail?

 

You have gone to the heart of the issue with respect to the Bills. If their stated strategy is turn around the franchise primarily through the draft, and then on the other hand, they have demonstrated over the past decade an inability to draft well then how do you turn things around and how long will it take? That is a very powerful question especially when for the most part the scouting staff and the head of the college scouting are the same?

 

Is there going to be a major turnaround next year. The answer is simple. There will be no dramatic changes. Was last year's draft an upgrade compared to the prior years? I would say yes, but not significantly so. Is Nix an improvement over Levy/Jauron/Brandon in the personnel decison-making area? Of course. How much so? It is difficult to say because we don't know how much authority Buddy actually has. Does he have the ability to fire Modrak? Does he like Modrak's work? This peculiar organization is very opaque. We don't know who is making the ultimate decisons, or how much the owner or his reps in Littman and Oberdorf are involved in the football operation?

 

Your questions are quite provocative. What is sad is that the Bills are not run in a very conventional way that most other franchises are run. Usually, one knows who is making the draft picks and personnel decisions. With the Bills there is a cloak which keeps the outside world out so they act without much recognition as to who is really responsible.

 

This is a Ralph Wilson organization. It is structured in the way he wants it structured. Even though the process is not always exposed to view the results are very evident. When you have a quirky owner there should be little surprise that the organization is erratic.

 

The owner said it all when he told a reporter that all he can offer the long suffering fans is: PAIN AND PATIENCE.

Edited December 8, 2010 by JohnC

[benderbender]

Building through the draft means that no team wants to trade with us and no free agents will sign with us. We're the smelly kid in class

[steampunk]

Nix was plucked from the scouting ranks to become GM, and Whaley was added on the pro personnel side, so what COLLEGE scouting personnel were added to replace Nix?

 

Nix's 2009 role was National Scout. After becoming GM in 2010, Nix hired Darrell Moody from the Chargers to be the Bills' new National Scout. In SD, Moody was regional scout for the SEC.

[Coach Tuesday]

As I've said here often, to my mind "building through the draft" is a salary cap management strategy, not a football strategy. Assuming a rookie salary cap goes into effect this year or next year, even first round picks will be good deals from the franchises' standpoint. If you draft properly (note: the Bills don't), you are able to lock up a quality young player for 4-6 years, much cheaper than if you had to bid on him on the "open market."

 

But I also think that it's a total copout when your team has as many holes to fill as the Bills do, and there is no salary cap in place (i.e., last offseason).

[John from Riverside]

its cheaper

[H2o]

Nix's 2009 role was National Scout. After becoming GM in 2010, Nix hired Darrell Moody from the Chargers to be the Bills' new National Scout. In SD, Moody was regional scout for the SEC.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a SEC heavy draft this year.

[Koufax]

The implication is:

 

1) Using the draft to get the top talented football players and not fill needs. Not taking a reach LT because Kiper says you need an LT, but finding talented building blocks for your team with each pick.

 

2) Not trading away picks for players

 

3) Hinting that it will take a few years and not a splashy signing before things are there.

 

4) Letting drafted players play.

 

But except for trading away picks, I agree with your criticism of the phrase, and not quite sure if Nix really means what I said above.

[....lybob]

The time tested way to build a team is to use mostly draft picks to build your team until the team is 8-8 to 10-6 then try to make some smart free agent pick ups to get the team into a playoff contender. The problem is that we have to hit on 1st and 2nd round guys more than not- something the Bills haven't really done the last 10 years.