ax4782

And that's exactly the way it should be. Modrak has been on teh hot seat as the head of college scouting for some time. That being said, between Modrak, Nix, and Whaley, I think those three have taken the players that they wanted as BPA and in most cases at positions of need. Only time will tell if the strategy paid off, but for the most part, these are long time college starters who have produced and been leaders on their teams. I, for one, think that the last two drafts were very successful, last years in practice, and this years, at least, on paper.

Yes, that was my point. Michigan ran a pro style offense when Mallett played there under Carr. He was worse than terrible in that system. He's playing in the college friendly spread now, and frankly, I haven't been that impressed with him in recent days either. Locker is, in my opinion, far better in every phase of the game than Mallett.

I think those are the two most important questions regarding our offense. As to the first question, I think Edwards, with the right coaching can be a consistent above average QB in the NFL. He'll never be a Peyton Manning, but he can be a good player. The problem seemed to be that Edwards was getting conflicting messages from the coaches regarding the play calls. As I understand it, one coach wanted him to do one thing, the other wanted something else, and that resulted in some serious problems regarding his confidence. With Gailey calling all the shots, I think that will allow Edwards to be at his best. As to the second question, Gailey has promised that the O Line will play better, but more importantly, he is going to arrange a scheme that will be best suited to the players in it. Gailey will design the offense to help make Trent successful until they can get more weapons or another quarterback in the draft next year. Our D is going to be much improved, probably allowing us to get more offensive opportunities and better field position. If that is the case, and all goes well, Buffalo might be able to finish better than 5-11 or 6-10, which is what I think is the most likely outcome at this point. That being said, we'll be a much more competitive football team than we have been in the last few years.

I would agree with all of this, and add Alan Faneca as a guard for depth. Flozell Adams would be a huge pick up for this team, and would allow both Bell and Wang to develop and learn from a very solid LT who has played a long time in this league. I'm glad we didn't give Coles all that money last year. Seems like we should be able to get him even cheaper this offseason than what it would have cost us last year, considering the Bengals found continuing with him wasn't worth the cost. I say he would be a solid signing and would upgrade us in the slot, giving us the biggest bang for our buck.

I think both of those OL would provide good depth and leadership. I'm still hopeful that Buffalo can pull Jared Gaither away from the Ravens in some kind of deal. Still, the addition of Faneca would be nice, considering that the Bills don't know that Wood is going to be ready at the beginning of the season. BTW Todd McShay is saying now that the Bills left him with something to be desired and the Spiller pick is good, but strange for him for Buffalo.

Agree with the assessment. I think the Bills got great value with Wang in the 5th as well. On top of that, our defensive front next year is going to be sick, on top of an already top-five secondary. We may only win five or six games, but it won't be because the defense sucks. It'll be because we still can't score quite enough points. I do, however, expect that watching the games is going to be a lot more exciting than it has been. The final thing I'll say is that the FO drafted a whole crop of guys who were captains on their teams at the college level. That's a lot of leadership to add to a young team, something that I think will help this team as we move into the future.

The starting players, in the rotation, will be as follows. D. Edwards-Torell Troup/Kyle Williams-Marcus Stroud. Spencer Johnson and Alex Carrington will be the back ups. However, it is our depth at LB that is now quite impressive. OLB Starters-Maybin, Schobel (if he plays) or Mitchell or Ellis ILB Starters-Poz, Davis, Mitchell, Draft (if he stays). On top of that you bring in two draftees who have size and speed in Moats and Batten who can play OLB. Our D is going to be nasty.

I agree with the OP. This draft really helped to solidfy the starting DL and the depth issues we've had at LB for years. And they didn't take any DBs, recognizing that after years of taking solid DBs in the draft, we no longer have a need to improve the secondary through the draft this year. Great draft all around. I think next year the defense will be significantly improved and over the next two to three years this team is really going to be a contender. Compared to our division rivals, we had a heck of a draft.

Nothing on those sites says that they signed with the Bills. Those are profiles only. I don't think the Bills have signed any UDFAs as of yet. Some of the posts on this page are extremely misleading, a note for all the mods out there today.

He wasn't talking about Maybin, except to say that if Maybin pans out the draft from last year will be a complete success. He never said anything about Maybin's excellence or crap as a player. We don't know what we have in Maybin considering he only played about 14 snaps last year. He was on the bench learning. This year he will be at a new position that is much better suited to his physical attributes and if he blossoms as Rush OLB, no one here will be able to say he is a bust. Of course it may not pan out. We'll see. I'm so tired of the Orakpo comparisons. Washington had very good front seven last year and Orakpo was helped significantly by that. I think he'll be a one hit wonder, and that this year teams will know how to stop him. His productivity will fall off significantly this year and everyone will be screaming that he is a bust. You'll see. Notice how any person on this board can make a prediction about the suckitude of a player, even though the objective facts say such increase in the player's suck level is very unlikely? That's just like what you are doing with players the Bills have drafted, who've had solid, long term college careers, but, according to you, will completely tank b/c they aren't the shiny pieces of tin foil other "analysts" have suggested.

Jake Locker. Mallett sucks. He was TERRIBLE with Michigan, could barely make reads and was not comfortable running Lloyd Carr's pro offense at all. He hasn't looked particularly good in his new home either. Locker is the best QB we could hope for, but he'll go first or second overall. I think it is very unlikely that the Bills will have a shot at him. If they draft Mallet, they're wasting another three years in mediocrity.

Yes, well the analysts at NFL Network certainly seemed to think that the Bills did a pretty nice job making over their defensive front and got the best playmaker in the draft in Spiller. The guys at Walterfootball give everyone a bad grade who doesn't take the players they think are the best. I'm sure the couch potato dorito eaters over there haven't even watched film on the players that the Bills picked because they weren't from a top five ranked school. I trust their opinion about as much as I trust the accuracy of their mock drafts after the sixth pick. And this year they didn't even get the top four right. Believing their Mock Draft and their draft grades is about as good as citing Wikipedia as a legitimate source in a research paper.

I guess that huge media concensus some on the board was saying to watch is coming down in favor of this draft. I guess, as usual, those uneducated among us shot their mouths off too quickly. The media is praising Buffalo for making smart picks to make over their 3-4 defensive scheme. Gee, I guess maybe Buddy and Co. do know what they're doing.

There was some mention about it on NFL Network. Mostly positive reviews though from the little that I have heard. And that is an assessment that I agree with.

I agree. The FO said they wanted to start rebuilding this team by running the football and stopping the run. They have lived up to that statement. Our pass D was great our run D sucked. Next year, that won't be the case. I think if Troupe can live up to the potential he showed in college, the D Line of Edwards-Troupe-Stroud is going to be really imposing. Our offense may only be marginally better, but the D should be significantly improved.

Who would you have thought was not a "reach" at 41? Cam Thomas? Linval Joseph? Clausen? The more people look at the Troupe pick, the more they are coming around. He was very productive for four years, played very well against top competition and played three downs at UCF, not two as Cody did and will in the NFL. Troupe is excellent against the run and was consistently beating double teams in college on passing downs to get to the QB. Getting the most explosive playmaker in a draft is not a luxury. It is a good pick that will instantly help the offense get better both running and passing the ball. As to your last point, I'll agree and would have before or after the draft. They were not going to be a contender this season or next, frankly. But when a team has as many holes and questions as we do running the ball and stopping the run, getting better in those areas is never a bad thing. This was a good draft in a lot of ways, even if it wasn't the flashiest.

One thing about this FO is that they stick by their statements. They said we have a top secondary with very deep talent and that they were going to focus on stopping the run. That certainly appeared to be the case in the second and third rounds of the draft. They also added depth to the LB squad where we need some size and speed. Not to mention Spiller is probably the best playmaker in the draft. Overall good draft.

I think he would be an excellent insurance policy, especially considering the delicacy of Wood's offseason recovery. Also, Faneca at LG would allow the Bills to slide Levitre out to LT this year, giving them time to develop Wang and Bell for T duty next year.

If you thought the Bills were going to have a winning record by week six either before or after this draft, you have not been following this team with any semblance of competence either this offseason or any other offseason. We had way too many holes for this team to be a contender this year. In fact, I hope they aren't because the QB and tackle class for next year's draft is going to be much deeper than this one.

Welcome back to the present. This is a new FO with a new game plan. Most people would argue that last year's draft produced four solid starters, and one starter this year at OLB who has a ton of potential and upside. Why are so many of the noobs here get so mad so easily and don't seem to know anything about the changes that have gone on with this team, as if the FO and their strategy has been one continuing entity from a decade ago till now. In many ways we are still recovering from six years of Tom Done-a-hoe's idiocracy, but Nix is building a solid team with this draft. Sorry all the racoons on this board didn't get their piece of tin-foil to play with, but this was as solid draft. Not flashy, but certainly addressing our biggest problem on defense, the fact that we can't stop the run. With these picks, we've gotten much better in that department.

Yeah, sure seemed like a good pick to me. The guy definitely has an arm.

+1

First of all, this statement makes absolutely no sense. Second, if you think fans know what it takes to make a winner, I direct you to the New York Jets fans who all think that their picks are terrible every year without fail. Fans want shiny toys. Football professionals know how to rebuild teams from the ground up. Nix is right, for now the Bills need to be a team focused on running the ball and stopping the run. That's how championship teams start. The basics must be mastered before you start getting crazy. In the NFL, you must run before you can pass. And you must stop the run if you want to stop the pass. Buffalo's strength on D is stopping the pass. We got killed last year because we couldn't stop the run. Buffalo drafted this year with that weakness in mind. Let's PLEASE see how the new picks do this year before we call this draft a failure.

They were going to pick us last in the division anyway because we had holes to fill all over this team. The FO decided that this was a year to concentrate on fixing the defensive front seven. In that regard, this has been a very successful draft. We have an immediate starter at NT, and very solid guys to come in and play at the OLB positions. On offense, you got better just by adding Spiller as a threat. Edward Wang is a very solid prospect and I fully expect to see him as the starting tackle within two years. As for QB, considering that so many teams with QB needs passed on Clausen and McCoy, not once but twice, I'm not all that disappointed that the Bills didn't draft one yet. People here who thought the team was one player away from the playoffs were deluding themselves. After next year's draft, perhaps we'll be able to say that, but not this year. We have a long way to go, but shoring up the run defense and getting good sized depth LBs was a very good move.

Yes, because the media are the best predicters of the future. Ryan Leaf turned out to be the best QB ever. Oh, wait, that was the land the media portrayed. That's right he sucked. And so have so many other "Can't Miss" prospects proclaimed by Mel Kiper and his draft acolytes at ESPN. By the way, so far, ESPN has graded our first round choice as an A. That ever present media showing how horrible our FO is.