BillsPhan

After watching how Brady took advantage of TWO rookie tight ends last year, I'm completely in favor of the Bills drafting Rudolph with the 34. Since the Pats have 33, they obviously won't draft him unless they trade out of it and the other team takes him. However, I can't imagine a team trading up into that pick to draft a TE. So it looks like Rudolph will be there for the taking and I hope the Bills do!

Easley got hurt, players get hurt every year. Troup started coming into his own towards the end of the year, and he was very productive when compared to the DT's drafted above and below him, including the ones drafted by teams that were not considered "reaches", as the drafting of Troup in the 2nd round was. Carrington? Well, very few stars run into the starting lineup in the NFL directly from the 3rd round. Carrington will be judged more during this his second season. And Arthur Moats can turn out to be the steal of last year's draft if he improves on the rookie season he had - the kid is a player. Drafting C.J. Spiller was stupid in my opinion. But even with him, it's even more stupid for a sports writer to waste time "judging" a team's draft one year later!!

There's always a chance one of the lesser rated QB's in this draft could jump up and become great ones in the NFL. There was Joe Montana drafted #82 (third round) by the Niners in 1979. There was of course Tom Brady drafted #199 (6th round) by the Pats in 2000. Those two QB's are always in the discussion for the best QB in NFL history, so it almost always seems worth it to draft one in the later rounds, doesn't it? That said, recent history suggests that other then Brady, your top teams in the playoffs year in and year out have QB's drafted in ROUND ONE. After being out of the playoffs for 11 years and counting, after not having a winning season for 6 years and counting, and after not being able to find the next Jim Kelly for 14 years and counting, if I'm Buddy Nix, I'm rolling the dice on Newton or Gabbert with the #3 pick, and taking the more traveled road towards recent NFL success. I'll be happy to allow the other teams to try and find that needle in the haystack QB in the later rounds! Fitzy is the starter, and he might rise up and surprise everyone by becoming a franchise QB after all, he's only 27 and this is his first chance of being the starter heading into a season. Yeah, and the odds of that happening are about as good as finding the next Tom Brady in the 6th round of this draft, too! However, even if that miracle happened, what a great trading tool the Bills would have with Newton or Gabbert as the back up! Realistically, Fitzy will man the ship just above average with his limited skill set, and take the Bills to the 8-8-0 or even 9-7-0 level while Newton or Gabbert learn behind him. Then, it will be the perfect time to hand over the keys to either one, since I am convinced they both will be great NFL quarterbacks someday in the near future in the NFL.

This "troll" is an admin!

The whole problem with Newton and Gabbert this year is that they are not Andrew Luck and Matt Ryan. They have some "red flags" and that means that they will never make it as starting QB's in the NFL, say most of the posters out here on our passionate board. But your thread question is extremely valid! I'm at age where I was lucky enough to watch every snap Joe Ferguson took and of course every snap Jim Kelly took in their Bills' careers. (Yeah I know, I'm an old guy.) Fergy was a very lucky 3rd round pick way back in '73. Not that Joe didn't have his problems, and he was never considered one of the best in the NFL during his playing days, he certainly did a great job for a 3rd round draft choice! Jimbo was the #14 pick of the first round in 1983. Although he spent three years in the forgettable USFL, when he came to Buffalo to start his career here in '86, he was still the Bills' 1st round pick from the '83 draft. Do you know that the only QB's the Bills have drafted within the first 3 rounds since 1983, are Todd Collins in '95, J.P. Lost-man in '04, and Trent Edwards in '07. And Jim Kelly has been retired now since the end of the 1996 season! Yes, experts who hate the idea of Nix using the #3 pick on Newton or Gabbert, when even you know damn well they will be long gone before the Bills pick again at #34, just exactly when do you think the Bills should draft their next franchise QB? Forget one of the lesser guys in Rounds 3 or lower. Nix should draft Newton or Gabbert this year, and build the rest of the defense and other needs beginning with the 34th pick. Both will end up being good to great starters in the NFL for some teams, in my humble opinion, and it might as well be the Bills.

Great, I agree, Miller seems to excite Gailey more then Newton and Gabbert. So what? Buddy Nix makes the final call and Tom Modrak is his number one "advisor", and although I'm sure Nix values Chan's opinion highly, it is simply not Gailey's call. Anyone remember how badly Gregg Williams said was hoping Donahoe would have drafted Drew Brees instead of Nate Clements way back when??? A lot of good that did Williams. (And had Donahoe listend to Williams then, maybe he would still be head coaching today!)

A.J. Green would not be my first choice after Newton or Gabbert, but if Nix did pass up first the franchise QB, and then the glut of great defensive players to draft Green, I would say at least this guy would be a better choice for his offense then Spiller was for it last year. Hey, if this ends up being the "Modrak-led Reach" for 2011, fine. At least he's rated as the best BIG WR coming out of college, and not just he best "scat-back" type RB coming out of college. All of that said, I can't imagine Nix drafting Green anyway, so I think this thread is a waste of your time.

If Buddy passes on Newton or Gabbert, then Patrick Peterson would be a terrific choice at #3 in my humble opinion. Look at what Revis did for the Jets before his injury! A lock down corner can be a game changer, and he can allow the D to do riskier things blitz-wise. And obviously, the Bills don't have a true lock down corner on the roster now, so I say yes to that possibility. Although I still hope it's Newton or Gabbert, of course!

There certainly would be no chance of that happening if Nix simply takes Newton or Gabbert number 3, would there? And I certainly hope he does.

Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert would not be "reaches" with the number 3 overall pick. Nix has the 2nd or 3rd highest pick of every round, so he will still find great value in this draft. How "for the love of all that is holy", can you and the majority of the posters out here be so sure that both Newton and Gabbert will be busts???? Again, I give you Joe Flacco as my favorite example. If the Ravens had the number 3 pick instead of the number 18 pick they did use in the 1st round to draft Flacco, and they had drafted Flacco with that number 3 pick instead, I suppose all of their "knowledgeable" fans would have screamed and yelled and stomped their feet in anger right??? Well Flacco sure seems to be working out just fine right about now only a fews years into his career, and not a single one of those fans would think he was a reach at 3 now, would they??? The way that kid has taken over as a leader and starting QB of a team that quite honestly never had a "franchise" QB since they moved to Baltimore in 1995, I don't think you would find one Ravens fan that would still be saying they should not have drafted him as high as 3rd overall, if they would have! So now we have kind of the opposite situation with Newton, Gabbert and the Bills with the number 3 pick. If the Bills drafted let's say, Von Miller with the number 3, and then traded back up into the 1st round to draft Gabbert or Newton at 18 in the 1st round, then that would be OK, right?? Sorry folks, this is not Flacco coming out of Delaware we are talking about. Neither one of the best two QB's in this year's draft will be sitting around at 18 waiting to be drafted this year. Yet, I am convinced, in my humble opinion, that both of these kids, Newton and Gabbert, will certainly become at least as good as Flacco has become for the Ravens. Hey maybe not right away, but within a year or two they will, for whoever drafts them. Just my opinion, I know, most of you think both of them will just end up being Akili Smith - Ryan Leaf type major busts, I know I know. But Gabbert is not Ryan Leaf, and Newton is certainly not Akili Smith. I think these two young guys are just as good as advertised, and given a year or two to come into a system and learn, they both will have outstanding NFL careers. And with Fitzy running the show and helping one of them learn for that year or two, this is the perfect time to draft one of them right now for the Buffalo Bills.

At the risk of missing your sarcasm and just in case you are serious, Fitzy threw 23 TD's last year.

Wow, you got me on that one. Nice catch. Two points about that '87 draft run by Bill Polian: He got the linebacker he wanted still within the top 10 in Conlan (and if Nix traded down with this top heavy talent rich group within the top 10, that will be fine with me and I don't think he will do it based on saving money only!). Secondly, later on that season, Polian convinced Ralph Wilson to pay an unheard of million dollar signing bonus to Cornelius Bennett, the linebacker he really coveted in the draft that year in an amazing trade he worked with the Colts who could not sign Bennett. Certainly Ralph was not worried about saving money to sign that rookie!

I absolutely disagree. Ralph Wilson has never "traded down" out of a top 5 pick and I can't imagine him doing it now at 93 freakin' years old. The man is still alive last I heard, he still knows what is going on last I heard, and he is still the owner, last I heard. I don't see Nix trading down - I see him choosing the best player on his board at number 3 to help the Bills improve as much as possible. Period.

Or...how about if "we" take that pick in the 22-28 range, and trade down again for and extra 3rd rounder, then, take that pick, and trade down for an extra 4th rounder, then, take that pick and trade it down for an extra 5th rounder, etc. etc. so finally, in the end, we have 14 7th round picks! Think of all the money "we" would save in such a "deep" draft, huh??? Sorry, but when there is draft with so many top heavy excellent players (mostly on defense) to choose from, wouldn't the best decision be just to pick one of the 3 very best of all of them??? STOP ALL OF THIS TRADING DOWN TALK!!

I hope you're right!! It's been way too long since the Bills have had a draft like your describe.

Two days from "Thrilling Thursday" of the NFL Draft, I did a little research back in Bills' drafting history since the year after they played in their last of 4 straight SB's. Remember that Bill Polian was gone by then, having his infamous "break up" with Wilson after the third SB the previous year. But we all believed that John Butler and A.J. Smith had done a pretty good job through out the rest of the 90's. Well, maybe overall through all the rounds of the drafts they graded out OK, but as for their number one picks from '94 through 2000, um....not so much. And then 2000 through 2010 has been well documented as sucking. But for kicks, here is a list of 1st picks, all 1st round picks, and one 6th round pick thrown in for the hell of it, the Bills drafted since 1994, and then I tossed in one player from each round under their drafted player as just one possible choice the Bills could have made instead. Based on only my humble opinion, the ONE best value draft choice the Bills have made since 1994?: Antowain Winfield in 1999! Here are the rest: #27 - Drafted Jeff Burris - CB #33 - Issac Bruce - WR 1995: #14 - Drafted Ruben Brown -G #23 - Ty Law - CB 1996: #24 - Drafted Eric Molds - WR #26 - Ray Lewis - MLB 1997: #23 - Drafted Antowain Smith - RB #36 - Tiki Barber - RB 1998: #39 - Drafted Sam Cowart - MLB #58 - Jeremy Newberry - C 1999: #23 - Drafted Antowain Winfield - CB Good value - no players really better after Antowain in the 1st round. 2000: #26 - Drafted Erik Flowers - DE #38 - Marvel Smith - T #194 - Drafted Leif Larsen - DT #199 - TOM BRADY - QB (I could not resist!) 2001: #21 - Drafted Nate Clements - CB #32 - DREW BREES - QB 2002: #4 - Drafted Mike Williams - T #11 - Dwight Freeney - DE 2003: #23 - Drafted Willis McGahee - RB #24 - Dallas Clark - TE 2004: #13 - Drafted Lee Evans - WR #21 - Vince Wilfork - NT #22 - Drafted J.P. Lost-Man QB #24 - Stephen Jackson - RB 2005: #55 - Drafted Rosco Parrish - WR #61 - Vincent Jackson - WR 2006: #8 - Drafted Donte Whitner - SS #12 - Haloti Ngata #26 - Drafted John McGargo - DT #29 - Nick Mangold - C 2007: #12 - Marshawn Lynch - RB #14 - Derelle Revis - CB 2008: #11 - Drafted Leodis McKelvin - CB #18 - JOE FLACCO - QB 2009: #11 Drafted Aaron Maybin - DE #13 - Brian Orakpo - DE 2010: #9 - Drafted C.J. Spiller - RB #11 - Anthony Davis - T

I sure hope Buddy Nix doesn't "see that." I can't remember another draft where there are so many possible impact players (mostly on defense) in the top 10 to 15 picks as there seem to be in this one. If Buddy doesn't draft Newton or Gabbert number 3 (and I think he should, by the way) he almost has to stay there and pick one of the impact players he will have to choose from at #3! In this draft, who cares about an extra 2nd round pick when you have so many (seemingly) great players at the top?? He should just draft Von Miller and see if the kid becomes the Bills' LT for the next 10 years, if he doesn't see the value at QB that I hope he does in Newton or Gabbert.

You are only 100% wrong. The last time the Bills had a pick this high was in 2002, they had the number 4 overall pick and at least Donahoe tried to draft his franchise LT with Mike Williams. Nobody saw that guy ending up being as huge a bust as he was, not even we cynical Bills fans. At the very least, we all thought he would be a great RT, and I think most of us hoped he would eventually become our franchise LT for about 12 years or so. In fact, going back to the first combined "AFL-NFL" draft of 1967, the Buffalo Bills have never used a top 5 draft choice on a quarterback. So if Nix did draft Gabbert or even Newton with the number 3 overall choice, that would not exactly "hold true" to the Bills picks of the past, now would it?....Oh wait, you are convinced that drafting Gabbert or Newton so high would be a stupid draft pick, and that is why it would hold true to the picks of the past, right? Well, I disagree. I think that both Newton and Gabbert will end up being Pro Bowl caliber franchise quarterbacks within a few years for whatever teams end up drafting them, I also believe they both will be drafted in the top 10, so naturally I think the Bills should draft one of them at number 3.

Great thread. Very realistic take you have there. I had no idea that just by adding Jerry Rice would have led the Bills to a 9-0 SB record. And oh by the way. In 1985 Bruce Smith certainly did not appear to have "it" as a rookie. He was over weight and struggled his first season, and although he improved during his second year in 1986, he did not become dominant until after the '86 season when he got upset being left off the Pro Bowl team. That second off season of his young pro career is when he decided to work his ass off every off season and then his talent was supplemented by this work ethic, and he became a Hall of Famer. Dan Marino had "it" from the first snap he took as a rookie. Drew Brees needed 3 years before he showed that he has "it." Sorry, drafting the "it" player really is harder then your cute litte story trys to make it. If James Harrison continues winning defensive player of the year awards and piling up sacks during the rest of his career, he could very well use his "it" to make the Hall of Fame. Guess what, nobody drafted him at all. And the Steelers cut him once or maybe even twice before he finally made the team. According to you, no way should the Steelers or any other team had given him his 3rd chance to make their teams, because his "it" wasn't "apparent" right away.

Although your take is a tad "dated", it is outstanding none the less. Flutie led the Bills to a 10-5-0 record during the '99 season and then all of a sudden Wade decided to "rest" him for the last regular season game against the Colts at home. Sure enough, with nothing to play for and zero pressure on him, Robby played lights out and Phillips stupidly decided to start him against the Titans. Now, to be fair, we all know Johnson did enough to upset the Titans that day, and the play were he scrambled without his shoe and made a great pass to set up the "winning" field goal was outstanding. But after that game is where your take really makes good sense. You know why? Because Doug Flutie was the starting QB for the San Diego Chargers during Drew Brees's rookie season, and most likely ended up being a good mentor to him that first year in the NFL. Obviously, had the idiot Donahoe done kept Flutie over Johnson he could have actually drafted Brees himself for the Bills and Flutie could have mentored Drew during his rookie season with the Buffalo Bills!!

Well said, sir - I could not agree more. Let's hope Nix agrees with us also!

It certainly seems that all the gurus and experts agree that Cam Newton is the man for the Panthers Thursday night. I'm not convinced - and I'm wondering how many of us out here think like me, that the Panthers won't spend their number one pick on a guy with so many question marks, and instead draft one of the more solid defensive guys rated so high this year?

Colorado School of Mines??

You are forgetting the two seasons Kelly played in the USFL for the Houston Gamblers. He played in the run and shoot and got sacked like 50 or more times each season. So he actually played 14 years of pro football, and he really was pretty much done after that forgettable playoff loss to the Jaguars.

There is one easy way to keep their high second round pick and not trade away more picks to get back into the 1st round for one of the "second tier of quarterbacks." Draft Newton or Gabbert with the #3 pick, and draft one of the two first tier QB's instead! It's what I've wanted Nix to do all along.