Bob in STL

1 - No doubt we needed a SS and Whitner is the man. Expect growing pains this year but he should be an excellent SS for years to come. 2 - Vincent is done. R. Baker looked promissing at times. Ko Simpson has ALOT to learn but could be an excellent player ... next year. 3 - The primary weakness was indeed the interior but lets face it the tackles are not strong either. Maybe Peters will continue to develop into a solid player. I would have loved to see Justice drafted at 26 and gamble that McCargo is there at 42. I admit, I know less than Marv and Modrak. They made sure thay got there man (McCargo). 4 - Fowler and Reyes should be an upgrade. If anything, at least we know that under Marv's management style, McNally had some input on them. 5 - All picks indeed address need. Our problem is we have more needs than quality picks. My only issue is that we did not get a top OL prospect, instead we have a few developmental projects. 6 - We are so weak it almost impossible to waste a pick. For our current roster, using a day one pick on WR, LB and QB would have been questionable, but taking good players is smarter than drafting by postion. Overall I think the draft went well. I understand the logic behind the picks and the draft complemented the moves made in free agency. It looks to me like Marv has a plan.

Agreed. Smerlas somehow considers himself to be a Patriot. He is an idiot.

Agreed, Berman will be all over Clutch McCargo and Ashton "Shake your" Booty. He might even had tried Ko "Jay" Simpson but that is taboo today. To the national media, OJ never existed.

Can you confirm this somehow? What is the source of this information?

HELLO, Hello, hello .... is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home?

Concur. I am so tired of the "we could have traded down and still picked these guys" comments. Amazing how much scouting and GM talent there is in the WNY area. Whitner should start, McCargo will be heavily involved in the DT rotation (both are juniors by the way), and Youbotny could be nickel or dime back. I can see all 3 starting in the future.

good one!

Yes, it would have been soooo easy to trade our 1st down 5 or 7 slots and get another second .... right. And McCargo would have been there in the second because you say so. Get a life.

... that is mostly because I am conditioned by all of the mock drafts and projections. I expected either Huff, or Ngata, or a trade down and then either Ngata, Bunkley or Justice. DTs and OTs tend to be highly coveted positions and we need both. We also need a safety. They must really like Whitner. It all comes down to who the Bills think thay can get in rounds 2 and 3. There must be a DT and an OT targeted later in the draft that they like as much as Ngata/Bunkley or Justice? Could be that this is not true at safety. All I know is that I really wanted to see the trenches adressed with the top picks. I think that give us the best odds to add talent to those positions. I am a bit surprised by the pick of Whitner but lets give the kid a chance.

That is dumb!! get a grip.

Wrong. He is trying to preserve something from the past. Something that was good about the NFL and is now threatened. Ralph could make tons of money by selling the team. He is more interested in his legacy. I am very surprised that Lamar Hunt in KC and Al Davis in Oakland have not come to Ralph defense, at least for moral support.

So what if the Bill drop a few slots and pick Cutler? They can still address OT and DT in the 2nd and 3rd rounds and the extra pick(s) may be a good thing. What if Cutler becomes a pro bowl QB? The draft day grades rarely have anything to reality. Hang tight and enjoy the event.

Good point on AJ but he lacked GM experience and he was going to stick with Butler anyway. One of Ralph's issues with Butler was that Butler did not handle contracts and the business side of the job. AJ would have had those same issues. Butler may have been lower paid but prior to the escalation in front office salaries, Ralph was paying multple people to do the job that some GMs were doing by themselves. Other issues with Ralph and Butler leaving were: 1 - the handling of Wade; 2 - Butler's cap mess and reluctance to purge veterans to get the cap under control; 3 - Flutie-Johnson related decisions (lots of stories about meddling here). Ralph paid TD bigger dollars but gave him much more responsibility. TD failed on his own. TD was drunk with power and that lead to some bad decisions. Ralph was correct to end TD's regime.

I think so many people here just like to complain. It looks fine and is easy to navigate. Check out the interactive depth chart. Click on a position and you see the players names and picture. Click on the player and you get his bio. This feature is quite good.

I think that you cannot really evaluate them until after the 3rd season, by then we should be a playoff team on the rise. The development and emergence of a good QB will be the key factor.

I disagree. We need to keep good players that are in their prime. Nate is that. His prime years fall into the 3-4 year time frame you suggested. Yes, he had an off year but so did the alot of people last year. He is still better than most CB's in the league. I think Nate is a top corner and should be paid fair market value. The Bills need to do this to show that they are willing to pay and keep their best players. Fair market today for a CB is less than it was a few years ago. Lets sign him and take advantage of that good timimg. Drafting a rookie, even in the first round, does garauntee that we get a better player.

Felser's underlying point is that we may get off to a slow start with a new staff in place. If we stuggle early and fall behind in the standings then we may indeed have a tough time selling tickets later in the season. Marv and Co need to field a competitive product.

Well, in this case, the decision is which one of seven oustanding players do I take ... I would agree. However, if the decison involves something truely important, like going to war or voting on key legislation, I would say that Daddy oversimplified things a bit.

Yoyr looking at old mocks. If you drop to 17 Justice will be gone, Ngata will be gone, Bunkley will be gone and Huff will be long gone. The extra 2nd rounder will be nice but we will not find a rookie to start at LT or DT for this season. If you want Justice you might be able to drop to 12. We shall see.

The draft is the key. Both guard positions are worrisome. There are 2 or 3 OG's in the draft that will push to start on our team right now. If we can land Reyes that will improve the line and Preston may develop. Fowler should be an upgrade over Teague. Gandy at LT is just adequate. We will draft his replacement somewhere in the first 3 rounds but its doubtful a rookie will start the season at LT (assuming Brick is not there at 8; Justice may be able to start as a rookie?). To upgrade the talent on OL, we should draft two offensive lineman on day 1 of the draft.

That was a crappy draft. Franklin was a decent WR on a crappy team. Riddick was a good backup RB. He was especially good in short yardage where he had the ability to leap over the line of scrimage and get the needed yardage. His career was cut short by injury or he would have backed up TT longer.

My take: 1- Who knows if Ngata is better than Bunkley or anybody else? 2 - Spencer is NOT the the best OG in the draft according to many "experts" 3 - Allen may not be there in Round 2, and isn't Huff the better prospect? 4 - Bernstein is considered a reach at 4; I doubt a rookie will start, even as a FB.

True but lets not cut Bennie until some one better beats him put.

Are you for real?