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Mel Kiper's Draft Grades - AFC East


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Buffalo Bills: C+

The Bills traded their 2005 first-round pick in the JP Losman deal but got a steal when receiver Roscoe Parrish fell to the late second round. Parrish will be a nice addition to the passing game and is also an effective returner, and his college teammate Kevin Everett could turn into a nice tight end. Center Raymond Preston was a reach in the fourth round, though, and Eric King will probably be a situational nickel back in the NFL.

 

Miami Dolphins: B-

Running back Ronnie Brown is a complete prospect and you also have to like the intensity and toughness end Matt Roth will bring to the table. The biggest question is whether linebacker Channing Crowder will remain healthy enough long enough to be an impact pro, but new Miami coach Nick Saban obviously had no questions about cornerback Travis Daniels, who played under Saban at LSU and solidified his standing with a good 40 time. Offensive tackle Anthony Alabi is an average player and defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson came on as a senior but still needs some work.

 

New England Patriots: C

Guard Logan Mankins was a reach in the first round but the Patriots obviously like his size and nastiness, and he will help fill the void left by Joe Andruzzi's departure via free agency. Ellis Hobbs has good size but not enough skill to be more than a nickel back, and safety James Sanders was a teammate of Mankins at Fresno State and both were helped by the relationship between Patriots coach Bill Belichik and Fresno State coach Pat Hill. Tackle Nick Kaczur could play guard as well but came off the board a little early and Matt Cassel is a big project at quarterback.

 

New York Jets: C

Current Jets kicker Doug Brien is serviceable but the team obviously felt Mike Nugent's leg strength was top notch, since the second-rounder was their first pick this year. Cornerback Justin Miller made sense later in the round because of his big-play ability and awesome return abilities, but most of the rest of the draft is made up of reaches (Sione Puha and Kery Rhodes) and projects (Harry Williams).

 

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All in all he only had 6 teams with an A- or better but had 19 teams with C- to C+. This was a weird draft. For what its worth we had the second best draft in AFC East according to Kiper. I don't disagree with his grade of a C+, but that doesn't mean that in a few years only one or two will still be on the roster.

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That's fair. Preston needs some technique work but the Bills obviously see something in the guy. He'll backup at Center. The Guard from Vandy seemed like a real find in Round 6. Roadgrader in the running game. The Miami guys will contibute right away and give Losman more weapons in his first year as the starter. Having MaGahee,Moulds,Evans,Parrish,Everett,Campbell to work with, takes a lot of pressure off J.P.

 

Not bad, considering our postion in this horribly weak draft pool. I'm surprised we did this well.

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I agree with what many people when they say that you cannot fully evaluate a draft untill a few years down the road and I think that will be the case with this draft.

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Thats why I like these grades coming out right after the draft. Years later when people say a team was stupid for not taking so-and-so, you can look these up and see that in real time, without the benefit of hind sight, everyone thought it was a good pick.

 

You know that all those first round RB's are not going to be stars, at least one will be a bust. Somewhere down in the later rounds is a RB buried deep in the draft that will end up out performing Brown, Benson and/or Cadillac. When that happens, everyone will point fingers at the teams who took these guys in the first and say what idiots they were. Of course, the people raving about those guys now are the ones that will be doing all the finger pointing later.

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For what its worth we had the second best draft in AFC East according to Kiper.

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Although really there was no way to top Miami. Having such low picks they would have really had to screw up to get worse grade than the rest of the teams in the East.

 

I was disappointed after day one, but it had more to do with the fact that we went a different way than I had expected, not really that I thought we drafted bad players.

 

Now I feel better. I have to hope the line does okay, but JP does have plenty of weapons now.

 

I would have been really excited if Elton Brown had fallen to us in the 4th, but oh well.

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All in all he only had 6 teams with an A- or better but had 19 teams with C- to C+.  This was a weird draft.  For what its worth we had the second best draft in AFC East according to Kiper.  I don't disagree with his grade of a C+, but that doesn't mean that in a few years only one or two will still be on the roster.

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The fact that this was one of the weakest set of players being drafted reflects

on the grade of each team. The team might have got the best player on

board on their turn to select, but does not necessarily mean a solid player.

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Thats why I like these grades coming out right after the draft.  Years later when people say a team was stupid for not taking so-and-so, you can look these up and see that in real time, without the benefit of hind sight, everyone thought it was a good pick.

 

You know that all those first round RB's are not going to be stars, at least one will be a bust.  Somewhere down in the later rounds is a RB buried deep in the draft that will end up out performing Brown, Benson and/or Cadillac.  When that happens, everyone will point fingers at the teams who took these guys in the first and say what idiots they were.  Of course, the people raving about those guys now are the ones that will be doing all the finger pointing later.

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Actually, the tell-tale indicator for first round RB busts is whether on day one of the draft, the Commissioner uses his name in the same sentence as the word "Chicago." ;)

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Although really there was no way to top Miami.  Having such low picks they would have really had to screw up to get worse grade than the rest of the teams in the East.

 

I was disappointed after day one, but it had more to do with the fact that we went a different way than I had expected, not really that I thought we drafted bad players.

 

Now I feel better.  I have to hope the line does okay, but JP does have plenty of weapons now.

 

I would have been really excited if Elton Brown had fallen to us in the 4th, but oh well.

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I was really upset when Khalif barnes got picked up like two picks before us, i started cursing at the TV ;)

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That's fair. Preston needs some technique work but the Bills obviously see something in the guy. He'll backup at Center. The Guard from Vandy seemed like a real find in Round 6. Roadgrader in the running game. The Miami guys will contibute right away and give Losman more weapons in his first year as the starter. Having MaGahee,Moulds,Evans,Parrish,Everett,Campbell to work with, takes a lot of pressure off J.P.

 

Not bad, considering our postion in this horribly weak draft pool. I'm surprised we did this well.

 

I agree we did very well. I think 3 years from now we will have 4 starters from this draft (Parrish, Everett, Geisinger & Preston) which considering the weakness of the draft is a damn good job.

 

I just wish we had a LT :-(

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always laugh when Mel says a player "came off the board too early".

 

 

It's like fantasy football, if you have a commitment to a guy which may be different than the consensus, you don't take the risk of missing him by waiting for the absolute proper time. In the NFL, waitng 31 picks is a LONG time.

 

NE taking a no-name OL in the 1st round is a case in point.

 

Having Mel Kiper ragging on the Patriots is classic because we all know they are really bad talent evaluators ;)

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Actually Detroit got the same grade as Buffalo...

 

Detroit Lions: C+

Give the Lions credit for going away from their biggest needs to take receiver Mike Williams, who was clearly the best player available at No. 10 overall, but you have to wonder if they got enough help for the defense. Williams gives Detroit perhaps the best young receiving corps in the league, but defensive linemen Shaun Cody (a versatile end-tackle combo) and end Bill Swancutt (a one-dimensional pass rusher) may not be enough of a boost up front. Coach Steve Mariucci has to hope he can develop some accuracy in tall quarterback Dan Orlovsky; corner Stanley Wilson is an average player; and end Jonathan Goddard will likely move to outside linebacker.

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