2003Contenders

My hunch is that Gailey is giving each RB a "start" early in the season. In Week 1 it was Spiller, last week Lynch. So this week it will be Jackson. That actually makes some sense, as Jackson is one of the few Buffalo Bills who has performed well against the Pats.

Gailey's main strength as a coach in the past was that he was innovative in being able to create tailor-made systems to best fit the personnel on hand. Professional coaches like Gailey are a special breed. They are confident in their abilities to a fault. I suspect that Gailey saw the game film on Edwards -- but rather than viewing him as a hopeless cause, thought to himself, "I am the guy smart enough to devise a scheme that suits Trent's unique skill set." He also saw a guy who, by the end of last year had no confidence left. Trent is a bright guy, capable of talking the talk. Under Gailey's off-season tutelage he said all the right things and appeared to regain his confidence after the first preseason game (against Washington) disaster. From a talent perspective, he also has all the goods. Despite a faction of "fans" on this board who would say otherwise, Trent does not have a noodle for an arm. It is likely that Trent DID perform the best of the 3 QBs in training camp and displayed the greatest skillset, when live bullets were not flying. After two weeks of live action, Gailey came to the astute conclusion that Edwards just doesn't have "it". Regardless of whatever scheme he could cook up -- and given the current impossibility of improving the supporting cast, including the OL -- Gailey came to realize that there was likely nothing he could do to hide the fact that Trent Edwards simply lacks the natural instincts and intangible qualities to play QB in the NFL. Fitzpatrick DOES have these traits -- and Gailey believes that he can better compensate for Fitzpatrick's lack of talent than he can for Trent's lack of instincts and mental toughness.

Trent actually looked pretty decent in the Redskin game up until the INT. After that, not so much. That is where Gailey needs to focus on Trent most is on his psyche: work with him to better overcome adversity and not go into a shell when bad things happen.

I suspect that he may not be as good of an NFL prospect as many of you are suggesting. If he were, I honestly believe that he would be on some NFL team's roster right now.

It is systemic of what I have said all along, which is that the non-scouts, including the coaches (and Jauron in particular) had too much say in what happened with the draft. The fact that the team struck out so many times with 1st and 2nd round picks is highly indicative of this fact, since the decision makers were more apt to leave the late round decisions, where lesser known players could be had, to the scouts. Conversely, it seems that we have had much better luck with our late round picks. Perhaps that is a reprieve for Donahoe, whom I believe would be gone by now if Nix didn't believe he was good at what he does. Also, I believe that Jauron adhered to the philosophy that "younger is better". Hence, his fetish with first round underclassmen. Nix and Gailey appear to have dismissed that philosophy right off the bat.

A few random thoughts... 1. Who says that Nix didn't make a spirited play for Brown? Isn't it possible -- if not likely -- that Brown told the Bills that he wasn't interested? If so, that may not even be such a slight on the Bills, as everyone in the NFL knows that you got to Washington to get paid. 2. Not to under-appreciate the value of a good, young LT... but the Bills had a Pro Bowler at the position in 2 of the last 3 years -- and the offense was STILL terrible. 3. I REALLY do get a sense that the current regime has faith in Bell/Meredith to man the LT position. That is, I don't think that they are just blowing smoke when they go on and on about how much they like these guys. The $64,000 question, of course, is: Are they correct in their assessment?

Yea, I don't know much about the guy, but he was actually NOT incorrect about the Cowher thing. What he said was: 1. Cowher had talked to the Bills about the coaching job 2. Cowher had asked around about the current and future ownership situation So he never predicted that the Bills would hire Cowher just that they had, in fact, spoken to him. The excitement centered around the fact that national guys like Schefter were saying that Cowher wouldn't even give the Bills the time of day. While it may be true that Cowher never seriously considered Buffalo as a landing spot, he did at least talk to the team and even made some recommendations for them (including suggesting Chan Gailey).

Except that the "disgraceful 2003 team" actually boasted a top 5 defense of which Schobel played an integral part. The disgrace that year was almost exclusively on the offensive side of the ball (after the first two games), when Bledsoe's decline became clear, and Gilbride forgot about the running game.

Good point. Remember also, however, that the Bills once stashed Jason Peters on their Practice Squad as well -- and left him unprotected for a considerable period of time.

Actually, going back to last season's draft, the reason that Meredith fell as far as he did was a perceived notion that he was a troublemaker -- and potential locker room poison. There were rumors that his coaches at SC gave a not-so-glaring review of him when privately questioned by various NFL scouts heading into the draft. At least one publication referred to him as a "locker room lawyer". Now, I haven't heard anything from either Green Bay or Buffalo about him being anything but a stand-up guy. So, who knows? Perhaps he had a personal conflict with one of his coaches at SC that led to a lot of this. If so, maybe the character assassination helped allow the Bills to acquire a talented young player at a position of need.

Excellent points. Moreover, all of those teams were playoff teams as well.

I think the overall objective of this draft was to fortify the trenches on both sides of the ball. By taking Spiller with the #9 pick, it pretty much sealed that the Bills were going to go OL/DL with the next couple of picks. Had they taken an OL with that pick instead of Spiller, I believe that Clausen would have been a much more serious possibility at 41.

The one thing I will say is that one year's 2nd round pick, for example, doesn't necessarily compare to another year's. For whatever reason teams shied away from QBs this year, not just because this year's class was viewed as weak. For example, how much difference was there between Sanchez's rating when he came out last year versus Clausen's this year? No much. Yet Sanchez was a top 5 pick, and Clausen fell to the end of the 2nd round. FWIW, many draftniks had Levi Brown rated as a 3rd rounder. Is it a long shot for him to make the team -- let alone ever become a starter? Yes, of course. But you just never know.

Actually, the story I always heard was that Flutie only signed with the Generals AFTER the Bills made it clear to him and his agent that he wouldn't be drafted with the #1 overall pick. As for the reasoning behind the Bills doing what they did... compare it to this year with Tebow. Like Tebow, Flutie already had a fanatical following, so acquiring him would have generated additional ticket and jersey sales. However, the "football" people realized that Bruce was the correct choice. In the final analysis someone convinced Ralph to make the smart football decision.

I remember the alleged episode well. It was opening day 1994, when (in a precursor to the team's first losing season since 1987) the Bills surprisingly fell to the Jets at home. The offense couldn't get anything going against Pete Carrol's Jets, and Thurman was held in check all day long. As he was leaving the stadium he was approached by a little kid for an autograph, who asked Thurman why he had played so poorly. Thurman's alleged response was, "Because I was up f'ing your mother all night!"

With the sorry strength and conditioning staff that watched the Bills entire OL deplete last year, who's to say that Oher wouldn't have likewise fallen victim to the injury bug. That is about the best I can do in terms of playing devil's advocate, as Oher definitely should have been the choice. Sad that the Bills so often buck conventional wisdom and do things that baffle us all. By the same token, I don't want to dismiss Maybin just yet. After year one, the Redskins certainly look to be the winners in the Orakpo/Maybin sweepstakes. But that is after just a single year. Remember also that Maybin was a holdout, who missed virtually all of training camp last year. (Don't get me started on the need for slotting rookie salaries.) Maybin does have some skills -- as well as a freakish first step that can't be taught. The trouble is that last year, that quick jump was a non-factor as savvy offensive linemen just pushed him out of the play. It will be interesting to see how he performs this year given a full off-season and new coaching staff.

Before finally being handed the reigns in 2008, Aaron Rodgers had that same look. It takes some guys a few years to put it all together, especially in a somewhat complicated offense like the Packers run. Chan's offense figures to be far less complicated -- remember that he devised a system which boy genius Kordell Stewart actually ran effectively back in Pittsburgh.

I suspect that the question was presented more to gauge Bryant's emotional reaction rather than his actual verbal response. As has been said, his mom's background has little relevancy and Ireland was trying to see how Bryant would respond when provoked. The reaction you suggest certainly would have disqualified Bryant from being drafted by the Dolphins. I recall that Matt Stafford said last year that one of the teams he interviewed with kept pressing him about his parents' having divorced, trying to see if he would allow the questioning to get under his skin. The way these kids are dissected by the GMs and scouts is crazy, and I suspect that there are many other teams that use these same tactics.

I will have to say that I am actually pretty excited about the team going into training camp with an open competition for the starting job. I agree with many on here's take of Fitz. He is the one guy whose fate is pretty much sealed as he's shown that he isn't a bad QB2 option. That would leave the real open competition for the starting job up to Edwards and Brohm. We will find out quickly whether Brohm's phase out in Green Bay was a maturity issue (a privileged kid not being able to handle competition, especially when the job he was fighting for was QB2 behind Rodgers) or if it was due to a lack of skill/talent. My money is on the former -- and, if so, I hope he welcomes the true open competition.

As an OC, Chan managed to get solid production from Kordell Stewart, Jay Fiedler and Tyler Thigpen. That's good news for Edwards/Fitz/Brohm/Brown.

Another point to be made is that it takes a minimum of 2-3 years to get a real assessment. After both the 2006 and 2007 seasons it really looked like the Bills had hit pay-dirt with each of those drafts. Whitner appeared promising, Ko was a 4th round starter, both Williams and Butler were 5th rounders that started as was 6th rounder Ellison. 2007 seemed ever so promising with a new starting QB, a 1000-yard rusher, and a new ILB all on board. If Lynch can behave and Trent gets his mojo back, that draft may still have been worthwhile.

Yea, you look toward him for "official" news, not inside tips, etc.

Excellent point, which is also affirmed by how quickly the Bills turned the card in with most of their picks. I think the strategy was simple: they probably only had a relatively modest list of draftable players with a draft-round projection for each of them. It would stand to reason that a player like, say, Clausen was never viewed as a viable option for whatever reason, which would explain why the team passed on him more than once.

Really? Call me crazy, but I would take Trent over Campbell.

The one caveat I keep reminding myself of is this: the offense has essentially been coached by goons for the past 3-4 years. I suspect that we may have more talent at some of the positions that we are are crying to be upgraded (QB, WR, OL) than we know. I think in addition to looking at areas where we need help and analyzing the BPA, I think you also have to look at how much BETTER is that BPA than the player he could potentially replace on the squad. Also, is that player more natural fit for the new system than the player(s) we have now. If the FO believes that Spiller is the best player available, well suited for the scheme(s) that Gailey wishes to institute -- and is a significant upgrade over Lynch (who they may be moving anyway), why WOULDN'T you be in favor of such a pick?