hondo in seattle

I didn't like when Claiborne scored 4 on the Wonderlic and said he blew it off because it had nothing to do with football. I believe his score was the lowest ever for a NFL player. In other words, he had the crappiest attitude about NFL testing in the history of these things. I prefer a player who says, "I'll do whatever you ask me to do." I wonder what kind of locker room guy Claiborne will be and whether or not he'll blow off his coaches when he - in all his blooming immaturity - thinks the coach is wrong. Regardless of the slight differences in stats and athleticism, I'm happy with Gilmore.

I agree. Young's problem wasn't so much lack of talent. It was more lack of a work ethic and positive, productive mindset. Maybe Vince has been doing a lot of Zen meditation and psychotherapy these last couple years and has pulled his head out of his anus finally. No harm in Nix and Gailey doing some due diligence to find out.

I had decided not to read draft grades this year because I've made the mistake of believing them in the past. I'm in the 'trust-Nix' mode now and just waiting for the season to begin. But I stumbled across this short article about the Bills draft and our secondary by Greg Rosenthal on NFL.com that I thought I'd share... Bills drafted Gilmore to match up with Patriots TEs By Gregg Rosenthal NFL.com Around The League editor Published: May 1, 2012 at 08:37 a.m. Updated: May 1, 2012 at 08:48 a.m. In case we haven't said it before, we loved the Bills draft. They didn't spend future picks trading up for Matt Kalil. They found a wildly talented potential starter at left tackle in Cordy Glenn in the second round, and they took the best player on the board at No. 10 in cornerback Stephon Gilmore. The South Carolina product is a physical cornerback, and the beasts of the AFC East have two particularly big tight ends that need tracking. “We would like to be able to match up against those two guys,” said G.M. Buddy Nix of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. "Even though you’re not as big as they are these guys with speed and they’re big enough that they can’t knock them around and push them away from them. It’s a lot harder for them against these bigger corners. Yes, we think (Gilmore) can do that." The team also drafted Aaron Williams in the second round last year. He's six feet tall. Gilmore and Williams could be starting as a tandem sooner than later at a deep cornerback position in Buffalo that also features Terrence McGee and Drayton Florence. This Bills squad appears to have fewer holes than they have had in years. This was Nix's third draft as general manager and his master plan seems to be working. He knows the Patriots have won the division or tied for the division lead every year since 2001, so he needs weapons to stop them. Everything is pointing towards contention this year in Buffalo. "We were able to fill every one that we set out to fill," said Nix.

I'm 52 and beginning to contemplate my own mortality. And the biggest thought plaguing me is this: Will I ever see the Bills win a Super Bowl? My dad is 92 and still kicking and his dad and grandpa both also reached their 90s. So I might have 40 years left - if the world doesn't end later in 2012. The chance of any NFL club winning in any given year is 1 in 32. Probability suggests - barring the Mayans - I'll get to experience one SB win before I die. Then again, probability also suggests that the Bills would have won one SB by now and they haven't. We're defying the odds, and not in a good way. Death without a Super Bowl is a frightening prospect.

The Bills will be 12-0 en route to a perfect season when the millenarian lunatics prove right and the world abruptly ends, thus squashing our hopes for finally winning a Super Bowl.

This is good info. I don't care if some random Bills fan thinks Gilmore is better than Claiborne. But King's and Cossell's quotes are impressive. Makes me feel better about the pick which surprised me somewhat when it happened.

I did 4.8 as a junior in high school in football cleats. Now I am an overweight, middle-aged slob and 6.8 is out of the question. Maybe 10.8.

Unlike some others here, I still like McGee. But Buddy and Chan aren't just thinking 2012 when making cuts; they're thinking beyond. Given the relative strength/potential of the younger players, I wonder if McGee and Florence - both in their 30s - go away. But this assumes all the DBs stay healthy and off the police blotter during training camp. Unexpected events may make Chan's decision for him. Btw, Gilmore is obviously a lock. But do we all agree Brooks, a 4th round pick, is a "lock"?

+1 I'm hoping this is one of those times the broken clock happens to be right.

Wow. One of the funniest things ever! Thanks for the link!

As a fan, I agree with you. There's no reason for us to believe Easley will be a productive NFL starter. However, OBD may have a different take. And I think that may be BeastMode's point. He's speculating that they've seen enough of Easley in training camp, and after conferring with our trainers and medical staff, that they're confident in his on-field production this year. I agree with the underneath stuff because TJ is supposedly a good run-after-catch guy. But regardless how good the OL may become, I don't have much faith in Fitz's ability to throw deep with consistency. I don't think the deep ball will ever be a big part of the Bills O as long as Fitz is the QB.

Yeah, I agree. I have to say Lynch was a good pick, even though I'm happy he's in Seattle now. The folks in Seattle are happy he's in Seattle, too. They're still watching highlights of that playoff run. This guy has NFL talent and has made the Pro Bowl twice. Pos is having a productive, though not stellar, NFL career. TE, while not the franchise QB we hoped for, was good enough to start for a couple years. Bill Walsh saw a lot of good in him. I think even Jimbo was somewhat confident in Edwards for a while. One year TE posted a 85.4 passer rating. He was not a complete bust. 2007 wasn't a great draft but surely wasn't a "F." Any draft that gives you just one Pro Bowl player is not a F.

Great link. Thanks.

Normally, the term "Mr. Irrelevant" refers to the last player picked in the draft. But on the Bills, it could refer to the regional scouts covering the Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, etc. I'd be depressed if I was one of those scouts and all my work amounted to nada each and every draft day.

I'm happy with this pick. But as to ratings, the draftniks obviously rated him higher than the franchise GM's and their scouting staffs. The fact that he lasted until the 5th round only means that the draft gurus were wrong about him. Nonetheless, I hope Zeb reaches his potential with the Bills and becomes a starter.

I hadn't noticed... Good of you, WG, to acknowledge Chris. And congrats to Chris for his good reporting.

If two or three of these guys become starters and one is a Pro Bowler, I'll be thrilled. I doubt if half ever see significant playing time. But I trust Buddy.

That's a fair point. But has Kiper or McShay ever built a playoff team? Or any fan here on TBD? If Kiper et al were actually any good, some team would offer them jobs. I trust Nix more than I trust the draftniks - or my fellow Bills fans. The trust is not absolute, though, and I hope I'm right. We'll see.

I'm okay with another OT. Maybe some of the draftniks are right and Glenn won't be a good Tackle in the NFL and ends up a guard. In that scenario, we need another OT.

Rated by who? Someone who watches as much tape as a NFL franchise's scouting department? The draftniks overvalue some players and undervalue others every year mostly because they just don't do as much homework as the NFL scouts. Neither Tackles nor CBs nor WRs come off the board in the order that Kiper (or anyone else) rates them because the professional scouts rate them differently.

If you cheered for the Bills during this decade-plus of misery, than you are a real fan even if you were born in New England or South Florida or New York City! The unreal fans will be the ones who jump on the bandwagon when the Bills start making the playoffs again.

I agree with this for the most part. Also, I think we had too many needs to fill them all. I'm happy we addressed CB, OL and WR so far. And I'm really happy we addressed DE in free agency. All in all, it seems like a really good off-season when we also consider Wanny's promotion.

Ask me during the season if I'm happy. Better yet, ask me three years from now. It's good to see us getting need players. And I trust Buddy that they'll contribute. But the draft is a crap shoot and even good RGMs miss on picks. But I'm not complaining about any of Buddy's choices.

I guess because some of the draftniks rated TJ lower than the 3rd, we screwed up by taking him so soon. Because draftniks working on their own know more than the collective wisdom of the Bills scouting department. It's interesting that players don't get drafted according to Mel Kiper's board. Not this year. Not any year. Hmmm... maybe because Kipe's board doesn't match the boards used by the teams? Because the teams study players in greater depth with greater resources than Kiper does? Fans across the country get upset when their team drafts a player that Kiper or McShay or whoever doesn't like or rated lower. Funny who we decide to trust.

Wagon Circler, I agree. We should fire Nix and all our national and regional scouts and hire you. You clearly know more about scouting than these folks who have dedicated their lives to it. 1. Gailey says, "I think he has just tapped his potential at left tackle. In our evaluation we think he can go a long way at left tackle." Our national scout Darrell Scout (who coached for 28 years before becoming a scout), says "We just think as you looked at him, he got better every week. I thought he was an excellent player (tackle) at the end of the season..." Nix says, "No he’s not a guard. He started 50 games, the last 16 was left tackle. We put it out there, we tried to spread the rumor that he was a guard and hope somebody wouldn’t take him." But I'm sure you've watched more game tape than Gailey or Moody or Nix and have a more informed opinion. 2. Nix says, “We like his speed and he can catch the football and return. They’ll have to cover deep.” SI says, "Graham comes with a large amount of upside and should only get better with NFL coaching." But you are right! We wasted an extraordinarily valuable 7th round pick (227th overall) to trade up for him. What was Buddy thinking? How often do you get the 227th pick? We should not squander such a valuable resource just to get a guy who can stretch the field and help Stevie get open. It's obvious by your detailed, cogent, accurate observations that you spent far more hours watching game tape and interviewing coaches and scouts than Buddy did. It's really too bad you aren't the GM. 3. Again, you are perfectly correct. Why draft a CB when Florence and McGee are in their 30s and fading, and McKelvin has played poorly and is a FA next year anyway? Why worry about the future? And why draft a CB when our Pass Defense was ranked 25th in yards per play and 26th in opponent passing efficiency? Our Pass Offense was in the upper half of the league in yards despite Fitz's broken ribs and beat-up offensive line and receiving corps so clearly QB is a bigger priority. Forget the "I trust in Buddy" mantra. I trust in Wagon Circler!