BB-Gun

At his pro-day, Maybin weighed in, again, at the combine weight and regained his burst and speed. I think he just needed time for his body to adjust to the quick weight gain. That being said, I'm not sure which is the best pass rusher for the Bills. I wouldn't be upset if the Bills traded down, drafted at #11: Orokpo, Brown, Maybin, Ayers, Raji, or Andre Smith. I know Tyson Jackson is moving up, but he is not a pass rusher. I can't wait till hear... "With the 11th pick in the draft, the Buffalo Bills (pick/traded with ?) ..."

Kelsay is a competent DE. He is average as a starter. Not everyone on our team is going to be a pro bowler. I agree the Bills overpaid him when they did not need to. We do not need to replace Kelsay in this draft. We need a situational pass rusher to come in for Kelsay, and eventually take over for Schoebel. So, we need to find Schoebel's eventual replacement. My choice is Connor Barwin. He can watch and learn for a year or two, and replace schoebel as a starter evetually. Plus, I believe our DL philosophy is attacking the defense in waves of linemen. We don't need all our starters to be excellent, we need good quality depth.

I for one would not be happy about the picks the Bills made in this mock. Robert Ayers? when Everette Brown is available. name / 2008 sacks / 20 yd / 10 yds / 3-cone / shuttle / broad jump Robert Ayers / 3 / 2.78 / 1.62 / 7.07 / 4.46 / 8'6" Everette Brown / 13.5 / 2.68 / 1.59 / 7.55 / 4.53 / 9'9" Aaron Maybin / 12 / 2.66 / 1.54 / 7.52 / 4.38 / 10'10" Barwin Connor / 12 / 2.58 / 1.53 / 6.87 / 4.18 / 10'8" Lawrence Sidbury / 11.5 / 2.63 / 1.53 / 7.46 / 4.43 / 10'00" Brian Orokpo / 11.5 / 2.60 / 1.56 / 7.26 / 4.45 / 10'10" Tyson Jackson / 4.5 / 2.79 / 1.68 / 7.64 / 4.80 / 8'6" As you can see, Ayers has shown no sack ability is so far, and he is not fleet of foot. He is another Kelsay. Jackson is even worse. I love Orackpo, Maybin, Brown and Connor. If we pick other than DE in 1st, we can try to get Sidbury in the 2nd.

Imagine if that draft was 2008? Fans would be outraged about having wasted 6 picks in the top 3 rounds. The #1 overall pick only had 6 1/2 sacks! What a bum. Trade him to the Eagles for their 1st pick in '09. We don't have a starting QB, why would we draft a backup QB in the 3rd. Well, at least we drafted a receiver in the 2nd, but who the hell in Andre Reed and why did we reach for him when we could have gotten him in the 12th round? Why didn't make the playoffs, or even have a winning record! Dump Polian, the guy obviously does not know what he is doing.

Thank you for your very good insight. This is the kind of discussion I wanted. I agree with you that he has made a lot of bad decisions, but it could be worse. We could have Al Davis or Mike Brown (Bengals) as owners. I don't feel we had a great GM since Wilson alienated Bill Polian. Butler did okay job with drafting, and Donohoe did a terrible job with drafting. Our current front office seems to be doing pretty well so far. Better than their 2 predecessors. I feel Wilson is meddling and impetuous owner, but isn't that the characteristics of many CEOs? What I don't agree with is when people blame the Bills problems on Wilson being cheap or that he over-paid players. How can he be cheap and over-spend at the same time. He just makes some bad football decisions. I look forward to your response.

Giants are another team that could be a trade partner. They need a starting receiver, and they should be able to get one with the 11th pick. Giants only have the 29th pick in round one, but they have 2 picks in the second and 2 picks in the 3rd. Then, we could restock our starters and depth. I don't want to try to create a mock draft for this scenario, but feel free to do so.

If Peters does suck, or is below par, why in the world would some team give a 1st and 3rd for a non-top tier player? If I was running the Eagles or Lion, I wouldn't give more than a 3rd for a mediocre LT. On top of that, the original team is trading him because he refuses to play well until he gets paid like th best LT. This thought process makes no sense! If he does suck, we should release him or get a mid- to late round pick for him. If you feel he garners a 1st round pick, then you feel he is one of the better LT in the league. Why would you trade him so quickly without doing everything you can, within reason, to make him happy? I think he is one of the better LT, and with his short experience at playing LT, I think he can be one of the best LT in the game, after he gets what would make him feel respected, in his mind.

I'm not saying the Bills should trade him, dump him, let him sit, or pay him. I'm saying, don't get so worked up to get rid of Peters, just yet. Give them time to negotiate. It is still snowing in western NY, and the draft is still weeks away. No matter what they do, the fans are going to be mad at this organization for their actions.

Now, if the Bills were to trade away Peters and draft a LT for less that what Peters was demanding, how many people would be happy about that? Now, what if our rookie LT does not perform up to people's expectation, and actually looks like a rookie out there? Will the fans (fanatics) start calling out Ralph Wilson as the problem, and call him a cheapskate? "If Ralph only paid what Peters was demanding, we wouldn't be in this mess." I get the impression that Ralph cannot win with the fans. He is either a cheapskate or over-paid for a player. I'm not a huge Ralph Wilson fan, but I've never seen him on the sidelines on game day, and never seen him miss a tackle either. Granted, Bills do not spend money like the Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys. But, we have a much bigger scouting staff than the Bengals, and do spend more on free-agents than the Steelers. Also, we have the cheapest tickets in the NFL. We may be able to afford more for salaries if Bills fans spent money like the Redskins fans. With that being said,... OK, let me have it.

Since this seems to be a dump on Skooby posting, ... Skooby, perhaps you should have worn a helmet when you played. I heard from a friend, that knows someone who lives in Buffalo, that the Bills are using their 1st round pick on a Kicker. I think it may be Gus the mule, who can kick 70 yard field goals. Now, we won't need an offense.

What is with people's fascination with Andre Smith. He appears to be another Mike Williams in the making. Fantastic talent, but no heart or work ethic. If Jason Peters is so terrible as some people say, then who the hell will give us a 1st round pick for a lousy player. It is still early in the off-season. Give them time to go through the negotiation process. I believe we will sign Peters, I hope.

AMEN Brother!

I agree his work ethic seemed poor, last season. But that did not seem to be the case before then, as far as I know. I'm hoping he has a turn-around, and again can be that dominant LT we expect from him. I would bet on him, than a rookie we have no history of, and can be another Mike Williams. I would think Peters should be paid in the 8.5-9.5 mil range. Besides, his agent saying he wants 11 mil is just part of negotiating. Buyer starts low, seller starts high, then they meet somewhere in the middle. At least that is how negotiations usually work.

I like the idea of drafting a OL between rounds 2-4, to play either LG or C. I am not in favor of trading Peters. I don't think we would benefit in a trade. I think we may only get at best a late 1st round. Likely, a 2nd and mid round. Whomever gets Peters still has to renegotiate his contract and won't give up too much for that likely pay he will demand. We won't be able to get a LT outside of the top 10 that is in par with Peters, IMO. Peters is still a young player and can be our LT for many years. I say we pay him, or let him sit out training camp again.

I think it would work out better if Bills could trade down with Detroit, and get their #20 and #33 picks. Bills give them our 1st and a mid round pick. Then, we could get a fantastic player at a much better value. Also, having 1st pick in the 2nd round, we can get Mack or Barwin or what Brandon Pettigrew, if they fall out of the 1st round.

If the costs were the same, I'd much rather have Sheffler than Gonzales. I don't know how much longer Gonzales will or can play. 1 year or 2 years. Sheffler could be a Bill for many years. I just wouldn't want them to give more than a 3rd round pick for either of them (Gonzo, no more than a 4th). Lots of very good pass-catching TE in this draft. We already have blocking TE's. Besides, we seem to run better out of the 2 TE formation, so doesn't matter if our new TE can't block too well.

Peters is still under contract, so that is not a big concern, IMHO. Worst he can do is hold-out out of training camp. To go on record, I am against trading Peters this year. Perhaps next year if they can't sign him. My feeling is they will get it done for about 8.5-9 mil/year.

I'm a first time poster. My thinking is the Bills will get the best value, other than trading down, would be to take the best player to play SAM position, that can pass-rush. Clay Matthews or Maybin would be ideal. They get a starter, and improve their pass-rush. In the second round, get a pass-rush specialist like Connor Barwin. Barwin could come in on passing downs and learn the position behind Aaron Schoebel. Third round would be taking the best TE available. Fourth round, best pass blocking guard available. Then fill for depth. Unless BJ Raji is available at #11, then all bets are off. Your thoughts?