Cash

Like a bunch of people here, I'd rather see Dixon brought in for a workout than Young. Young's attitude has been so toxic the last few years, and it doesn't seem to me like he's ready to turn it around yet. I don't think Andy Reid helped matters any by telling Young that he wasn't being brought back because Young is a starting-caliber QB and should be starting somewhere. I also can't believe Young bought that line. That's like breaking up with someone because they're too good in bed. Anyway, Dixon looked fairly decent in the few emergency starts he got for the Steelers a couple years ago, and I like the fact that he's coming from one of the best and most stable organizations/environments. Plus, a move from third string to second is a step up for him, so it's less likely he'd pout as the backup than some of the other candidates. And at 27, Dixon's best football should be ahead of him.

Thanks for posting! Keep in mind that the Bills once traded up (from the top of the 3rd to the bottom of the 2nd) to get Ryan Denney. They only traded up a few spots, and only to leapfrog the Steelers, who were expected to take Denney. Just because you got your guy doesn't mean it will work out.

Not really. Nix said that the Bills had Sanders rated higher than where they got him. Maybe he was lying, but he didn't say anything to that effect about Graham or a couple other guys. I personally believe him, because Nix has shown a penchant for either stating the truth outright or keeping things vague, but not lying. It's possible that a bunch of teams had Sanders rated as a 3rd or 4th round pick, but when they came up in the 3rd round, it was between him and a guy at another position they needed more. So they went with the 3rd-round prospect at a need position instead of the one at a position where they're set. Then in the 4th round, they're happy that Sanders is still there, but there's also another guy with a 3rd-round grade who plays a different position that they need more. I doubt EVERY team had Sanders rated above the 5th round, and certainly the ones who took OTs in the 4th had Sanders rated below whichever OT they took, but it's very plausible that a bunch of teams, not just the Bills, agreed with the draftniks on Sanders.

Whatever, I'll take it. You can teach a guy to play with more discipline. You can't teach a guy to jump 37" in the air.

Dream Team!

Well, I think the Bills (and I) hope he'll be better than that. I think they'd like to at least have the threat of longer-developing pass plays/deeper routes, even if those never become primary weapons. There was no threat of them last year, and against teams that realized it, the offense kind of crumbled.

I have no problem with you "reaching" for the Bills D -- after all, it's your team, draft players that you want to root for. But please wait until round 12 or so. That's still a major reach. Round 5 is completely bzonkers.

Every GM and head coach in the NFL gets paid to get it right. Are all of them always right?

But our first 4 picks perfectly corresponded to stated needs. Do you think that's a coincidence, or do you think that you might see multiple prospects with similar grades in every round, not just the later ones? Glenn's the only early pick that you could really say was a "BPA" pick -- most analysts had him as a sure-fire first-round talent, with rankings from the low teens to low 20s. So he was rated significantly higher than his #41 draft slot, and you could've made a case for taking him even if he didn't fill a need. As it so happened, he actually fills our biggest need (assuming Nix et al. are right that he can play LT, not just RT or OG). So that's cool.

Do you really feel good that the worst GM in modern memory thinks we had a good offseason? Did Millen even remember to wear pants on the show you watched?

I still think that Graham was a bad pick, especially after re-watching the Nix/Gailey day 2 press conference. Just about every positive thing they say is a new way of restating, "he's fast," and they openly acknowledge a few question marks. Based on their own description, Graham strikes me as a smaller, weaker Lee Evans with worse hands. If Evans was allegedly a bad fit for Gailey's offense, it's hard for me to imagine how Graham will be a good fit, but then again, Gailey does like the guy. Personally, I think that Nix and especially Gailey fell in love with Graham's speed on tape and talked themselves into overlooking everything else about him. Graham will have plenty of chances to prove me wrong, but he's my pick for most likely to bust out of this draft class. Keep in mind also that if you go back to Nix's off-season quotes about the kinds of players they wanted to acquire, Williams and Anderson very much fit the mold of pass-rushers he was talking about. Cordy Glenn very much fits the mold of the kind of LT he's talked up. Stephon Gilmore fits the profile of the kind of CB he wants. But as for WR, his comments were mostly about getting a guy who's big *and* fast, basically a guy to win jump balls. Graham doesn't come close to filling that bill. Again, his comp is probably closer to Lee Evans than any other receiver we've had under Nix/Gailey, except Evans himself. I definitely get the vibe that Gailey is much more into Graham as a prospect than Nix is. Having said all that, Graham still could easily be an upgrade over Donald Jones or David Clowney or Brad Smith or Derek Hagan or whoever's spot he'd be taking in spread sets, so even if I'm right, it's not necessarily a wasted pick.

OMG A KICKER THIS IS CRAY-CRAY!!! I didn't see this coming. Seems like a good KO guy, so that's good. Curious to see what UDFAs the Bills go for, and also curious to see what they say about Mr. Potter here. Could we get Alan Rickman to do the press conference for this pick, and only refer to this guy as "Mister Potter"? That would make me happy. It's just a slang term that the youth are using. "Tag" is short for price tag, and basically means that something is expensive. "Hash" is short for corned beef hash, which is a popular breakfast food that's usually pretty cheap. So it's basically saying that you're paying high-class prices for a low-class item.

My goodness, that man is quite fit. His name makes him sound like a Downton Abbey character who's 4th in line to be Earl of Leicestershire. His photos tell a different story. This looks like a great pick. THIS is where you draft your coverage/pursuit linebackers.

I agree, we should've drafted more Hall of Famers. Rookie mistake to just draft unproven guys who've never played a down in the NFL.

Love this pick! Great value, possible steal. 35" arms means it's very feasible for Sanders to play on either side if his footwork can get good enough. Love the fact that we got a major value here, because there's a good chance our 4th-string OT will have to play this year.

By the way, no discussion of Asper vs. James Brown, whom ESPN lists as a guard, and whom the Bills had in for a pre-draft visit? I really don't know anything about either one, but some of you hardcore draftniks must have an opinion.

Yeah, seriously. You can read between the lines in all of Nix & Gailey's O-line quotes. They're smart enough and classy enough not to throw their current guys under the bus, but they saw the same thing we all did last year -- the O-line was made to look good b/c of the quick-release offense. And we struggled mightily against teams who realized that you only have to cover our receivers for 2.5-3 seconds.

A couple head-scratchers, but overall I really like this draft. If it pans out as well as last year's, we'll have a really nice core. Hopefully we can get our future franchise QB in the 1st round next year, and our stud WR in the 2nd. It's unlikely (but not impossible!) that any big WR drafted from here on out will do anything. Usually the guys with prototypical size who can actually play go early.

This post legitimately blew my mind. I don't what that says about me, but I still like the pick!

Surprised it wasn't James Brown, whom they had in for a visit. I know nothing about this guy, but I like the fact they grabbed another O-lineman.

The Bills brought in Cousins for a visit, so if he's still there, he could be the pick. I don't see him doing anything in the NFL, though, so I'd prefer if they went in another direction. I wonder, if McNutt was still there, would he be a consideration? Nix openly talked about potentially drafting 2 WRs, and they still haven't added any size or physicality to the WR corps, so it could be a possibility. I more expect the next pick to be either a LB or another CB -- we know Nix wants to draft 2 CBs. I also expect 1-2 D-line picks at some point, and another O-lineman in the 6th or 7th.

I do love the people who can't differentiate between a guy who likes smoking pot and a guy who beats the crap out of his woman, or punches a cop in the face, or FIRES A GUN REPEATEDLY INSIDE A CROWDED CLUB (strip or otherwise) AND PARALYZES ANOTHER HUMAN BEING WITH ONE OF THE SHOTS. That last one is really a big deal.

THIS IS BANANAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ugh. This totally killed my Glenn boner. On the bright side, 3rd-round picks aren't exactly golden boys, so if he's as bad as the 7th-round grade Mayock had on him, he'll be cut in 2013. Plus, you know who else had a 7th-round grade? STEVIE JOHNSON, THAT'S WHO! Maybe that's our strategy: With Stevie (7th round), Jones (UDFA), and Nelson (UDFA), they figured that they needed another guy with a 7th-round grade, but were too impatient to wait till tomorrow. Whatever, let's hope he pans out, but I'll believe it when I see it. I will say that for a guy billed as a pure athlete, his combine numbers are very underwhelming. Small hands could lead to a lot of drops. Excellent 3-cone time and decent broad jump, but balanced somewhat by a weak 20-yard shuttle time and vertical. You probably can throw out his position-worst bench press (after hearing 8,000 preseason quotes about how strong Donald Jones was last year, I can safely say that strength is not the principle factor in WR success. That's like a 5'3" guy saying, "How can I be short? I'm standing next to Verne Troyer!" I was going to point this out, but you beat me to it. For the record, I got over the trade-up aspect of this pick once I saw the compensation. The Bills gave up literally the worst pick in the 2012 draft that they're allowed to trade. Whoever they would've gotten at 217 could easily still be there with their comp. pick, and whoever they would've gotten at the comp. pick could easily sign with them as an UDFA. (And neither guy is likely to ever start an NFL game.) And drafting a P in the 3rd round definitely seems like a panic move when the guy you were counting on drafting just got picked. So if Teej Graham over here proves everyone wrong, the Bills may look very savvy in hindsight. Again, I'll happily recant if that happens, but not until it happens. Not directing this at anyone in particular, but it bothers me when Pollyanna-stylee fans jump all over anyone who ever criticizes any pick in any way. "You can't judge a draft pick until after 3 years!!" Yeah, but when the consensus proves right, and these guys bust, we get yelled at for dredging it up 3 years later. Enough with the shouting down already. I don't like the 100% negative posters either, but I don't see a big difference between screaming about every move the Bills make/don't make and screaming about every comment about the Bills that isn't total fluffing. Remember, people, they haven't made the playoffs since 1999. That's bad. Their record under the current GM/coach combo is 10-22. That's bad. Torell Troup was criticized for being a reach. Two years in, that criticism looks accurate. Not all of the Bills' picks in this draft will turn out to be excellent picks. Maybe this one, which at face value looks like a reach, will turn out to be one of the non-excellent ones. Is it so unimaginable that the Bills could screw up on a 3rd-round pick? Except for the trolls, we all want the Bills to succeed. We all want their picks to turn into Pro Bowlers. We're not criticizing because we hate them, it's because we have rational cause to think that they made a bad move. A cynic is just a disappointed idealist. To those of you who can sit through 12 years of futility and remain idealists, congratulations. But please understand that that's not everyone's experience. Some people don't have the resilience (a.k.a., ability to ignore reality ) to keep assuming that everything the team does will be proven right. Bottom line: if I had to sit through literally millions of posts last preseason talking about how great Donald Jones was going to be as a #2 WR, then you guys have to put up with a few pages of bitching about an obvious reach. That's the deal.

Nah, Kiper says he "doesn't know" that Glenn can play LT in the NFL, not that he can't. Translation: Kiper thinks that Glenn probably will wind up moving to OG, but wouldn't be shocked if he made it at OT. He liked the pick, and liked Glenn at least as much as Jonathan Martin.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY! I absolutely adore this pick. A couple weeks ago, I thought he'd be the pick at #10. Glenn really fits the Buddy Nix mold of O-line: A true man-mountain with gargantuan arms, a 4-year starter (granted, only 18 games at LT) in the SEC, and even if he doesn't make it at LT (I think he will), he's a VERY strong bet to make it at RT or either guard spot. Great, great pick. And for those of you who don't think he can play LT: I hope that means you also think Hairston can't play LT, because Glenn is a significantly better LT prospect today than Hairston was a year ago. I'm very surprised he fell this far. As dogma+ said, we really had two 1st-round picks this year. Awesome!