Brandon

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.

Tavaris Jackson of Alabama State

Yes, it was a 3-4.

I think he's played fairly well, to be honest. He might not be good enough to be a #2 CB, but as a 3rd, he's not bad at all. The Bills could certainly do worse.

Coming off a 5-11 season, there aren't too many picks that don't make sense for the Bills at 8. This is a bad team with a lot of needs. My own opinion is that Ngata is a notch below that elite group of 8 at the top of the draft. I would not pass up Vernon Davis, AJ Hawk or even Michael Huff for Ngata at 8. And yes, I do believe at least one of those three players will be on the board when we pick at 8. Reaching for need in the top 10 results in picks like Mike Williams. I agreed with that pick at the time, even though I thought he was more of a mid 1st rounder. That was a lesson learned the hard way.

I don't know that they disliked Rashaun Woods so much as the fact that he's been horrible. He's caught only 7 passes in his first two seasons. Myself, I think the 49ers will draft Michael Huff.

That may be true, but the Bills still have nine more picks, including three on the first day. Its not an all-or-nothing situation. A good example is at OG, where the Bills might be able to take the first OG off the board at 42. If there's an elite player at a lesser need position available at 8, the Bills CAN afford to pick him.

Who do I least want the Bills to select in round 1???

I'm glad that they appear to be targeting a quality OG prospect in this draft. They've been needing at least one for a couple of years now. Although I wouldn't be too upset if they select Huff, I'm not a big fan of drafting a S at 8. This looks like a very good draft for safeties and the Bills could probably wait at least a round and get a good one. I'd expect there to be quite a few more names on this list by the 29th.

We don't know who the Bills are targeting at 8. They may have no interest whatsoever in selecting Ngata. As long as the Bills get a 2nd round pick out of the deal, I have no problems at all with trading down with Philadelphia.

If you really want to get greedy with the Vikings draft picks, the value of their 17th, 48th, and 51st overall picks is roughly equivalent to our 8th overall pick and the 70th. That's four picks in the top 51.

I wouldn't give up much at all to trade up for Ferguson. Its not so much that he's not an excellent LT prospect. He is. I just think the OT need has been overrated. Gandy isn't great, but he's adequate. Peters isn't great, but he's shown a lot of improvement and more than enough talent to eventually move to LT. If anything, we may need a RT prospect and we can pick one of those up in the 2nd-4th round. The real problem up front on the OL is the LG/C/RG area. Again, you draft those in R2-4. I'd only trade up if it was for Mario Williams. With the Bills planning to play a cover 2 defense and the front four being totally inept at generating a pass rush on their own in recent years, the Bills have an enormous need for a quality pass rusher. They might get by with a situational pass rusher drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round, but if they can trade up at a reasonable price for the best DE prospect in this draft by far, I say go for it.

I really don't see the Saints drafting Mario Williams with two 1st round DEs on the roster. I believe they will select D'Brickashaw Ferguson. The team I'm concerned about would be the NY Jets. Their trade of John Abraham has opened up a hole on their roster at RDE and I can see them selecting him with the 4th overall pick. I think they'd either take him or AJ Hawk, but Williams would be my guess. So yes, I do think its a longshot. But if the Bills think he might last until the 5th pick and the Packers are shopping that pick, I would not at all be suprised to hear that the Bills are interested. Of course, the trade itself wouldn't actually happen until draft day if Williams happened to be on the board at 5.

I think they could certainly be one of them. The Bills need a significant upgrade to their pass rush and if they could trade up at a reasonable price and get Mario Williams, I don't think they'd hesitate to do it.

Actually, you were right. If the Vikings fail to match Seattle's offer, they will recieve Seattle's 3rd round pick. So, yes, they will have two 3rd round picks as well. Burleson is a restricted FA.

A blind monkey throwing darts at a list of names taped to a dartboard, perhaps?

I think trading JP Losman is a great idea. We need another top QB prospect to ruin and subsequently run out of town.

Normally I would agree, but in such a bad year for WRs in the draft and in FA, someone will be willing to pay a premium to guarantee that they get him. I think it will be the Eagles. They've got three 4th round picks to spare.

If the Bills just want a big run stuffing DT, they'd be better off trading down 15 picks or so and selecting Gabe Watson. He's just as talented as Ngata and while he's got a rep for being lazy in college, so did Ted Washington.