Bad news for those wanting a LT at #9

[VABills]

As Max said, Levi Jones was their LT for a large portion of last season. Samuels had pretty much retired last season when he was injured and it's just now official.

[Alphadawg7]

As Max said, Levi Jones was their LT for a large portion of last season. Samuels had pretty much retired last season when he was injured and it's just now official.

 

I get what you are saying, but it still doesnt change the fact that they are investing in Campbell, at least are expected too, making LT their most pressing need in such a case.

[VABills]

I get what you are saying, but it still doesnt change the fact that they are investing in Campbell, at least are expected too, making LT their most pressing need in such a case.

You don't live locally do you? Shanahan has pretty much said that Campbell will only be a 1-2 year stop gap, and he wants to draft and groom a future star QB. Just because they keep Campbell doesn't mean they aren't drafting QB. In fact the skins have plenty of needs. They are in no particular order LT, G, Qb, FS and those are only the most pressing needs.

[John from Riverside]

Simple....take Clausen or trade down.

[JohnC]

Agreed. This is obviously because the top 10 picks generally consist of LTs, QBs, and pass rushing DEs. There are very few teams as stupid as the Raiders and Bills who would waste the #7 and #8 picks on a safety, especially if they had other, more pressing needs. And, teams don't as a rule trade players at the above listed positions, or even let them become free agents (except for the Bills/Jason Peters, but the Levy/Mauron mindset is too dumb to begin to explain).

 

Overall, I am not crazy about this draft wrt the Bills. Do you like any qb as much as Matt Stanford? I certainly don't. If any of them was considered a real standout they would go extremely early if not first, because that is what happens with quarterbacks. I find it very telling that 2 defensive tackles are listed in the top 3 selections in many mocks. This is a rare occurence, and it too doesn't reflect well upon the quality of the LTs, DEs, and QBs.

 

Again, McClain is the monkey wrench of this draft imo. The kid will improve a team as soon as he steps on the field. This is why I think he will be gone before #9.

 

Jmo.

 

The one qb I like as much if not more than Matt Stafford is Bradford. Stafford has the stronger arm by far. But Bradford is exceptionally accurate, which I believe is more important. If Bradford would have come out last year it is uncertain as to which of these two qbs would have been drafted first.

 

One of the primary reasons that the two DTS (Suh & McCoy) are rated higher than the qbs is that both are safer picks. When considering the economics of the draft a lot of people believe that it is better to not gamble with the pick. Judging how a DT is going to do in the pros is much easier than judging whether a qb is going to be a success in the pros. That being said, the overwhelming majority of people believe that the qb position is the most important position on a roster.

[tennesseeboy]

Berry is a blue chipper and may go in the top three. I suspect that three of the four LT candidates will be gone by 9, but it is only a remote chance that all four will be gone. Bruce Campbell is a bit of a stretch, but has done well at the combine, and folks seem very favorably inclined. If things do happen to go the way your predict there will be some killer defensive linemen and at least one great linebacker available to us. I think we're in pretty good shape at 9 to help ourselves.

[Bufcomments]

Free Agency changes the board big time.

 

My mock draft will be posted next week sometime for all those who give a damn lol

[csc06258]

Just saw on sportscenter that Chris Samuels is going to be announcing his retirement this week.

 

Add that to the fact the Skins are looking more and more likely to be keeping Jason Campbell and it becomes highly unlikely they take a QB at #4 and more and more likely they go LT.

 

So, here is how the top 8 before could easily shape out to now:

 

1. Rams: QB Bradford - From everything I hear, Bradford will be #1 unless his shoulder doesnt check out.

2. Det: DT McCoy or Suh

3. TB: DT McCoy or Sub (whoever doesnt go 2 will go 3)

4. Was: OT Okung - Chris Samuels retiring and Campbell coming back points to an obvious choice of #1 rated LT here.

5. KC: OT Bualaga - 2nd best tackle at a major position of need

6. Sea: OT Davis - They have a 2nd pick at 14 so they go OT here since there wont be one at 14.

7. Cle: Joe Haden - Could be Eric Berry, butI think it will be Haden as their CB's suck. Might also be Juan Pierre-Paul

8. Raiders: OT Williams - they need major O Line help, then again Al Davis is a moron and could take anyone here

9. Bills????

 

That leaves us at #9 with the top 4 OT gone in this very possible scenario. What now? Couple of ideas (vote above):

 

1. Take the best player available which is hands down Eric Berry at this point and trade Whitner.

 

2. Try and trade back to 14 with Sea if they want Claussen who is still on the board...or we might also be able to trade back with Jax at 10 or SF at 13 who both would love to get their hands on Berry potentially. Trading back would get us more picks and we target McClain, Iupati, Dan Williams, etc at a lower pick.

 

3. Stay put at #9 and take a player of need even if that player is considered a stretch at #9

 

4. Stay at #9 and take Claussen.

 

 

I would take OT Campbell from Maryland. Good product, ran a faster 40 yard dash than Aaron Maybin did at the combine. My first choice tho would be to take Rolando Mcclain, he is the best overall guy at his position there that immediately helps us. Eric Berry wouldn't help us, it would just give us another DB. Mcclain upgrades are sub-par LB corps. Problem is we will then have a gaping hole at Tackle. By the way, Campbell gets picked before Bulaga and Trent Williams in my opinion. We will probably end up choosing between Williams and anthony Davis and both to me have crap written all over them. Thats why I go with Mcclain.

[Alphadawg7]

You don't live locally do you? Shanahan has pretty much said that Campbell will only be a 1-2 year stop gap, and he wants to draft and groom a future star QB. Just because they keep Campbell doesn't mean they aren't drafting QB. In fact the skins have plenty of needs. They are in no particular order LT, G, Qb, FS and those are only the most pressing needs.

 

Nope, dont live locally...never even been to Buffalo. I live in Southern California...I didnt hear those remarks about Campbell from Shanny. When did he say those? I only ask because the last 2 stories I read about the Campbell situation talked about Shanny believing he can improve Campbell and not yet ready to go another direction. If that is true, they need to protect him first.

 

Of course, everything is all hear say at this point anyway, so who really knows their intent. They may just be saying that to cover up their intent on taking a QB in the first round.

[Alphadawg7]

Free Agency changes the board big time.

 

My mock draft will be posted next week sometime for all those who give a damn lol

 

This may normally be true...but take a look at the top 8 teams and what they would likely target in the draft. Now how do you expect them to fill those holes in FA when there are not really any top players at those positions in FA?

 

No FA QB's to keep Bradford and maybe Claussen being taken by a team.

No DT's in FA to keep Suh and McCoy from coming off the board in the top 8.

And more importantly no OT in FA to keep the top 8 from going on a run of tackles.

 

So, considering who is exected to be drafted in the top 8, whats available in FA, and the teams needs, there isnt a lot of hope of FA really impacting the draft in the top 8 slots.

[drnykterstein]

Lol, how can the Rams not draft Suh? That would be hilarious if they drafted Bradford over him.

[Endless Ike]

Unless there is another OT worth #9 we better trade up before this happens or we will be 6-10.

 

psssst...we're going to be playing a new defense with players not well suited to it...we're probably going to be 6-10 no matter what

[Thoner7]

Nope, dont live locally...never even been to Buffalo. I live in Southern California...I didnt hear those remarks about Campbell from Shanny. When did he say those? I only ask because the last 2 stories I read about the Campbell situation talked about Shanny believing he can improve Campbell and not yet ready to go another direction. If that is true, they need to protect him first.

 

Of course, everything is all hear say at this point anyway, so who really knows their intent. They may just be saying that to cover up their intent on taking a QB in the first round.

 

How did you come to be a Bills fan? Just curious.

[DrDawkinstein]

id take McClain over Berry in a second.

 

trading down shouldnt even be mentioned as an option in these discussions since it rarely ever happens. i know everyone has a huge boner for trading down (every year, regardless of position) but it's such a cop out of an answer for board discussions. we're already guessing at something we'll have no control over, lets not make up crazy fake scenarios on top of it.

 

If the top few Dlinemen, the top Tackles and the top QBs are off the board... we have to go with the #1 LB.

[Meark]

All of your mock draft scenarios are well thought out and quite possible. However, beginning this Saturday, teams can sign UFA's, and until the top free agents are signed up - and there are 6 weeks for teams to sign them before the draft party starts on a Thursday night this year, mock drafts are pretty much a moot point, aren't they? What if Nix shocks all of us by signing Pennington to a 5 year deal? That rules out Clausen right? What if Nix can make a deal for a starting - caliber LT in free agency? Now they don't need to draft one of the top OT's, right? Until Nix makes his obligatory GM-speak "we're all set for now, we'll see who's still around come June 1 after the draft" announcement, I would hold off on making mock draft predictions altogehter.

 

OMG.. I will kill someone if we bring in Pennington.. he is DONE in the NFL.. He's no better than our current cluster of crap..

[tennesseeboy]

looking at the mock drafts it seems Suh, Bradford, Berry, Okungand McCoy are top five with Baluga, Haden, Clausen, Davis, Williams, McLain in the next batch. Clausen seems to be predicted going before nine, but might hang on to nine, if the three second batch tackles are chosen 6,7 and 8. I don't see that happening, and I don't see people who might need a franchise safety passing on Eric Berry (some talk about him in the same sentence as Ed Reed). Worst case situation? We get the best linebacker on the board. I think that would be just fine, especially given that there is such a bepth of good OT's we might get lucky in round 2. I think we can go a LONG way toward rebuilding the team with this draft.

[Alphadawg7]

How did you come to be a Bills fan? Just curious.

 

lol...kind of a funny story actually. I grew up in Northern California and my dad was a hardcore 49er fan. Competition was big with us, so naturally as I got older I began to root against the Niners. I lived with my mom in town during the week and went to my dads ranch on the weekends.

 

Well, right about the time that I was old enough to really start getting into football and understanding it was the same time my grandfather (on my dads side) bought a buffalo at a cattle aucton just for the hell of it when he was there buying some cattle for the ranch. I was about 10 or 11 when this happened. Well as we all know so well, Chris Berman every year for 20 years would predict a Bills vs 49ers Super Bowl.

 

Well, I didnt know much about the Bills at that time, but the combination of the random Buffalo my grandfather bought, Chris Bermans predictions, and my dad being a hardcore Niner fan made me pay attention to them. That was around 1988 just when they started becoming one of the most exciting teams to watch and I got hooked. I loved to watch them play and was a huge fan of the no huddle. So as a kid, I became a big fan of this team and always hoped that Chris Berman would get it right and my Bills would have met the 49ers in the SB and beat them down.

 

Been a loyal die hard Bills fan ever since. Sadly, my father was killed in Nov of 94 and he didnt get to see the 49ers win the superbowl that year, but that was the only year I ever rooted for the 49ers other than when I was just a little kid. Other than that, I was always anti 49er because of the competitive and fun rivalry we shared with sports.

[Bill from NYC]

Sadly, my father was killed in Nov of 94 and he didnt get to see the 49ers win the superbowl that year, but that was the only year I ever rooted for the 49ers other than when I was just a little kid.

I am very sorry to hear this.

[Beerball]

5 scenario polls give me a massive headache.

[sharper802]

As Max said, Levi Jones was their LT for a large portion of last season. Samuels had pretty much retired last season when he was injured and it's just now official.

Another missed opportunity to sign Levi Jones and salvage last season. I can't beleive he wasn't signed when the Bengal cut him. John Guy screwed the Bills one last time....