Is Aaron Maybin the Worst Bills' Draft Pick of All Time?

[st. pete gogolak]

God knows there has been an overabundance of Aaron Maybin threads but I don't think this question has been addressed head-on in a thread. Here's my objective criteria in answering the question:

1) How high was the pick? The higher the pick, the bigger the bust.

2) What kind of production did we get out of the guy?

3) Did we pass on any quality players of need in picking the guy?

4) Bonus factors (did we trade up to get him? did we draft him knowing he was severely injured and wouldn't play for two years? of course, nobody's stupid enough to do that!)

 

By these criteria, you can make a strong case for Maybin being the all-time Bills' bust. He was an awfully high pick (#11); the production we've gotten and almost certainly will get is essentially zero; and we passed up at least four quality players at need positions in selecting him (Orakpo, Cushing, Oher and Matthews).

 

At least Mike Williams gave us a couple of years as an ok starting right tackle (his problem was that he wasn't Orlando Pace or Anthony Munoz or even Bryant McKinnie). Losman was a horrendous pick but more because of the trade up to get him than anything else.

 

You really have to go back in Bills' history to find a worse pick. Rueben Gant was a starting tight end for a couple of seasons. I think the only three that rival Maybin are Al Cowlings (#5) '70, Walt Patulski (#1) '72 (special shout out to Fred Swendson 3rd round in '72, #53 overall pick in the draft and got cut in training camp) and Phil Dokes (#12). Dokes was out of the league after two seasons and contributed nothing. My vote - if Maybin is cut next training camp, he will join Phil Dokes as the worst Buffalo Bills draft pick of all time.

[San Diego Bills Fan]

The worst has to be Tom Cousineau 1979 The Ohio State University. Never played a game n a Bills Uniform. The only saving grace that year was that the Bills had two 1st round draft choices and with the second pick in the first round they chose Jerry Butler out of Clemson.

[Offside Number 76]

The worst has to be Tom Cousineau 1979 The Ohio State University. Never played a game n a Bills Uniform. The only saving grace that year was that the Bills had two 1st round draft choices and with the second pick in the first round they chose Jerry Butler out of Clemson.

 

The bigger saving grace is that Cousineau was traded for the pick used to select Kelly.

 

Williams--biggest of all time, IMO.

[davidkski]

In terms of pure bust-for-the-buck, I think Walt Patulski is still the Bills' biggest draft day whiff. He was chosen #1 in THE ENTIRE DRAFT - before people like Franco Harris, Willie Buchanon and Cliff Branch. Patulski's Notre Dame pedigree made him tempting. His pierogi-juicy Polish name made him irresistible for a team like the Bills in a town like Buffalo. But, as a Polish-American myself, it pains me to say that he was so slow and undersized that he couldn't manage to sack a pussywillow bush on Dyngus Day.

[Albany,n.y.]

The worst has to be Tom Cousineau 1979 The Ohio State University. Never played a game n a Bills Uniform. The only saving grace that year was that the Bills had two 1st round draft choices and with the second pick in the first round they chose Jerry Butler out of Clemson.

After his CFL contract expired, we were able to match the Houston offer & trade him & get Jim Kelly, so Cousineau wasn't such a bad pick. Worse picks were in the old AFL days when the top pick would sign with NFL teams & the Bills never got anything in return. The worst 1st rounder signed who never played a down was Jim Davidson.

Maybin has to rank pretty high if not #1, because of the limited amount of playing time he's received and the million of $ he's been paid. Most of our other 1st round busts got a lot more playing time & actually started games.

Now there will be some who will tell you that you can't properly evaluate a player without giving him significant playing time. They'll say he just needs more time. We've seen it before, we'll see it again. But they're wrong,a bust is a bust. Players get cut every day without ever starting a single game. I'm sure if it wasn't so politically incorrect, coaches would be cutting 1st rounders in camp every year. When a player switches from college to the pros & his game doesn't translate, it's evident pretty soon. The only reason Maybin even is on the roster is it's too hard to cut a highly picked bust this early in his career, but we all know he's a goner sooner or later. I still can't believe the other M guy is still around, trying to break Victor Allotey's inactive streak record.

[Bananahands]

Thought this was an interesting article....

 

Is Aaron Maybin the worst player in the NFL?

 

Sorry if it was posted elsewhere, I'm new and don't check everything!

[Billsguy]

In terms of pure bust-for-the-buck, I think Walt Patulski is still the Bills' biggest draft day whiff. He was chosen #1 in THE ENTIRE DRAFT - before people like Franco Harris, Willie Buchanon and Cliff Branch. Patulski's Notre Dame pedigree made him tempting. His pierogi-juicy Polish name made him irresistible for a team like the Bills in a town like Buffalo. But, as a Polish-American myself, it pains me to say that he was so slow and undersized that he couldn't manage to sack a pussywillow bush on Dyngus Day.

 

Every couple of months this same thread comes back. The Bills have given the fans so many busts over the years it is awesome to behold incompetency in action. Thanks to Ralph Wilson.

 

The picks of Mike Williams and Aaron Maybin were clearly very bad.

 

The All-time worst was Walt Patulski! It isn't even close!

 

I guess most of the posters are too young to remember. Patulski, the number one pick in the entire draft, was the biggest bust ever!

[PromoTheRobot]

Maybin was bad but the failure also falls on all the draft expert gurus who touted him as a first-round stud. People forget these guys are wrong more than they are right.

 

PTR

[KOKBILLS]

 

The All-time worst was Walt Patulski! It isn't even close!

 

I guess most of the posters are too young to remember. Patulski, the number one pick in the entire draft, was the biggest bust ever!

 

No way...

 

Patulski had 21.5 sacks in 4 years then The Bills got a 2nd round Pick for him from St Louis...Maybin has 23 Total Tackles in a year and a half and ZERO sacks...Patulski had 7 Sacks his 1st Season...Plus I'm pretty sure the Bills got Joe Devlin for that 2nd Round Pick...Maybin would not get a Conditional 7th Rounder after 4 Years the way he's going...There was at least good reason to Draft Putulski at #1 Overall at the time...He was a hell of a College Player...Maybin was a bit of a stretch at #11...

 

Maybin has 2 more years to make up lost ground...But at this point he's 100 times the bust Putulski was...

[thebug]

Erik Flowers?

[Trader]

The Bills first pick ever was Richie Lucas QB from Penn State. He ranks right up there in terms of Busts!

[Typical TBD Guy]

Erik Flowers?

 

Flowers was a late 1st round pick, lasted 6 years in the league, started 6 games, and had 5 sacks plus an interception. At this point, I'm not so sure Maybin ever plays in another NFL regular season game.

 

I think the OP has a solid argument here. At least guys like Patulski and Mike Williams played for some years and made some meaningful contributions here and there. Epic busts no doubt, but it's hard to fault Buffalo's front office for making those picks when they did. Maybin might have had a late first round grade for a few front offices, but was probably a third rounder for the vast majority of credible NFL front offices. No one but the Bills was dumb enough to pick Maybin that high.

 

I would also generally rate draft busts as more significant the closer they are in time to the present day, as football scouting has gotten much more sophisticated over the years.

[1B4IDie]

Flowers was a late 1st round pick, lasted 6 years in the league, started 6 games, and had 5 sacks plus an interception. At this point, I'm not so sure Maybin ever plays in another NFL regular season game.

 

I think the OP has a solid argument here. At least guys like Patulski and Mike Williams played for some years and made some meaningful contributions here and there. Epic busts no doubt, but it's hard to fault Buffalo's front office for making those picks when they did. Maybin might have had a late first round grade for a few front offices, but was probably a third rounder for the vast majority of credible NFL front offices. No one but the Bills was dumb enough to pick Maybin that high.

 

I would also generally rate draft busts as more significant the closer they are in time to the present day, as football scouting has gotten much more sophisticated over the years.

Its likely Maybi will go down as the worst draft pick in Bills history when all is said in done.

He will have worse stats than Flowers and play less games than Williams, and Cousineau was actually a good player that decided to go to the CFL, and then we got Kelly out of the deal.

 

So Maybi will likely go down as the worst pick in Bills history since the AFL-NFL merger.

What makes it worse is what Internet Tough Guy points, out by all regards Maybin was undersized but very fast. Orakpo was not undersized and almost as fast as Maybi, why a team that needs a homerun takes the risk on Maybi over more of sure thing like Orakpo is beyond me.

 

This sounds outrageous but unless being made inactive in front of his family in Baltimore, lights a fire under his but and gets him motivated to head to the Duffy's for some wings and fries to get his weight up, Maybi could go down as one of the worst picks in Major Sports, right after Sam Bowie over Jordan.

[dollars 2 donuts]

Its likely Maybi will go down as the worst draft pick in Bills history when all is said in done.

He will have worse stats than Flowers and play less games than Williams, and Cousineau was actually a good player that decided to go to the CFL, and then we got Kelly out of the deal.

 

So Maybi will likely go down as the worst pick in Bills history since the AFL-NFL merger.

What makes it worse is what Internet Tough Guy points, out by all regards Maybin was undersized but very fast. Orakpo was not undersized and almost as fast as Maybi, why a team that needs a homerun takes the risk on Maybi over more of sure thing like Orakpo is beyond me.

 

This sounds outrageous but unless being made inactive in front of his family in Baltimore, lights a fire under his but and gets him motivated to head to the Duffy's for some wings and fries to get his weight up, Maybi could go down as one of the worst picks in Major Sports, right after Sam Bowie over Jordan.

 

 

 

Yeah, I mean even Booker Moore (FB, 1st round draft pick, Penn St., '82) did something after missing his rookie year with a nerve disorder...until Maybin, I thought he was the worst.

[mannc]

I will have to defer to others when it comes to zeros like Patulski and Cousineau, but the worst and most costly pick in recent memory was JP Lose-man. Not only did the Bills trade up to get him, surrendering a 1 and a 2, his pathetic play and inability to develop into a decent QB set the franchise back years and cost the team many football games. As bad as Mike Williams was, it's hard to say that he really cost the team football games as opposed to just generally sucking. Same goes for Maybin, I suppose.

[GRHater69]

They weren't number ones, but in '75 the Bills drafted two linebackers who both held out of training camp and the preseason. Tom Ruud and Bob Nelson. Neither saw much of the field and their failure to become players set the team back defensively for several seasons.

 

As to Walt Patulski, I wouldn't rate him a bust, but he didn't really do much after his rookie year.

[Enemarty]

No way...

 

Patulski had 21.5 sacks in 4 years then The Bills got a 2nd round Pick for him from St Louis...Maybin has 23 Total Tackles in a year and a half and ZERO sacks...Patulski had 7 Sacks his 1st Season...Plus I'm pretty sure the Bills got Joe Devlin for that 2nd Round Pick...Maybin would not get a Conditional 7th Rounder after 4 Years the way he's going...There was at least good reason to Draft Putulski at #1 Overall at the time...He was a hell of a College Player...Maybin was a bit of a stretch at #11...

 

Maybin has 2 more years to make up lost ground...But at this point he's 100 times the bust Putulski was...

 

+1

 

- also, Walt's was my first player autograph.

[Ennjay]

They weren't number ones, but in '75 the Bills drafted two linebackers who both held out of training camp and the preseason. Tom Ruud and Bob Nelson. Neither saw much of the field and their failure to become players set the team back defensively for several seasons.

 

Actually Ruud WAS a Number 1.

 

I still lean toward Flowers even if he did get on the field. At least he's got to be the biggest reach ever -- Maybin may turn out to be the biggest bust but he was projected as a first-rounder.

 

But then there's Phil Dokes . . .

[Steve O]

If Mike Williams worked as hard as Maybin he would have been at least serviceable as he showed last year for Washington until injured. Maybin tries hard, he just isn't a very good football player. Not sure who this makes the bigger bust but at least the coaches found a way to get Williams on the field.

[dollars 2 donuts]

I will have to defer to others when it comes to zeros like Patulski and Cousineau, but the worst and most costly pick in recent memory was JP Lose-man. Not only did the Bills trade up to get him, surrendering a 1 and a 2, his pathetic play and inability to develop into a decent QB set the franchise back years and cost the team many football games. As bad as Mike Williams was, it's hard to say that he really cost the team football games as opposed to just generally sucking. Same goes for Maybin, I suppose.

 

 

Respectfully disagree. Losman's worst offense was that he wasn't very good...everything else was controlled by the Bills, even having some affect on his results as an NFL QB (Coaching, line, etc.). Maybin can't even get on the field.

 

To more accurately compare Losman and Maybin, Losman's ineptitude would've had to have rsien to the level of never appearing on the field as a starter and never throwing a TD (in other words, Maybin's 20 games without a start and no sacks).

 

Hell, as bad as he was as a QB there were still a couple of games that he just plain won for us...no such comparison with Maybin.

Edited October 29, 2010 by dollars 2 donuts

[mannc]

Respectfully disagree. Losman's worst offense was that he wasn't very good...everything else was controlled by the Bills, even having some affect on his results as an NFL QB (Coaching, line, etc.). Maybin can't even get on the field.

 

To more accurately compare Losman and Maybin, Losman's ineptitude would've had to have rsien to the level of never appearing on the field as a starter and never throwing a TD (in other words, Maybin's 20 games without a start and no sacks).

 

Hell, as bad as he was as a QB there were still a couple of games that he just plain won for us...no such comparison with Maybin.

 

There's some surface appeal to that argument, although I can't remember any games that Loseman "just plain won for us". On the other hand, I would argue that the only reason Loseman ever saw the field was a combination of two things: (a) it's impossible to adequately evaluate a QB prospect without actually playing him in a significant number of games, and (b) as a first-round pick, they had to stick him out there at some point. Think about it: Can you name a single first round QB bust who didn't get a chance to start at least a significant portion of his team's games within three years of being drafted? Hell, even the worst QB busts of all time (Heath Schuler, Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, etc) started many games (if not entire seasons) for the teams that drafted them. Leaf even beat the Bills once, IIRC. At the same time, there are plenty of non-QB busts who never start a game in their career--presumably because the coaches can tell that they suck just from seeing them in exhibition games and practices. The fact that Loseman actually started quite a few games does not mean he was not a disastrous bust.

Edited October 29, 2010 by mannc

[Enemarty]

Actually Ruud WAS a Number 1.

 

I still lean toward Flowers even if he did get on the field. At least he's got to be the biggest reach ever -- Maybin may turn out to be the biggest bust but he was projected as a first-rounder.

 

But then there's Phil Dokes . . .

 

and in the unusual world of NFL relationships, the year we drafted Dokes, we traded our other number 1 (3rd overall) to Cincy for Sherman White, who the older set will recall was a fairly productive D lineman for us into the early 80s.

 

... and of course, Cincy had drafted Sherman No. 2 overall in the 1972 draft, one spot after old Walt.

 

One might think that with the Devlin pick that we got for Walt, our 1972 first round pick turned out ok for the franchise in the end. Add in the fact that the no. 2 guy after Patulski gave us a decent 7 years from 1977 on and things don't look so bad.

 

Of course, had Patulski been a dominant player and stayed with us after 75, we probably don't trade our number 1 pick in 1977 to Cincy for Sherman White and don't waste our other no. 1 on Phil Dokes. Indeed, it gets even worse, as although Sherman gave us good service, with the 3rd overall pick in the 1977 draft, Cincy drafted Eddie Edwards who retired 12 years later as the all time Cincy sack leader.

 

Then again, White was released before the 84 season, while Edwards was coming off a 13-sack season in 83 and a 9-sack season in 84 and would go on to produce for a few more seasons. If Buff had drafted Edwards in 77 instead of trading for White, who knows whether we have the number one pick in 1985, or whether we would have used it on a DE from Va Tech...

 

So ... if one was really silly or really drunk, they could make an argument that with the first pick in the 1972 draft, the Buffalo Bills selected the all-time NFL sack leader ... but that he didn't actually suit up for the team until 1985.

[It's in My Blood]

Mike Williams deserves that dubious distinction. With his size and potential he could of been THE all time best left tackle. Another glaring reason as to why the NFL needs a rookie salary cap.

[True]

...

Williams--biggest of all time, IMO.

 

 

B.

[1B4IDie]

Mike Williams deserves that dubious distinction. With his size and potential he could of been THE all time best left tackle. Another glaring reason as to why the NFL needs a rookie salary cap.

Please Read the thread before posting.

 

Mike Williams has participated in more NFL games than Maybi.

 

 

B.

Is your avatar that crappy speculative new logo for the Bills?

[dayman]

Local papers are asking if he's the worst player in the league less than 24 months after we took him #9 overall...yes.

[KOKBILLS]

Is your avatar that crappy speculative new logo for the Bills?

 

Good God I hope not...That thing makes me throw up in my mouth a little...

[Bill from NYC]

Good God I hope not...That thing makes me throw up in my mouth a little...

 

Some compelling cases are made in this thread. I suppose that Maybin might wind up as the worst, but I stand by my position that the DUMBEST selection the Bills ever made, given the spurned tradewown offers and plethora of great players available was none other than Lil' Donte Whitner.

 

Blast away, but it is jmo.

[Buftex]

Mike Williams might be the most overrated Bills draft pick of all time (not sure), but he certainly wasn't the worst. He did start for a few seasons, and honestly, I never thought he was as horrible as some made him out to be. Not as good as his draft status suggests (see Donte Whitner) but not completely useless.

 

I will give Aaron Maybin a complete second season to write him off entirely. Shame on you who said Losman, bad as he was...

 

No folks, the Bills worst pick of all-time (okay, recent times) has got to be John McCargo. This stiff has been on the roster for what is goin on 5 complete NFL seasons, and has done absolutely 0 in that time. He is so bad, beyond not being dressed for most of his career, the Bills couldn't even complete a trade for a bag of potato chips for him...yet, he is still on the roster...could a player be any more useless? Thanks Marv!

 

In closing, I will contend, John McCargo, a first round pick, is so bad, that nearly 30 posts into a thread about the worst Bills draft pick ever, nobody even remembered him...that is bad...people went all the way back to dig up names like"It's me AC" Cowlings, Richie "freakin'" Lucas, and Erik Flowers...but they forgot this titan that the powers the be'd at 1 Bills Drive saw fit to trade up in the draft for him...and, did I mention, he is still on the roster?

 

I rest my case...have a great night ladies and gentlemen...

Edited October 30, 2010 by Buftex

[boyst]

Mike Williams might be the most overrated Bills draft pick of all time....

No folks, the Bills worst pick of all-time (okay, recent times) has got to be John McCargo

 

Yep.

[DaBills51]

There's some surface appeal to that argument, although I can't remember any games that Loseman "just plain won for us".

 

Houston Texans game in 2006. Losman threw for 340 yards and 3 touchdowns, and we only had 70 yards rushing (14 of which were Losman's rushing yards). Losman ended up leading the Bills on a game winning drive and threw a 15 yard TD pass to Peerless Price with 10 seconds left.

 

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d800f6448/Bills-24-Texans-21

[Billsguy]

No way...

 

Patulski had 21.5 sacks in 4 years then The Bills got a 2nd round Pick for him from St Louis...Maybin has 23 Total Tackles in a year and a half and ZERO sacks...Patulski had 7 Sacks his 1st Season...Plus I'm pretty sure the Bills got Joe Devlin for that 2nd Round Pick...Maybin would not get a Conditional 7th Rounder after 4 Years the way he's going...There was at least good reason to Draft Putulski at #1 Overall at the time...He was a hell of a College Player...Maybin was a bit of a stretch at #11...

 

Maybin has 2 more years to make up lost ground...But at this point he's 100 times the bust Putulski was...

 

I disagree. The number one overall pick has much higher expectations. If you compare the performance to the expectations then Patulski reigns supreme. He had a very impressive college career which makes his pro performance so disappointing. Maybin had virtually no college career so his failure is more understandable.

 

The Bills had 4 number one overall picks. The 3 that played for Buffalo were OJ Simpson (Hall of Fame), Walt Patulski(Bust) and Bruce Smith (Hall of Fame).

 

ESPN rated the top 50 draft busts of all-time and Patulski was the only Bill at #27.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft08/news/story?id=3326109

 

Since that list was published you can add Jemarcus Russell.

 

What makes the argument so pathetic is that the Bills have had so many busts!!!!

[PromoTheRobot]

There is no reason to cut Maybin at this point, unless there some player who shakes loose that Nix thinks would help, but that's highly unlikely at this point. Maybin will get a daily dose of Chan kicking his ass and challenging him to prove he's not a waste of space. Either way he's here till next training camp.

 

PTR

[drinkTHEkoolaid]

i think mccargo is almost as big a bust as maybin. we moved up to get mccargo and now we cant even trade him for a bag of footballs or have him dress for the worst defense in the league.

 

the "top 3" in no order;

 

maybin / mccargo / mike williams

[tonyjustbcuz]

The worst has to be Tom Cousineau 1979 The Ohio State University. Never played a game n a Bills Uniform. The only saving grace that year was that the Bills had two 1st round draft choices and with the second pick in the first round they chose Jerry Butler out of Clemson.

 

 

On a similar note..I was thinking Bryce Fisher...wasn't he in the airforce or something as an officer and I don't remember him playing on the Bills even though we waited around for him for quite a while.

[ConradDobler]

On a similar note..I was thinking Bryce Fisher...wasn't he in the airforce or something as an officer and I don't remember him playing on the Bills even though we waited around for him for quite a while.

 

IIRC Fisher came in eventually, wasn't that good, and waived by Donohoe/Greggo. Went to Rams?

[peteski]

When Maybin was drafted they said he was a three year project. It has only been one and a half years. I think we have to wait and see by the start of the 4th year to see if he is a bust or not.

I personally think he is a bum, but I think that because of where he was drafted and because he held out. You don't draft a three year project that early in the draft. It was a bad move by the Bills. And because of this bad move by the Bills he is going to be labeled a bust. It is unfair, but the NFL is a business and everyone knows that the business of professional sports is unfair.

Edited October 30, 2010 by peteski

[Orton's Arm]

This thread inspired me to examine the Bills' first round busts from 1997 until the present.

 

Below are the Bills' first round busts of recent years, listed in order of the point value of the picks used to acquire them.

 

Bust___Year___Position in draft___Point value

Mike Williams___2002___4th overall___1800 points

Donte Whitner___2006___8th overall___1400 points

Aaron Maybin___2009___11th overall___1250 points

Marshawn Lynch___2007___12th overall___1200 points

Drew Bledsoe___2003___13th overall___1150 points

J.P. Losman___2004___22nd overall___780 points

Willis McGahee__2003___23rd overall___760 points

Antowain Smith___1997___23rd overall___760 points

Erik Flowers___2000___26th overall___700 points

John McCargo___2006___26th overall___700 points

 

If you're measuring the size of the bust strictly by the point value used to acquire the player, Mike Williams is the biggest recent bust, followed by Donte Whitner. But as has been pointed out, both players brought at least some value to the team. At least at the present, Aaron Maybin looks to be the highest up player on this list who will have contributed absolutely nothing to the team. On the other hand, Maybin only cost the team 1250 points, as opposed to the 1800 points spent on Mike Williams or the 1400 points used on Whitner.

Edited October 30, 2010 by Edwards' Arm

[Bills4154]

He appears to be right up there with Phil Dokes!

[Hapless Bills Fan]

God knows there has been an overabundance of Aaron Maybin threads but I don't think this question has been addressed head-on in a thread. Here's my objective criteria in answering the question:

1) How high was the pick? The higher the pick, the bigger the bust.

2) What kind of production did we get out of the guy?

3) Did we pass on any quality players of need in picking the guy?

4) Bonus factors (did we trade up to get him? did we draft him knowing he was severely injured and wouldn't play for two years? of course, nobody's stupid enough to do that!)

 

'Scuse the butting in, wondering about a 5) criteria:

 

"He is what he is" ie, player has had his chance to develop and we're certain what you see is what you get

 

Example, McCargo has been here 5 years. Reasonable to assume that he is what he is, what you see is what you get.

Bunch of players we're liking right now (Roscoe Parrish, Stevie Johnson) were riding the pine last year and have been here 3 years or more.

Last year "zero" this year "hero". Parrish was drafted pretty high (2nd round, #55) for a guy who last year could only play special teams.

 

Maybin has been here 1.5 years, and for the first year, it seemed as though players were completely unaccountable for results

 

I Get It that high draft picks esp on D are expected to come in and contribute almost immediately, but where he was drafted is NOT Maybin's fault.

I see some stuff others see, like he just doesn't seem to have the "football instinct" that's hard to coach or the "motor" on the field.

Maybe he's had his wake-up call and he'll smell the coffee and work on himself?

 

The Maybin Hate just seems a little extreme for where he is in his career.

Doesn't it really belong to the organization, for drafting a reach and a project so high in the 1st?

That was a ridiculous thing to do -- but it's not Maybin's fault.