Reasons This Has Been an AMAZING Draft

[yungmack]

Have you noticed that every defense FA signing & every D draft pick share this particular trait: they love to hit and they hit hard. How long has it been since the Bills had a D that was feared for that?

[3rdand12]

As many of you know, I am Mr. Negative. I didn't like Marrone as I though it was a marketing plan to get Syracuse ticket buyers. I thought they would take Nassib for the same reason. Well, I am here to eat crow. I have not been this excited about this team in a long time. Marrone looks like he knows what he is doing. They have a plan and they are executing it. Some of these players may not pan out (a good draft produces 3 starters), but I am very confident in the decisions that were made at OBD for this draft. E.J will be a star in this league. I just watched 15 mins of video on Woods- this guy is polished. Still not playoff material, but if these guys work out- watch out NFL in 3 years. Speed, speed and more speed!!

 

I haven't said this in a while-- GO BILLS

I bet you aren't the only one who are taking a refreshing look at the new Bills.

Lets see what they put on the field, of course , but at the outset the Bills are starting to appear aggresive and fast fast fast

Go Bills ? Heck yes.

[Hotpockets28]

Mark my words..if he stays healthy...Robert woods will be a pro bowl type Wr...maybe never a so called "" elite"" Wr but most def a solid number two and a chance to be even better then stevie and I loveeeeee Sj13..

[jethro_tull]

Only time will tell.

 

Nix has been horrible at drafting over the last 3 seasons, especially in the mid/late rounds. It's absolutely VITAL for teams to find solid starters in Rounds 3-4, and solid depth after that. He hasn't done that so far as the Bills GM, so it's hard for a lot of us to trust his eye for talent - especially when he steers so far away from expert opinion and what seems like the common sense approach.

 

 

In my opinion, Kiko Alonso has the potential to be a decent starter and would have been a nice addition as our 3rd round pick. But over Arthur Brown? On the surface, this looks like a stupid move.

 

The same with Marquise Goodwin, who is basically a track star with no receiving ability. Most likely, this guy will eventually settle in as our #4 or #5 receiver - assuming he develops some hands and route running skills. Is he a terrible player to take a chance on? Not necessarily. But in the 3rd round, we need to be targeting STARTERS, not sleepers and projects.

 

 

Most of us thought TJ Graham was a reach last year... but we were told the Bills front office knew what it was doing. One year in, Graham doesn't look like anything special.

 

he had limited opportunity.

if you watch the goodwin highlights he often made his QB look good by coming back on short throws and knowing just where to go to get the ball- outsanding instincts- that i often do not see even in our own number one receiver.

 

Mark my words..if he stays healthy...Robert woods will be a pro bowl type Wr...maybe never a so called "" elite"" Wr but most def a solid number two and a chance to be even better then stevie and I loveeeeee Sj13..

 

absolutely. he helped barkley along- especially their junior years.

[Boludo]

- we drafted a hard hitting safety project that hospitalizes people when he fights them

 

(maybe you don't like that but we need some guys with a mean streak on defense that are trying to smash people out there)

[Alphadawg7]

Only time will tell.

 

Nix has been horrible at drafting over the last 3 seasons, especially in the mid/late rounds. It's absolutely VITAL for teams to find solid starters in Rounds 3-4, and solid depth after that. He hasn't done that so far as the Bills GM, so it's hard for a lot of us to trust his eye for talent - especially when he steers so far away from expert opinion and what seems like the common sense approach.

 

 

In my opinion, Kiko Alonso has the potential to be a decent starter and would have been a nice addition as our 3rd round pick. But over Arthur Brown? On the surface, this looks like a stupid move.

 

The same with Marquise Goodwin, who is basically a track star with no receiving ability. Most likely, this guy will eventually settle in as our #4 or #5 receiver - assuming he develops some hands and route running skills. Is he a terrible player to take a chance on? Not necessarily. But in the 3rd round, we need to be targeting STARTERS, not sleepers and projects.

 

 

Most of us thought TJ Graham was a reach last year... but we were told the Bills front office knew what it was doing. One year in, Graham doesn't look like anything special.

 

Goodwin looks like a track star to you because you read he starred in track. To say he has no recieving ability means you have never seen him play. He out shined a lot of top WR's this year leading up to the draft. The kid can play and is a multi position weapon. He is shifty, has good hands, and is not just a "track star".

 

Just because people havent heard of a guy becasue their isnt a hype train on him doesnt mean they arent players. People get paid a lot of money to figure out who can play and not play in their system...Kiper, McShay, and the media are not any of them.

 

Have you noticed that every defense FA signing & every D draft pick share this particular trait: they love to hit and they hit hard. How long has it been since the Bills had a D that was feared for that?

 

Exactly...three CRITICAL things this D has lacked for way too long...Speed, Intensity, and Hitting. We got that in these kids and the FA's. Branch and Lawson were great signings for this team and filled big needs...run stopping and coverage ability to go along with the above traits. Kike and Duke I think have a strong chance to start, especially Kiko.

 

I love the direction we are going. Speed and attitude. Last year, NO WAY this regime would take guys like Kiko and Duke, who were talented but off field stuff had them sliding down. I love it, and Kiko is gonna turn some heads. I watch a lot of Oregon football, and I raved about the Byrd pick on draft night when we took him when people were freaking out and told everyone (go look it up for those you dont believe me) that he was the best safety prospect in the draft even though on draft night he was listed as a DB. I love this Kiko pick just as much and like I already said, many felt he was the best player and leader on the Oregon D last year, even over Dion Jordan.

[bbb]

The Dalai Lama always says you can never have enough safeties.

[Billsguy]

Every team is excited after the draft. I doesn't matter if your team had a good draft because it is relative to your opposition. If every team had a good draft (and they all say they did) then maybe you improved your team, but failed to gain any ground on the teams above you. New England's draft was limited, but they are far ahead of Buffalo to start. I think the Dolphins had a stronger draft and the Jets arguably was at least as good as Buffalo. If you could trade the Bills draft for any other team's draft would you do it? I think many other teams drafted better than the Bills. The Bills took too many players too early. At least 4 players were taken at least a round early IMO.

 

The Bills have a lot of work to do to become relevant again. Buddy Nix said he wanted to get 3 starters from this draft. I only see one (Woods - WR).

 

EJ Manuel is not a pro QB at this point. The offensive line is not stronger without Levitre. They still have no tight end. They have a new QB with questionable credentials (Kolb). They have a rookie NFL head coach.

 

I'm glad 95% of you are thrilled and excited, but nothing has been proven yet. Buddy Nix has a questionable record since he's been in Buffalo. Why would it change suddenly?

 

The Bills have missed the playoffs for 13 years. I guess if you've been down in the basement for over a decade then you have to keep hope alive. Judging by the overwhelming enthusiasm on this board, the stadium will be sold out every Sunday!!!

[box0life]

Not to rain on this parade, but I think E.J. Manual will be a bust and we will be drafting another QB in three years after Kolb plays one year and Manual gets two years to prove he is a bust. I watched him play at Florida State and he is not a starter in the NFL. I went to the Florida State Vs. Gators game last year and he was terrible with three interceptions and completed 50% of his passes. He sucked against good teams. He is not Cam Newton and will never be anything but a back up QB talent. He is Jamarcus Russell with more of a work ethic. He is a nice guy, well spoken, smart but is not a guy that will lead your team to victories in the fourth quarter. He can not will this team to victory and that is what this team needs in a first round QB. He was a third round talent and no more. We let Dee Milliner go to the jets, and then the Jets got Geno Smith. I hate the Jets and I give them higher grades for there picks.

 

I like the Woods and Alonso picks. But why try to get Carlos Dansby and then draft an Alonso? I guess Dansby isn't signing with the Bills?

 

Marquise Goodwin has speed but he can't run routes and has little experience. He is another T. J Graham. Why do we need two inexperienced fast wide receivers?

Why didn't we grab a TE, guard or CB in this spot?

 

Duke Williams was a good pick, but why did we take another safety in the fifth round? We just moved Aaron Williams to SS to compete with Searcy. Are we going to let Byrd walk after this year? What the hell was this?

 

We still have glaring needs at Guard, TE, and CB. Why didn't we take CB Jordan Poyer in the fifth round. Why didn't we take Barret Jones who can play guard and center in the fourth round? These players were available.

[Boludo]

Billsguy -

 

Do you think everyone doesn't realize the Bills have missed the playoffs forever or that they have been among the worst NFL franchises for the last decade?

 

Of course everyone sees that bro, but thanks for pointing that out!

 

The point you seem to be missing is that they are doing things DIFFERENTLY than what we would expect from the typical Bills.

 

When are you on the bottom, changing the status quo is a GOOD thing.

[hmsmystic]

The highlight of this draft so far has been the trade down- I cheered wildly as for once we didn't rush our pick to the podium. However, other than Woods, I think we messed up. Again. It's not the players aren't good (who knows at this point). It's just that the buffoons running the show at OBD really think they know better than everyone esle. They haven't earned that right.

 

We have go to stop reaching for players thinking we have some secret analysis of them- Troupe was picked too early, Graham was picked too early last year.

This year we clearly picked Manuel too early, Alsonso too ealry and our second safety wayy too ealry.

 

I continue to see the best teams (49ers this year) draft players right at (or usually after) the point in the draft they have been predicted to go. I see awful teams (Bills) reaching for guys earlier than other teams would have picked them.

 

I

[Boludo]

its a lot easier for a super bowl team to draft straight best available by the big boards when you have fewer positions of glaring need

 

the bills NEEDED qb/wr/lb and they went and tried to address the issue

[KeisterHollow]

There's been a lot of positive feedback for this draft, and a lot of negative, too. I said, leading up to the draft, that we were a starting QB, WR, TE, G, ILB, and maybe CB away from being a really competitive team, and that a truly good GM could come out of this draft with 3 or 4 starters (because it is admittedy a deep draft class) and between the draft, UDFA, and FA, a good GM could fill all our holes - leaving us capable of competing for a Wild Card spot, at worst.

 

Now, of those 6 holes / needs, QB is no doubt the hardest to find. In fact, I'd say coming out of a draft with a franchise QB makes that draft a success, regardless of the rest of the picks. Well, we hit on QB with our first pick - and since we had the pick of all of them, he had better pan out. For the sake of optimism, lets consider that one a hit (I like him; I love Cam Newton, so if he can play close to that, we're in luck).

 

We definitely got WR taken care of, adding both an instant starter - and a player who now validates our WR corps - and another burner who happens to be multi-dimensional (between the two, our WR corps has a new look, and the complexion of our offense has changed for the better).

 

At ILB we got a starter - and another guy who is so flexible we'll be able to use him in different alignments, and on all 3 downs.

 

After that - the safeties - we'll have to see; I imagine one of them will eventually get starter time.

 

The kicker will probably be a starter, too - although I didn't count that as a weakness/hole, so I won't include that in my assessment.

 

So, before round 7 we come away with a Franchise QB (hopefully), a starter at WR and LB, and potentially 3 more starters. That's a good draft by anyone's standards. Sure, other GM's might have had "better" drafts - but they didn't have the same needs Buffalo did.

 

As for the players later in the draft we overlooked, I'm assuming the Coordinators had a lot of input on the later round selections, and if we're passing on TE and CB, it must be because they're either satisfied with what we have, or didn't like the value.

 

As of right now, if Chandler comes back healthy and if McKelvin or Brooks are decent starters - and if we sign, say, Moore for Tackle help - our team should be solid enough to compete for a playoff spot. For first year coaches, and for the tone of everything at OneBillsDrive, I'll be happy with that. In the end, though, this draft and Nix's whole time here in Buffalo is going to be measured by the success of Manuel - he alone will make or break it all.

[mjt328]

Goodwin looks like a track star to you because you read he starred in track. To say he has no recieving ability means you have never seen him play. He out shined a lot of top WR's this year leading up to the draft. The kid can play and is a multi position weapon. He is shifty, has good hands, and is not just a "track star".

 

 

"Track Star" is a buzz word that has been used for years to describe guys that are drafted because of their speed. It's ironic that Goodwin is actually a track star.

 

I'm not necessarily a stat guy, but I do put weight on production. If a receiver isn't catching the ball consistently in college, why do you expect him to become a stud in the pros? There were probably 5-6 receivers available at that spot who put up more production in a single season than Goodwin had in his entire career.

 

I'll admit, I have only seen limited footage on him. Maybe 4 full games from his senior season. In that limited footage I saw a guy who had trouble running routes and couldn't locate the ball in the air when changing directions. His best plays (big surprise) were actually running plays and a deep throw where he blew past the cornerback.

 

 

Like I said. If this was 2010, I would probably be more willing to give Nix the benefit of the doubt. But I've been watching picks like this for 3 seasons now, and none of our GM's ridiculous reaches have panned out. He hasn't been able to nab a starter later than the 4th round (Bradham).

[uncle flap]

 

The Bills took too many players too early. At least 4 players were taken at least a round early IMO.

 

 

 

If your theory is indeed true (and there's no way to ever know), that signals to me that the Bills knew who they wanted and didn't want to miss out and THEIR guys.

 

Would you rather have a guy that has better perceived value in relation to overall rankings, or the guy who best fits your needs?

 

For example, say you think Kiko Alonso will almost certainly be there when your next pick comes up. But however small it may be, there's still a chance he won't be there. So then you have to weigh your backup plan vs making a perceived "reach." Do you then go another position? Same position, but a guy you don't like as much?

 

Personally, I would want to be confident enough in my evaluation of the player over my assumptions about other teams' draft boards. Get the guy I want and make people react to my moves, rather than try to maneuver according to what everyone else might be doing/thinking.

 

 

Proaction vs reaction, IMO.

[KeisterHollow]

If your theory is indeed true (and there's no way to ever know), that signals to me that the Bills knew who they wanted and didn't want to miss out and THEIR guys.

 

Would you rather have a guy that has better perceived value in relation to overall rankings, or the guy who best fits your needs?

 

For example, say you think Kiko Alonso will almost certainly be there when your next pick comes up. But however small it may be, there's still a chance he won't be there. So then you have to weigh your backup plan vs making a perceived "reach." Do you then go another position? Same position, but a guy you don't like as much?

 

Personally, I would want to be confident enough in my evaluation of the player over my assumptions about other teams' draft boards. Get the guy I want and make people react to my moves, rather than try to maneuver according to what everyone else might be doing/thinking.

 

 

Proaction vs reaction, IMO.

 

Great point! This is a thought I've had for years in regards to the draft: Instead of a team going into draft weekend and hoping certain guys fall to them, or just taking whichever player is available to you that's BPA, why not go through your roster pre-draft, look at all the holes and look at all the incoming rookies. Decide on a series of tiers that the college guys are going to be rated at, and isolate players that you could plug into your holes. Then, come draft day, instead of hoping your guys will be there, over draft your guys by like a half a round.

EJ Manuel is a perfect example of this.

 

I call it a sort of aggressive drafting, instead of passive drafting. Had the Bills waited until RD 2 for EJ Manuel, no one would have balked at them taking him. That half a round, however, might have forced their hand to another QB, if some team took him ahead of them. Likewise with Kiko - the idea of a guy being a good pick at 3, but not at 2, is very misleading. The idea is to get STARTERS - and that those starters are hopefully playmakers.

[TC in St. Louis]

Because when you hit the "quote" button it quotes the whole thing. And for the record, there are any number of sources for ratings. The only ones that count are the ones in the Bills draft war room. CBS sports had him as the 3rd best OLB.. Mayock just referred to him as a "human wrecking ball". I'll take him in the second.

 

OK. I hope so. Look, man, I hope they all work out. I have been a fan of this team for more than 40 years. I come to this site every single day. I love my team. I want them to be great again. We're in this together.

[bisonbrigade]

EJ's sports science video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLEMyMkDdU

SLOW EYE'S AND NO ACCURACY MY BIG HAIRY BUT. THE SO CALLED DRAFT EXPERTS MUST OF MISSED THIS EPISODE.

[Kelly the Dog]

this is turning out to be possibly the best bills draf in their history.

manuel and woods- these are indisputable consensus picks.

 

but these guys are scary good too-

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je7sPrc4RnQ

 

 

i love this draft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't see anyway in hell that if you were not told that Goodwin was an Olympian and a track star that you would walk away from that video and say one word about "that looks like a track guy trying to play football." You would just say, man that dude is fast as a track star but is all football player.

[jethro_tull]

Not to rain on this parade, but I think E.J. Manual will be a bust and we will be drafting another QB in three years after Kolb plays one year and Manual gets two years to prove he is a bust. I watched him play at Florida State and he is not a starter in the NFL. I went to the Florida State Vs. Gators game last year and he was terrible with three interceptions and completed 50% of his passes. He sucked against good teams. He is not Cam Newton and will never be anything but a back up QB talent. He is Jamarcus Russell with more of a work ethic. He is a nice guy, well spoken, smart but is not a guy that will lead your team to victories in the fourth quarter. He can not will this team to victory and that is what this team needs in a first round QB. He was a third round talent and no more. We let Dee Milliner go to the jets, and then the Jets got Geno Smith. I hate the Jets and I give them higher grades for there picks.

 

I like the Woods and Alonso picks. But why try to get Carlos Dansby and then draft an Alonso? I guess Dansby isn't signing with the Bills?

 

Marquise Goodwin has speed but he can't run routes and has little experience. He is another T. J Graham. Why do we need two inexperienced fast wide receivers?

Why didn't we grab a TE, guard or CB in this spot?

 

Duke Williams was a good pick, but why did we take another safety in the fifth round? We just moved Aaron Williams to SS to compete with Searcy. Are we going to let Byrd walk after this year? What the hell was this?

 

We still have glaring needs at Guard, TE, and CB. Why didn't we take CB Jordan Poyer in the fifth round. Why didn't we take Barret Jones who can play guard and center in the fourth round? These players were available.

 

i just dont see manuel being a bust- not even close. i kept thinking about people being high on nassib and barkley and their games often did not look good.

manuel had issues against quality teams with good defenses- that will happen and will be part of his developmental process.

but when you look at his skill set, his athleticism yet without the fragility- the quick release, the often excellent long ball accuracy and the ability to run- i just don't see the limit for him and this team.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYRCkpnnlIs

 

I don't see anyway in hell that if you were not told that Goodwin was an Olympian and a track star that you would walk away from that video and say one word about "that looks like a track guy trying to play football." You would just say, man that dude is fast as a track star but is all football player.

 

absolutely. the guy has instincts, knows how to get to the ball, helps out his QB big time and runs like no tomorrow.