MDH

Fantasy football? Actually your line of thinking is more in the line of FF, not mine. You think it's a good pick because the guy has racked up a lot of yards and gotten a lot of press. I'm talking about drafting areas of need, not consistently using high round picks on a position that doesn't warrant it. Head case or not Ricky was productive and even if NO wanted to get rid of him they didn't need to go spend another 1st round pick on a RB to replace him. How successful has NO been with Duece there? This pick is a lot like the McGahee pick. Sure it looks like a good pick because the player ends up being good but the other areas of your team that could have used help get ignored. Parts of the team that will help your team win a lot more than a top 10 RB like the OL, DL and LB.

Explain to me why $4 million is too much and "not affordable"? I'd say you're right if the Bills were pressed up against the cap but they've got roughly $9million left before they hit the cap. Even if you say the rookie pool is $2.5 million that leaves a lot of space for the Bills to make some moves. What are they saving the money for exactly? This is my biggest beef with the Bills right now. They left Moulds go, they cut Milloy and they cut Adams. Now if the Bills had cap issues I'd understand. If those players weren't good enough to make the rosters I'd understand. But as it stands they let players go that could have helped the team when they didn't need to (and before anybody says it, no I don't think these players are tops at their positions but they're all above average, even Milloy when he's healthy is above average). Given all this somebody telling me that Bently "wasn't affordable" when they already cut decent players to clear cap room and are nowhere near the cap just doesn't cut it.

And fans wonder why there are lots of players out there that are "selfish" and "lookout for number 1." Why should the players be loyal when the teams won't be?

Dallas has two quality backs in Julius Jones and Marion Barber. The fact that Thomas didn't get much work there doesn't mean he won't be the primary back up here. Neither Shaud Williams nor Lionel Gates are anywhere near as good as either of those backs. I have no idea what type of shape Thomas is in but if he's anywhere near the back he was a few years ago he's light years better than any backup the Bills currently have on their roster. I haven't been happy with a lot of the things Levy and Co. have done thus far but A-Train was a good signing.

I think he's overdone it a bit at the expense of other areas of the team and it will eventually take its toll. Of course the Pats are in a position where they can afford to make such picks as they don't have a lot of holes on their team to fill. There's a big difference between a Falcons team that hadn't won in a long time making these types of picks and a team that's won 3 of the last 5 SBs making them. I'd say the pick turned out pretty badly for the Saints actually. The idea of the draft isn't to pick good/great players, the idea of the draft is to pick players that make your team better. Bottom line is that picking Duece was a luxury pick that didn't help the team win.

Actually if you read what they say much of their reasoning is right on. Many times they're not critiquing the player but that the team didn't draft to fill its needs. Considering the lack of success some of these teams have had I'd say the guy writing the article did a pretty good job. Alge Crumpler: They criticize the Falcons for taking Crumpler when they already used high round picks on the position in 2 our of the last 4 years. They say he has a lot of upside but don't understand the logic of the pick for the Falcons. That sounds fair to me. Duece McAllister: Their point here is that this is a luxury pick for a team with so many holes. Why draft Duece when Ricky Williams was drafted a few years earlier and had been productive? Again a solid point. Lamont Jordon: They simply say that the Jets had greater needs, like the DL and should have addressed those needs instead. What did Jordon ever do for the Jets? He sat on the bench. The guy was spot on. Reggie Wayne: One of the beefs is that he felt Chad Johnson would have been a much better pick for the Colts. Would anyone say otherwise? Ryan Pickett: They didn't have a problem with the player (if you read the Rams draft grade they give them a good grade and mention Pickett). The problem he has it that they could have moved back and still got him. I don't recall the draft well enough to know if I agree with this but it's worth pointing out that he didn't say Pickett was a bad player. Overall I'd say this might not have been the best choice in trying to illustrate your point (and your point is a valid one to be sure).

And you can be sure that when the QBs struggle this year that the Bills will use their early picks next year on QB, WR and LB and ignore the OL once again. I’ve just gotten used to the fact that the Bills will be patching together their OL with second and third tier FA for the next 20 years. At some point they’ll get lucky and it will work and posters will say, “SEE, you CAN put together a line this way!”

It's obvious from all the posts you've made that you're "not defending the Bills draft."

If Navy used the word "brother" more I'd swear he was ICE.

And that is the problem I had with their draft. You list is as a strength while I think it's the absolute worst way to go into a draft.

How can you blame TD for Everett getting hurt?

Most people aren't complaining about Whitner they're complaining that he wasn't a value pick at the 8th spot. If the Bills had moved down to the 14th spot what would they have picked up? Most likely a 3rd round pick (perhaps a second). So, you like the Youboty pick and the Simpson pick and think they're capable of being part of a shut down secondary? Well, they were picked up in the 3rd and 4th rounds. So the Bills could have moved down a few spots (and possibly missed out on Whiner) and picked up another player of Youboty and Simpson's calibur. So, do you think Whitner is worth more than whoever we could have gotten at the 14th spot (if the Ravens selected Whitner that would have left Ngata for the Bills) PLUS whoever they would have gotten in the 3rd (Leonard Pope was available at Phillies spot in the 3rd, so were DE Chris Gocong and OG Max Jean Gilles to name just a few guys). Given this scenerio (where the Bills grab Ngata with the 14th) the Bills wouldn't have had to make the trade to move back into the first round and would have gotten to keep their other 3rd round pick as well. If they did want to make the trade they could have picked up Justice, Mangold or Kiwanuka. Time will tell but with the unpredictable nature of judging the talent in the draft I'm a big believer in getting as many first day picks as possible as there are lots of guys in the 2nd and 3rd rounds that turn out to be great players and many guys in the first that end up being busts.

He has enough of a frame to add a little bulk and given the way he tackles I don't think it's a stretch that he could be moved over. That being said it was just an example of how the Bills didn't have to use the 8th pick to find a guy that could compete for a starting position.

So if the only way the Bills could find a player to compete for the starting spot is to use the 8th pick? Ko Simpson has the size to play SS and the Bills got him in the 4th. I'd say if they really wanted they could have slotted him into the competition for the starting SS spot and he likely would have won. Honestly I'd rather have Brown as the Bills starting SS than Anderson as a starting DT or Kelsey/Denney as the starting DE. I'd rather have Brown as the starting SS than Benny as a starting OG. Then again I’m not a big believer in the idea that your starting SS has to be a superstar. I put much more emphasis on DE and DT. Just look at the value the Bills got in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Youboty and Simpson. Most people are saying that these are "steals". With that type of value available in those rounds I wouldn't have minded the Bills moving down two times in the first round into the 20s and picking up 3 or so more picks in these rounds, but that's just me. After the “Big 8” there was a drop-off in talent on most boards with 10-15 players all bunched together in terms of grades. I wouldn’t have cared if Whitner wasn’t available if the Bills moved down to 14. If he wasn't they could have tried to move down again and picked up another 3rd in the process. This draft was DEEP and the Bills didn’t take advantage of that fact. All that being said, I think Whitner will be a very good SS, I’m just not sure he’s better than whoever we could have gotten at the 14th spot and the 3rd rounder we could have picked up combined.

I saw that report about the Bills having him as a second rounder too but I don't buy it. I also read today that they had him rated as the 10th or 11th best player but weren't really considering a QB at all. So much for all the "Marv and Co. don't like J.P." stuff that was rampant a few months ago.

And I'm sure there were people on the board calling him a genius and pounding their chests about finally getting some positive national media attention.

What you're failing to realize is that Levy is the one who ultimately makes the decisions for the Bills. If what you say is true (and it very well may be) he's still the one who made the decision to do it that way. If he's not the one who made the decision then he's just a figurehead as head of football operations. The buck stops with Levy whether he's the one that actually made each selection or not.

I"d be pissed if the Bills traded a 3rd to move back into the first round to draft a CB. Taking Youboty in the 3rd round because he falls to you and trading up to take the guy are two different things for a team with so many holes to fill. Nice try though.

The secondary could be very good if these draft picks turn out that's a big if, odds are at least one of them doesn't. If I had to pick the guy that won't pan out I'd say it will be Youboty. I wasn't happy with where the Bills selected Whitner but I have the feeling I'm going to love watching the guy play. I love guys that are technically sound and play with a lot of heart (like Winfield). I'm considering replacing my Moulds jersey with a Whitner one as long as it's available in a throw back. Btw, Thomas is no longer with the team.

Oddly enough if you look at the Bills Pro Shop and see the Jerseys they have available, Wire is one of the 11 current Bills that they have home replicas for. For that matter so is Josh Reed.

You're right that it doesn't mean that the bone was sticking out of the skin but it does mean that the skin was broken. The fracture you're talking about it called a Comminuted Fracture.

How does one play football with a bone sticking out of their hand?

Some kind of support? You want stats that say he was bad? There is more to being a S than simply nabbing a handful of INTs in a season and calling it a good season. Vincent was late getting over consistently last year. Multiple times a game he'd arrive much too late to a sideline pattern or not be in position when a WR broke free over the middle. Milloy played poorly last year but at least he had the injury excuse. Vincent was supposed to be a guy that excelled in coverage as the FS spot but he reacts much too slowly to what's happening on the field (or perhaps he reads it too slowly but whatever it is he's out of position all the time). So no, I can't give you cold hard stats that say, "look at this, he sucks" but if you watch the games you can consistently see that both safeties struggled last year.

You can defend any picks with this line of defense. If the Bills had the first choice in the draft and they chose Whitner would you say the same thing? People would be calling it a "huge reach" and you could come back with this defense. Would you? Or would you be pissed that the Bills reached for him? If you wouldn't defend Whitner with the first pick of the draft then you also believe in getting "value" out of the picks. If the Bills had the first pick in the draft and absolutely had to have Whitner wouldn't you want them to trade down and pick up more picks in the process? Wouldn't there be a chance that he'd be gone by then because "nobody knows" if someone would take him before the Bills got a chance? We're talking about the same thing here the above is just an extreme example but it does illustrate that just about everybody has some concept of "value" in these drafts.

Exactly what I've been saying. The Bills lost value because they fell in love with a few players. A team with this many holes can't afford to fall in love with specific players.