jwhit34

You are correct, there are a couple that are close (Howard Kindig 67-71 then played for Miami in 72, John Pitts, 67-72 and a couple of games in 73) and Paul Costa played from 65-72 and Paul Guidry 66-72.

Here is how the current starting NFL QBs were acquired: 1st round draft picks: 18 (E. Manning, P. Manning, Brees, Bradford, Cutler, Campbell, Flacco, Freeman, McNabb, Palmer, Roethlisberger, Rodgers, Sanchez, A. Smith, Stafford, Young, Rivers, Ryan) 2nd round picks: 3 (Favre-#33 overall, Kolb-#36 and Henne-#57) 3rd rounders: 2 (Edwards, Schaub) 4th round: 2 (Garrard, Orton) 6th round: 3 (Brady, Hasselbeck, D. Anderson) 7th round: 1 (Cassel) Undrafted: 3 (Delhomme, Romo, Moore) While there is a significant number of 1st round QBs that don't make it, over half are first rounders and Favre and Kolb went really early in the 2nd. Only 4 non-1st or 2nd rounders have had any sustained success (Brady, Romo, Delhomme an Hasselbeck). I find it interesting that there's more success finding QBs in the 6th and 7th round or undrafted FAs than getting one in the middle (3-5) rounds. What's the takeaway from all of this: a team's best chance at landing a franchise QB is finding the right one in the first round. Odds are the Bills will be looking to get one in the first round of the '11 draft.

The reason I think it will be 5 WRs and 9 OL is that they will most likely split Spiller out wide on occasion in which case he becomes the defacto 6th WR. They will want to keep Wang active so that will require them to keep 9 OL. Bell, Levitre, Hangartner, Wood, Green, Meredith and Wang make 7, then it's either Chambers or Calloway for #8 and probably Cordaro Howard or Andre Ramsey for the 9th spot. They may think they can sneak Calloway through to the practice squad and keep Chambers, which would be kind of amazing to think the guy continues to hang on. The argument for a 6th WR would be to play special teams but Chad Jackson and David Nelson will play ST and then they'll probably use George Wilson, Bryan Scott, Ashton Youboty and Reggie Corner on ST too. That gives them 6 fast, smallish guys. The rest of the ST spots will be dominated by LBs and TEs (when they get healthy). The other strike against a 6th WR would be that they would want a developmental guy who is going to be inactive on Sundays. They have that in Easley, who is on the IR and most likely Roosevelt and/or Donald Jones will be on the practice squad.

Arthur Moats/Keith Ellison Kirk Chambers/Kyle Calloway On defense, if they keep 10 DBS there's probably nine that are a lock (Whitner, Byrd, Scott, Wilson, McGee, Florence, McKelvin, Corner, Youboty). #10 is probably between Lankster and Cary Harris. Also, presuming that they keep 25 defensive players, they will carry either a 7th DL or a 9th LB. That spot may come down to Antonio Coleman, John McCargo or Rashaad Duncan. You could even throw in Lonnie Harvey. I don't give Hardy much of a chance. I don't think they chance sneaking Nelson through to the practice squad. The offensive breakdown is most likely 3 QBs, 4 RBs, 1 FB, 5 WRs, 3 TEs, 9 OL. The receivers look like Evans, Johnson, Parrish, Nelson and Chad Jackson, probably in that order. 25 offense, 25 defense, 3 special teams.

Two issues here: (1) Journalists: Some of the realities that writers are facing today are: (a) Print newspapers are moving closer and closer to extinction, thus threatening their jobs; (b) The reading public has a lot more opportunities to give feedback in a very public way; © To attract readers/bloggers, etc. they have to be more provocrative or controversial As a result, they tend to take more extreme views on things and can be more sensitive to criticism. Sullivan is a good writer but he now has created a rather cantankerous persona through his columns and radio spots on WGR, and I think he feels some obligation to live up to that reputation. Unfortunately, overshadows his writing, which generally is good, whether you agree with him or not. (2) Tanking the season for high draft picks: If this was the formula for success then the LA Clippers in the NBA would be a dynasty. The draft is a crapshoot, especially when it comes to QBs. In addition to that, players and coaches are always going to try to win. Now, the question here really is what do we do as fans. As a fan, I don't think you root for a team to lose. There is a lot to be said about creating a culture of winning. The Denny Green line "They are who we thought they are" (or something to that effect) is true. I think we root for the team and look for signs that the team is on the road to improvement. When it comes draft time you use the picks to get better. If you really like a QB and your pick is too low you go and make the deal. The reality is that a lot of the poor teams have their QBs for the future (Lions, Bucs, Raiders, Rams, maybe even Browns) so if the Bills win games and end up in that 8-13 range they may have natural trade partners ahead of them.