MDH

I just glanced through your list but this ones stood out to me (as did all the Bills you've included.) Graham is much, much better than the 18th best player in the league. He's a top 5 guy. He's just as good as Megatron.

Yeah, I like the talent as well. I just hope they can all contribute at a reasonably high level right away. That's 3 rookies we're counting on to solidify previously weak positions. Hopefully they're up to the task.

Barr will not be a bust. He won't be super productive early but give him a few years and he'll be a monster. A monster I tell you. Bortles, Ebron, and Evans. Manziel will not be a good pro either but he'll have some initial success given his playmaking ability but he won't be able to sustain it. He might even be rookie of the year before he suffers a Vince Young like implosion on his career. The only think preventing me from putting Clowney on the list is JJ Watt lined up on the same line as he is. I think Clowney would struggle mightily if teams doubled or chipped him but he won't see it as often as he would without a stud lined up near him. He'd be all world if he put in the work but I don't get the sense that he will.

Does a guy who gets 1 yard a carry 19 times then busts off an 80 yard run help the offense sustain drives and win games? This is obviously hyperbole but it's the type of question that has to be considered when discussing Spiller's effectiveness. It's also one of the (many) reasons the D was on the field so much last year. I'll take FJ's solid and steady production any day of the week. It puts the offense in 2nd and 5-6 instead of 2nd and 9-11. There's a big difference in the way an offense can attack a team given those down & distances. I like Spiller as a 10-13 carry a game, change of pace, big play back. I wouldn't even call him a 3rd down back because he's not very good at blitz pickup. The problem is that you can get those types of backs in the 4th round and don't have to break the bank for them. It really all depends on what Spiller's contract demands are. If they're reasonable then keep him around but if he's wanting money like a top 10 back then I say pass.

Brown mentioned that he's trying to digest the playbook and mentioned that there are "lots of blitzes" in the scheme. Hopefully this alleviates some of the concern that Schwartz is going to run a vanilla, send 4 guys all the time, defense.

Yeah, he's the one I'm most concerned about. I thought he was the best player of that draft class and he's disappointed so far. He played at a pretty high level last year but I'm not sure it's a high enough level to overlook all his off field stuff.

The sad truth is that the pundits will look at who did the drafting and grade accordingly. If a GM with a great track record is behind the draft they're more likely to improve the grade. Pundits, like most people, cover their a$$es as much as possible. It's easy to pick on the downtrodden. I watched a few shows on NFL network about past drafts the other day and they covered 1994. That's the year Kiper ripped the Colts for not drafting Heath Shuler or Trent Dilfer in the top 8 picks. Whoops.

Did you see the Bills play last year? Defenses stacked the line daring the Bills to beat them because they feared nobody. A lot of the blame gets laid on the QBs last year but the WRs didn't do them any favors. Brining in a guy like Watkins to draw attention and suddenly Goodwin get more single coverages over the top, Mike Williams gets single covered on the outside and Chandler will get matched up with LBs more often. If Watkins is half the player we hope he is the Bills have dramatically improved their WRs this year. This helps EJ and the running game. It improves the entire offense if Ds have to worry about Watkins.

Nah, that in and of itself wouldn't make it a disaster. If Ebron is a total bust and Watkins is a superstar even a top 5 pick next year doesn't make it a bad trade. And I don't buy the argument that if EJ doesn't pan out that we're doomed without a 1st round pick next year. There are other ways of getting a QB than a high first round pick (and those guys only pan out 50% of the time anyway.) Hell, I don't want to wait around for another rookie to grow into the position anyway. If EJ doesn't work out they need to bring a quality vet in to start as the roster is good enough to win now.

I don't see it this way at all. If his ankle was the problem, why cut to the outside instead of running more straight ahead where the hole was? CJ regressed because the Bills didn't play in a 4-5 wide, spread the D out and get lots of D backs on the field, type offense. His vision isn't great and when he has to make quick choices in traffic he panics and just pops it to the outside because he's learned most of his life that he can outrun guys to the corner. That doesn't happen often in the NFL, particularly when the D has the scouting report on you and defensive ends become very disciplined with their edge contain (an edge contain the CJ STILL tries to run around.)

That's a way of figuring out who "won" the trade (for lack of a better word) but it doesn't tell you if the trade was better for the Bills than standing pat because the Bills wouldn't have drafted the same players (or made the same moves) as Cleveland. I read somewhere from an unnamed Bills front office member that the Bills likely would have drafted Ebron or Beckham Jr. (he said likely Ebron) if they hadn't been able to make the trade. Comparing Watkins to those two seems like a more accurate measure at least in the short run. If either of those guys ends up being comparable to Watkins by themselves then it's pretty obvious the Bills made the wrong move given they could have had either and their picks next year. Since nobody knows what the picks will be next year, to me the question is: Is Watkins so much better than Ebron or Beckham Jr. that the gap between them is worth the 1st and 4th picks in next year's draft. Looking at it with only the pre-draft info I have to say it's a close call. I have no faith in Ebron at all, the guy can't catch the ball and while I like Beckham nothing about him makes me scream, "wow." In the final tally it, obviously, also matters where the Bills would have drafted next year. If they have a top 5 pick it becomes iffy, even if Watkins appears to have a wide gap between him and those other guys.

They traded a 5th rounder this year for a 7th rounder this year and a 5 rounder next year. That doesn't sound like something one would do if they were only concerned about this year. Then again, I hated this trade but that's a different discussion.

Or maybe just a guy who will run through the hole a play calls for instead of jumping everything outside.

Who rates girls at a bar on a 10 point scale? They are rated as "yes" or "no."

Ths is one of the most unintentionally funny statements I've seen on the board in awhile. You list a bunch of pretty heinous offences and then single out the public urination for your "really?"

Don't you want to see the results before changing your mind? Everybody gets excited right after the draft but waiting to see the results and not assuming how players turn out is usually for the best. Personally, going into this draft I thought the Bills needed to either trade down or trade up because they were in no man's land at 9 unless 3 QBs went before they picked. Also, I have quite a few disagreements with who you chose to put in parentheses or chose to mention period.

Have you not learned from the history of threads exactly like yours where this is going?

I keep seeing this said as if he had excuses last year. What excuses did he have last year?

It was a good response but it left one option out of the conversation - a veteran backup. They thought it necessary to trade a 4th round pick for a 3rd strung running back yet it wasn't important enough to bring in a guy to back up EJ? I'm not talking about brining in someone to challenge him, but a vet who could help EJ out in the film room, on the sidelines and come in and be a viable threat to help win a few games if EJ goes down. A veteran presence could help EJ a lot.

I haven't watched the Bills get their asses handed to them for a decade by Brady and Co. only to change divisions when Brady is about to retire. I want to have a decade of kicking the crap out of the Pats as payback. They'll soon find out it's not so easy once your HoF QB retires...

Thanks

Teams don't give up a 4th round pick for a 3rd sting RB. Hell, teams look for starters in the 2nd - 4th rounds these days. This is a curious move. It's almost like they're preparing for life after FJ and CJ. Anybody know his contract situation?

What you hear from the ex coaches and GMs (i.e. the "experts") is that they want three starters from the draft. It doesn't mean immediate starter but they want at least 3 guys who will become solid starters for their squad. The problem fans have is that they see a "need" on the team and want to target it but you can't do that once you get deeper in the draft. You just have to target the BPA and hope he develops into a guy that will be a quality starter down the line.

The Bills have more talent on the roster right now than they've had in a decade. It's really all on Manuel and I believe the kid will at least be a competent QB. I'm just not sure he'll reach that level of consistency before year 3. Hopefully he proves me wrong and he's able to do it in year two.

In the first few rounds you take the BPA at a few positions of need (but you still don't force it.). In the later rounds you simply take the BPA. If that's a QB then grab him.