Claussen in the 2nd?

[billsfreak]

I'm not a big Claussen fan, but I have seen some mocks having him fall to the second round. Some draftniks don't have a 1st round grade on him. Also, with his toe injury it's believed he won't be able to perform any sort of physical drills before the Draft. Could he fall to us in round 2?

If you are wasting your time reading mock drafts that have Claussen still available in the 2nd round, you are wasting your time reading mock drafts written by someone with not a single clue in the world. Unless he has some type of injury in the next 7 weeks, he will most likely be gone before the Bills draft, probably to Washington. At the very least, he is gone before the first half of the first round is done, guaranteed.

[Thurman#1]

I'm not a big Claussen fan, but I have seen some mocks having him fall to the second round. Some draftniks don't have a 1st round grade on him. Also, with his toe injury it's believed he won't be able to perform any sort of physical drills before the Draft. Could he fall to us in round 2?

 

 

 

Yup, Clausen in the second and Suh in the third.

 

Unless he has some kind of major injury or drug scandal in the next few months, there's only about a 5% chance he'll fall to us in the FIRST.

[Thurman#1]

The more I hear about Clausen's inability to get along with teammates the more I'm reminded of Ryan Leaf.

 

 

 

LINK?

 

His teammates love him. It's draftniks who are desperately trying to find something wrong with him, because otherwise they can't make surprising and interesting picks in their mock. Everybody wants to surprise and shock with their mock if possible, because otherwise it's just following the crowd. So they isolate on the slightest faults of the top guys and try to find ways to bump them down as far as possible. It happens every single year.

 

The furthest that Clausen will possibly fall is, well, 9th.

[Thurman#1]

is this the guy you want?

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AQj8d4IgEHg/Swxq...immyClausen.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AQj8d4IgEHg/Swxw...clausen-gay.jpg

 

 

 

Nope, this is the guy.

 

http://walterfootball.com/draft2010.php

 

http://walterfootball.com/draft2010consensus.php

[Thurman#1]

All depends what you mean by "want". I would want him in a Bills uni (28TDs, 4 Ints in over 400 attempts as a junior), not in a bathing suit.

 

 

Exactly.

[Malazan]

A common misconception is that drafting a QB before your O line is set is, well, stupid. Fact is you need both to win and therefore in building your draft board you have to consider your reasonably expected opportunities over consecutive drafts. If the franchise QB falls to you in year 1 of the new programme, and in advance of your #1 O-lineman, you take him. Maybe the tackle is available in next year's class, (and maybe the QB will not).

Taking your future QB now doesn't mean you have to play him immediately behind a line that is not set. Sometime franchise QBs sit for a year or two.

Now for those who just don't like Bradford or Claussen, that is a different point-and everyone is entitled to their opinion on that I guess.

My guesstimate - both will be off the board before # 7 (in the first). I agree with Walterfootball - Claussen # 1 overall to the Rams.

 

I think the misconception is that there is QB worth taking for the Bills this year.

[Orton's Arm]

A common misconception is that drafting a QB before your O line is set is, well, stupid. Fact is you need both to win and therefore in building your draft board you have to consider your reasonably expected opportunities over consecutive drafts. If the franchise QB falls to you in year 1 of the new programme, and in advance of your #1 O-lineman, you take him. Maybe the tackle is available in next year's class, (and maybe the QB will not).

Taking your future QB now doesn't mean you have to play him immediately behind a line that is not set. Sometime franchise QBs sit for a year or two.

Now for those who just don't like Bradford or Claussen, that is a different point-and everyone is entitled to their opinion on that I guess.

My guesstimate - both will be off the board before # 7 (in the first). I agree with Walterfootball - Claussen # 1 overall to the Rams.

Well said, and I agree with what you've written. I only hope you're wrong about Clausen going #1 overall.

[starrymessenger]

Well said, and I agree with what you've written. I only hope you're wrong about Clausen going #1 overall.

Thank-you. I probably am wrong. Most people have Bradford ahead of Clausen. I think they both have franchise QB potential. I prefer JC. I think he will be kicking butt somewhere for the next decade. Doubt we get him but I believe Buddy and Chan want him.

[Munch]

A common misconception is that drafting a QB before your O line is set is, well, stupid. Fact is you need both to win and therefore in building your draft board you have to consider your reasonably expected opportunities over consecutive drafts. If the franchise QB falls to you in year 1 of the new programme, and in advance of your #1 O-lineman, you take him. Maybe the tackle is available in next year's class, (and maybe the QB will not).

Taking your future QB now doesn't mean you have to play him immediately behind a line that is not set. Sometime franchise QBs sit for a year or two.

Now for those who just don't like Bradford or Claussen, that is a different point-and everyone is entitled to their opinion on that I guess.

My guesstimate - both will be off the board before # 7 (in the first). I agree with Walterfootball - Claussen # 1 overall to the Rams.

 

If Clausen goes #1 overall, the bills better be on the horn w/ the Lions trying to get #2 overall and grab Suh.

[Steely Dan]

LINK?

 

His teammates love him. It's draftniks who are desperately trying to find something wrong with him, because otherwise they can't make surprising and interesting picks in their mock. Everybody wants to surprise and shock with their mock if possible, because otherwise it's just following the crowd. So they isolate on the slightest faults of the top guys and try to find ways to bump them down as far as possible. It happens every single year.

 

The furthest that Clausen will possibly fall is, well, 9th.

 

Pro Football Weekly Draft Guide page 31;

 

Lacks ideal intangibles for the position and could always struggle to fit into a locker room. Overly arrogant and rubs teammates the wrong way with his brash demeanor.

 

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2010/02/2...s-health-leader

 

"Some people say I'm cocky, I'm arrogant, I'm not a good leader, I'm not a good teammate," Clausen said. "I think the people that are out there saying those things really don't know me as a person. I'm a humble kid. I love having fun with my teammates."

 

If Clausen goes #1 overall, the bills better be on the horn w/ the Lions trying to get #2 overall and grab Suh.

 

If the Bills are going to throw away draft picks it should be for Bradford, JMO

[Thurman#1]

Pro Football Weekly Draft Guide page 31;

 

Lacks ideal intangibles for the position and could always struggle to fit into a locker room. Overly arrogant and rubs teammates the wrong way with his brash demeanor.

 

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2010/02/2...s-health-leader

 

"Some people say I'm cocky, I'm arrogant, I'm not a good leader, I'm not a good teammate," Clausen said. "I think the people that are out there saying those things really don't know me as a person. I'm a humble kid. I love having fun with my teammates."

 

 

 

If the Bills are going to throw away draft picks it should be for Bradford, JMO

 

 

Thanks for the links. Interesting stuff.

 

I have to say, the second one doesn't prove anything to me. The "some people" who say he's not a good teammate are most likely pundits looking to differentiate themselves.

 

The first one is better, though I haven't got the magazine. Perhaps I'll go out and get it; believe it or not, there's a bookstore in Tokyo where they carry NFL draft mags. That one specifically says "rubs teammates the wrong way with his brash demanor." I, though, want to see quotations from teammates saying they don't like him. When I see that, I will start to get worried.

 

I'm sure you remember a certain Jim Kelly rubbing Thurman Thomas the wrong way several times and Howard Ballard once or twice. I also remember Ruben Brown being quoted as saying that his first few years he hated Kelly because Kelly would get in his face and yell at him. Ruben said that only after the team started going downhill without Kelly did he realize what a great leader Kelly was. The two are now great friends.

 

 

Also, you originally talked about "Clausen's inability to get along with teammates."

 

The more I hear about Clausen's inability to get along with teammates the more I'm reminded of Ryan Leaf.

 

 

IMHO, "could" always struggle and "rubs teammates the wrong way," are way short of proving "inability to get along with teammates." Again, where are the quotes from angry teammates. (I really don't know, I only get interested in college football after the Bills season is over.)

 

Also, Leaf's big problem, unlike Kelly and Clausen, was a total lack of a work ethic. He was indeed brash, but that's not a problem unless it's combined with a lack of ability to back it up. Clausen backed it up like a house on fire, improving consistently every year and putting up a season for the ages.

 

If you accuse Clausen of brashness, of arrogance, and you might have a point, but personally, I don't care as long as he backs it up. Accuse him of "inability to get along with teammates," and I need more proof from the teammates.

 

Anyway, I hadn't seen those links before, so thanks for posting them.

[Steely Dan]

Thanks for the links. Interesting stuff.

 

I have to say, the second one doesn't prove anything to me. The "some people" who say he's not a good teammate are most likely pundits looking to differentiate themselves.

 

The first one is better, though I haven't got the magazine. Perhaps I'll go out and get it; believe it or not, there's a bookstore in Tokyo where they carry NFL draft mags. That one specifically says "rubs teammates the wrong way with his brash demanor." I, though, want to see quotations from teammates saying they don't like him. When I see that, I will start to get worried.

 

I'm sure you remember a certain Jim Kelly rubbing Thurman Thomas the wrong way several times and Howard Ballard once or twice. I also remember Ruben Brown being quoted as saying that his first few years he hated Kelly because Kelly would get in his face and yell at him. Ruben said that only after the team started going downhill without Kelly did he realize what a great leader Kelly was. The two are now great friends.

 

 

Also, you originally talked about "Clausen's inability to get along with teammates."

 

 

 

 

IMHO, "could" always struggle and "rubs teammates the wrong way," are way short of proving "inability to get along with teammates." Again, where are the quotes from angry teammates. (I really don't know, I only get interested in college football after the Bills season is over.)

 

Also, Leaf's big problem, unlike Kelly and Clausen, was a total lack of a work ethic. He was indeed brash, but that's not a problem unless it's combined with a lack of ability to back it up. Clausen backed it up like a house on fire, improving consistently every year and putting up a season for the ages.

 

If you accuse Clausen of brashness, of arrogance, and you might have a point, but personally, I don't care as long as he backs it up. Accuse him of "inability to get along with teammates," and I need more proof from the teammates.

 

Anyway, I hadn't seen those links before, so thanks for posting them.

 

Good post.

 

I don't think you'll find any links from teammates because good teammates keep that stuff in the locker room and any comments would most likely be from anonymous sources. His ability to rub people the wrong way has been discussed in more than those two links but I can't remember enough to supply links to them. The fact that he's addressing the problem seems to validate that many think it's an issue.

 

When Leaf came out he was very arrogant, IIRC, and when he struggled to cut it in the NFL he seemingly turned his anger toward anything but himself. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance and I think all great QB's ride the edge of that line but straying too far either way isn't good. When a confident QB struggles, IMO, he keeps working hard because he believes he can solve his problems. When an arrogant QB struggles he blames anyone or anything but himself, whether he says it out loud or not.

 

I don't think Kelly ever went waaaaayyyy over the line. He spouted off after he got an injury he thought was Ballard's fault. I think Thurman helped knock him down a peg and Kelly responded well. It's hard to know how Clausen will respond in adversity. I'm not saying it's the exact same thing as Leaf just that it reminds me of his situation.

[stuckincincy]

Not that I think it would happen, but with the new draft schedule, if Claussen were to fall out of the first round teams needing a QB would have all night to work out trades to get into the top of the second round to take him. Couldn't see any possibility that he would fall to the 9th pick of the second round, and the Bills have too many needs to lose picks on trade ups.

 

FWIW, he - along with Bradford, Tebow, and McCoy - will not be throwing at the combine. Pike is, and LeFevour will make some limited throws...

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2010022...skipping+drills

[billsfan_34]

Claussen only falls to the 2nd if he gets drunk and plows his SUV into some drunk chicks in D-Town B-Lo.

That just cheered me up! Thanks.

[turftoe]

Do the Bills really need to go down the road of another California Kid QB?

Lets see... Rob Johnson, J.P. Losman, Trent Edwards. California surfer dudes

just don't fit well in snowy Buffalo. Claussen, to me, looks like J.P. Losman all

over again.

[Pete]

Clausen is the player I want least in the first round. I would be happy with any top 4 Lineman, McCoy, Bradford, Dez White, Suh, Eric Berry, Derek Morgan, Dan Williams, or McClain. Claussen