Gabe Northern

A trade down so someone else can nab Newton would be very, very sweet. If a new rookie cap is in place, we could actually get quite a package. With Tom Modrak in charge of scouting, you need more picks because the odds of him making a good selection are so low. We'd be better off with 2 picks in the 20s than the third overall selection because Modrak is not capable of evaluating which of those three players deserves to be taken first anyway. Instead of a coin flip as to whether the guy we take at 3 will be any good, I'd rather get 2 lotto tickets.

Keep telling yourself it was all Jauron's fault. It will help you get through the next few years of futility. At some point, you'll come to the realization that it was Tom Modrak that had a 1st round grade on Maybin and that Jauron's draft day decisions were based largely on the poor player evaluation files presented to him.

First off, where are all of the people who said a year ago it was too early to say whether Maybin was a bust? A player's first year performance provides information that allows intelligent observers to project where that player will be in 3-to-5 year's time. It is not totally random like the "too early to say" people claimed. What made him a bust? #1 He was too mentally slow/uninterested to be used at OLB under Fewell even though we had a rash of injuries. Fewell suggested Maybin didn't know the playbook. This was a sign of real problems, but people on this board instead pretended the problem was Jauron or a team insistence that the guy stay at DE. #2 He has a 30-inch waist. This was the reason many scouts had him as a 3rd round pick. Guys built like him aren't well suited to adding 25-to-35 pounds. A 225-lber simply cannot compete in the trenches of the NFL and can only hope to out-run the guy to the outside -- which doesn't work when they know it's coming. This was a Modrak disaster. He wanted Cushing with the pick, but had a 1st round grade on Maybin and had him rated as the best pure pass-rusher in the draft.

Do you get a ring for being on the practice squad? Isn't it limited to 53 on active roster?

This was not the case with Dockery. They still cut him despite already absorbing the worst years of his contract. He actually signed for more money over the next three years than he was scheduled to make with the Bills. The reason? A $1 million roster bonus. Don't doubt this could happen here as well.

To be fair, this was basically the point Buddy Nix made when explaining why they kept Trent to start the season. He said something to the effect that former Bills are playing well all over the league and we didn't want to add another player to that list. Much as I despise Tom Modrak and laugh heartily at those on this board to defend him, the pro personnel, player retention, and overall roster development processes have been nearly as inept as Modrak's repeated failures on draft day.

What part of "Kelsay was extended by new regime" don't you get? You realize the run defense regressed badly from 2009, correct?

Yep, Kelsay is all Dick's fault...so glad the "new regime" promptly realized he didn't fit in the 3-4 and cut him.

Underappreciated screw up from Donahoe regime was using a pick that could have been used on Aaron Rodgers to draft JP Losman

Yeah -- it would suck to have an 81 year old running your 8-8 team with decent talent on both sides of the ball.

Kiper is wrong every draft for sure...but a lot less wrong than Tom Modrak. This is exactly right. People on the board want to ridicule draft experts, but whenever the Bills go against the grain it's the draft experts that are proven correct.

Yeah -- they should move to a George Edwards' 3-4 to shut down the run.

I'm impressed with this hire. You need balls the size of grapefruits to think you can sell a 2-14 coach to a fanbase.

Amazing to think how many we've drafted in the first 2 rounds and the best one of the decade was a former Arena League guy. The thing I hated about Spiller pick was that it seemed to reflect a misunderstanding about Fred Jackson's skill set and Lynch's trade value. Even if the Bills got a 3rd rounder for Lynch, who believes Spiller + a 3 is better than Bulaga + Lynch? I'm just looking forward to drafting a cornerback this year to replace McKelvin...DBs and RBs!!!

The strawman the OP set up was extremely irritating. (See: Reggie Bush sucks and NE made bad picks then too!) Somehow, we're supposed to take solace in the fact that other teams make mistakes? What a loser mentality. And it was nice to see how this FO learned from the Reggie Bush pick by selecting in 2010 another burner with skills that don't translate at the NFL level.

He doesn't get good production late. This is totally false. Top teams routinely draft solid contributors from Rounds 3-5. Here's the complete list of solid NFL starters Modrak has drafted in that range: 2003: Crowell, McGee 2006: Butler, Kyle Williams 2010: Moats (as of now looks decent) That's it. The rest of the guys from those rounds who've started have been stop-gaps who've been replaced at the first opportunity. If you want to cite Stevie Johnson and other guys drafted in late rounds, these are like lottery tickets. You have to measure them against all of the other 6/7th rounders and UDFAs signed that don't work out. Hitting on 1 out of 100 of these guys is not "good production."

Are you just brainstorming arguments to defend Modrak, or do you honestly believe this nonsense? This isn't about one or two bad picks. This is about 65 draft selections over a 9 year period that have left us with arguably the least talented roster in football. Either you think Modrak is responsible for this mess, or you think the draft team summarily dismisses the work of the guy hired to scout, evaluate, grade, and rank every draft eligible player each year.

What the hell are you talking about? Evans signed a 4 year contract worth $37.5 million. The nearly $10M per year average ranks him 12th in the NFL.

If someone complains about the Bills' draft, why does that imply other teams' drafts are flawless? It doesn't. You set up a strawman. The fact that New England whiffed on its top 2 2006 draft picks is meaningless.

Do you realize that Lee Evans is the 12th highest paid player in the NFL? Allen Wilson said in a chat that the Bills could not trade Evans this year because no one would pick up his contract. I just find it absolutely baffling that they broke the bank on a top-40 WR while going on the cheap at RT, LB, and key depth. And why did Evans get paid instead of Peters anyway? Does any successful GM think that a deep threat is more important than left tackle? Sure, other teams would love to have him at half of his current salary. I also see no reason to cut him as I don't think this team should create a new hole. But you have to admit that this contract was another front office blunder.

The Bills failed to hold an informal auction for his services. They look stupid and have a choice of A.) confirming that they failed to maximize value or B.) flat-out lie about activities, or C.) say something ambiguous about how they called around the league and this is what was on the table. Since none of those sound good, saying nothing is probably best bet.

You watch Bills games, right? You see how if there's not a large hole he can explode into he immediately tries to bounce runs to the outside? Yeah, that doesn't work in the pros. As a result, he'll typically have one carry for 14 yards and 5 other carries for maybe 2 yards. So even if he were like a third tackle in pass protection, I'd say he wouldn;t be #1 simply because he treats the NFL like it's high school and he can get to the corner. The guy is not a good NFL running back at this point, period.

No. We've made about 65 draft picks since Modrak's been here and the evidence suggest he's been overruled on just a handful. That's my point. Yes, Maybin was a HORRIBLE pick, but it's not like we're cleaning up in the 3rd to 5th rounds. I'm not focusing on this bust, or that bust, but rather the systemic character of the bad drafting. Modrak is the guy who grades all of these players. Even if he gets overruled from time to time, do you really believe they throw out all of his grades and scounting reports? He furnishes the information used to make all of these bad picks. How naive of all of you to think Dick Jauron was responsible for the draft day mistakes.

I do not contend his has final say. Modrak has been overruled on a few picks -- he leaks to the papers whenever that's the case. But it's not a one-off problem. It is systemic bad draft decisions that seems based on a deeply flawed talent evaluation process. For example, Modrak may have wanted Cushing over Maybin, but he still had a 1st round grade on Maybin. That's the issue here; Modrak slaps 1st round grades on guys that should slide into the second day. As for the "fliers," if you cannot consistently draft 2nd to 4th rounders that contribute reliably at the NFL level, your draft team needs a total overhaul because this is where the bulk of team's starters come from.

+1 The Spiller pick was absolutely idiotic for a team with these holes. I'd honestly rather than LaGarrette Blount (undrafted), who is a 250 pound inside mauler. Way better for pros that CJ's "out-run 'em to the outside" high school play.