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Bigger Harm to the Bills?


ieatcrayonz

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There are plenty of reasons the Bills have not lived up to what could have been this year and the past few years. I am not really talking about the whole decade, just maybe the last 2 or 3 years. There have been plenty of disappointments. It is impossible to blame this all on one player, coach or even owner.

 

That said, the Bills have clearly whiffed on a couple of important picks. To be specific, I am talking about James Hardly and Aaron Maybinot. Could these guys possibly be any worse?

 

They can't BOTH be the worst though. Let's decide who is:

 

The prosecution against Hardly:

 

About 10 minutes after being drafted, he allegedly tried to kill his father.

 

He has recovered from his injury but cannot manage to be dressed for games ahead of Justin Jenkins.

 

We needed line help but instead took a WR with a high pick.

 

Runs like Frankenstein

 

 

The prosecution against Maybinot:

 

11th overall pick; 2,563rd overall production.

 

Okrapo picked afterwards

 

Held out for no reason but unfounded arrogance

 

He spends a lot of time on Twitter when he should be practicing.

 

 

 

The defense of Hardly:

 

Many receivers take 8 or 9 years to "get it".

 

We signed TO so his spot was taken.

 

He got hurt.

 

 

 

The defense for Maybinot:

 

Poz advocating drafting him so it is not really his fault. Poz' beautiful hair confused Modrak.

 

He spends a lot of time on Twitter communicating with fans.

 

 

Any other factors to accuse or defend? Who is worse?

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There are plenty of reasons the Bills have not lived up to what could have been this year and the past few years. I am not really talking about the whole decade, just maybe the last 2 or 3 years. There have been plenty of disappointments. It is impossible to blame this all on one player, coach or even owner.

 

That said, the Bills have clearly whiffed on a couple of important picks. To be specific, I am talking about James Hardly and Aaron Maybinot. Could these guys possibly be any worse?

 

They can't BOTH be the worst though. Let's decide who is:

 

The prosecution against Hardly:

 

About 10 minutes after being drafted, he allegedly tried to kill his father.

 

He has recovered from his injury but cannot manage to be dressed for games ahead of Justin Jenkins.

 

We needed line help but instead took a WR with a high pick.

 

Runs like Frankenstein

 

 

The prosecution against Maybinot:

 

11th overall pick; 2,563rd overall production.

 

Okrapo picked afterwards

 

Held out for no reason but unfounded arrogance

 

He spends a lot of time on Twitter when he should be practicing.

 

 

 

The defense of Hardly:

 

Many receivers take 8 or 9 years to "get it".

 

We signed TO so his spot was taken.

 

He got hurt.

 

 

 

The defense for Maybinot:

 

Poz advocating drafting him so it is not really his fault. Poz' beautiful hair confused Modrak.

 

He spends a lot of time on Twitter communicating with fans.

 

 

Any other factors to accuse or defend? Who is worse?

 

I go Maybin because his pick just reinforced that this 2009's off-season could literally go down as the worse ever in Bills History. Not only did we get rid of Peters but made one of the worst picks with our First Pick. Imagine if the front office would have found a way to keep Peters and drafted, say Oher. The line would be a completely different story. Instead we a picking off practice squads to grab OL starters. With the exception of Wood, Levitre and Williams, it seems like every other area of this team digressed (sp?) from 2008. While I like TO, I am not sure if on a whole our recieving core is any better....not that we will ever know b/c our QB is awful and the line even worse. I will not give up on Maybin but he is going to have to bulk up and show something next year.

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I honestly am not a huge fan of either, but I will defend both:

 

Maybin - When we drafted him, everyone knew he was a multi-year project due to his raw talent. He was only a 1 year starter at Penn. The team was only looking for 1 dimension out of him this year - a pass rush, which he clearly failed to deliver. He could become a decent player, however, there is also a very good chance that he could be done by next year. Given our weakness at OLB and his small size, we should really consider switching to a 3-4 and put him at Weakside Backer.

 

Hardy - Again, when we drafted him, he was expected to be a project. Hardy had good hands and tall stature, but his route running was suspect. Last year he failed to shine and was outshined by 7th round pick Steve Johnson, whose biggest attribute happened to be his route running ability (Is there a theme here). Throw in the injury last year and the acquisition of Owens and all of a sudden Hardy is down on the chart. Is he starter material or is he a bust? I don't know, he hasn't gotten the reps even in practice. With Owens here for a year, he may have been tutored enough to turn into a quality starter. Or he could be another bust.

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My take: Hardy is a bust. A whole hear after the injury and he still doesn't show enough in practice -with a terrible team- to warrant playing time. When healthy, he was a lumbering clod. I have no faith he'll be 'good enough' ever.

 

Maybin gets a pass this year. He does possess a super first step and is a project. This season is a washout and depending on an expected new regime, could be re-positioned in a different D-set and flourish.

 

Hardy's the worse of the 2, IMO.

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Recovered may be a loose term. My take on it is, after (what was it week 10) the Bills either had to activate Hardy or IR him for the rest of the season. They knew he really wasn't ready to play, but they wanted him to practice the rest of the season, so their only option was to activate him, but knew he likely wouldn't play any this year. Often there is at least one WR every game that doesn't dress, so considering the Bills had some depth there, and little if any injuries, they could afford ot do that. Normally you wouldn't want to place a second round draft pick in that position of not dressing every week, but I think the benefit of gettign practice time is worth it. Let's see where he is by this time next year, then decide if he's a bust or not. Right now no one knows and he's not healthy enough to play.

 

That's why they wanted him to practice the remainder of the year, to give him time to improve his route running.

 

 

He has recovered from his injury but cannot manage to be dressed for games ahead of Justin Jenkins.
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That said, the Bills have clearly whiffed on a couple of important picks. To be specific, I am talking about James Hardly and Aaron Maybinot. Could these guys possibly be any worse?

I hesitate to answer, because of course you eat crayons, but at least they aren't named John McCargo. By far the biggest bust in recent history in a position where we needed the most help. If OBD didn't think he could help us, I assume they take a DT instead of Whitner and they probably don't trade up in the bottom of the first to get a safety which gives us another draft pick.

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I hesitate to answer, because of course you eat crayons, but at least they aren't named John McCargo. By far the biggest bust in recent history in a position where we needed the most help. If OBD didn't think he could help us, I assume they take a DT instead of Whitner and they probably don't trade up in the bottom of the first to get a safety which gives us another draft pick.

Seriously, it is more fair to evaluate McCargo's draft class. It is pretty condemning really. After that draft, the Bills said they had Whitner rated at the top of their board and his selection was a no-brainer. The guy is a backup S at what should be the height of his professional career. They also said that they had McCargo rated just as highly as Ngata. McCargo will be out of the NFL very soon. Given that, is there really any question that the scouting department needs a purge?

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I go Maybin because his pick just reinforced that this 2009's off-season could literally go down as the worse ever in Bills History. Not only did we get rid of Peters but made one of the worst picks with our First Pick. Imagine if the front office would have found a way to keep Peters and drafted, say Oher. The line would be a completely different story. Instead we a picking off practice squads to grab OL starters. With the exception of Wood, Levitre and Williams, it seems like every other area of this team digressed (sp?) from 2008. While I like TO, I am not sure if on a whole our recieving core is any better....not that we will ever know b/c our QB is awful and the line even worse. I will not give up on Maybin but he is going to have to bulk up and show something next year.

 

I agree. The Bills conditioning coach (assuming he keeps his job after our tied-for-most players on IR this year, again) has to set some objectives for him to gain 15 to 20 pounds of muscle.

 

The thing working in his favor is that D-lineman take longer to develop and have an impact in the NFL, unlike linebackers who usually have an impact in their first year.

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Are you going to bench Owens? Are you going to bench Evans? Where do you expect Hardy to play. Unless you bench TO/Evans Hardy will sit.

 

Are you going to put a 6-5 Wr on special teams. Yeah that will really help his leg.

 

How can you judge these players after 1 full year?

 

Bills have a HOF WR averaging 3 catches a game but yet we want to blame Hardy. How about putting the blame on the QB. Maybe TRENT sucked last year as well. How about putting the blame on the O line. Better yet, How about putting the blame on the coaching staff and the system they have in place.

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Seriously, it is more fair to evaluate McCargo's draft class. It is pretty condemning really. After that draft, the Bills said they had Whitner rated at the top of their board and his selection was a no-brainer. The guy is a backup S at what should be the height of his professional career. They also said that they had McCargo rated just as highly as Ngata. McCargo will be out of the NFL very soon. Given that, is there really any question that the scouting department needs a purge?

Well, they did have the three headed front office making the decisions for that draft, and it was pretty piss poor. Funny that the later round linemen from that class were decent. First four rounds not so good. I agreed with their strategy in that draft, but obviously if Whitner and McCargo are not impact players, it all falls apart. I don't know if they were all agreed on the picks or not, but obviously they were wrong.

 

I do have hope for the future because the 2009 draft class seems to be what we needed. I think the addition of Buddy Nix and one other person no longer there may bode well for our future. While Maybin's been a bust so far, the rest of the class is pretty decent and hopefully everyone will be healthy for next season.

 

I may be high, but if we can pull a similar draft off in 2010 we will be on the right path. I am not on the flush everyone bandwagon because good organizations replace people with better people, but I wouldn't be sad if Modrak, Guy and Overdorf were shown the door. My main thing is let a gm come in, evaluate and flush/replace as necessary. It's just a question of getting someone who can do the job, and it's very difficult to pick someone from the outside as opposed to promoting from within. Unfortunately with the possible exception of NIx, it seems our "within" cupboard is pretty bare.

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