Happy Days Lois & Clark Posted October 4, 2004 Posted October 4, 2004 On the Bledsoe trade from New England the Bills needed a quarterback desperately. New England wanted a 1st rounder and Donahoe wanted to get him for less than that. I think that Donahoe was willing to wait to get Bledsoe for less but after talking to Ralph Wilson, Wilson said to give up the 1st rounder. The Bills gave up the 13th pick in the 2003 draft. If the Bills did not get Bledsoe they probably would have got Jeff Blake who did not have nearly the cridentials of Bledsoe but would not have cost them a draft pick and would have costed them about 1-2 million against the cap compared to 5 million for Bledsoe. Hindsight says that the Bills maybe should have gone for Blake but Blake didn't perform well either so it is difficult to say if the Bledsoe move was the right one or not. Thinking back on the trade for Peerless Price , Atlanta wanted to give a 1st rounder for the 2004 draft not 2003, but Tom Donahoe insisted that he wanted their 1st round pick for 2003. The Bills did get the 2003 pick which was 23rd overall. From my understanding the Bills were not overly impressed with the players who were their at #23 so took the player who they felt coulkd make the most impact in future years in McGahee. The problem was he was injured badly I realize that Atlanta was considered to be Superbowl contenders in 2003 until Michael Vick got hurt but if Donahoe thought that the late 1st round of the 2003 draft was going to be weak he shoud have waited took the pick for 2004. Instead the have McGahee who signed a 5 year deal paying him 1st round money. The 1st season he didn't play at all due to rehabbing. His 2nd season so far he is the definate backup and is hardly being used at all, basically wasting 2 years of the 5 year deal of the 1st round pick. If the Bills would have took Atlanta's pick in 2004 it would have been the 8th pick overall. Assuming the Bills won't want to waste a 3rd season on McGahee, we will have to wait and see what they can get in return for Travis Henry. Possibly a 2nd rounder and a late round pick. Now the Bills don't have a 1st rounder for the 2005 season which currently expected to be again in the top 10 due to their trade for Losman. http://www.gbnreport.com/2003draftorder.htm http://www.gbnreport.com/2004draftorder.htm
Recommended Posts