Beerball Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Buffalo is a small-market NFL team that must draft well to survive -- and the Bills do. Sixteen starters last season were homegrown, including 14 draft picks and two college free agents. Anyone find fault with this line of thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 Anyone find fault with this line of thinking? Excellent question Beersphere! Yes, the fault would be in saying that a team with threepeat 7-9 seasons drafts well because many of the team's starters are home grown. If they drafted so fuggin well wouldn't the results be just a tad better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullpen Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Excellent question Beersphere! Yes, the fault would be in saying that a team with threepeat 7-9 seasons drafts well because many of the team's starters are home grown. If they drafted so fuggin well wouldn't the results be just a tad better? Pssssst... nobody likesl you. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLZFAN4LIFE Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Excellent question Beersphere! Yes, the fault would be in saying that a team with threepeat 7-9 seasons drafts well because many of the team's starters are home grown. If they drafted so fuggin well wouldn't the results be just a tad better? That's where coaching comes in. As for Gosselin's theory, I suppose you could look at it two ways. One, the Bills do draft well (and therefore have a pretty decent roster) but the players are poorly trained, developed, motivated, and utilized or two, the Bills roster is so crappy that anyone who is drafted can step into a starting role. I believe that the truth lies closer to the the first theory, poor coaching. In the age of parity, I think there are at least a dozen coaches that could have taken the Bills to the playoffs last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Small market teams can be and are successful in the NFL. But they've got to have capable front office management that can negotiate their way in the draft. It also means being able to evaluate pro personnel in order to replace aging vets when it's time. Finding talent is difficult, especially with 31 other competitors out there looking under each rock for players. Knowing who to retain and who to keep is on par or above that. I believe Polian, Jerry Reese, Belichick, Parcells, Ozzie Newsome, Kevin Colbert, Pioli, AJ Smith, Andy Reid, Ted Thompson, and Tom Dimitroff are some of the best talent evaluators in the league. I don't think Buffalo is above average in overall drafting, but I'm too negative for some Buffalo needs better management, and the only thing that could change that would be a disaster of a season. I don't want that to happen, but it'll be interesting to see how the Bills draft this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Renko Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 All teams need to draft well. A large market team can just get away without doing so for longer. If I was running a small market team, I would focus on locking up players in positions where experience is key and there is not a drop-off after the rookie contract. For example, I would spend money on the QB. I would focus on drafting CBs and RBs who can contribute quickly and who often start to decline earlier in their careers. I would use the franchise tag to accumulate picks when possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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