Who is the best Corner in Bills history?

[Lofton80]

Pre Injury Derrick Burroughs was very good. Robert James was no question a star.  

[oldmanfan]

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

This is the one position in Bills history that we really can’t identify one or two guys who were great.  Lots of very good but go through other positions and you find one or two great players.  
 

QB - Kelly, Allen

RB - Simpson , Thomas

FB - Gilcrest

WR - Reed, Lofton, Diggs

Center - Hull, Wood

O Tackle - Dawkins, R Brown, S Brown? 

O Guard - Ritcher, Joe D, Shaw

D End/Edge - B Smith

DT - K Williams, Sestak

NT - Smerlas

LB - Biscuit, Fletcher, Talley 

S - Poyer, Hyde

 

I’ve probably missed one or two guys, but you get the point.  At CB, I don’t see anyone close to these levels of play.  TE is the other position lacking a truly great player. 

 

 

It’s always great to discuss these lists.  I have the advantage (some might say disadvantage) of being around since 1960. So I’d add a couple guys to your list:

 

S:  I’d add George Saimes, to me he was the best safety ever in a Bills uni.  I’d also mention Tony Greene and Henry James.

 

LB:  Mike Stratton deserves mention 

 

NT:  Ted Washington deserves mention

 

WR:  Jerry Butler was a great player; if he hadn’t suffered the injury he would have been an All-timer.  Eric Moulds also deserves mention

 

and Reuben Brown was a G, not a T.

[JP51]

12 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Butch was right there with Booker.  I was in grade school watching them both and always felt Booker was just a bit better.  But I wouldn’t argue with anyone putting Butch way up on their list.

Thanks for mentioning Mario Clark!  Forgot him but another really solid CB!

Yeah the two I was not seeing or not a lot were Tony Greene and Mario Clark both solid guys 

[Prospector]

B. Codrington

[oldmanfan]

1 minute ago, JP51 said:

Yeah the two I was not seeing or not a lot were Tony Greene and Mario Clark both solid guys 

Tony Greene was a great FS.

[JP51]

1 minute ago, oldmanfan said:

Tony Greene was a great FS.

oh dang I was really little when I watched him... I thought he was a corner... but thanks for the fix there... well... I'll just keep quiet maybe no one else will notice LOL... we shall see! 

[The Cincinnati Kid]

1 hour ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Not for the entirety of his career. 

[dwight in philly]

3 hours ago, BUFFALOBART said:

Byrd still holds the team record for INT's (40) while playing in  in 14 game seasons.

                                         He should be up on the Wall

 

Totally agree.. thought it was going to happen a few years ago.. not sure what happened 

[Logic]

It's kind of weird that the Bills have had multiple very good corners where the best parts of those corners' careers came when they weren't Buffalo Bills.

Stephon Gilmore
Nate Clements

Antoine Winfield

All very good. All had their best years after leaving the Bills.

We used to be the NFL's farm team. Letting rookies get their NFL seasoning for four or five years before watching them move on to relevant teams. Thank God those days are over.

Edited Wednesday at 05:43 PM by Logic

[Augie]

4 hours ago, BUFFALOBART said:

Byrd still holds the team record for INT's (40) while playing in  in 14 game seasons.

                                         He should be up on the Wall

 

 

Byrd had his 40 INTs in 98 games. Tony Greene is second with 37 INTs, and it took him 128 hames. Byrd by a country mile! 

 

He absolutely should be up on the wall. I wonder why that has not happened. 

 

Butch Byrd lived in our neighborhood and my mother managed the property so he’d come by sometimes. I did a little egg demonstration showing him and my dad that by if you applied equal pressure all around the egg, it could not break. Apparently my pressure was not quite equal, because I shot a raw egg all over Butch’s nice suit. And I’m alive to tell the tale. That alone should get him on the wall! 🤣 

[Bill from NYC]

14 minutes ago, Logic said:

It's kind of weird that the Bills have had multiple very good corners where the best parts of those corners' careers came when they weren't Buffalo Bills.

Stephon Gilmore
Nate Clements

Antoine Winfield

All very good. All had their best years after leaving the Bills.

We used to be the NFL's farm team. Letting rookies get their NFL seasoning for four or five years before watching them move on to relevant teams. Thank God those days are over.

You are 100% correct. We used to draft first round corners, lose them, and repeat the cycle. Looking back at this, we had little chance of being a winning team. 

 

Let's hope that we really are done with this ridiculous, sad method of doing things.

[Logic]

16 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

You are 100% correct. We used to draft first round corners, lose them, and repeat the cycle. Looking back at this, we had little chance of being a winning team. 

 

Let's hope that we really are done with this ridiculous, sad method of doing things.

**Looks over at Kaiir Elam and then looks over at all the mock drafts showing a first round corner for Buffalo, weeps**

[NoName]

I can only go back as far as the super bowl era:

1) Antoine Winfield

2) Tre White

3 or 4) Nate Clements

3 or 4) Gilmore

5) Thomas Smith

 

I cant rate Nate Odomes.  I don't recall his game enough.

 

Edited Thursday at 02:18 PM by NoName
Fake English Professors

[TheBrownBear]

I can only remember back to about 1986, so I'll say Odomes, White and Winfield as my top three in any order.  Clements and Gilmore right behind them as superbly talented guys who never quite fully met expectations during their time with the team. McGee as an honorable mention.

[BearNorth]

18 hours ago, Augie said:

 

Was he 42, and Warfield 24? I have some crazy old memories from the Rockpile. 

 

We may B word and moan, but the Bills have given us many years of enjoyment on many levels. 

yes Butch was 42, From Watervliet [Albany area] played at Boston University before the Bills.

[Charles Romes]

There was a guy from the late 70s to mid 80s. Can’t remember his name. 

[GASabresIUFan]

13 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

R Brown was an OG, if looking for another OT then gotta include Wil Wolford, I disagree on Smerlas as think Ted Washington was much better, the only reason I'd favor Freddy is he spent more time here. Toss in Washingtom had 34/43 versatility.  And sorry not sorry but Allen should start over Kelly. I've never been a big Kelly fan to begin with but he was never a top 2 NFL QB in any part of his Bills career where Josh has been that the last 4-5 seasons. 

 

10 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

It’s always great to discuss these lists.  I have the advantage (some might say disadvantage) of being around since 1960. So I’d add a couple guys to your list:

 

S:  I’d add George Saimes, to me he was the best safety ever in a Bills uni.  I’d also mention Tony Greene and Henry James.

 

LB:  Mike Stratton deserves mention 

 

NT:  Ted Washington deserves mention

 

WR:  Jerry Butler was a great player; if he hadn’t suffered the injury he would have been an All-timer.  Eric Moulds also deserves mention

 

and Reuben Brown was a G, not a T.

 

11 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Ted Washington over Smerlas.

 

I think y'all are kind off missing the point of my post.  My post was a list of great players at various other positions off the top of my head.  It wasn't a list of greatest Bills ever.  The point was I couldn't easily name great former and current Bills at nearly every position, but I could think of anyone that stood out at that level of greatness for CB or TE.  Lots of very good CBs, some even excellent for a time, but none I'd consider as an all-time great Bill.

Edited Thursday at 02:48 AM by GASabresIUFan

[BobD]

23 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

I’ve seen them all.  I’d say Robert James.  Here’s my top 5:

 

Robert James

Tre White

Nate Clements 

Nate Odoms

Booker Egerson

Love exactly the way you have rated them. Some younger folks on this site might not know Robert James, but boy he was special!

[oldmanfan]

39 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

 

 

 

I think y'all are kind off missing the point of my post.  My post was a list of great players at various other positions off the top of my head.  It wasn't a list of greatest Bills ever.  The point was I could easily name great former and current Bills at nearly every position, but I could think of anyone that stood out at that level of greatness for CB or TE.  Lots of very good CBs, some even excellent for a time, but none I'd consider as an all-time great Bill.

I appreciate your efforts here.  For those of us who remember Robert James we’d say he’s an all timer.  TE has not been a great position for us, but as one of the old folks I have a soft spot for Ernie Warlick

[BUFFALOBART]

1 hour ago, Logic said:

**Looks over at Kaiir Elam and then looks over at all the mock drafts showing a first round corner for Buffalo, weeps**

Elam was the second coming, of J.D. Williams.

1 hour ago, BearNorth said:

yes Butch was 42, From Watervliet [Albany area] played at Boston University before the Bills.

I'm originally from Watervliet, and Butch Byrd was the reason, that I became a Bills fan!