OldTimer1960

Todd Collins - is he an option, too? He has played a long time and never got a chance after he failed to take over for Jim Kelly.

I think the question is whether Locker, Gabbert, Ponder, Tannehill or Wheeden are any good. Gabbert is struggling badly after 2 years. Locker has not burned up the track and the Browns are not giving Wheeden a vote of confidence by naming him their starter going into his 2nd year after picking him in the first round last year. Ponder has not done anything beyond cleanup after AP wins the game for the Vikes. I am not saying that none of those guys will become good starting QBs, but I don't think any of them have proven that it was wise to take them early in round 1 either.

The Bills have absolutely no say in who Nassib hires to help him prepare for the draft. I doubt that Paul Hackett asked his son for permission to be hired to help Nassib. It is definitely NEVER in Nassib's (or anyone's) best interest to not put your best foot forward. The pay difference between the 8th pick and the 10th pick in round 2 is many MILLIONS of dollars. Nassib might think it'd be nice to play for Hackett/Marrone in Buffalo, but I am 100% certain that he would be thrilled to get an opportunity to play anywhere else in the NFL. His focus is on getting better and trying to be picked as high as possible in the draft.

I'll play devil's advocate for a moment. I am not saying Nassib will or won't be a good NFL QB, but what are you looking at when you say his "ceiling isn't that high"? He has improved every year - he hasn't plateaued. There might or might not be continued improvement. He has good size and strength. His arm is plenty strong - certainly as strong or stronger than Tom Brady's and Drew Brees'. Arm strength is not the most important factor in NFL QB success - to be sure, you need "enough" arm to make the necessary throws and threaten the defense deep or you end up with lots of turnovers and a very limited offense. However, Brees, P. Manning and Brady are certainly 3 of the very top QBs in the NFL and none of them have cannons for an arm. By accounts I've read (don't know for sure if they are accurate or not), he is supposedly a good leader and hard worker. I'll agree that he isn't a tremendous running threat like RG III, Cam Newton or Colin Kaepernick. But there are different formulas for success. Again, I don't know if he will be good in the NFL or not, but I don't see any physical limitations that limit his "ceiling".

I think worrying comes with being Bills fans.

You are right! I could break a hip or something.

I will be glued to the combine and any draft related stuff that I can record while I am at work. I love following the draft and it gives me something to do while I am working out in the AM trying to maintain my old-timer body in some semblance of shape. Anyone know where I can get one of those "Hurry-cane's" that they show the commercials for now?

Agreed, but it also cuts the other way too. While some of the 1st and 2nd year QBs have looked good so far, some of them may fall by the way-side. I remember many of us thinking that the Bills had found their long-time starter in Trent Edwards. His is a story that plays out at least as often (good-to-bad) as guys who have weak career starts morph into good players.

It should be the case that the use of the TE in a given offense is more a function of what the TE can/can't do rather than the scheme limiting them. I know that most coaches say that, but I do believe that Marrone and Hackett have been insistent that they will tailor their offense to take best advantage of the talent on the roster. Point being, maybe Syracuse's offense didn't feature the TE on many plays because they didn't have a TE who excelled as a pass receiver?

I am not sure that I understand your point. Are you saying that based on the league drafting Gabbert, Harrington, Ramsey etc in the first round that surely Barkley and Smith (at least) will be taken in round 1 this year? If so, I agree with you. If, however, you are saying that because the busts that you listed we're drafted in round 1 that it proves that Barkley and Smith have a high probability of becoming high end starters - then I disagree.

Daniel Jeremiah is a former NFL scout who worked in the league for something like 8 years. To me, that gives him more credibility than many of the other "draft analysts". That being said, no scout is always right, there are no "absolute" grades, grades on a player can differ significantly from team to team, etc. I think that it is fair to say that none of this year's QB prospects are considered to be very good prospects. It does not mean that there won't be a surprise that emerges as a good QB from this draft. However, finding that guy, in my opinion, is a long-shot. I'd rather see the team spend their first and maybe 2nd round picks on prospects at other positions who are considered to have a higher probability of success. After that, if they want to take a flyer on one or two QBs in the hopes of striking gold, then great.

TJ Graham ran 10.50 w/o training for track and field. Now, I am not saying that Graham has shown the receiving skills that Wheaton has, but fast track times don't mean a great deal in the NFL. Track times are inflated/deflated by starting technique which has little to nothing to do with playing WR in the NFL. Also, track tells you nothing about a player's ability to catch and catch in traffic. I am not too down on TJ Graham. He was a lightly experienced very fast WR who had a decent rookie season, despite what many say here. Sure, he needs to reduce the drops (and the jury is out regarding whether he can), but he has speed and with a QB who can take advantage of his deep speed, he might develop. To be clear, I am not saying that the Bills should not bring in a quality WR or two. I think that their WR/TE group is in the bottom 20% of the league and needs a significant influx of talent.

I hope that you are right, but draft history suggests that this view is highly optimistic (that there will be 3 solid starting NFL QBs plus a star "unexpected" later round QB). There are several years where ZERO good starting NFL QBs come out of the draft. It is indeed very rare to have more than 1 or 2 good starting QBs in a draft. I will agree that it seems that it seems to be becoming more common to find decent-to-good starting QBs in the draft. It could be that the NFL rules now allow lesser passers to succeed in the league (with more restrictions on the defenses), it might be because NFL coaches are more willing to adapt their offenses to a more diverse QB skill set, but then it might be that we've just had a couple of exceptional drafts. I'll even mention that it is possible that some of the young QBs who have started out so well, might be flashes in the pan and will fade into oblivion. I remain hopeful, but quite skeptical, that the Bills will be able to find a long-term good starting QB in this draft. I am not a scout by any means, but I am a long-time draft fanatic and I have read everything that I could find on the draft for the past 25+ years. It hasn't been uncommon for QBs to be talked up and over-hyped. I don't even hear that this year. What I hear is, "man, wish we could find a QB or two to get excited about, but all that I see are prospects with some talent and some big concerns."

Agreed that we can't afford another failed high pick. That is why I said that the similarities in their rise to college prominence was a concern. I will admit that I was impressed with Ansah's play in the Senior Bowl (after a reportedly weak week in the practices), but picking a guy whose college coaches didn't think was good enough to start heading into his final year has to be a risky proposition.

Agreed, I am not totally outraged, but how is it possible that a pro football player in this day and age isn't working out hard? I disagree with the person that said this doesn't matter to others on the team. If it is true that he isn't working out, then it is a true shame as he could be much better than the upper-middle-of-the-league WR that he is.

Ansah looks like a special athlete, but buyer-beware: BYU did not even expect him to be a starter this year. He got the starting position when the player ahead of him was injured. To be sure, that doesn't mean that Ansah won't be good or even very good, but it is a red-flag to me. Aaron Maybin had EXACTLY the same profile - slotted to be a backup, starter got hurt and Maybin stepped in and rang up a lot of sacks and was drafted high. We know how that ended in the NFL. Was Ansah's success because teams had no tape on him to see his tendancies? With some playing time will the opponents figure out how to contain him or will he improve with experience?

I am not saying that Manuel will be good or bad, but the argument that "everything else can be coached" is untrue, in my opinion. I think that the points that you listed are pretty much necessary, but not sufficient for success. I think the intangibles of leadership, work-ethic and importantly the ability to see and quickly process what is happening on the field are also necessary. The latter is mental quickness and it is akin to physical quickness. I don't think that those abilities can be coached-in or taught. Good coaching can help a guy improve these skills, but if a guy can't see and process quickly coaching won't make that much better (again, my opinion). If a guy isn't a leader, in college, he likely isn't going to "grow into one".

but they will be wrong, unless you are talking #8 in round 3. Just because 4 QBs might be picked in round 1 does not mean that any of them are likely to be good NFL starting QBs. IMHO, none of these guys are good prospects (look at the 2011 draft where Ponder and Locker were questionable early picks, but both are as good or better than the guys in this draft). Reaching and hoping for a QB out of this draft is a waste of time and a waste of a high draft choice. Find a good player at another position, try to get a stop-gap veteran (who is likely better than any of these questionable prospects) and try for a truly good QB prospect next year after 3-4 teams waste early picks on guys this year.

I haven't seen anything that says he CAN play qb at the NFL level other than he is allegedly tough. Hell, Fitz and Trent were tough. Both got up after hellacious hits and kept trying. They just weren't good enough to win with. Joe Kaap and Bobby Douglas were tough too. I am sure Tim Tebow is as tough or tougher than Tyler Wilson and he can't play either.

Manuel is not a good prospect to be a good starting NFL QB (and neither are any of the other QBs in this draft). No matter how much the Bills need a QB, taking one of these weak prospects is not an answer. If they choose to take GOOD prospects at other positions in rounds 1 & 2 then draft 2 or 3 QBs in the hopws of finding someone who can play, then fine, but this draft is not like the most recent 2 where there were good QB prospects. Not one of these frauds would have been in the top 5 qb prospects in the last 2 drafts

If your speculation is true (ie, he made a "business" decision to stay out of harms way, then that is MAJOR red flag. Deon Sanders talks about DBs making "business" decisions to not take on big blockers or RBs. He is partly joking and partly serious. For sure, a great CB is paid more to be a good cover man than to be a good tackler. That is NOT true of a LB. If a college LB is avoiding contact to preserve himself, he has no place in the NFL. That being said, I am not saying that you are necessarily right with your assessment of T'eo. It is possible (again not saying it IS) that he was just very distraught and distracted due to the impending explosion of this story to play well. That isn't great, either and personally I'd not take a chance on him, but it is possible that he will be a very good pro.

I can't say for sure that Kirk Cousins might not become a good starting QB, but there is too much hype for him (IMHO). He has 4TDs, 3INTs, 1 Fumble, and been sacked 3 times (once every 16 pass attempts). Yes, he showed a bit of potential, but I think way too early to be banging our heads because we didn't get him.

From ProFootballTalk.com: http://profootballta...all-draft-pick/ Chiefs are saying the talent in this draft is significantly inferior to last year's draft.... “That’s one of those drafts that come along every two decades, maybe every three decades, when you have that many impact players,” Dorsey said. At a time when they want to drum up enthusiasm, they feel that the draft is weak enough that they need to temper fans' expectations. Just an interesting article.

I haven't formed an opinion about Nassib one way or another (nor am I fully qualified to do so), but just because he played for Marrone/Hackett at Syracuse doesn't mean that: 1. The Bills offense will be the same scheme they ran at Syracuse 2. That Nassib is good enough to play in the NFL, even if they run the same system as Syracuse did. 3. Even if he is good enough, no guarantee that it won't take him considerable time to learn to read NFL defenses and adapt the the increased talent level of the opponents. We know that Fitz is not quite good enough to get this team to the playoffs, but that doesn't mean that any of a large number of rookies from this class are as good or better than Fitz (immediately or ever).

Agreed. Even more importantly, Smith reportedly is a mature kid who works hard to improve. Leaf, on the other hand, was a totally immature dweeb who had probably equivalent physical talent to Smith. To be clear, I am not advocating for Geno Smith, but I think he is way above the Ryan Leaf comparisons.