Whitner is what's right about the Bills

[DDD]

You can justify the selection of Whitner all you want by his leadership qualities and character, but the bottum line he was drafted too high and the Bills were foolish for passing on Ngata.

[bowery4]

I think if we had Ngata we wouldn't be saying how could we have skipped over Whitner. I like him but I would have loved to have them draft Ngata, he is a beast and will be for a long time.

I think you draft for talent first. We still need D line help and it's what 3 drafts later.

[scribo]

It's one or the other. If we drafted Ngata, we'd be trying to find a good safety. But, more importantly, our defense would likely be looking for a leader and trying to find an identity.

 

There are too many variables to say anything would be any way if we drafted someone else.

[Dan]

The Ravens have ranked in the top 3 in rush defense and Ngata is a big part of that.

 

The Bills passed on Ngata because they felt they could give up the farm for McCargo later on in the draft... that turned out great, didn't it?

Do the Ravens have te top 3 Defense because of Ngata or because of all the other players there. Certainly Ngata is a part of it and plays well, but take away Reed, take away Lewis, take away a few other game changers and what would Ngata be?

 

At the time I was shocked with the Whitner pick. It was so far out in left field and Ngata seemed like such a big need for us. However, I now feel much better about the decision. The Bills were drafting their defensive leader. Whitner has become the heart of the defense. He leads by example on the field. He mentors the younger players (as odd as that sounds in his 3rd year).

 

It's impossible to say, but would Ngata be the leader and motivator that Whitner is? If not, then who would? It's easy to say player x or y would have been better, but we really have no idea how these players would have turned out in Buffalo. What we do know is that Whitner has and continues to become a solid all around player, integral to our defense, and one of the key team leaders. To criticize his selection is to ignore all the good he has brought to the team.

[Ramius]

In all fairness, i'd say that Ngata has had just a slightly better surrounding cast on baltimore's defense than he would have had here in buffalo. That may have something to do with why he's been playing so well.

[Sisyphean Bills]

In all fairness, i'd say that Ngata has had just a slightly better surrounding cast on baltimore's defense than he would have had here in buffalo. That may have something to do with why he's been playing so well.

That and that he is a stud DT.

[C.Biscuit97]

That and that he is a stud DT.

 

Kelly Gregg is just as big of a reason why the Ravens' run defense has been good. Haven't the Ravens always had a nasty defense since Ray Lewis has been there? What did Ngata really change? He stepped into a great situation.

 

The funniest thing is that alot of the people who are praising Ngata would be the first ones here ripping if he was a bust with the Bills. The guy had questions about his work ethic. Didn't we just get rid of a DT with that problem? It is a lot easier to get motivated if you think your MLB might murder you if you don't work hard. W

[Sisyphean Bills]

Kelly Gregg is just as big of a reason why the Ravens' run defense has been good. Haven't the Ravens always had a nasty defense since Ray Lewis has been there? What did Ngata really change? He stepped into a great situation.

 

The funniest thing is that alot of the people who are praising Ngata would be the first ones here ripping if he was a bust with the Bills. The guy had questions about his work ethic. Didn't we just get rid of a DT with that problem? It is a lot easier to get motivated if you think your MLB might murder you if you don't work hard. W

I think you are thinking about Bunkley.

 

The real concern on Ngata was the knee that he blew out and that he was an early entry. His work ethic should have never been in question: he came back from major knee surgery on schedule and stronger and more dominant than he was before.

[Dawgg]

The funniest thing is that alot of the people who are praising Ngata would be the first ones here ripping if he was a bust with the Bills. The guy had questions about his work ethic. Didn't we just get rid of a DT with that problem? It is a lot easier to get motivated if you think your MLB might murder you if you don't work hard. W

 

Ngata didn't have any such problems with his work ethic. In fact, pre-draft reports indicated the contrary. When you're rebuilding and you have a choice of (a) a very good, not great DT and (b) a very good, but not great Safety, you always always ALWAYS take the DT – unless the safety has very rare game-changing ability.

 

When confronted with this decision, the Bills thought they could get cute by taking the safety and trading back into the first round and nabbing McCargo to address the DT need. Yesterday's trade is their admission that the move blew up in their face. And they surrendered a high 2nd and high 3rd in one of the deepest drafts in years in the process.

 

Whitner is a good player in his own right and he's a great locker-room guy. And his PR savvy has made him a media darling. But it seems to me that the front office picked him over Ngata in large part because they had their eyes on McCargo.

 

As it turns out, they were wrong.

 

If there's one thing I like about this front office, it's that they are more than willing to ship players out who lack motivation. McGahee and McCargo are prime examples.

[Steely Dan]

One of the knocks on Ngata was an injury concern because he had a torn ACL in 2003. He also was said to be inconsistent on the field taking plays off and he was projected mostly as NT in a 3-4 which is what Baltimore plays but Baltimore is using him as DE now. It may be that the Bills didn't see him as a good fit for their defense.

[Ramius]

That and that he is a stud DT.

 

He plays DE for baltimore. I know he's listed as a "DT" but he plays DE. And his being a "stud DT" has a lot to do with the surrounding talent.

[Ramius]

For arguements sake:

 

http://www.kffl.com/article/47708/160

Negatives

 

Physically, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Ngata. Most of the issues concerning him, however, are in his head. The "lazy" label has been placed on him by some scouts, and his consistency has also been brought into question.

 

http://nfldraft.rivals.com/cviewplayer.asp...r=7351#scouting

Cons: When he brings his A-game, he can be totally dominant, but still needs work on his hand use and to keep his motor running all the time.

 

There were some concerns about his work ethic and motivation.

[TheLynchTrain]

Im for all the high character guys from Ohio and Pennsylvania we can get. Whitner and Poslusny are well drilled in the fundamentals. Maybe we can send McKelvin down to Ohio State or Penn State for a year...

 

Sorry to be an instigator here, but you could hardly call LJ a "character player," and he definately went to Penn State. Same goes for all those lineman that went to PSU that end up as busts in the NFL...