enlightener Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) I originally wanted to trade back ,grab Ebron/ODB/Lewan/Mosley and grab an extra second. When i saw the Bills actually moved up I was pissed! After about 10 min i started realizing I just couldnt be angry anymore. I began to realize the pattern of mediocrity had been BROKEN! I think we landed a top tier once in a decade guy. We paid a price (not a future mortgaged however) I went back 10 years and looked at the top 4 guys along with who we actually got in those years.... - I left off all the busts/out of the nfl/non factors/and tackles as non of them are "playmakers" -if a guy did end up being a "once a decade" talent in the top 10 hes in ( ) 04 eli rivers fitzgerald (bigben) evans losman 05 alex smith no pick 06 mario (vernon davis) witner mcargo 07 Megatron (peterson) no pick 08 chris long mattyice mckelvin 09 stafford Maybe 10 bradford suh spiller 11 cam von dareus ajgreen (julio peterson jjwatt aldon) dareus 12 luck RGiii gilmore 13 no one (richardson@13 ) ej (kiko) observations... -Since Lee evans beween 04 and 09 we drafted 4 busts and one "starter" (mclovin) in 6 years jeeeesh, worse than i thought! -drafting top 4 doesnt guarantee a top talent as most years had teams drafting busts and non factor players in the top 4. -some of the top guys are just average QB's at this point -while the tackles taken were important, no ones getting excited about their team over one. ill take mine in the second thank you! -last years draft didnt produce an impact player til pick 13 sheldon richardson -in 10 years players @ around 10 we could have had were bigben,jjwatt,revis, orakpo -2011 was like this draft where the supreme talent is from 1-7 but then its guys like locker gabbert and ponder -trading up into the end of the first netted us supreme talents like mcargo and losman. -trading back netted us kiko rather than just reaching for EJ. Less bust factor when you have 2 guys instead of 1. while some of our players picked at around 10 are good, none have been as spectacular as watkins should be. i suspect last years draft was an overall poor class leading to a talented '14 draft which should then mean a weak class in '15. Glad we kept our second this year and gave away next years first. I was so ecstatic to wake up post draft realizing we got an electrifying difference maker at an exciting position this year rather than my normal post draft mentality which usually goes something like..."well i guess we needed a corner/well I guess we needed a passrusher or what the hell?(whitner,losman,spiller) " whaley has made me change my opinion on trading back, I think if you are a medicore team that will never draft top 4 because you go 6-10 every year, you need to be aggressive and move up, if not, move back. standing pat and drafting at 10 hasnt gotten us anywhere in ten years. In summary I think its was wise to jump up this year and get Watkins....heres why 1. we will probably win this year and pick in the 20's ( were loaded w talent now) 2. next years draft will be lower quality than this years 3. watkins allowed us to trade SJ so we only lost a 1st in a weak draft a year away. (we have watkins now) 4. if EJ blows and we draft top 3 then F it, we are hopeless anyways if that happens. 5. at least now we cant pick a bust in next years first round Edited May 12, 2014 by enlightener
bowery4 Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 So M. Dareus (probowl talented, I know, I know bone head lol) doesn't make your list. I don't really see the logic of that but I sort of agree with the conclusion.
atlbillsfan1975 Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 I agree with you OP. I am not for trading up however after this draft played out i could not be happier. Watkins has the game changing ability that i think will help EJ develope. Not to mention Whaley also got some big boys up front to help EJ. Good moves!
Kellyto83TD Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 I Said the whole time we needed to trade up and take a pure impact player Whaley did that. He Flat out said with this draft 'I am sick of losing and this is MY Team now'. Those are moves only Bill Polian would have made, sure as hell not ultra conservative Nix.
PromoTheRobot Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 I Said the whole time we needed to trade up and take a pure impact player Whaley did that. He Flat out said with this draft 'I am sick of losing and this is MY Team now'. Those are moves only Bill Polian would have made, sure as hell not ultra conservative Nix. And he did it without completely mortgaging the future which is key. I was worried we'd pull a Ditka.
juno999 Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 I Said the whole time we needed to trade up and take a pure impact player Whaley did that. He Flat out said with this draft 'I am sick of losing and this is MY Team now'. Those are moves only Bill Polian would have made, sure as hell not ultra conservative Nix. I saw Polian on ESPN and he wasn't sure trading up for Watkins was worth it. He posed it as follows "Why not stay put at 9 and take Beckham?" Is the difference between Watkins and Beckham that great to justify the trade up for Watkins?" A valid question but ultimately comes down to your overall gut. Overall I like the Bills draft and hopefully Watkins turns out to be the stud that most people envision.
enlightener Posted May 11, 2014 Author Posted May 11, 2014 So M. Dareus (probowl talented, I know, I know bone head lol) doesn't make your list. I don't really see the logic of that but I sort of agree with the conclusion. no hes there but he wasnt a guy we got around 10 like the rest
CountryCletus Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 I can't seem to follow your broken thoughts and splattered logic... Your player evaluations are opinions and most seem inaccurate. I'm sorry, seems you could have put more thought into it... Red pen is set down...
maddenboy Posted May 11, 2014 Posted May 11, 2014 swing for the fences. Trying to "get better" in baby-steps has gotten us nowhere. I think because Whaley is young, he is into taking risk. Its just like how young people should invest in growth stocks, while older folks should buy-and-hold safe, blue chip stocks (like IBM). If Whaley gets fired in a year or two, he will have several offers within 24 hours. Nix, notsomuch.
CountryCletus Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 no hes there but he wasnt a guy we got around 10 like the rest That's kind of what I was talking about... Your sliding scale of who is a stud and who isn't...
Big Blitz Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 I saw Polian on ESPN and he wasn't sure trading up for Watkins was worth it. He posed it as follows "Why not stay put at 9 and take Beckham?" Is the difference between Watkins and Beckham that great to justify the trade up for Watkins?" A valid question but ultimately comes down to your overall gut. Overall I like the Bills draft and hopefully Watkins turns out to be the stud that most people envision. Beckham is 5'11 and 198. 4'44 40 time. No. Way. Everyone poo pooing this is simply convinced we will be picking top 10 again. F that. Love the message this sends to the team. Time to win now. I'll ask again...who's the franchise changing QB coming out next year we would be so sure to land? We've missed out with far crappier teams than last year. We're so solid in most spots its just not worth sweating. And aside from all that...I think EJ makes big strides this season. 3500 yds. 20 TDs. 15 or so picks. Watkins and Woods give teams fits. Mix in a power running game. 8 wins minimum.
Reed83HOF Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 I'll ask again...who's the franchise changing QB coming out next year we would be so sure to land? We've missed out with far crappier teams than last year. You can't ask that right now... This time of the year and throughout August, "so and so" will be coming out, so will "xxxx", they can be 2 of the best prospects ever...can't miss. Go through the CFB season...weak draft class for QBs better off waiting for next year when "yyyyy" will come out...
enlightener Posted May 12, 2014 Author Posted May 12, 2014 That's kind of what I was talking about... Your sliding scale of who is a stud and who isn't... this thread isnt about dareus, its about drafting 10 or trading up...or back versus staying put. Dareus is an example of a good talent but at 3 is he a world class game changer? would you rather have gotten aj green? i would have. regardless its about draft strategies and how i agree w whaley after looking back on 10 years of mediocrity.
MDH Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 Don't you want to see the results before changing your mind? Everybody gets excited right after the draft but waiting to see the results and not assuming how players turn out is usually for the best. Personally, going into this draft I thought the Bills needed to either trade down or trade up because they were in no man's land at 9 unless 3 QBs went before they picked. Also, I have quite a few disagreements with who you chose to put in parentheses or chose to mention period.
Donald Duck Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 Only two ways to get one of the top 5 elite player prospects in the draft. Have a real bad record from the previous season, or in a trade. Nobody knows better then the teams GM making the trade how much that player is worth in the grand scheme of things. ESPN's grade of C- doesn't mean squat...
thr_wedge Posted May 12, 2014 Posted May 12, 2014 I've said this in other places, this years draft felt very different than the last 10 years. We didn't screw around, we had a plan, we executed.
Recommended Posts