LABills08

At this point, I'm more than happy with the Bills just piling on talent to the defensive front 7. I'd prefer a pass rusher over an ILB, so Houston/Ayers would be my guys, but I admittedly do not know much about them so I can't really make a preference ( I just know they are well regarded OLBs). If the Bills go QB, I think they have to take a chance on Mallett. I was down on the guy as a 1st round pick, but many people are saying that he could turn out to be quite the steal. The drugs stuff doesn't bother me at all, neither do the concerns about his football IQ. My concern with him is his work ethic. How bad he wants it. But almost everyone made it clear that he has the best arm in the draft. Not just in terms of strength, but also in terms of accuracy. That says a lot to me, what can be more important than that? I also worry less about his statue like presence, so long as he can get protection, I imagine he could do some damage. FWIW, I've heard that certain scouts are saying that he is in the same mold as Bledsoe, but with a higher ceiling. Despite what we view as common sense, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills do something unexpected here. Maybe Rudolph or a O-lineman.

Now what do we do?

I was high on Miller for awhile, but this pick is the safest in the draft. Thank god Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey are running the show.

Or I'll just go F myself. Anyways, Tweet from Schefter:

Moderators, can we get a central thread for the draft tonight? It'd be easier than looking at all of these threads (many of which look like they were created by this guy Link) I started this, but if another official thread is going, obviously feel free to delete this. Seems there are a lot of rumors going on. Now that its almost all but certain that Newton goes to Carolina, I imagine people will begin to call Denver and Buffalo to see what it will take to get one of the can't miss prospects (Dareus, Miller, Peterson, Green). I read a report somewhere that Buddy's phone was ringing and certain posters are clamoring for the Bills to trade down and get Cameron Jordan. Can I just say that you don't trade out of a position to draft Marcel Dareus for a couple extra picks? You pull the trigger on the better player. For whatever its worth, I think the Broncos take Miller, Bills take Dareus and then we look to get Ponder tomorrow. I don't think the Bills trade back into the 1st for any QB. But you never know.

Honestly, I think they are going to go Dareus given Rivera's background. If not, maybe AJ Green. I honestly am not at all confident they take Newton.

1) Dareus and then they are going to trade back into 1st for 2) Ponder. (cue the media making unfounded JP Losman comparisons). After that, no idea.

Via Twitter: Michael Lombardi said he's hearing that the Bills may go with Patrick Peterson third overall. BS.

Pretty sure this is a, nothing left to talk about until 8pm tomorrow thread.

It's gonna be Miller or Dareus, whoever is on the board. The biggest issue will be, what if Carolina doesn't take Newton? I have no idea what the Bills do in that scenario, bc I'm fairly certain Dareus and Miller will be gone at 3 if Newton slips out of the 1st pick.

Sounds like there is a very solid chance the Bills land Newton if this is indeed true. I'm very wary of reports that Carolina is taking him number 1. And obviously Denver won't take him at 2. So.....

If Dareus or Miller are off the board, I still think the Bills go defense in reality. I've gone back and forth on this (I admittedly declared two weeks ago that based off of Nix's comments, the Bills were definitely going defense, only to say a few days ago they would go QB). Well, I'm back on the defense bandwagon. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that the Wannstedt/Whaley combo will have a large influence on personnel moves. And both of these guys are going inevitably be pushing for defense.

Miller/Dareus, if the Bills get either, they will have done a good job. I know Bills fans love to hate on Miller for no reason, but he'd be a great addition. That being said, if the Bills go Gabbert at 3 and pass on Miller/Dareus, the reaction on this board will be priceless. Like a pile of sadness in a failure bowl.

Prob the best scenario out there as far as Bills fans are concerned. Fairley to Denver makes sense. He is yet another example of how the pre-draft process can cause players to drop for reasons that are shaky at best. This guy dominated the line of scrimmage this past year. Anyone could see that.

I mean, to be honest, if there isn't anyone there that the Bills want at 3. There probably won't be anyone there that anyone else wants (at least in terms of trading up for). I'm fairly certain that none of these QBs are guys that teams are willing to trade a future 1st round pick for. So outside of a team that REALLY wants Peterson or AJ Green, the Bills will be stuck at 3 if Dareus and Miller go 1 + 2. Or just reality. I see 0 chance the Bills trade down. Especially given the current situation facing the NFL.

Peter King's Twitter: Regarding top 3 teams trading down..... SI_PeterKing Peter King A sign that the top few picks in draft won't move: John Fox told NFLN's Kara Henderson that Den's had zero calls trying to deal for 2d pick.

Hahaha. Imagine if FA starts within a few days of the draft? Talk about shooting from the hip come Thursday....

Out of curiosity, what was the last team to trade out of the number 3 spot?

I definitely hear and respect that logic. I've been arguing for years that the biggest problem facing the Bills' rebuilding efforts has been the lack of emphasis they've placed on rebuilding the defensive/offensive lines. So, in so far as THAT should be given focus, I agree. And I actually concur with the Miller/Spiller comparison, in that both of their respective successes will depend on the ability of both the D-Line/O-Line to hold up their end of the bargain (though I think this is much more of an issue with a RB than with a linebacker). At the same time, I have no problem with the Spiller pick, bc there were no offensive lineman worth reaching for at his slot (look back in the draft and tell me who'd you prefer, its easy to criticize the choice, but who would have been the better pick in retrospect? There is no clear cut better choice). And regarding this current draft, I completely disagree with the notion that if a guy is good enough to take at 10, he is good enough to take at 3. What!? Having a top 3 choice is not the same as having the number 10 overall pick. A number 3 draft choice is not the time to follow a pre-set methodology that says: "No matter who is on the board, we are going to take defensive/offensive lineman". If you have a number 3 draft pick, you better strongly consider taking the best player on your board, regardless of position. Hell, I'd prefer Peterson or AJ Green over Cameron Jordan. I think that is what you need to focus on when you pick that high. Not "who's going to fix a problem", but rather "who are we not going to have the chance to pick again". And I know that AJ Green and Peterson would be the epitome of luxury picks! But, this is just the beginning of whats going to be a 2-3 year rebuilding process. So I'm okay with the Bills taking the best guy out there for the time being.

Good point. And yea, I was wondering what he had to say about Leinart.

That's essentially my point. I mean, as I just posted in another thread, I literally have no clue who the Bills will pick, and to be honest, I'm not even sure I know who I'd WANT them to pick. The lack of free agency made this draft 10x more difficult to predict, and I'm sure it made planning by the FO of each team 20x harder (for example, if the Bills added depth at linebacker via FA and re-signed Poz, would we even be talking about Miller). I imagine each team is going to leave FA out of the equation and just assume that whoever they don't have under contract for 2011, can't be accounted for as a member of the team. That is why I THOUGHT the Bills would go hard for defense, until I realized that there aren't many teams with a top 3 pick and no long term QB, who skip over having a chance to draft a high grade QB. But at least in terms of Jordan, with so many options for the Bills later in the draft, they better see a huge difference between him and say, Adrian Clayborn, for the Bills to take that risk. Id you're the Bills, I honestly think you need to swing for the fences. That wouldn't mean picking Jordan at 3.

Great read. I recently bought into the Gabbert hype. Mainly bc of his mobility and the high accolades he's received for his football IQ and decision making. This, like most draft articles I read, definitely makes me re-think that. I've always found Locker intriguing, mainly bc this was a guy that people had rated number 1 overall a year ago. And all of a sudden, now that he had a down year playing for a bad team, he's suddenly a second round QB. That, to me, is insane. If 1 year at a bad college program changes someone from a number 1 overall pick to a 2nd round, high risk guy, then something is wrong. In short, I have no strong opinions anymore, (aside from the fact that taking Cameron Jordan at 3 is insane). I literally have no idea who the Bills will pick; I've gone from saying they will definitely go QB, to they will definitely go defense. The only thing I am pretty adamant about, is that they will spend a high pick on a QB prospect. I just have no idea who that guy is.

W/o looking at any of the other posts on this thread....the answer is a resounding YES.

Nah. I'm not saying I have some insight into Buddy's thinking, but it was his FO who picked Brees in the early second round. Plus, I think Nix is fairly practical and simplistic (in a good way) when it comes to drafting. And honestly, as far as the 1st round pick is concerned, I think Nix is almost ALWAYS going to take the best player available. And at this point, that will likely be Miller or Dareus, not Gabbert, not AJ Green and not Patrick Peterson. I think he is a Dalton, Kapernick guy, who probably doesn't see a huge amount of differential in skill sets between Gabbert and those other two QBs. I'm not saying Nix is easy to read, but he isn't Bill Belichick either.

It's gotta be Dareus or Miller, listening to him talk. I know all this bull **** about smokescreens, but I can't imagine the Bills don't go defense at this point. He's going around saying Fitz is the guy and saying the defense is thin. The top end of the draft is very heavy in talented defenders. I can't fathom they go elsewhere.