mary owen

Hollywood would have a tough time capturing the real-life drama that occurred atop the 2004 NFL draft. Despite his family's public pre-draft bashing of their organization, the Chargers boldly used the No. 1 overall pick to select QB Eli Manning, son of legendary Saints QB Archie Manning and brother of Colts star QB Peyton Manning. Shortly thereafter, Eli was spared the impending humiliation when the Giants struck a blockbuster deal to ship QB Philip Rivers (No. 4 overall pick) and multiple draft choices to San Diego for the youngest Manning. While the verdict on that trade is still out, the Chargers are the clear winners at this point. Some say it takes three years to evaluate a draft. Looking back on it, the 2004 class has provided as much substance as it did draft-day sizzle. Ben Roethlisberger, who slipped to the Steelers at No. 11 overall, is the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. All four first-round quarterbacks from that class, including J.P. Losman (Bills) are starters today. That's saying a lot considering the overhyped quarterback class of 1999, which had more misses (Tim Couch, Akili Smith and Cade McNown) than hits (Donovan McNabb and Daunte Culpepper). In addition, half of the top 10 selections in 2004 have already played in a Pro Bowl and 20 of the top 22 picks project as starters next season. Those are remarkable totals in comparison to the past decade of NFL drafts. Here's a more detailed look at the four biggest trends from the 2004 class: Trend 1: Wealth of offensive talent The 2004 draft was unusually top-heavy with offensive players. For starters, 20 of the 32 first-round picks were on offense -- and 17 of those were at offensive skill positions. Even more telling is the three-year average (2004-'06) of players selected by position in the first round. At each of the offensive skill positions and two out of the three offensive line positions (center was the only one that was down), there were as many or more first-rounders in 2004 than the average of the three-year tally. Wide receiver was the most coveted group of all. In fact, no position had more prospects drafted in Round 1 than the receiver crop, which saw seven come off board in the top 31 picks: • No. 3 Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals. • No. 7 Roy Williams, Lions. • No. 9 Reggie Williams, Jaguars. • No. 13 Lee Evans, Bills. • No. 15 Michael Clayton, Buccaneers. • No. 29 Michael Jenkins, Falcons. • No. 31 Rashaun Woods, 49ers. Looking back on it, the group admittedly had more sizzle than substance. However, in all fairness, Woods is the only downright bust. Reggie Williams, Jenkins and Clayton haven't lived up to expectations, but all three are starters for the teams that originally drafted them. Roy Williams and Evans are success stories as premier No. 1 weapons for their respective teams. And while Fitzgerald is overshadowed by 2003 second-round pick Anquan Boldin, he is still a very good starter with 172 catches during the past two seasons. The other position rich in talent was quarterback. Who can forget the Eli Manning-for-Philip Rivers trade drama? Early on it seemed the Giants would get the upper hand despite surrendering three draft picks to the Chargers in exchange for Manning. The 2006 season told a different story, though. In his first year at the helm, Rivers completed 4 percent more of his passes with nine fewer interceptions than Manning, who was in his third season as a starter. Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger (No. 11 overall) led the Steelers to the AFC title game as a rookie and a Super Bowl title the next year, and J.P. Losman (No. 22 overall) has overcome early scrutiny to emerge as the Bills' franchise quarterback. Trend 2: Patience was the key with 2004 offensive linemen At the time, OT Robert Gallery was considered the only blue-chipper of the 2004 offensive line class, which made it even easier for the Raiders to take him No. 2 overall. Looking back on it now, nothing could have been further from the truth. Gallery remains a starter but only because he's the lesser of a few evils on a pitiful Raiders offensive line that surrendered 72 sacks in 2006. Shawn Andrews and Vernon Carey were the only other first-rounders after Gallery and both are considered success stories. Andrews has emerged as a top-tier starter at guard for the Eagles, making him worth the investment at No. 16 overall. The Dolphins selected Carey with the 19th pick as a guard/tackle tweener and he has proved to be a valuable commodity as the unit's most consistent and versatile starter the past couple of seasons. In fact, of the 11 linemen selected on the first day after Gallery, all but two have emerged as solid starters for their original draft teams. The other seven in addition to Andrews and Carey are OG Chris Snee (Giants, second round), C Jake Grove (Raiders, second round), OG Justin Smiley (49ers, second round), C Nick Hardwick (Chargers, third round), OT Max Starks (Steelers, third round), OT Sean Locklear (Seahawks, third round) and OT Travelle Wharton (Panthers, third round). Trend 3: Running backs slipped for good reason Steven Jackson was expected to be a top-15 pick but he slipped all the way to No. 24, where the Rams wisely traded up to get him. Jackson, who ranks among the NFL's elite class at his position, has accounted for 3,247 rushing yards and 1,315 receiving yards during his three-year career. The two other first-round running backs -- Chris Perry (Bengals) and Kevin Jones (Lions) -- have been disappointments thus far. Perry has settled into a versatile role for the Bengals but he has just 73 carries in three seasons. He also suffered a season-ending ankle injury midway through 2006. Jones has been the Lions' leading rusher since entering the league but he has yet to play in all 16 games during his three-year career. His most recent foot injury has team officials seriously concerned about his future. It's safe to say the Cowboys wish they didn't pass on Jackson when he was on the board at No. 22. Instead, the Cowboys traded (with the Bills) out of the first round and landed RB Julius Jones with the 43rd overall pick. Jones showed promise as a rookie, but he has had some injury issues and his production tailed off considerably during the second half of the 2006 season. Tatum Bell (Broncos, second round) was the only other running back selected on the first day of the 2004 draft. While he rushed for 1,025 yards in 2006, Bell's NFL career has hardly been a success story. He struggled to stay healthy during his first two seasons, when he combined for 1,317 yards on 248 carries. Bell has also fumbled nine times (losing six) during his three-year career, including losing all five of his fumbles last season with Denver. It will be interesting to see whether Bell, who was traded to the Lions this offseason, will ever re-emerge as a load carrier outside of the Broncos' running back-friendly system. Trend 4: Defensive tackles were underappreciated Tommie Harris (Bears) was the first defensive tackle to come off the board in 2004, but not until the 14th overall pick. Seven more selections would pass before the next defensive tackle, Vince Wilfork, was taken by the Patriots. Since then, Harris and Wilfork have emerged as two of the league's best interior defensive linemen. The Seahawks haven't reaped the same benefits with Marcus Tubbs (No. 23), who was the only other first-rounder from that crop. In his defense, Tubbs showed promises of turning the corner with 5.5 sacks in 2005, but injuries have derailed his progress. It turns out that several good values were also available in what was considered at the time to be a thin group of interior defensive linemen. The most noticeable of those include Igor Olshansky (Chargers, second round), Tank Johnson (Bears, second round), Darnell Dockett (Cardinals, third round), Randy Starks (Titans, third round), Anthony Maddox (Texans, fourth round), Craig Terrill (Seahawks, sixth round) and Corey Williams (Packers, sixth round). Todd McShay is the director of college football scouting for Scouts Inc. He has been evaluating prospects for the NFL draft since 1998. http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/col...%26id%3d2825116

funny how when we had him, all the media ever commented on about him was how BAD he was. How many times did I read prior to last year "Gandy is NOT the answer a LT for the Bills". Maybe he wasn't as good as Peters, but he was serviceable. We let him go and he's a solid addition for another team. WTF? (disclaimer, I never agreed with them as I thought Gandy was not a bad player in his role(s) with us.) read these praises: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ArS2...p&type=lgns http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2823178

i don't understand...i thought Smith would say it WAS Buffalo after reading his earlier columns about the McGahee loss. Is there a misspelling above? The post doesn't make sense....

forgot momentarily.....sorry!

OJ flat out kills them, Willis impregnates them, and Lionel beats them up. WTF??? http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2819118 TAMPA, Fla. -- Buccaneers running back Lionel Gates was arrested and charged with hitting a pregnant woman in the face and pushing her into a wall during an argument. The 25-year-old player was being held Friday with no bond, jail records said. Gates kicked in the front door of Peggie Lavender's apartment Thursday night, destroyed two televisions and two doors, put a hole in the bedroom wall and assaulted her, a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office report said. He was arrested later at his apartment in the same complex. Gates was charged with burglary of a dwelling, aggravated battery of a pregnant woman and criminal mischief. A call to his lawyer, Ken Sarnoff, was not immediately returned. The team had no immediate comment. "Charges such as those facing Lionel Gates are taken seriously by the Buccaneers organization," the team said in a statement Friday. "We plan to meet with Lionel as soon as possible after which we will deal with this matter appropriately." Gates was signed by Tampa Bay in September after being released by Buffalo. He played in college at Louisville and was drafted by the Bills in 2005. Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

don't you mean "on the cheap"?

oh my god. I usually just skip past PG's appearances in a thread. I was doing just that, then you quoted a piece and bolded it. I was sucked right in. Man am I sorry I did. That sh*t from "One could" to "10% full" made my damn head hurt. Thanks Dean BTW, Flomoe, excellent post. I agree.

yes, they are. these guys have no shame. They all wait and wait and wait for the mainstream, then they all jump on. Remember, more than half these guys followed along and broke their ankles jumping on Miami's bandwagon last year. And let's not forget these gems from last year....my favorite two Saban will take Fins to the Playoffs/Superbowl in 06.....AND win it Culpepper was a great FA pick up...he and Chris Chambers will light the AFCE up oh man, that's good stuff.

I say you gotta keep that rag. When the Ravens come to the Ralph, you should wear it and stuff a huge pillow where your abdomen is..... that would be classic...

TKO....won of the best we had, but too bad FAgency didn't cement you here with us. Kinda reminds me of when we had Chris Spielman...all LB, all CLASS...too little time... These guys fit Buffalo to a tee... Thank you Mr. Spikes

i think it's really obvious that Willis never had a garbage plate....

It's definitely out dated when you think in terms of the internet being out there. One trade goes down and there goes your paper publication. There are very good sites out there. I always find a couple of gems. Some guy over at BillsZone.com usually has a very good free Draft Guide. I printed it out last year while I was working out of town. It is lengthy and loaded with a lot of good info.

Solid 1st year. Productive, smart, and a good head on his shoulders. Now that's good scouting.

Please, Willis, keep giving interviews. This one here was a genuine ol' knee slapper. There's some good stuff in there. "I went to the U..."

dude, you must get fashion tips from Stevie Wonder... Best: JETS COLTS STEELERS GIANTS BEARS Worst: Broncos Bengals Bills Seahawks Bucs/Ravens tie

I guess this list is for receiveing yards. #6 in the league last year? that's pretty good. He led the top ten with AVG and Longest reception. This is just the type of progression I was thinking of when I predicted we would draft him. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics?s...2&year=2006

the guy has no shame either. comes on with that smug little attitude like he's got all this inside knowledge, yet year after year, proves only to be wrong 80%* of the time. He does a radio show on saturdays and it kills me......i like to listen because it's mainly football talk, but it also sucks because it's him doing the majority of the talking. *Disclaimer - percentages are ByTor2112's estimate and not validated for accuracy

I see 3 different jersey colors. Looks like they have the right idea of combining the old with the current, creating something new. The best part is that they are going back to the white helmets. Looks great. I wish the Bills went back to the white helmets. Another thing, if you take the bolt logo and put an eyeball on one end, could it pass for the Sabres new logo? http://www.chargers.com/ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...ms_N.htm?csp=34

Yeah.....ESPN is so right about everything. Remember, Miami was a winner a few years in a row as well. I mean, ESPNtertainment 2night told us so. They pointed to the Nick Saban hiring and the decision to pick up Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees, and they even foretold us of the Dolphins playing SB XLI at home. Remember all of that?

"Reach baby! Reach! Reach for the stars!!!!.......zzzzzzzz" ~Marv in Abe Simpson's voice...

i remember him....as a wrestler, never saw him play ball.

it's funny how these guys tailor their mock drafts to suit what has happened in FA. Just because the Bills all of a sudden need a RB, other teams are going to just let one fall to us??? No wonder they are so off on thier predictions. They also start to believe their colleagues' predictions about so-and-so "dropping" on teams' draft boards. HOW DO THEY KNOW? They DON'T, yet they start believing this stuff. They always forget that it comes down to "what that player did in college"...they forget this stuff because of all their own bad predictions.

What you talkin' 'bout Fairchild?

that wasn't what put Thurman up there...it was the Hall selection.... by the way, on the TBD homepage, why is Willis still there? we can keep TT on TSW and put LE on the TBD banner.....everybody's happy

hmmmm.....Dick filling a huge hole..... hmmm......