Koufax

Buddy won't reach (fortunately), so unless by April he has reason to have Miller as a top-3 talent in the draft, this will not be our pick. Mocks are all amusing and fun, and it is entertaining to talk about, but nobody out there has a top 10 even close to what the actual top 10 will be. And if you can show me any case in the past of anybody having the top 10 correct (even in the wrong order?) in January, I will be very surprised.

Best player available is never a luxury. I know you are really excited about the 2012-2014 freddie and marshawn, but I will take CJ. Or were you going all in on the 2010 season and not looking for the most useful contribution over five or six years? And just for the record for future reference, tell me who you wanted? Who is the Ngata in this mix?

I am with you on Ngata and Orakpo, and so is every person on this board, including 99% of them prior to the draft and on draft day. I don't agree with you on last year, and wouldn't trade Spiller for any of those guys. The rest seems like cherry picking that you could do with a bunch of teams in each draft. And NO I don't think Revis over Marshawn would have been the right decision at the time, and certainly taking Ed Reed #4 would have been a huge "reach" based on the knowledge we had then. So I think your list should be players we "COULD" have drafted, not players we should have, unless you are going with the full knowledge of the future being assumed, in which case we should have just bought winning lottery tickets (since we know the numbers we should have bet now), and used the billions to create a New York Yankees like economic juggernaut in the NFL.

+1 Great football players is what we need. Not patching the weakest links in the (fifty)Three Stooges. I love how LT and QB were our two weaknesses, and then this year they aren't even though we didn't draft anybody. And we drafted two DL in rounds 2 and 3 and had another emerge as a pro-bowl player, yet DL is our big need right now. Don't think you can really know the needs in April, especially with the CBA likely postponing free agent signings, and don't think a draft pick can fill a need faster than another is created. Get the best football player you can each pick, repeat that for a number of years, and then look at your roster and compare it to the 2010 team.

I love that 1-2-3 combo, and Dareus is what I am hoping for. I think I prefer him to Fairley, but wouldn't mind Fairley either if things shake up before draft day. I'm not sold on Peterson or Prince being an absolute lock to be a top shutdown corner in this league yet, and I don't think getting a good CB is as important as getting a good DL, so I would only be happy with those guys if after careful vetting by Chan and Buddy they really really think one of those guys is a lock to be a pro-bowler. Dareus makes the most sense, and I think will be there at #3, and has a good chance of being both BPA and NEED, which is a pretty exciting combo. Then Ralph will probably make us draft Green or Mallett anyway...

"I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!" We need to get better at just about all of our 53 positions. I don't see a QB at #3 who will help us get better as a defensive player at #3, but that's because I find it a big stretch to imagine having one of these QBs as a top three player on our draft board based just on talent and expected NFL performance. Given that Fitz is playing well enough that only Luck would really move ahead of him for our opener, we would be drafting a project to start the next season on the bench and play who knows when. I would rather have an impact player ready to go on day 1, like Dareus or Fairley. If there were an impact QB available who we loved, I would take him. And neither of those choices would be based on thinking that good QBs have lost playoff games this year or teams that have won have good defenses.

I'm calling bull**** on this, and that you cannot draft a player who has not declared and sign him after his following college year. Otherwise we have been wasting our 7th rounders by not taking the top guys from the next draft. No need to waste a #3 pick! Take the two best players coming out the following year with our 6th and 7th rounders!

They don't need to just improve the defensive front, they need to improve the TEAM. And if Peterson and Fairley are there and rate similar, sure, take Fairley based on position (or Dareus). I am definitely not advocating Patrick Peterson because I don't know enough about him, and unlike the linemen, I have not seen him play. But if Peterson is clearly superior to anybody else available, I take him even though I don't want to take a CB. You might draft a need if you are a player or two away, maybe. If you are a decade without playoffs and a mediocre talent top to bottom, you take the player you think has the best chance of being great, of wearing a yellow jacket, of being a year in year out pro-bowler. There was no LT or QB we considered as talented as RB Spiller last year, and I am happy with that decision making (even if not with his rookie year). I expect that the decision making will be the same. What I see as different is that there are fortunately D-Linemen who will be at the top of our talent board when we pick at #3. But I would like to say it one last time: our first round busts are all that because they are not great players, not because we didn't need a shutdown corner or a left tackle or a QB. Find great players and nobody will complain what position they play a few years from now. Settle for mediocre players based on position, scheme, etc., and you will be talking about busts in a few years. I don't care that we picked a safety over a DT, I care that we picked a pretty good player (Whitner) over a great player (Ngata). I don't care that we picked a DT over a RB, I care that we picked a not so good player (McCargo) 24 picks before a great player (MJD). So I don't care what position they play (okay, I do a little). I hope that at #3 and beyond we are trying to get great football players.

Yes, and fans be quiet too until 1 hour prior to kickoff in our opener. No need to talk about football either as a player or a fan. Just focus on taking care of business and getting ready to cheer at the stadium for us and make tackles for him. Any deviation from this focus, any discussion of things, and any entertainment will not be tolerated. I'm not saying he needs to try to take the division's unfounded smack talk title away from Ryan, but I think it is great to generate some excitement and confidence. And who are you "quoting" with your "air quotes"?

Who did you want? I'm not sure I see the Orakpo or Ngata in this one, and am pretty optimistic about what Spiller will mean to this team over the next five years.

Wait, I thought we needed LT and QB? No, nevermind, that was our supposed needs last draft when we went drafted D-Line in the second and third before adding Merriman. I'm not saying I love our front 7, and I really hope we find excellent football players to help them out. We better use our 1st and 2nd on great football players, and not to try to patch a short term perceived need with inferior players. I don't see Mallett as having any chance at #3, and I would much rather have Fairley/Dareus at that spot than Newton, but I really want the best player possible at that spot. As Chan says, when you are 4-12 you have needs at all 53 positions, and I don't see any of our 53 getting a yellow jacket in the future. So whether it is a shutdown CB (everyone will boo) a small fast running back (okay, not this year, but I don't disagree with our pick last year), or a beast D-Lineman, I just want the most talented football player at each pick, based on what we think he brings to the table over the next five years. I personally would love to see Chan get a QB he likes with our second pick, but am fine with Chan and Buddy picking up the QB they want any time in this draft or next draft (the one position that has some more complex reasoning than just BPA).

Dec 2009 Bleach Report Mock Aren't winter mock drafts fun? Take a look at this one a few weeks earlier than now, but from roughly the same point last year. Claussen #1, Spiller #22, Bradford #6. It is fun to talk about, but just realize that no mock around now will be even close to the actual draft, even in just the top 3, so now is not a time to speak about absolutes. Also, looking back on things with a smile, it was very intersting to compare Claussen's 2009 with Luck's 2010 in terms of expected #1 pick "can't miss" stuff. I hope we pick the guy that Chan and Buddy think is going to be the best football player over the next five years, and what Kiper thinks we need, or what Ralph wants, or what Modrak thinks is smart, or what the fans agree on (although with Ngata and Orakpo of past drafts, I would put us a close second behind Chan/Buddy).

+1 A lot will change between now and the draft. We will have the opportunity to draft some great players at #3. We have to wait three and a half months, then we have to wait 20 more minutes to see what Carolina and Denver do, then we can get one of the top 3 talents in the country before waiting a bunch more for training camp. I definitely think Fairley is way ahead of Cam on my draft board, but on just the QB side I like Mallett ahead of Cam too, but don't really like either of them at #3. Take a QB in round 2 if someone Chan likes slides, otherwise wait until 2012.

Depends on the talent. I would rather have Nnamdi or Revis than McCargo. Not a fair comparison, but if we don't grade the four lineman high (doubtful) and we are in love with Prince or Peterson then they need to take the better player. I know this is the year where we NEED front 7 (despite "adding" Merriman, Troup, and Carrington already), like last year we NEEDED LT/QB. I really hope the best player is a front 7 guy too, but I would rather have future HOF DB than a future pretty good DL/LB. Fortunately I think the talent will be close enough that we will get one of the big 4 listed and put him on the field from week 1. Go Bills.

Fairley > Newton. I see Newton as a Vince Young Jr., not as a Big Ben Jr. If Chan really believes I will trust him, but I hate taking a project at #3.

If his next five years are like this first one, you will have a point. But the reason you take a guy like this with a top ten pick is that you think he can do more than the undrafted guys and be a more explosive play maker. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but while I hate the first year lack of production, I care much more about what he does in the next few years, not what he does as a rookie in our twelve loss rebuilding low point.

I also wonder how that factored into other teams and their defensive schemes. Anybody have an idea how many pass plays were run with CJ in the backfield? Would his presence let teams cheat run because it was more likely Freddy would be in there on pass for his superior blocking? Or am I making something up? I think he will get better at it, and I expect to see a lot of improvements and adjustments from year 1 to year 2. I don't think he wants to be a 5 carry/game 300 yard/year scat back, and I think his first season in the NFL will give him some clear things to work on.

We have very high expectations and we should, but I agree with San Jose on just about everything, and I think we have to stop trying to run out of town everybody after a rookie year. I would love some rookie impact and sure hope we get some out of #3, but I fully expect Spiller, Troup, and Carrington to be valuable players over our next five seasons, and not at all in the Maybin/McCargo mold. My concern is about his role and where and when he will fit in in the 4-3/3-4 hybrid. I think there is plenty of room, but on draft day the thought was that he would be our big 3-4 nose tackle, and that seems less likely at the moment, and we know Kyle is an every down type star for us now, so it will be up to Chan to try to figure out the best utilization of the guys, and up to Troup to get stronger and smarter and better in his second year.

Who? Here are 10 through 20 without DBs and RBs (let's not pretend we pick anybody at 9 who didn't go in the top 20): 10 Tyson Alualu DE 11 Anthony Davis OT 13 Brandon Graham DE 15 Jason Pierre-Paul DE 16 Derrick Morgan DE 17 Mike Iupati OG 18 Maurkice Pouncey C 19 Sean Weatherspoon LB I don't see this year's Orakpo or Ngata here or anybody I would really rather have than Spiller over the next five years. I like the Spiller pick even with his rough year, I like the trade of Marshawn because we don't need three RBs, yet I still wish Marshawn well...he always gave everything he had on the field. Let's still hope #3 this year is the biggest homerun of a pick in years

Good for him, and good decision. He will play in the NFL barring catastrophe, and now he will have a degree as well as a chance at a national championship and a Heisman. This is only bad for the Bills 2011 draft. We were not going to get Luck, but he was going to assure that we got one of the top two other players on the board. Now we get one of the top three players on the board. I'm hoping Carolina and Denver do things we wouldn't and we still get the guy that Buddy would take #1, but if Fairley and Bowers go 1/2 we won't be feeling so good about this in a couple months. Now, in a round about way, this could be good for us in 2012. It makes for a deeper QB draft, and means that a top QB could fall to our #11 or whatever slot. Way too soon to worry about that, but I'm just saying that while this makes 2011 worse, it could have a positive effect in 2012. I think we pass on QB at #3 (unless Chan and Buddy have a really different opinion than I do on one of the guys available), and if we have value in round 2 Chan can take a project, and otherwise we can wait until 2012 to draft a QB and know that the 2012 QB class got deeper today. Now let's get a bunch of good football players!

I love the arm. I'm not sure about the player, and we didn't cut JP because of a lack of arm strength. Dig deep Buddy and be sure if you take him. I still can't believe that they didn't return the block for the game winning touchdown though...it's 4th down, even if you kick it around and they recover you still get the ball...can't teach football instincts, but that was almost as bad as the Stanford lineman who caught the deflected ball in the endzone for the safety.

I don't think either of the two CBs will really be clearly the best football player available when we pick at #3, and if it isn't clear and we have several players graded very close together, I would rather see front 7. But I don't see where on this roster we have a player who is a year in year out pro bowl difference maker. So I want to get as many of those guys on my roster any way I can. The easiest chance we will have is #3, and I want to get a great football player. Bowers and Fairley top my list, but I think that Nix will have a better list and the same goal. Leave position out of it, and get us some great football players!

Almost? Why almost? Luck being chosen by Carolina improves the Buffalo Bills by making one more top-3 guy isn't off the board. Unless you are holding out hope of Stanford winning a national championship, I don't see any reason we shouldn't be thrilled when he declares and improves the Bills from choosing from one of the three best non-Luck players to one of the two best non-Luck players.

If those positions aren't the best football players? Other than QB, I think we need to get the BPA every year for a couple years during our building. We aren't drafting to fix our 2011 team, we are drafting to build a great football team. Needs change year to year, but mediocre talent doesn't become elite year to year. Don't reach on one single pick because we like the position please. Something Nix knows well from SD. Franchise QB is a different animal, and fortunately Fitz gives us the ability to pick the right QB in the right round this draft or next and sit him a whole year if needed like Palmer and Rivers. If we like a guy at #3 not named Luck I am fine with that, although I also think that we need to examine all the QBs pretty carefully.

Oh! NOW I get it! You don't mean #1 like a team depth chart, you mean #1 in the history of the position! Ok, then fair point. Stevie is not a #1 in the history of the position WR...I just hadn't realized that was a common "myth". And I Googled and you are right. Jerry Rice was clutch, meaning all of his career drops (2.6 of them) were carefully placed in non-crucial situations, and he never dropped an important ball (small sample size since Rice only played on one or two playoff teams if I remember). He certainly never dropped a deep bomb that would have meant a five win season or anything that important. Whoops...sorry about that...I had my Sarcasm-Lock key stuck.