billsfreak Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 This was a bad bad decision and probably hurt the Bills in a couple of different ways.... I know some people hate it.....but when trying to figure out what went wrong with this once proud franchise you have to look at the past history...... Picks like Maybin, Whitner, McCargo, JP Losman, Mike Williams........have absolutely KILLED this team over the years and when you are a team that relies mainly on the draft to bring in talent.......just franchise killer moves I feel much better with Buddy Nix making the decisions Why? Because Spiller was such a huge success his rookie year? Just the opposite, Nix blew the draft last season, Spiller was the most disappointing rookie in the class of 2010, league wide when you take into consideration where he was picked, the hype that came with him and the fact that he was absolutely lost on the field all year long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 A look down memory lane...or nightmare alley. I know this has been done before, but I was bored and curious to look at it again after reading the "A little perspective...5 years later" thread. They usually say you can't judge a draft for 3 years...so I decided to look at the drafts from 3 years ago and then going back to the oldest draft from which at least one player is still on the team. So that encompasses 2003-2008. So we are talking, as far as decision making goes, Ralph, Donahoe/Greggo, Donahoe/Mularkey, Marv/Jauron, Brandon/Jauron, and Modrak throughout. Obviously we had a lot of swings and misses throughout those drafts, but it's interesting that we did a particularly poor job in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Everybody knows you have to hit on your first round picks, but those 3rd and 4th rounders are the guys that really help build teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003Contenders Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 (edited) Marv was brought in to be the anti-Donahoe. That is, during his tenure as GM (and Team President), Donahoe had a reputation for being an autocrat. Marv came in to be a delegator and someone who could build a consensus. That 2006 draft was about as uncertain as this one in terms of the players available: 1.) QB. We discovered after the draft that the Bills had Jay Cutler as the top-rated QB in that draft class. There have been various reports that Modrak was pushing for Cutler. However, Marv said leading up to the draft that he did NOT want to place undue and unrealistic expectations on a highly drafted rookie QB, especially since the verdict was still out on JP Losman. 2.) DT. I believe that there was serious disagreement about which DT to take. Ngata was the top-rated, but there were concerns that he took too many plays off (lazy) and was primarily just a 2-down player (primarily a run stuffer). Broderick Bunkley appeared to be a better fit for Jauron's Tampa Cover-2 scheme, but his body of work in college had been sketchy, and some scouts perceived him as a late riser on draft boards. 3.) OT. I was hoping and praying that D'Brick would fall to the Bills, but he went #4 to the Jets instead. (Why does it always seem like the Jets wind up with the players that I HOPED the Bills would draft?) 4.) DB. Recall that the Bills had recently released Lawyer Milloy, and Troy Vincent didn't even make it through the prior season. Nate was drooling thinking about free agency, and Marv had already whipped out the franchise tag for fear of losing him (and promised NOT to re-use it in 2007 to boot). I really think in the final analysis what happened was this: The team had a beloved but terribly inexperienced GM running the show. By nature a delegator and consensus builder, he was more concerned with keeping everyone happy than picking the best players for the team. In Whitner he believed that he had found a player that everyone could live with. Whitner filled a position of need, came out of a great program for churning out DBs, was perceived as versatile enough to play multiple secondary positions, had no real character flags, and seemed at the time like a "safe" (low bust factor) pick. The consensus at the time was that Whitner was a reach (more of a late first rounder than a top 10 pick) but that he would probably be a decent player for the Bills in the long run. The decision to trade up for McCargo was likely a bone that was being thrown to the crowd who wanted Ngata/Bunkley. The DT pool was VERY thin that year; after Ngata/Bunkley/McCargo there wasn't another DT taken until the 3rd round. The Bills' spin was that McCargo had been so dominant at NC that he made stars of Manny Lawson and Mario Williams. We now know different. In a way, the selection of Kyle Williams in the 5th helped to negate the miss on McCargo, although it is doubly bad that McCargo cost the team two picks. The funny thing is that after the season was over, that draft looked pretty good. Whitner had been a Day 1 starter, 4th rounder Ko Simpson had arguably been an even bigger impact player at safety, Kyle Williams and Brad Butler were both 5th round starters by season's end, and 6th rounder Keith Ellison was a starting OLB. There was hope that Ashton Youboty and McCargo (both of whom has injury-shortened seasons) would make the draft look even better in the years to come. Looking back, Whitner is exactly what everyone thought he was: a decent and versatile player, who was a reach at #8 overall. Edited April 13, 2011 by 2003Contenders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawgg Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 That 2006 draft was about as uncertain as this one in terms of the players available: This is simply untrue. The 2006 draft was loaded and it was as obvious then as it is today. The Bills managed to bunk their selections at every step of the way due to an inept front office that is largely still in place today. I can't wait until Terry Pegula takes the reigns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 The Dead Horse Store just called. They want the flogging stick back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 The Dead Horse Store just called. They want the flogging stick back. In some parts, posting the same repetitive drivel repeatedly ad naseum, to the point of rooting for yourself to be right over the success of the team you supposedly follow, would constitute a crusade. In some parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawgg Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 The Dead Horse Store just called. They want the flogging stick back. Howdy GG –- given that you were one of strongest defenders of the McCargo/Whitner draft, it's no wonder you consider it a dead horse now! In any case, I can only hope that Nix truly has final say. Hard to believe what comes out of OBD these days. In some parts, posting the same repetitive drivel repeatedly ad naseum, to the point of rooting for yourself to be right over the success of the team you supposedly follow, would constitute a crusade. In some parts. Bro -- how I wish I were wrong. I would have gladly eaten crow to watch Donte become a force in the backfield or McCargo become a key cog in the D. But when you watch your team implode on draft day and insult the collective intelligence of its fan base, it makes even the biggest Bills fan sick to his stomach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 The drafting was pretty bad but so was position coaching and (strength and conditioning) players should really see huge improvement from first to second year and significant improvement from second to third year- but a number of Bills draftees actually looked weaker with worse technique as time went on- I'm really interested on how Troup, Bell, Carrington, Spiller, and some others are making progress- on other teams I've seen guys gain 20lbs of muscle between 1st and 2nd year with no loss of athletic skill- I can't think of any Bills off hand who have in the last 10 years- I remember hearing Preston Duke gained 20lbs and being excited only to have him look 25lbs fatter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 http://findarticles....r/ai_n42920730/ They just need more time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Howdy GG –- given that you were one of strongest defenders of the McCargo/Whitner draft, it's no wonder you consider it a dead horse now! In any case, I can only hope that Nix truly has final say. Hard to believe what comes out of OBD these days. Bro -- how I wish I were wrong. I would have gladly eaten crow to watch Donte become a force in the backfield or McCargo become a key cog in the D. But when you watch your team implode on draft day and insult the collective intelligence of its fan base, it makes even the biggest Bills fan sick to his stomach. Of course you wish you were wrong. That's exactly why you're jumping like a Chihuahua in heat every time someone mentions the name Whitner. What's the point? We get it. You don't like Whitner. You've said it at least a thousand times in the last 5 years. A deaf man probably heard it at least 999 times. Why the need to dig up a 5 year old article? Are you really that starved for attention to wear the great sandwich board so that all the newbies on this board can bow to the greatness of your draft assessment? Hey look kids, some Dawwg uncovered a gem that Bills' front office hasn't been good at evaluating talent? Well blow me down with that revelation. Here boy, you certainly earned your bone. And just so you can stop the full pat on the back, I don't recall being a big defender of Whitner, but I do recall pointing out why Bills' new staff wanted to build a defense around him. You may not see the logic of it, but when the team gave the controls to Dick Jauron, it empowered him to build that defense and Jauron obviously thought that Whitner would be his Mike Brown Part II. Don't blame Whitner for that plan not working out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 This was a bad bad decision and probably hurt the Bills in a couple of different ways.... I know some people hate it.....but when trying to figure out what went wrong with this once proud franchise you have to look at the past history...... Picks like Maybin, Whitner, McCargo, JP Losman, Mike Williams........have absolutely KILLED this team over the years and when you are a team that relies mainly on the draft to bring in talent.......just franchise killer moves I feel much better with Buddy Nix making the decisions yeah - Maybin and Spiller make you want to shout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts