BillsVet

Reading through this thread, it's a study in analyzing everything in absolutes. As in, either one says you take an OT (given the need) or you're wrong. It's not that simple, and there's so much more to it. Each team has varying needs, strengths, and is developing or continuing their team's plan. The Bills just so happen to be rebuilding again, and had few building blocks on either side of the ball, outside of their secondary, an ILB, a WR, and their running backs. Looking at teams that rebuild, OT's are taken frequently in the early stages of the team reshaping. BAL, ATL, MIA, and TEN chose to acquire their OL first, then focus on skill players. I'd say it's worked well for all of them. Meanwhile, BUF insists on skill players and trusts their developmental OT's to allow them to continue taking skill players and 34 DL. It used to be RB's were the marquee picks, because they could run by everyone. Now, defenses are much faster, and I don't care how fast they run, without an OL even the RB with the best vision will be challenged.

The irony in this sentence is thicker than Buddy Nix' accent.

They had got 4 starters in 2006 too: Whitner, Simpson, K. Williams, and Ellison! Four years later it's likely none of those guys are starting material. If the Bills continue getting 4 starters a year, they'll have completely rebuilt by 2014! Flipping sweet!

Dick Levy took more small players than any rebuilding team should. And Buddy Gailey just continued that trend by taking a 200# RB who will operate behind an OL with absolutely no quality at OT. Maybe the defense will be better. Maybe not. But there's no denying the offense will continue to suffer, and Chan Gailey is not the offensive wizard like the homers around here claim he is. Buffalo bottoms out in 2010.

What does this pick say about James "9 mm" Hardy and everyone's favorite, Steve Johnson? It says the team isn't real high on either player to draft a guy in the 4th round.

Name one 6'2" LT in the NFL, because that's what AL is. Cornell Green is their only OT on the roster with experience, and he wasn't re-signed by OAK.

OT's can be found anywhere in the draft. I trust Nix and Gailey, because they know more than me. Didn't Buddy say it's hard for your QB to throw when he's on his back? I hope Edwards/Fitzpatrick/Brohm purchased more personal injury insurance.

It's only been 10 seasons. What's another year, especially when the team has rebuilt three times since 2001? And yet the same guys hiring the football people are still there, no less promoted. New Orleans ran the ball so well and stopped the run too. Ditto for Indianapolis. This ain't the NFL of 1985 anymore, but fans key in on Chan "I couldn't get a NFL HC gig for a decade" Gailey as if it's gospel. You're not the only one. Watch what happens to season ticket sales.

The same thing happens every year: fans get pumped directly after the draft. Reality says most rookies, particularly after the first round, don't make much impact their first season. The book on Levy from 06-07 is finally closing now. He failed miserably, and it's not surprising that fans have gone emotional directly after another draft. Time will tell.

Evidently Buddy Nix made every great pick in SD without input from anyone else. A.J. Smith and John Butler obviously deferred to his omniscience the entire time they were GM's. Sammy Davis, Toniu Fonoti, Tay Cody, Reche Caldwell, Antoine Cason and Craig Davis were not his picks during his time in SD as well. Nix was a PART of a fine front office in SD that found talent. Giving credit to him for the good picks must be balanced with at least a shred of logic.

FWIW, the easiest position to draft in the NFL is running back, particularly in the first round. You've either got the physical skills or you don't. Saying it's brilliant that taking the top RB in the top 10 is brilliant is too easy.

No matter what anyone says, season ticket sales are not going to be at the level they were in 08-09 in 2010. The story isn't written there, especially with sales only beginning within the past month. Spiller fits for multiple reasons. He sells tickets, can be sold to the fan base as the already pointed out anti-Lynch, he's a flashy skill player who can sell merchandise, and isn't a boring OT. First round picks are organizational decisions, especially in Buffalo. All parties were involved, and they're not limited to merely the football people. Saying Nix makes the pick is naive.

Hey dude, it's 10 years without a team in the postseason. And you're always there backing this team up as if they're multiple SB winners. Riddle me this: What gives you hope after all these failures of the past decade? A RB with 4.3 speed? And when you've answered that, tell me why Bills fans can't be pessimistic? The stadium lease runs out after 2012, the team can't attract name NFL people, and the owner is 91 years old. Do you really think this team has enough time to rebuild? What's not to love Mr. Optimism?

Finding OG's is not difficult, especially when you use picks on the first two guards of the draft like they did in 2009. Despite what the homer fans realize here, some positions are easier to (EDIT: find) than others. Others, like QB, OT, and DE/Rush LB aren't. And that's exactly the positions Buffalo needs to find. The Bills find their safeties, guards, running backs with ease, but the tough to find positions they can't.

Britton and Loadholt are RT's, which Buddy already supposedly acquired in Cornell Green. And besides, how can you judge players with 1 and 2 years respectively in the NFL? I thought draft picks weren't allowed to be evaluated until they've been in the league 3 full seasons?

This is about as backward as those school teachers in Springfield, IL protesting for higher taxes because they might lose their jobs.

What's the point? Prioritizing RB in the NFL of 2010 is a backward mentality. RB's aren't winning games for any team in the entire league. Heck, Chris Johnson runs for 2k yards and the team started off 0-8 last season. Peterson puts up huge numbers, but his team's couldn't get past the first round of the playoffs until Favre showed up and made Sidney Rice a player. Who else? Pittsburgh won a SB with a below-average running game in 2008. Indianapolis and New Orleans went to the SB with below average to average running games. Supporting the Spiller pick is like saying Gailey can re-invent offenses in direct contrast with the nearly the rest of the NFL. And he doesn't have an OL either.

Jackson totaled 75 yards or fewer in 12 out of 16 games, so stats can indicate anything you want them to. Heck 1/5th of Jackson's yards came in the final meaningless game. Spiller will operate on a field that remains the same width but with much faster defenses. His speed can be contained a lot easier than you think.

Jackson runs between the tackles, and usually finds contact quickly. He has to earn his yards. Spiller has to bounce it outside, only this isn't the ACC and he doesn't have the OT's to move out there for him. THis isn't the ACC anymore.

Picking a RB minus an OL is the same as taking DB's without a front 7. They make plays based on the people in front of them. Obviously Spiller can do some things, but he'll be wasted behind perhaps the worst OL in the NFL.

And completely ignored gaping needs at OT and NT. This is a passing league, as the cliche goes, and RB's aren't winning leagues. QB's are, or a strong defense paired with an efficient diversified offense. Buffalo has neither, and it'll be funny watching Spiller caught in the backfield for a loss because they have no NFL caliber OT's on the roster. Spiller sells tickets.

No one RW has hired at GM has had any savvy when it counts more on draft day since...Polian/Butler. These guys can't think laterally, and you end up with a team without a vision.

Thurman had an OL and diversified offense to work within. Buffalo has none of that.

Hit the nail on the head. Haven't we learned by now in Bills nation that drafting skill players has produced nothing? Chris Johnson is only good because he's got a real OL blocking for him. TEN's OL is far and away better than Buffalo's. Nix-Gailey are starting out like Levy-Jauron did. We know how the latter story ended.