Building a winning football team

[C.Biscuit97]

Your point wasn't that the team hasn't made the playoffs but that the BILLS have poorly Drafted over the last 10 years...I think I've countered your over-generalized statement with some specific points to contend your argument is invalid. Playoff appearance was not what you said when you said, "Right on, great post. They also lack a competent FO and scouting department. Miserable drafts for over ten years." and to argue against such a broad and inaccurate statement I gave you a summary of players Drafted by the BILLS that have proven through individual achievements and / or recognition that in fact the BILLS did not Draft "miserably over ten years"....now, how they Drafted does NOT equal playoff appearances and / or wins. Winning in the NFL is far more complex because if having a "good" Draft equaled winning, the league would look quite different....if you would like to argue the BILLS have not Drafted a good or great QB which has doomed the team the last 14 years, to that point, I would concede - although I would give EJ one more season to demonstrate whether he IS or is NOT the answer to the QB position....

 

You are too reasonable for this board. You need to go out NOW!

 

I think that you omit something of importance.

 

A draft is not ONLY determined by selecting "good" players. It matters who you pass up. When Jauron stupidly drafted McKelvin, the very next player selected was Ryan Clady. 3 picks later, Branden Albert was drafted. Do you think that waiting 5 years for him to have a good season was better than taking either of those very good players? And, the Bills were in dire need of blockers at the time.

There are many other idiotic moves that the Bills made on draft day, but none as bad as 2006. That draft alone set back the franchise for many years.

 

The bottom line is that you can point to players that are "good," but the Bills, led by people nobody else would hire, devoted the bulk of their best resources to dbs and rbs, many of who they traded or let walk away in free agency.

 

Things look a little better these days. Even if Manuel doesn't develop, they may have themselves some fine players from the 2013 draft.

Let's hope they don't screw up tomorrow and mortgage the future by trading up.

 

I do agree on trading up. I hate the idea of trading up for a college kid. Too many busts and too many variables. Stay where you are (or move down and get more picks). That's what good teams do.

[BigBuff423]

Excuse me?

 

Sorry, major mental freeze on that one, I meant for it to be Jason Peters, but was typing quickly and running through the list quick, my mistake!! .....that said, Jason Peters was an UDFA that has the stats I so erroneously attributed to Bell....woof...terrible!

 

I think that you omit something of importance.

 

A draft is not ONLY determined by selecting "good" players. It matters who you pass up. When Jauron stupidly drafted McKelvin, the very next player selected was Ryan Clady. 3 picks later, Branden Albert was drafted. Do you think that waiting 5 years for him to have a good season was better than taking either of those very good players? And, the Bills were in dire need of blockers at the time.

There are many other idiotic moves that the Bills made on draft day, but none as bad as 2006. That draft alone set back the franchise for many years.

 

The bottom line is that you can point to players that are "good," but the Bills, led by people nobody else would hire, devoted the bulk of their best resources to dbs and rbs, many of who they traded or let walk away in free agency.

 

Things look a little better these days. Even if Manuel doesn't develop, they may have themselves some fine players from the 2013 draft.

Let's hope they don't screw up tomorrow and mortgage the future by trading up.

 

and by that reasoning, every other NFL team other than the Seahawks had a terrible Draft for NOT Drafting Russell Wilson until the 3rd round or better yet Tom Brady until the 6th or the Chargers Drafting Brees in the 2nd....jesus f'in Christ...revisionist history is very easy, but the person said the BILLS have been "miserable" at Drafting for 10 years, yet information fails to bare that out....so, to say the BILLS didn't Draft well b/c they didn't Draft this player or that one, is flawed because by such a measure, all teams would "miserable" at Drafting...ultimately, in my mind, you have to measure a Draft or 10 years worth, based on how many "good" players were Drafted, not by the ones they DIDN'T Draft....but, to each his own

 

I think that you omit something of importance.

 

A draft is not ONLY determined by selecting "good" players. It matters who you pass up. When Jauron stupidly drafted McKelvin, the very next player selected was Ryan Clady. 3 picks later, Branden Albert was drafted. Do you think that waiting 5 years for him to have a good season was better than taking either of those very good players? And, the Bills were in dire need of blockers at the time.

There are many other idiotic moves that the Bills made on draft day, but none as bad as 2006. That draft alone set back the franchise for many years.

 

The bottom line is that you can point to players that are "good," but the Bills, led by people nobody else would hire, devoted the bulk of their best resources to dbs and rbs, many of who they traded or let walk away in free agency.

 

Things look a little better these days. Even if Manuel doesn't develop, they may have themselves some fine players from the 2013 draft.

Let's hope they don't screw up tomorrow and mortgage the future by trading up.

 

and by that reasoning, every other NFL team other than the Seahawks had a terrible Draft for NOT Drafting Russell Wilson until the 3rd round or better yet Tom Brady until the 6th or the Chargers Drafting Brees in the 2nd....jesus f'in Christ...revisionist history is very easy, but the person said the BILLS have been "miserable" at Drafting for 10 years, yet information fails to bare that out....so, to say the BILLS didn't Draft well b/c they didn't Draft this player or that one, is flawed because by such a measure, all teams would "miserable" at Drafting...ultimately, in my mind, you have to measure a Draft or 10 years worth, based on how many "good" players were Drafted, not by the ones they DIDN'T Draft....but, to each his own

[CountryCletus]

I can't wait to see what this draft produces... I find that I waste a lot of time thinking about possibilities, and what I THINK should happen, but something dawned on me... Regardless of my fandom, I will never know what goes on behind closed doors... After things go down, I look at them and can see the thought process- so why dwell on things before they happen...

 

That being said, I can't wait until Thursday night, I apologize now for any drunken rants I may post- good, bad, or indifferent...

[Orton's Arm]

I think that you omit something of importance.

 

A draft is not ONLY determined by selecting "good" players. It matters who you pass up. When Jauron stupidly drafted McKelvin, the very next player selected was Ryan Clady. 3 picks later, Branden Albert was drafted. Do you think that waiting 5 years for him to have a good season was better than taking either of those very good players? And, the Bills were in dire need of blockers at the time.

There are many other idiotic moves that the Bills made on draft day, but none as bad as 2006. That draft alone set back the franchise for many years.

 

The bottom line is that you can point to players that are "good," but the Bills, led by people nobody else would hire, devoted the bulk of their best resources to dbs and rbs, many of who they traded or let walk away in free agency.

 

Things look a little better these days. Even if Manuel doesn't develop, they may have themselves some fine players from the 2013 draft.

Let's hope they don't screw up tomorrow and mortgage the future by trading up.

 

> A draft is not ONLY determined by selecting "good" players. It matters who you pass up.

 

Exactly. I'd go one step further, and suggest that a team's draft should merely be one component of a larger team-building strategy. Suppose, for example, that the GM uses a first round pick on a DB. Then suppose that five years later, the DB leaves in free agency; with the GM having made little or no effort to retain him. Even if the DB was a good player for those five years, he was not part of any larger strategy. His selection was unjustified.

 

But suppose a team uses a late first round pick on a guy like Antoine Winfield; and suppose that team retains this Winfield-like DB for the duration of his career. A DB like that could easily be part of a larger strategy.

 

During the last 40 years, the Bills have used 25% of their first picks of the draft on DBs, and another 25% of their first picks on RBs. Only 6% of their first picks of the draft have been used on QBs; and only 5% on OTs. I see two reasons for this disparity:

 

1) DBs and RBs are easier to evaluate than QBs or OTs. Selecting a DB or RB implies less short-term career risk for the GM. This is especially true if the GM is not a great talent evaluator.

2) Most Bills' GMs have not been strategic thinkers or long-term planners. Someone with a short-term, quick fix mentality does not necessarily feel obligated to use his first round picks to obtain foundation players. A GM like that is more than happy to use many or most of his first round picks to fuel churning. A first round pick is used on a DB. Four or five years later, the DB goes first-contract-and-out. By this point, a first round pick has already been used on that DB's replacement. A quick-fix GM sees no need to short-circuit this pattern. He does not realize the pattern all but eliminates any chance he might otherwise have had of winning the Super Bowl.

 

> There are many other idiotic moves that the Bills made on draft day, but none as bad as 2006.

 

Below is a comprehensive list of all the things Marv did right as GM:

1) Drafting Kyle Williams.

 

Other than that, the 2006 draft was a disaster. The disaster was caused by short-sighted thinking. Marv and Jauron wanted to add a SS and DT right away, because they were looking to make an immediate impact. They felt that Whitner and McCargo represented the best available combination of DT + SS. They should have realized that, unless they were going to take Ngata, 2006 wasn't the year to take a DT in the first round. Nor was it a good year to take a safety in the first or second round. Unfortunately, they fell in love with their own plan. They failed to change their plan to fit the facts; and seemed to hope that their own firm belief in their plan would cause facts to change to fit the plan.