Interview With A Scout

[KOKBILLS]

Interesting...

 

Well...If this Scout is right about Clausen, and The Bills pass on him...Oh boy!...

 

Then again plenty of Scouts have been wrong about QB's before...I don't know...I was not really high on Drafting Clausen before I read that...But the stuff about him being all about Football and his current maturity level is making me rethink it...I know he's got the ability, and I know he came from a Pro system...The Bills cannot pass on a Franchise QB...They can't do it...

 

I'm starting to think it may very well be Clausen at #9 after all...

[NickelCity]

Trade for the mysterious Matt Flynn!

[LABills08]

Good read, though I still don't think it sheds much light on the Bradford/Clausen debate.

 

As is typical with many scouts, they tend to fall in love with the players they are most familiar with.

[PDaDdy]

I would love for us to draft Claussen. The problem is how do we keep him on his feet?

 

If we hadn't been the typical penny pinching Bills and didn't get rid of our pro bowl LT we wouldn't have created a cascade effect of destruction on the OL. We would be in PRIME position to make Claussen the no brainer pick! Getting rid of Peters ultimately resulted in screwing up the LT, RT and RG positions. The right side of the line was above average if not great. We then robbed Peter in an attempt to pay Paul and took these guys out of positions they were competent at and set them up for failure.

 

All 3 positions had guys who due to bad fit, injuries or retirement failed miserably. Of those positions the only one I have hope for is Eric Wood and that is if he can come back from injury. That being said I think it is a total waste that we drafted a CENTER in the mid first round and made him a guard!!! WHO USES A MID FIRST ROUND PICK ON A GUARD!?!?!?

 

If Wood doesn't take over his natural spot of center this year or the next he was officially a "reach". Not Donte Whitner reach but a reach none the less. People are already calling him a great player and saying he will be awesome but there is nothing on the field to suggest his greatness OR potential failure. He didn't even finish the year. It is just WAY to early to tell yet people are singing his praises. Of course nobody will admit this because Wood was gotten with a pick that came from the Peters trade and is therefore made of teflon.

 

DUMB!!!!

[2003Contenders]

Who in the hell is Matt Flynn???

 

He is Aaron Rodgers' backup in Green Bay. You may better know him as the 7th round draft pick that everyone keeps pointing to that beat out 2nd rounder Brian Brohm for the #2 job (and eventually a roster spot). My guess is that the poster meant Matt "Ryan".

[FutureBillsGM]

Trade for the mysterious Matt Flynn!

 

Matt Flynn is the Packers backup QB from LSU who was drafted in the 7th round a few years ago and beat out Brohm for the job. I really hope he is referring to Matt Ryan as Matt Flynn is more like Jim Sorgi than Peyton Manning.

[todd]

I like the part where he says several tackles people aren't looking at are going to be good. Again fans think you gotta have a first round LT and that is bull ****.

 

But you've gotta have a damn good one, first round or not. There's no debating that, so don't bother.

[dave mcbride]

I went back a page and found this little gem

 

"I reported from Mobile in January that wide receivers that lack speed but especially quickness are in increasingly low demand, and that’s becoming ever more evident. Nearly everyone I talk to, and that includes scouts, personnel people, and coaches, tell me that the ability to get open on their own and then catch the ball reliably are absolute requisites for a wideout to get drafted by their teams. The days of Limas Sweed, James Hardy, Dwayne Jarrett and Ramses Barden--very big receivers with long strides that lack lateral quickness and acceleration--being drafted above the 5th round are over. "

Very interesting!

[todd]

Fact, not crusade and FACTS back up my position on the subject.

 

Manufactured facts backed by insanity.

[Gugny]

Fact, not crusade and FACTS back up my position on the subject.

FACT: Bears eat beets.

[buffaloaggie]

This has been discussed here before. Personally, I'd be willing to take a flyer on him...seems he made a bad decision, while in the wrong environment at a very young age. Been good since.

 

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/index.php?showtopic=110047

This would sound like a good draft scenario. We'd get a potential franchise QB and an OT to protect him. It sounds like Washington has behaved and it's good that he went through this. It's a twisted tale for sure, but he may have learned his lesson and got his act together. There are some pretty messed up kids raised in sheltered homes and small towns. Good article on sportsfanlive.com. Thanks for the link to the thread.

[DarthICE]

But you've gotta have a damn good one, first round or not. There's no debating that, so don't bother.

 

 

Find one post where I said you didn't need a good one. You won't find it. I did say and the FACTS are there, that they can be had in mid rounds. You do NOT need a first round LT and just because you take a 'name' in the first round, that doesn't always = success.

[GR8PRKN]

http://football.realgm.com/src_twelfthwrit..._scout_part_ii/

 

Some very interesting stuff here on Clausen, Bulaga, Saffold (he really likes him), Trent Williams and other OTs, and others like TE Gresham and Brian Price (who he really doesn't like).

 

The Vladimir Ducasse stuff was eye-opening.

 

 

Great Read, thanks for sharing... Not happy to think Buluga is a RT

[sllib olaffub]

By the looks of it, there are people in the nfl who think Clausen will be better than Bradford. I have a hard time believing Clausen will fall to us at 9 - just look at the teams ahead of us who also need franchise QB's: Oakland, Cleveland (their moves might have been smoke screens to stop a team from trading into the 4 spot), Seattle, K.C. - remember their new O.C. was Clausen's coach. To me there are just way too many likely destinations for him to fall to us at nine. If we think he's a franchise quality QB, then we have to move up to get him for sure. Otherwise, we wait till next year or try and land maybe Garrett, Lefevour, Tebow, or McCoy and let them learn for a few years - and still maybe not solve our QB problem. And that, to me, makes me think we should just move up to get one. If we miss and spend a middle round pick on one, we probably will end up spending a higher round pick next year or the year after anyway. If Clausen is good enough, do it now, and let him get his experience now, so when the team is put together better in two years we can win then, and not have to wait even longer.

[In-A-Gadda-Levitre]

Thank you for that. Do you have a link to part 1 of that interview. I couldn't find a link.

I couldn't find it either. The first paragraph of the article infers that he never published the 1st interview because of interruptions, going off topic, etc.

 

I conducted another interview with a current NFL scout, but we got sort of waylaid by interlopers and other responsibilities. This is shorter than I wanted but still provides some valuable insight.

[In-A-Gadda-Levitre]

I would love for us to draft Claussen. The problem is how do we keep him on his feet?

 

If we hadn't been the typical penny pinching Bills and didn't get rid of our pro bowl LT we wouldn't have created a cascade effect of destruction on the OL. We would be in PRIME position to make Claussen the no brainer pick! Getting rid of Peters ultimately resulted in screwing up the LT, RT and RG positions. The right side of the line was above average if not great. We then robbed Peter in an attempt to pay Paul and took these guys out of positions they were competent at and set them up for failure.

 

All 3 positions had guys who due to bad fit, injuries or retirement failed miserably. Of those positions the only one I have hope for is Eric Wood and that is if he can come back from injury. That being said I think it is a total waste that we drafted a CENTER in the mid first round and made him a guard!!! WHO USES A MID FIRST ROUND PICK ON A GUARD!?!?!?

 

If Wood doesn't take over his natural spot of center this year or the next he was officially a "reach". Not Donte Whitner reach but a reach none the less. People are already calling him a great player and saying he will be awesome but there is nothing on the field to suggest his greatness OR potential failure. He didn't even finish the year. It is just WAY to early to tell yet people are singing his praises. Of course nobody will admit this because Wood was gotten with a pick that came from the Peters trade and is therefore made of teflon.

 

DUMB!!!!

Center is probably the most difficult position position on the OL to play. I am not trying to say it's like LT, where only a few have excelled. The center has make all the calls for the rest of the line. The Bills wanted him to learn the NFL game and shift him to center later on. It might even happen this season, depending on his recovery, training camp, and who they pick up in the draft and UFAs.

 

They had a serviceable center in Hangartner (at least that was the thinking in the 2009 offseason) and they needed guards. That's who uses a mid lst round pick on a guard.

 

maybe switch to decaf...

[JohnC]

Who in the hell is Matt Flynn???

 

He is an alias for Matt Ryan.

[indiragandhi'sthong]

Thanks for the excellent read ... seems like we may need to move up to get Claussen ... I don't see him falling to us. Love the part about depth at OT. Rethinking my whole draft board.

 

 

 

http://football.realgm.com/src_twelfthwrit..._scout_part_ii/

 

Some very interesting stuff here on Clausen, Bulaga, Saffold (he really likes him), Trent Williams and other OTs, and others like TE Gresham and Brian Price (who he really doesn't like).

 

The Vladimir Ducasse stuff was eye-opening.

[Armchair GM]

I like the part where he says several tackles people aren't looking at are going to be good. Again fans think you gotta have a first round LT and that is bull ****.

And you're not a scout becaaaauuuuusssseee...?

[PDaDdy]

Center is probably the most difficult position position on the OL to play. I am not trying to say it's like LT, where only a few have excelled. The center has make all the calls for the rest of the line. The Bills wanted him to learn the NFL game and shift him to center later on. It might even happen this season, depending on his recovery, training camp, and who they pick up in the draft and UFAs.

 

They had a serviceable center in Hangartner (at least that was the thinking in the 2009 offseason) and they needed guards. That's who uses a mid lst round pick on a guard.

 

maybe switch to decaf...

 

LOL. Caffeine isn't the issue. Using a mid first round pick on a guard is if Wood never does take over the center position. As I mentioned I have hope for him. I expect him to take over at center. If he doesn't take over at center however then we made a "reach" pick.

 

Journeyman guards are mid round to as high as second round picks NOT mid first rounders. As I said with Donte, Wood would be a reach if all he ends up being is a journeyman guard. Donte is a decent safety. 8th overall?....HELL NO! which is why he gets so much flack from some. It's not his fault we drafted the guy 16 spots or a whole round early.

 

Here's to hoping Wood is indeed more than just that.