New Drafting Strategy...

[cage]

In light of discussion on this board praising our drafting success in later rounds (Terrence McGee, Kyle Williams, Stevie Johnson, Demetrius Bell,...) and UDFA (Fred Jackson, George Wilson, Donald Jones, David Nelson,...) and lack of success in earlier rounds (too many to list), I'm wondering about a new draft strategy??

 

--Trade back out of rounds 1-3 entirely to stockpile overwhelming number of picks in rounds 4-7

--If we incrementally traded back, we should end up with 20+ picks in those later rounds each year

--Picks in rounds 4-7 are signed easily at low cost

--Those who are successful, stay on and will get paid based on success in the NFL

--Those who don't,... well what do you expect from a 6th round pick?

 

We would never have another Aaron Maybin, JP Losman or Mike Williams to talk about. If you have 20+ picks you're bound to hit on 3-5 of them, which is better than our draft success of late, if you go back and check the last decade.

 

Have at it....

Edited August 18, 2011 by cage

[Kingfish]

1) Only so many can make the roster so you'd end up cutting the vast majority of the picks.

 

2) There wouldn't be enough reps in camp to go around to properly evaluate these players.

[buffalopdc]

True, but you also probably will never have the caliber of players like O.J Simpson (the Player), Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, or Eric Wood available in those later rounds.

[BuffaloBaumer]

How about actually drafting a future franchise QB in Round one and 6 offensive linemen......this may be the only way to fix this offense once and for all. You either have incredible depth at the line which would be a great problem to have or you trade one or two that step up for other needs....

Edited August 18, 2011 by BuffaloBaumer

[Juice_32]

True, but you also probably will never have the caliber of players like O.J Simpson (the Player), Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, or Eric Wood available in those later rounds.

 

 

one of these things is not like the other... i mean, wood is solid, but maybe throw thurman in there instead.

[I hate the Bills !]

I 'd love to see Buffalo Draft a Qb 1st next year and then 4 OT and then 2 TE.

[cage]

1) Only so many can make the roster so you'd end up cutting the vast majority of the picks.

 

2) There wouldn't be enough reps in camp to go around to properly evaluate these players.

 

The goal is for 3-5 to stick each year, its the power of large numbers.

 

Here's our Draft History

 

Look at our first 3 rounds this whole decade, almost no success.

 

Look at 2008 our hit rate for starters in rounds 1-3 is 33% (McKelvin), while hit rate in 4-7 is 29% (Johnson, Bell). If we had 3x the picks in those later rounds, we might have 5 starters out of that draft rather than 3??

 

As far as not enough reps, we manage to evaluate the later rounds and UDFA now. We have a pretty strong hit rate on UDFA, who come in expecting the least amount of reps, but we manage to figure out that Fred Jackson was a keeper...

Edited August 18, 2011 by cage

[mrags]

Show but the Mike Ditka approach and do the opposite? Trade away all our draft picks each year for the #1 overall pick and end up with Luck this coming draft and then whoever the next guy will be the next season. Prolly a stud LT.

 

Personally I like the strenght in numbers thing. But you might have to wait until draft day to figure it out. What if were picking 8-15th and a guy like Dareus Orakpo, Willis, Fairly happens to drop that far. Then you miss out on a stud that you could have had. But I'd trade ur 2nd and 3rd for like 5-6 4ths maybe. And maybe package your 5-7s to try and get one more 4th. You'd end up with a great first round pick and then 4-5 4th rounders. It's very madden like.

[NaPolian8693]

Bills drafted well this year.

 

In most years past, however, if they would have just made their top few picks according to what the TV analysts had said they should do, they would have been much better off and just watching NFL network would have been a much better strategy for them.

 

But like I said, this year was solid and hopefully the start of a new drafting era.

[thewildrabbit]

In light of discussion on this board praising our drafting success in later rounds (Terrence McGee, Kyle Williams, Stevie Johnson, Demetrius Bell,...) and UDFA (Fred Jackson, George Wilson, Donald Jones, David Nelson,...) and lack of success in earlier rounds (too many to list), I'm wondering about a new draft strategy??

 

--Trade back out of rounds 1-3 entirely to stockpile overwhelming number of picks in rounds 4-7

--If we incrementally traded back, we should end up with 20+ picks in those later rounds each year

--Picks in rounds 4-7 are signed easily at low cost

--Those who are successful, stay on and will get paid based on success in the NFL

--Those who don't,... well what do you expect from a 6th round pick?

 

We would never have another Aaron Maybin, JP Losman or Mike Williams to talk about. If you have 20+ picks you're bound to hit on 3-5 of them, which is better than our draft success of late, if you go back and check the last decade.

 

Have at it....

What you don't get is ...its not about numbers! The Bills could draft all 224 players out there and bring them all into camp and still not figure out which are the best.

 

Its about evaluating college talent before they hit the NFL level, this franchise has shown they haven't been able to do that since Bill Polian- John Butler. This is the entire reason as to why Bill Polian is so successful as Gm / president, same with Ozzie Newsome of the Ravens.

 

 

The Buffalo Bills had 3 of the very best talent evaluators in the NFL and fired them all. Bill Polian- John Butler- AJ Smith

 

In Bills Polians case he should have just sat back and let the man run his org like the Colts owner is doing, instead he has to have his nose in everything.

 

With John Butler he should have paid him top dollar and hired a capoligist to help him. Ralph Wilson's famous words to Butler after he didn't immediately accept Wilson's offer of a new contract "If I can't hire you, I'll fire you! The season wasn't even over when Wilson did this. This owner keeps cutting his own throat to save a buck..plus he is noted for a very cantankerous demeanor

 

 

Think about how different this franchise would have been the last 15 yearsif the Bills had retained any or all 3 of those men.

[eball]

What you don't get is ...its not about numbers! The Bills could draft all 224 players out there and bring them all into camp and still not figure out which are the best.

 

<blah blah blah>

 

 

Think about how different this franchise would have been the last 15 yearsif the Bills had retained any or all 3 of those men.

Believe it or not, Harvey, some of us are actually pretty pleased with the couple of guys (Nix, Gailey) here now and the direction they're taking the team.

 

Crying over the spilled milk of the past 11 seasons won't do you or anyone else any good.

 

Either get busy living, or get busy dying.

[Captain Caveman]

1) Only so many can make the roster so you'd end up cutting the vast majority of the picks.

 

2) There wouldn't be enough reps in camp to go around to properly evaluate these players.

 

Yup.

[NewEra]

I'll take Marcel Dareus over wiilliam + Sheppard + searcy every day of the week. We just need to evaluate talent better an I think we're on the right track. I think this years draft will eventually yield 5 starters (dareus, Williams, Sheppard, searcy and Hairston).

[cage]

Show but the Mike Ditka approach and do the opposite? Trade away all our draft picks each year for the #1 overall pick and end up with Luck this coming draft and then whoever the next guy will be the next season. Prolly a stud LT.

 

Personally I like the strenght in numbers thing. But you might have to wait until draft day to figure it out. What if were picking 8-15th and a guy like Dareus Orakpo, Willis, Fairly happens to drop that far. Then you miss out on a stud that you could have had. But I'd trade ur 2nd and 3rd for like 5-6 4ths maybe. And maybe package your 5-7s to try and get one more 4th. You'd end up with a great first round pick and then 4-5 4th rounders. It's very madden like.

 

Absolutely,... the strategy could work as a guideline and the decision to trade back is made while on the clock. That's when you'll get the best offer anyhow

 

What you don't get is ...its not about numbers! The Bills could draft all 224 players out there and bring them all into camp and still not figure out which are the best.

 

Its about evaluating college talent before they hit the NFL level, this franchise has shown they haven't been able to do that since Bill Polian- John Butler. This is the entire reason as to why Bill Polian is so successful as Gm / president, same with Ozzie Newsome of the Ravens.

 

 

The Buffalo Bills had 3 of the very best talent evaluators in the NFL and fired them all. Bill Polian- John Butler- AJ Smith

 

In Bills Polians case he should have just sat back and let the man run his org like the Colts owner is doing, instead he has to have his nose in everything.

 

With John Butler he should have paid him top dollar and hired a capoligist to help him. Ralph Wilson's famous words to Butler after he didn't immediately accept Wilson's offer of a new contract "If I can't hire you, I'll fire you! The season wasn't even over when Wilson did this. This owner keeps cutting his own throat to save a buck..plus he is noted for a very cantankerous demeanor

 

 

Think about how different this franchise would have been the last 15 yearsif the Bills had retained any or all 3 of those men.

 

All great points as well!!

[bowery4]

Bills drafted well this year.

 

In most years past, however, if they would have just made their top few picks according to what the TV analysts had said they should do, they would have been much better off and just watching NFL network would have been a much better strategy for them.

 

But like I said, this year was solid and hopefully the start of a new drafting era.

 

Is this not pretty much what Cincinnati was doing a couple of years ago, didn't they fire all these scouts or something? I forget the exact story but how'd that work for them? To the overwhelmingly negative Harvey, why do you bother? Being a Bills fan just makes you obviously unhappy. You might feel better if you gave it up. Really, I hate to think of anyone being so unhappy with a team and a game. It is just a game. I feel you but man I have never read anything by you on here that wasn't like what you wrote above. Just move on and feel better.

sincerely you fellow Bills brethren.

[cage]

I'll take Marcel Dareus over wiilliam + Sheppard + searcy every day of the week. We just need to evaluate talent better an I think we're on the right track. I think this years draft will eventually yield 5 starters (dareus, Williams, Sheppard, searcy and Hairston).

 

I think its way premature to think about this approach based on this year's draft

[yungmack]

How about actually drafting a future franchise QB in Round one and 6 offensive linemen......this may be the only way to fix this offense once and for all. You either have incredible depth at the line which would be a great problem to have or you trade one or two that step up for other needs....

I'm dead certain they will...just as soon as a genuine franchise QB is available at their slot.

[eball]

I'm dead certain they will...just as soon as a genuine franchise QB is available at their slot.

I'll take Bill from NYC and "Ryan Mallett was there for the taking" for $2000, Alex...

[RealityCheck]

In light of discussion on this board praising our drafting success in later rounds (Terrence McGee, Kyle Williams, Stevie Johnson, Demetrius Bell,...) and UDFA (Fred Jackson, George Wilson, Donald Jones, David Nelson,...) and lack of success in earlier rounds (too many to list), I'm wondering about a new draft strategy??

 

--Trade back out of rounds 1-3 entirely to stockpile overwhelming number of picks in rounds 4-7

--If we incrementally traded back, we should end up with 20+ picks in those later rounds each year

--Picks in rounds 4-7 are signed easily at low cost

--Those who are successful, stay on and will get paid based on success in the NFL

--Those who don't,... well what do you expect from a 6th round pick?

 

We would never have another Aaron Maybin, JP Losman or Mike Williams to talk about. If you have 20+ picks you're bound to hit on 3-5 of them, which is better than our draft success of late, if you go back and check the last decade.

 

Have at it....

The problem with our drafts has to do with one simple concept that no amount of discussion can fix. You need to pick and develop the right players. Your talking about drafting primarily based on odds manipulation, but again, you have to pick the right guys and also develop them. Our player development the past decade has been as poor as our drafts, but no one ever seems to bring that up.

[cage]

The problem with our drafts has to do with one simple concept that no amount of discussion can fix. You need to pick and develop the right players. Your talking about drafting primarily based on odds manipulation, but again, you have to pick the right guys and also develop them. Our player development the past decade has been as poor as our drafts, but no one ever seems to bring that up.

 

hmmm,... I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Also, your point on odds manipulation is correct.

 

We'll see what happens with Aaron Maybin (Jets) and James Hardy (Ravens), but Bill's castoffs don't have a big track record of success. That's why it doesn't get discussed much. There's not a bunch of Darryl Lamonicas running around out there helping other teams to the playoffs/SB...

 

I have to think about this a bit, but I'm having trouble coming up with much of any examples of players that failed on team #1, who then became stars on team #2?? Any help out there?? If that's the case, then the odds strategy may have even more merit?

Edited August 18, 2011 by cage