Gabe Northern

If you liked JP Losman, you'll absolutely fall in love with Colin Kaepernick

This is like the JP Losman VS Matt Schaub debate among draftniks in 2004. Schaub was what he was. Losman had it all, aside from accuracy and decision making...which could be "worked on."

I almost pissed myself I laughed so hard at this... Who better to coach up Cam than some guy who had to spend 18 seasons in Canada after getting run out of town as a college QB coach?

This is Nix's 3rd year. In his first he served as National Scout.

This talk of athleticism is nonsense. He is the size of a tall safety. If George Wilson played outside linebacker, he's look damn athletic too flying around there with much larger bodies. The team gambled that he could reliably gain 25-35 pounds on his frame. He couldn't and now it's over.

Agreed. Was also somewhat surprised with the cold water on Fitzmagic.

Locker was told by NFL Draft Committee that he was a 3rd round prospect. McShay has no credibility. I may even be willing to believe Tom Modrak has a better handle on ranking prospects that McShay does.

Bud Adams publicly acknowledged he was only going to pay $2.5 million for a head coach because of Fisher buyout and other dead money. I don't even think Gregg Williams would accept that.

Blame it on the GM all you want, but the role of the scouting operation is to provide the information used to draft players. I don't know if you don't understand how fundamental evaluations of all draft-eligible players is to the selection process, or if you're just needlessly argumentative. The rot in the scouting operation is the main problem with this team's drafts. Not the identity of the person with "final say" on which name to pull off the board.

I like how Nix emphasizes he was a 3rd rounder to make it seem like he's a decent player. Kind of like some GM talking up Maybin as a 1st rounder after he gets signed somewhere else next year.

No, dude, we were all set at RT thanks to the Cornell Green signing. He was the best tackle available in free agency according to several geniuses on this message board.

THIS is what great contributions from late rounds is all about. The "people" on this board who think Tom Modrak gets good production out of his late picks are way off base. Good scouting operations get solid contributors EVERY 1st round pick and are able to fill out the roster with starters in the last three rounds. We land a Stevie Johnson in the 7th ONE YEAR and everyone forgets the 30 other busts in these slots taken the other 10 years of Modrak drafts.

Occasionally he'd explode through a hole for 15+ yards. The rest of the year was watching a guy who seemed fundamentally confused why he couldn't bounce it to the outside for huge gains. I thought it was worst case scenario, really. People concerned about the pick weren't worried about his speed or cutting ability, but instead worried about whether his skills would translate to the NFL level. The funny thing is that (1) nearly all of this is true AND (2) the Bills would Still have a better roster today if they followed Mel's advice for the past ten years.

The whole article is worth a read. Although I actually do see Moats as more of a legit contributor, I can't really argue with the summary. The funniest thing about the defenders of Tom Modrak and the rest of the front office is that the year after the draft they say it's "too early to tell" whether the guys are any good or not. Then, after one or two more years when that line of argument doesn't work because its obvious to all that the players are not cutting it, they switch over to blaming those bad picks on whatever coach or front office guy departed. Since its 2011, it's too early to tell if Spiller, Troup, and Carrington are going to work out. In 2013, those lousy picks will be blamed on Tom Modrak, Buddy Nix, or Chan Gailey, depending on which of them has been sent packing and made the scapegoat for this. Buffalo Bills Summary: Considering the holes on the roster, Buffalo had to get players that could step in immediately and help. I like C.J. Spiller, but emphasized that I considered him a bit of a luxury pick, considering there are other options in that backfield. His season can only be considered a disappointment. Torell Troup and Arthur Moats saw some time, but is there one guy from this class who looks like an anchor? I questioned Buffalo's plan, and I'm not sure this draft shows it really had one. If it did, that plan went off course early. Draft grade: C-plus | Current Grade: D-plus

This is not true; stop repeating it. The people on this board who think "everyone" has basically the same draft board are TOTALLY WRONG. Maybin was a flash in the pan whose draft stock was built on hype. Did you watch him play in college? He could out-run slow Big 10 tackles to the outside for 11 games in 2008. That was IT. From Gregg Easterbrook:

Tom Modrak scouted him.

Troup got thrown around a bit much to be optimistic about him. He's no goner or anything like that, but he needs to make huge strides in terms of strength and technique to continue to get snaps.

If you liked JP Losman, you will absolutely love this dude.

Damn. If only draft genius Tom Modrak were at the helm in '87.

Great post. This Modrak debate always makes me wonder if people on this board have jobs or have ever worked in a hierarchical organization of any kind. Not having "final say" is equivalent to having zero responsibility in some people's minds.

No. Modrak leaked that he preferred Cushin with the pick. This came to be understood by Modrak supporters as "Modrak didn't want to draft Maybin." In reality, Jauron was simply deciding between the next 2 guys on Modrak's draft board.

Mark Gaughan putting his name on a press release issued by the team is "proof" that the college scouting director doesn't deserve blame for the failures in college scouting? Gaughan's only contribution to the article probably is the tid-bit at the end where he suggests that Modrak's contract runs through this year. Hmm...wonder if Ralph/Littman unwillingness to pay a guy not to work had anything to do with his retention? The "level-headed folks" who put their faith in an organization that doesn't really seem to mind losing all that much... I like the thesis that Modrak "sets the draft board" but doesn't deserve blame for the picks made from said board. Do you really think they're totally disregarding the board so that they'd, say, take Modrak's 78-th ranked player at #11? Or do you think it was more likely Jauron was given "final say" between the #11 through #15 guys on that board?

Yep -- when you're determined to defend 11 years of bad decisions, the logical contradictions can pile up pretty quickly. Can't wait 'till Modrak's contract expires and he gets purged. Then all of OBD's minions will be willing to shift their blame to Modrak as quickly as they jumped on TD and Jauron. Until then, we'll have to listen to nonsense about how college scouting directors are only responsible for the draft when those drafts are successful. This is almost certainly wrong. If every board looked roughly the same, it would be impossible for some teams to have such high success rates in the draft and others to have such low success rates because the player selection process would be essentially random.

As Ralph acknowledges, "He puts the [draft] board up." Personally, I'd rather have a team of monkeys putting name placards on the wall in a random order. I know the success rate wouldn't be any worse. My sense from the article is that his contract goes through this year's draft and Ralph refused to pay him not to work.

Come on, guy. Really? Green was replaced by an undrafted rookie free agent (Cordaro Howard) who was so unheralded he didn't even earn an invite to the combine. The result? Immediate upgrade at the position and instant success in a hostile environment (Baltimore) relative to RT performance to that point. Later, this position was filled with other cast-offs and PS players that, again, FAR outperformed Green. Given these facts -- which, I don't think are in dispute -- how can you continue to believe that Green was the "best available veteran OT in FA"? He would have been lucky at his age to make any other roster in the NFL and has likely played his last football game. You have taken an absurdly defensive stand on what was obviously a grotesque mistake in free agency. This suggests you either work for the front office, or are oddly subservient to them. Given this perspective, I am not surprised to learn that you don't believe Nix failed to get full value for Lynch. This is rumor. True. But the disaster of the Green signing was not and you're still willing to give the front office the benefit of the doubt that he was the best FA available and therefore the decision to sign him was beyond reproach. Amazing.