Why can't we draft like it was 1985 anymore?

[DrDawkinstein]

Lets not forget that the Bills had 16 picks that season. They had two 1st round picks, two 2nd round picks, two 3rd round picks, and two 4th round picks.

 

 

1985

Rnd Name College Note

1 Bruce Smith Virginia Tech

1 Derrick Burroughs Memphis State

2 Mark Traynowicz Nebraska

2 Chris Burkett Jackson State

3 Frank Reich Maryland

3 Hal Garner Utah State

4 Andre Reed Kutztown (PA)

4 Dale Hellestrae Southern Methodist

5 Jimmy Teal Texas A&M

6 Mike Hamby Utah State

7 Ron Pitts UCLA

8 Jacque Robinson Washington

9 Glenn Jones Norfolk State

10 Chris Babyar Illinois

11 James Seawright South Carolina

12 Paul Woodside West Virginia

 

exactly, so in their best draft ever, the Bills had more "day one" picks than there are even rounds in today's draft

[PushthePile]

Lets not forget that the Bills had 16 picks that season. They had two 1st round picks, two 2nd round picks, two 3rd round picks, and two 4th round picks.

 

 

1985

Rnd Name College Note

1 Bruce Smith Virginia Tech

1 Derrick Burroughs Memphis State

2 Mark Traynowicz Nebraska

2 Chris Burkett Jackson State

3 Frank Reich Maryland

3 Hal Garner Utah State

4 Andre Reed Kutztown (PA)

4 Dale Hellestrae Southern Methodist

5 Jimmy Teal Texas A&M

6 Mike Hamby Utah State

7 Ron Pitts UCLA

8 Jacque Robinson Washington

9 Glenn Jones Norfolk State

10 Chris Babyar Illinois

11 James Seawright South Carolina

12 Paul Woodside West Virginia

Wow, that puts it in perspective. I guess they weren't exactly lights out, like suggested. Still very solid, though.

[DasNootz]

Wow, that puts it in perspective. I guess they weren't exactly lights out, like suggested. Still very solid, though.

 

In recent memory I'd have to say that the 96 Ravens and 95 Bucs did pretty well.

 

96 Ravens took Ogden in Rd 1 and Ray Lewis in Rd 2. The Ravens seem to always draft well.

 

95 Bucs took Sapp in Rd 1 and traded up to take Brooks in the first two.

[seq004]

You mean, why can't we draft one hall of fame DE, an above average WR, and a backup QB in one year?

 

Really? Are you sure that was a great draft?

Are you serious? "An above average WR" Try a HOF reciever, he'll get in and Reich was the best back up in the league and would have started on many teams in his prime. Yes it was a great draft in answer to your ill advised question.

[PushthePile]

In recent memory I'd have to say that the 96 Ravens and 95 Bucs did pretty well.

 

96 Ravens took Ogden in Rd 1 and Ray Lewis in Rd 2. The Ravens seem to always draft well.

 

95 Bucs took Sapp in Rd 1 and traded up to take Brooks in the first two.

The Ravens have been fairly consistent on the defensive side of the ball. They seem to know what players are going to fit their system, despite what faults the player might have. That 96 pull, is pretty awesome. Two HOF and in the argument for best at their positions alltime. The Bucs were in the same boat with that 95 draft, again two HOF. If either team could have found a Qb they would have won more SBs.

[Alaska Darin]

You mean, why can't we draft one hall of fame DE, an above average WR, and a backup QB in one year?

 

Really? Are you sure that was a great draft?

Dale Hellestrae played 15 years in the NFL and won 3 SB Rings.

Derrick Burroughs was on the verge of greatness until his injury.

Chris Burkett led the NFL in YPC in 1986 with 22.9 on 34 receptions.

Hal Garner was a very good Special Teams player for the BILLS for 6 seasons until his back finally gave out.

Ron Pitts played 4 seasons in the league and had 7 interceptions.

Traynowicz was in the league 5 seasons and played a ton of Special Teams for the BILLS. Who knows how his career would have turned out had Kent Hull not been signed.

Jimmy Teal didn't play much or do anything but stuck around the league 5 seasons.

 

Add to that one of the 3 best DEs who ever played this game, a HoF receiver, and the best backup QB of his era and you have a pretty impressive class.

[billsfreak]

You mean, why can't we draft one hall of fame DE, an above average WR, and a backup QB in one year?

 

Really? Are you sure that was a great draft?

I kinda agree with you that with all those picks, there were really only 3 players that stuck, but please:

 

An above average WR? No player at any skill position that retires in the top 3-5 in the history of the NFL is only an above average player. If Reed was only above average, than Jim Kelly was only above average too, and I am not dissing Kelly, like many people, he is my favorite player ever, but look at the stats, he isn't nowhere near Montana, Elway, Marino, etc.

 

Riech may have been a backup, but he was as important to the Superbowl run as almost any player on the team, as Kelly said himself in his retirement speach.

[BillsVet]

Just another reminder to thank Jeff Littman for running Bill Polian out of town. Thanks Jeff I'm glad we have you instead of Bill Polian, what's he ever done anyway?

 

It won't make things better, but with RW going into the HOF, it's ironic that his hand-picked money man initiated the firing of the best personnel man in the past 30 years. Then again, Polian told Linda Bogdan she should shut her (edit: mouth).

 

The more I hear about Polian, the more I like him. It takes guts and confidence to tell the daughter of the owner where she needed to go.

 

Littman controls the direction of this franchise. But money people are a dime a dozen compared with great talent evaluators. Teams with good talent evaluators win. Teams like the Bills who don't have them are perpetually rebuilding.

[dave mcbride]

You mean, why can't we draft one hall of fame DE, an above average WR, and a backup QB in one year?

 

Really? Are you sure that was a great draft?

Derrick Burroughs was a stud - better than Odomes and Clements. If it wasn't for the injury in the 89 game against the Oilers, he may have gone down as the best Bills CB ever.

[dave mcbride]

I kinda agree with you that with all those picks, there were really only 3 players that stuck, but please:

 

An above average WR? No player at any skill position that retires in the top 3-5 in the history of the NFL is only an above average player. If Reed was only above average, than Jim Kelly was only above average too, and I am not dissing Kelly, like many people, he is my favorite player ever, but look at the stats, he isn't nowhere near Montana, Elway, Marino, etc.

 

Riech may have been a backup, but he was as important to the Superbowl run as almost any player on the team, as Kelly said himself in his retirement speach.

Did you ever watch Derrick Burroughs??

 

Also, re Kelly, he had three spectacular seasons in the USFL.

[The Dean]

Did you ever watch Derrick Burroughs??

 

 

Burroughs was fantastic. Better than Robert James? Probably not. But he was playing extremely well before getting injured.

[dave mcbride]

Burroughs was fantastic. Better than Robert James? Probably not. But he was playing extremely well before getting injured.

I think he may have ended up being better. He was playing lights out before the injury.

 

Btw, Chris Burkett didn't have a bad career for himself - @300 career catches. He averaged 23 yards/catch in 1986 ...

[Steely Dan]

This guy knew how to draft. Rated 9th best draft ever

 

 

Can you imagine what the board would have been like, had it existed in 1985-86?

 

They drafted a backup QB in the 3rd round? Friggen guy threw ONE pass all year.

 

Andre who? Kutztown? What kind of conference is that? What a reach that was, they could have gotten him 2 rounds later.

 

At least Bruce Smith was good.

 

But, the team went 2-14 after that draft. Some help that draft was. These guys suck!

 

It's funny cuz it's true.

 

 

Just another reminder to thank Jeff Littman for running Bill Polian out of town. Thanks Jeff I'm glad we have you instead of Bill Polian, what's he ever done anyway?

 

Man everybody has a theory on why Polian left.

 

 

because we dont have the #1 overall pick, and because the draft is half as long now (7 rounds instead of 12-14?).

 

So in "2" drafts worth of picks with the #1 position, the first pick worked out like it was supposed to and we got a backup QB and an amazing lightening strike from Nowhere University. what about the other 10 players? thats an entire draft's worth of busts.

 

not to take anything away from Polian, the players, etc. but cmon.

 

great video though

 

As many have pointed out Burroughs was a stud CB. Also, are you aware of how many single team drafts since the very beginning of the NFL draft, in 1936, have yielded two HOF players? In my next post I'll tell you.

 

When you realize how few there are compared to the number of total teams that drafted each year you'll see the number is staggeringly small. I don't know how many teams total picked over 70 years but there were 70 drafts up to 2006.

 

 

I kinda agree with you that with all those picks, there were really only 3 players that stuck, but please:

 

An above average WR? No player at any skill position that retires in the top 3-5 in the history of the NFL is only an above average player. If Reed was only above average, than Jim Kelly was only above average too, and I am not dissing Kelly, like many people, he is my favorite player ever, but look at the stats, he isn't nowhere near Montana, Elway, Marino, etc.

 

Riech may have been a backup, but he was as important to the Superbowl run as almost any player on the team, as Kelly said himself in his retirement speach.

 

Either people are too young to remember those drafts or weren't born yet.

 

 

It won't make things better, but with RW going into the HOF, it's ironic that his hand-picked money man initiated the firing of the best personnel man in the past 30 years. Then again, Polian told Linda Bogdan she should shut her (edit: mouth).

 

The more I hear about Polian, the more I like him. It takes guts and confidence to tell the daughter of the owner where she needed to go.

 

Littman controls the direction of this franchise. But money people are a dime a dozen compared with great talent evaluators. Teams with good talent evaluators win. Teams like the Bills who don't have them are perpetually rebuilding.

 

Links for those statements?

 

What I heard about Polians firing is that he went off on Ralph at a party at Ralph's estate and Ralph decided to can him at the end of the year. Polian's anger problem has gotten a lot more under control but he could be a major A-hole when he wanted to be.

[Steely Dan]

I think he may have ended up being better. He was playing lights out before the injury.

 

Btw, Chris Burkett didn't have a bad career for himself - @300 career catches. He averaged 23 yards/catch in 1986 ...

 

Burkett cried a lot because Kelly kept throwing to Reed all the time. Well Chris when is your HOF party scheduled for?

 

I forget where I got this from:

 

1. 1974 Steelers’ Draft Greatest Ever

In 1974 the Pittsburgh Steelers hit the motherload when they selected four future Hall of Fame players: wide receiver Lynn Swan in round 1, linebacker Jack Lambert in round 2, wide receiver John Stallworth in round 4 and center Mike Webster in round 5. No other draft has produced more than two Hall of Famers. If they had only selected one more, they might have "Won One for the Thumb."

 

 

* Teams have selected two Hall of Famers in a single draft a dozen times.

 

2. (1965) The Chicago Bears seleted linebacker Dick Butkus and halfback Gale Sayers with the 3rd and 4th picks in the first round.

 

3. (1970) The Steelers' again made the list of multiple Hall of Fame draftees with quarterback Terry Bradshaw, the first pick in the entire draft, and 3rd round selection defensive back Mel Blount.

 

(1964) both the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys picked a pair of future Famers.

 

 

4. Washington took Charley Taylor and Paul Krause.

 

5. Cowboys Mel Renfro and Roger Staubach.

 

6. (1963) KC Buck Buchanan and linebacker Bobby Bell in 1963.

 

7. (1958) The Green Bay Packers Jim Taylor and middle linebacker deluxe Ray Nitschke .

 

 

8. (1945) The Rams selected a pair of receivers Elroy Crazylegs Hirsch and Tom Fears.

 

 

9. The 1936 Bears, in the first draft ever, Joe Stydahar and guard Danny Fortman.

 

10. (1947) The Giants Tom Landry (who was really elected to the Hall based on his coaching prowess) and Art Donavan.

 

11. (1953) Browns followed suit by drafting defensive lineman Doug Atkins, who became a star with the Bears, and linebacker-guard Chuck Noll

 

(1957) Thus far, more Hall of Famers were selected in 1957 than in any other year.

 

12. The Browns and the Eagles both had multiple picks. Cleveland took the greatest running back ever when it selected Jim Brown and Henry Jordan.

 

13. The Eagles helped build a strong passing game by drafting wide receiver Tommy McDonald and quarterback Sonny Jurgensen.

 

 

While the selection of Hall of Famers is by no means the only way to evaluate a draft, few could argue that the picks of the Steelers in 1974 must be rated as the best of the class.

 

 

If Darryl Talley ever makes it into the HOF then the Bills 1983 draft will have two HOF's in it too.

[San-O]

It won't make things better, but with RW going into the HOF, it's ironic that his hand-picked money man initiated the firing of the best personnel man in the past 30 years. Then again, Polian told Linda Bogdan she should shut her (edit: mouth).

 

The more I hear about Polian, the more I like him. It takes guts and confidence to tell the daughter of the owner where she needed to go.

 

Littman controls the direction of this franchise. But money people are a dime a dozen compared with great talent evaluators. Teams with good talent evaluators win. Teams like the Bills who don't have them are perpetually rebuilding.

 

 

And another, and probably the best example of why this team has sucked ever since: Ralph

wants his daughter in management and dumped Polian.

 

Nice mover Ralph, dumb a$$.

[clumping platelets]

Burroughs was a very good CB. Imagine if he hadn't hurt his neck. Garner was a good special teams player. Hellestrae ended up playing many yrs as a LS.

[clumping platelets]

Who was drafted with the pick after Burroughs?

[Corp000085]

IIRC:

 

A.) Underclassmen weren't eligible for draft (giving teams more film to study and/or players another year of experience)

 

B.) No Free agency (that created holes in rosters, forcing young players to produce right away, rather than learning their craft)

 

A blast from the Way Back Machine.

 

"Florida's Emmitt Smith may be one of the first backs selected"

 

 

It's funny to look back with hindsight goggles on and read about the all time leading rusher that wasn't a sure bet to even be the first back selected...

[murra]

You guys are stuck in the 90's, it's funny.

 

Can you all stop reminiscing 24/7?

[DaGimp]

Believe me I love Bill Polian and would give up my Timmy Ho's every morning to get him back but the rest of that draft was putrid