Brandon

I'd pick Spencer, Klopfenstein, or Fasano, in that order if those were my choices.

I'm also revising my grade on Whitner to a D+. Good prospect, bad value. As for McCargo...good value, good trade, good player. I like it, but I wonder what they're going to do on the OL now (probably not much). B+. Overall, they're up to a C+.

I'm not defending the pick, just making the point that Whitner is basically the same size as Reed. I'm not as completely hostile to this pick as I was an hour ago, but I still don't like it much.

Reed is an inch taller than Whitner and the same weight.

I'm also giving them an F. Horrible waste of value with the 8th pick.

You know, that wouldn't suprise me at all.

They could have still gotten Whitner had they traded down. I would have taken whatever pick the Eagles or Broncos were offering.

I have to give it to Eli Manning. He looked like he was going to cry when the Chargers took him #1 in 04.

I've been wondering about something for a little while now. Will Marv be willing to draft underclassmen? During his time as head coach, he rarely let rookies play. Will he be willing to draft a junior-eligible who is probably less prepared for the NFL than a college senior?

If that's true, the Saints got ripped off. The Packers gave up the 5th pick, a 3rd, and a WR with a questionable knee.

I agree on Ferguson and Hawk, unless someone made a big offer for that 8th pick. IMO, they are the 4th and 5th best players, respectively, in this draft. I don't think either position is a dire need, but I would still very likely select them if available. Same for Vernon Davis, who I have #3.

If they stay at 8, I'd be perfectly happy with Ferguson, Davis, Bunkley, Hawk or Winston Justice. Justice and Bunkley should be on the board and one of the other three might slip through to 8. Again, I wouldn't be too upset if Huff were the pick, but I think it will be a case of drafting a S too high for the scheme. If they trade down, I'd be happy with almost any pick they could make. Again, this list really only includes 3-4 guys out of 32 each round that I don't want them to pick.

That's 12-16 guys, depending on the QBs. 97 will be drafted today.

I'm guessing that your favorite player in the draft is on my list.

Since we've been discussing the prospects we want the Bills to draft all offseason, lets switch it up a bit and see who you hope the Bills avoid. Here is my list: 1) Any QB 2) OT Eric Winston, Miami 3) OT Marcus McNeil, Auburn 4) DT Haloti Ngata, Oregon 5) SS Michael Huff, Texas 6) OLB Ernie Sims, Florida State 7) DB Jimmy Williams, Virginia Tech 8) DE Darryl Tapp, Virginia Tech 9) DE Tamba Hali, Penn State 10) DB Antonio Cromartie, Florida State 11) WR Sinorice Moss, Miami 12) DT Rodrique Wright, Texas The two most notable names are Huff and Ngata. In Huff's case, its not that he's a bad player. Its the fact that in a cover 2, he's going to be playing deep coverage and probably isn't going to be a factor in run defense (as if any safety really is). I wouldn't kick the TV if he were the choice, but I think there are better uses of a R1 pick for this team. As for Ngata, when a guy's college coach says he's a great player when he's motivated, I think the signal is clear: buyer beware. He may be an underachiever. Darryl Tapp and Tamba Hali are probably two others that will be questioned. Both appear to be just like the guys we already have on the roster: high effort, but very average talent. They may turn out to be productive pros, but if I were doing the picking, it wouldn't be for the Bills.

They'll trade down at least once and select a DE somewhere in the second half of R1. My guess is Mathias Kiwanuka, but I wouldn't have a problem with them choosing Manny Lawson or Kamerion Wimbley, either. If the rumors of a trade with Chicago are true, my guess is that they are trying to trade Clements for their 26th overall pick.

I'd have no problems with it whatsoever, as long as they trade down. I've thought the Bills have had a major need for a pass rushing DE for a few years now and with the switch to a cover 2, its even greater. If they go for a DE in R1, I think it will be Kiwanuka, but I would have absolutely no problems with selecting Lawson, either.

Odds are good that they won't take a skill position player on offense, but I wouldn't completely rule it out. I don't think they'll take a QB or RB. WR? Yeah, we may have a dozen of them on the roster, but Lee Evans may be the only one that can play. I wouldn't be suprised at all to see them draft a WR in R2 or 3 if they aren't sold on the retreads they've got battling for the #2 job. The TE position looks pretty damn weak, too. Everett and Euhus are the recieving threats at this position and neither can stay on the field. Both appear to be behind Brad Cieslak on the depth chart. Robert Royal was signed as a blocking TE. In the end, it wouldn't suprise me at all to see them draft either a WR or TE on Saturday. Lee Evans is the only thing they have resembling a proven, reliable recieving threat on the roster and even he isn't a sure thing.

For the last week, its seemed pretty clear that the Bills want to trade out of this pick and I have them trading twice. Additionally, I also think there is a very good chance that they are targeting a player that we are overlooking and I am projecting one such possibility as our 1st round pick. As such, I'm going out on a bit of a limb with this one, but with all of the predictions of Ngata, Bunkley, Huff and Justice we've seen, I thought it would be interesting to see what could happen if they went another direction. Trades 1) Bills trade 8th overall pick to Cleveland for pick 12 and 43 overall. Cleveland selects DT Haloti Ngata. 2) Bills trade 12th and 105th overall picks to Dallas for the 18th and 49th overall picks. Dallas selects LB Manny Lawson. 18) DE Mathias Kiwanuka, Boston College As far as I'm concerned, the Bills need for a pass rushing DE from this draft is being vastly underestimated. There will be little to no blitzing out of a cover 2 defense and the Bills front four of recent years has generated very little pass pressure on their own. Kiwanuka seems to have fallen out of the top 15 picks, but I'm not buying the rumor that he's no longer a 1st round pick unless he has an injury issue (he was slowed by a knee sprain this past season) . I think he could beat out Kelsay and Denney for the LDE spot immediately, but even if it takes him a year or two, I think he could make a major impact as a pass rushing specialist in the meantime. Additionally, he is working on his graduate degree and is known as a high character-type person off the field, making him a perfect fit as a Marv Levy draft pick. 37 career sacks and 65 tackles for loss don't hurt, either. 42) S Daniel Bullocks, Nebraska 43) OG Max Jean-Gilles, Georgia 49) LB Thomas Howard, UTEP 70) DT Jonathan Lewis, Virginia Tech 73) DT Babatunde Oshinowo, Stanford 134) OT Rashad Butler, Miami 143) CB Charles Gordon, Kansas 178) TE TJ Williams, NC State 216) OT Jabari Levey, South Carolina 248) OC Marvin Phillip, California The rest of the picks fill significant needs. OT is a higher need than what it seems based on this draft, but I am not a fan of the 2nd tier OTs this year at all. The need for an OG is a little less with Reyes signed, but I'd still like to get a very good one out of this draft. Davin Joseph is my #1 OG this year, but I think he'll go late in the first or possibly very early in R2. Max Jean-Gilles is my 2nd choice.

What did you expect him to say? Even if the Bills have no intention of selecting Ngata (and I have no idea if they do or not), it is to their benefit to at least maintain the illusion that they are a threat to do so even if they don't want him. If a team such as Cleveland thinks the Bills are a threat to take Ngata, they might either trade with the Bills, giving us another pick, or trade ahead of the Bills, possibly allowing another player the Bills do want to drop to 8.

You can read it a couple of ways. I read it to mean that Marv believes that the window where this player will start to become an option for some teams is around pick 12. Not necessarily that he'll be selected that high (although he could be), but that's where his value starts to match up with opposing teams' needs. That sounds like someone most have rated as a mid-1st rounder and that's why I think they're looking at someone that none of us are mentioning.

I think he played LT at Pittsburgh, but I don't know if he was drafted to play that position with the Bills. They had drafted John Fina in R1 a couple of years earlier and if memory serves he had been a starter for a year.

I'm not really expecting them to trade down exactly 4 spots. If it happens, they'll probably have to trade down into the 15-20 range to really make it worthwhile for both the Bills and the other team involved. I think all of the players listed are mid-to-late 1st round picks. As for a WR pick, I wouldn't be so sure. Roscoe Parrish has proven nothing as a WR and is probably too small to be an every down player. Josh Reed was a flop in his earlier role as a #2 WR. Peerless Price hasn't done anything since leaving Buffalo in '02 and may have some significant health issues. The rest of the WRs are basically camp fodder. We have no proven reciever at TE. McGahee isn't much as a reciever out of the backfield. So basically all we have is Lee Evans. I'm not saying its a strong possibility, I'm just saying don't completely rule it out if they trade down.

It sounds like Marv is quite confident that this player will not be a top 10 pick unless they select him at 8 and that they could trade down and still get him. My guess is that the player they're talking about is someone that we haven't even discussed. In no particular order, a few possibilities should the Bills trade down include: 1) WR Chad Jackson, Florida 2_ WR Santonio Holmes, Ohio State No, it wouldn't be a popular choice after the Parrish pick a year ago, but aside from Lee Evans, what do the Bills really have at WR or even TE? Practically nothing. And no, having 10 more guys that can't play on the roster doesn't help much. At the very latest, I think we will have a new WR (or perhaps a recieving TE) by about noon next Sunday. 3) OG Davin Joseph, Oklahoma I think he's a better fit very late in R1, but the Bills did draft Ruben Brown with the 14th overall pick in 1994, so there is a chance Marv might take a G this high. We certainly need one. 4) DE Mathias Kiwanuka, Boston College Kiwanuka was a borderline top 10 pick until his stock started dropping in late January (and I'm not sure why he dropped). I think Kiwanuka will still be a top 25 pick. The Bills have a major need for a top tier pass rusher in this defensive scheme, a need that I believe is being vastly underrated by some of the fans and media. Kiwanuka would immediately upgrade their pass rush and I believe would be a solid fit with the Bills as an eventual or possibly even immediate starter at LDE. 5) OLB Chad Greenway, Iowa 6) OLB DeMeco Ryans, Alabama Spikes is coming off a career threatening injury and Posey has a year left on his contract. Crowell played reasonably well in replacement of Spikes a year ago, but it wouldn't be the worst idea for the Bills to select a top OLB prospect in this draft. 7) DT Gabe Watson, Michigan If you want a R1 DT, Watson might actually be the best choice. Yes, he has a reputation as an underachiever in college (so does Ngata), but he has about as much talent as Ngata or Bunkley, has no injury history, and will probably be available a dozen picks lower in the draft.

1) Houston--Reggie Bush 2) New Orleans--D'Brickashaw Ferguson 3) Tennessee--Vince Young 4) NY Jets--Matt Leinart 5) Green Bay--Mario Williams 6) San Francisco--Michael Huff 7) Oakland--Jay Cutler 8) Buffalo--AJ Hawk 9) Detroit--Winston Justice 10) Arizona--Vernon Davis While I don't expect any trades in the top 4, there will could be a significant change in the draft order of the 5th-10th picks if the above scenario occurs. In particular, I think there is a very good chance the Bills could trade for the Packers 5th pick. This would allow the Bills to draft Mario Williams should he be available and the Packers should still get AJ Hawk at 8 (or GB could draft Williams, wait to see if the Bills can draft AJ Hawk, and work out a deal to trade the two players later). If not, I think the Bills will trade out of the top 10. Oakland might also attempt to trade their pick to a team needing a QB.