Brandon

I don't know if its really fair to call Lynch a 'part time' player. I guess its technically true, but he did have over 250 combined carries and receptions. That's not significantly less than any of the other RBs expected to go high in the draft (I think Tony Hunt had the most at around 310). It could also be considered a positive. His college team didn't run him into the ground.

If you believe this board, there is absolutely no reason for Green Bay to make any trade up for Lynch. If the Bills can so easily find a quality RB in R2 or 3, so can Green Bay.

Jri111, that's a misconception about the Pac-10. The run defenses actually played pretty well this year. In fact, if you do a comparison, you'll find that on average, Marshawn Lynch faced the 53rd ranked run D in Division 1. Tony Hunt? This may suprise you: 64th. Each had one game against a non-division 1 foe tossed out (I do not have data for those teams, nor do I particularly care about how each performed against them). Note that this is on a yards-per-game basis. I have not done a comparison of the rankings on yardage allowed on a per-carry basis, but a quick scan reveals nothing out of the ordinary and no reason to believe the results won't be similar. You can find these numbers here: http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?div=4&site=org

For more than a single 3rd round pick, I'd probably pass. Maybe he's worth more than that, but I'm not too keen on making major investments in backup RBs.

Chris Henry is probably a workout warrior. In his best season at Arizona, he ran for 500 yards and averaged 3.5 ypc. If they're going to wait until R2, I'd rather see them draft Kenny Irons, Antonio Pittman, Lorenzo Booker or even Brian Leonard. None are ideal #1 RBs, but I think they'll all develop into solid contributors. No argument about Chris Brown. He's a good RB if (a big if) he's healthy.

And the rest of the story: http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/index.php?ntid=120393

That's good to know. You're welcome to form your own opinion on the matter. BTW, I do appreciate the insult in the final paragraph.

I like it, with the exception of the trade up. They need all of their first day picks this year.

I'd consider picking him if he were available at 12, but I would not trade up for him. The Bills have too many areas to address to be trading away higher round picks for anyone. Peterson's injury history also scares me a little and I'd probably just sit back and select Lynch at 12, who I feel is a better fit anyway.

And that's all the McGahee selection was ever about. Tom Donahoe wasn't so much trying to improve the team as he was trying to make himself look like a genius. I don't think it worked out too well for him.

The pick of Mike Williams was certainly a mistake in hindsight, but the Bills also desperately needed OL at the time. He was generally expected to go in the top 15 picks, so while Donahoe reached at 4, he still should have turned into a very good player. I can't fault him a whole lot for that one.

IMO, drafting McGahee was Donahoe's biggest mistake. When you consider the situation at the time and the investment the Bills made in him, there's no question in my mind that he was a bust. McGahee has never come close to his supposed potential. In fact, I don't think he's quite as good as Travis Henry even now. It was a terrible use of the 23rd overall pick.

1) Draft Marshawn Lynch 2) Sign Chris Brown 3) Late Draft choice or inexpensive FA

Very nice. Two first day picks, plus a late rounder out of an average player with one year left on his contract. Great, great work by the Bills front office.

I'd much rather have Ravens' picks. There are usually three tiers of players in a draft: 1) The top 8-12 prospects 2) The next 50-75 3) Everyone else The Ravens' 2nd round pick is more likely to net a player from tier 2 than the Titans 3rd rounder, while the difference between a 4th and 5th round player usually isn't much.

They're not tipping their hand at all. I doubt anyone in the NFL actually believes that the Bills would go into the 2007 with Shaud Williams and Fred Jackson as their RBs. Everyone knows they're going to have to sign/draft a couple of RBs if McGahee is traded.

Actually, the reason I would pick him there is due to his versatility. He's not an ideal blocking FB, but he's adequate and can fill the Bills need for a 2nd RB as well. If they were to draft a pure blocker, they'd probably need to pick up a backup RB at some point in the draft. I'd rather not have to use that extra pick. Its also possible that the Bills could sign a veteran FA in the meantime to fill either the FB or backup RB position, but until it happens, both are still needs.

Yep. Not all of us agreed with selecting McGahee, nor did we all agree with trading Henry. Four years later, it looks like the Bills gave up the 23rd overall pick and a good RB in exchange for an average RB and a 3rd round pick. Great job, Tom Donahoe, as well as to the Bills fans who bought the hype.

He ran a 4.41, improving from the mid 4.5s at the combine, but several other Nebraska players also dramatically improved their 40 times. I tend to think it was the track more than anything.

I really don't see the need to do this right now. Lee Evans is under contract for the next three seasons, Losman for the next two. Its possible that there are options to void in those contracts, but this is the first I've heard of it and would have to see some confirmation of it.

I'm not really sure I agree with where they have several players rated, but I would draft as follows: 12) RB Marshawn Lynch, California 43) OG Justin Blalock, Texas 61) FB Brian Leonard, Rutgers 74) CB Fred Bennett, South Carolina 109) MLB Zak DeOssie, Brown 169) OLB Rory Johnson, Ole Miss 203) QB Tyler Palko, Pittsburgh Lynch is the easiest pick of the group for me to make. He's far superior to the remaining RBs on the board, as good as anyone at any other position, and fills a major need. As easy as that first pick was, I had a lot of trouble with the pick #2. Granted, I passed up Patrick Willis because I expected Harris and/or Siler to still be on the board and I do not feel there is a significant dropoff to those two. The problem is, I did not expect Justin Blalock to still be there. Both are needs, but we need a MLB more. However, I expect Blalock to be a better pro, and his addition would be the final piece to the creation of a dominating OL. Tough call, but he's my pick in that situation. As pick 61 approaches, I'd have another decision to make. Trade up for Harris, or stay put and select Leonard. Another tough, tough call. As it would cost another pick to move up, I would probably stay put and select the FB. The next three picks address defensive needs. I think this is a terrible draft at DT and probably would not select one. The CB selection is not affected by the earlier picks. Its highly unlikely I would select one before R3 under most circumstances. The MLB position gets shortchanged, but Crowell's ability to play the position is a factor in the decision to wait until R4. While I'd honestly rather select one a couple of rounds higher, I don't think the situation is so dire that we must pick one if a better prospect is available.

We don't know. Even if he does, its possible that the Ravens are willing to pay him in the current market. They simply don't have that many options left. There probably aren't any full time starters among the FAs left, Peterson and Lynch are out of reach, and Willis is probably better than anyone they can get late in R2. They may feel its better to overpay for a decent starter rather than pay fair value for a player that inadequately fills their RB need.

No, they're equally important. For all of the talk of upgrading a weak defense, its notable that the Bills have also finished 29th in total yardage offensively the last two seasons. Clearly, the additions of Dockery and Walker help, but there is more work to do. The Bills have several mediocre or average players offensively that could certainly stand to be replaced. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on both sides of the ball before this team is ready to compete at a high level.

Yeah, that too. The guy is going into his 5th year and hasn't lived up to his billing as a #1 pick. At some point, its time to admit the mistake and move on. This guy has survived long enough on the promise of 'potential'. The Bills need to find a player who can turn 'potential' into actual consistent production at the RB position.

He doesn't have a whole lot of leverage in that regard. He has missed a lot of time due to injury, including last year. He has never established himself as a top tier RB when healthy, either. The best I think Chris Brown can hope for is a situation where he is in competition for the starting job in training camp, much like the Bills tried to do with Craig Nall a year ago.