FrankReichComeback Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 (edited) I read this great article from Leo Roth below where he stated that you really can't "grade" a draft until three years after the final pick has been made. http://rocnow.com/article/leo-roth/2012304280038 He made me think....what grade would past years Bills drafts get? I am sticking to his suggestion and waiting until three years after the draft to grade. We'll start in 2005 Year: 2005 General Manager: Tom Donahoe Round Pick # Player Position College 2 5 Roscoe Parrish Wide Receiver Miami (Fla.) 3 86 Kevin Everett Tight End Miami (Fla.) 4 122 Duke Preston Center Illinois 5 156 Eric King Cornerback Wake Forest 6 197 Justin Geisinger Offensive Guard Vanterbilt 7 236 Lionel Gates Running Back Louisville Assessment: Buffalo was without a first round pick due to acquiring Drew Bledsoe the season before. Regardless this was an extremely poor draft. Parrish was knocked for under-sized out of college and never could stay healthy long enough to be a productive player. Everett got a few bad breaks injury wise (especially a career ending neck injury) and we never got to see what he could really do on offense. Preston was a serviceable depth player for Buffalo. Nothing above average came out of this year's group. Overall Grade: D- Year: 2006 General Manager: Marv Levy Round Pick # Player Position College 1 8 Donte Whitner Safety Ohio State 1 26 (from Chicago Bears) John McCargo Defensive Tackle North Carolina State 3 70 Ashton Youboty Cornerback Ohio State 4 105 Ko Simpson Safety South Carolina 5 134 Kyle Williams[3] Defensive Tackle LSU 5 143 Brad Butler Offensive Tackle Virginia 6 178 Keith Ellison Linebacker Oregon State 7 216 Terrance Pennington Offensive Tackle New Mexico 7 248 Aaron Merz Guard California Marv Levy's first draft. Levy was able to find a few starters but baffled many when he "reached" for Whitner in round 1. Whitner turned out to be a very average player on several poor Bills defenses and never seemed to justify being a Top 10 selection. HUGE miss on McCargo. Youbody, Simpson, Ellison, Pennington, and Merz saw action on the field but none proved to be anything special. The brightest spot in this draft was the home run selection of Kyle Williams in Round 5 who turned out to be a Pro Bowl player and one of the best player at his position when healthy. Butler was a nice surprise but had many health issues which led to his retirement. Overall Grade: B (A for williams, D for the rest) Year: 2007 General Manager: Marv Levy 1 12 Marshawn Lynch[4] Running Back California 2 34 Paul Posluzny Linebacker Penn State 3 92 Trent Edwards Quarterback Stanford 4 111 Dwayne Wright Running Back Fresno State 6 184 John Wendling Safety Wyoming 7 222 Derek Schouman Tight End Boise State 7 239 C. J. Ah You Defensive End Oklahoma Lynch, Posluzny, and Edwards all became starters quick but one would be hard pressed to say their play was anything above average. Lynch showed flashed but never seemed to be as motivated as he was after being traded to Seattle. Posluzny was a very average player in the Bills 4-3 defensive package and was not the difference maker they had envisioned. Edward had some good moments with Buffalo but more BAD. The rest of the picks did little to nothing with the team. Five years later none of the picks are on this team. Overall Grade: F Year: 2008 General Manager: Marv Levy 1 11 Leodis McKelvin Safety Troy 2 41 James Hardy Wide Receiver Indiana 3 72 Chris Ellis Defensive End Virginia Tech 4 114 Reggie Corner Cornerback Akron 4 132Supplemental Derek Fine Tight End Kansas 5 147 Alvin Bowen Linebacker Iowa State 6 179 Xavier Omon Running Back NW Missouri State 7 219 Demetrius Bell Offensive Tackle Northwestern State 7 224 Stevie Johnson Wide Receiver Kentucky 7 251Supplemental Kennard Cox Cornerback Pittsburgh Marv and company WHIFFED big time on McKelvin. He proved to be a corner that could get position but had pathetic ball skills. James Hardy was a BUST of colossal proportions. A very ill-advised pick given the fact that they drafted a raw "project" player at a time when they needed to draft a starter. The bright spots in this draft come from Rounds 7 where Marv got very luck with Stevie Johnson. Demetrius Bell eventually became a starter but injuries and inconsistent play plagued him. Overal Grade: B+ Year: 2008 General Manager: NO ONE! Draft by Tom Modrak and Dick Jauron 1 11 Aaron Maybin Defensive End Penn State 1 28 Eric Wood Center Louisville 2 42 Jairus Byrd[2] Safety Oregon 2 51 Andy Levitre Guard Oregon State 4 121 Shawn Nelson Tight End Southern Miss 5 147 Nic Harris Safety Oklahoma 6 183 Cary Harris Cornerback USC 7 220 Ellis Lankster Cornerback West Virginia Once again Buffalo WHIFFED in the first round on Maybin - drafting an undersized situational pass rusher when they needed a 4 down starter. Very very bad pick - that can't be understated more. HOWEVER the middle of the round brought three solid starters in Byrd, Levitre, and Wood. The rest of this draft is pure crap! Overal Grade: B/B+ Let's hear your thoughts of this assessment! Edited April 29, 2012 by FrankReichComeback Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjmac Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 A B+ for 2008? I wish my rteachers were as generous as you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deep2evans Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 good god, it's a bloodbath 2005: D- 2006: D 2007: C 2008: D 2009: B- Stevie and K. Williams save two of those drafts from an F. And Maybin prevents 2009 from anything higher than a B. Gunna go puke now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playman Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 good god, it's a bloodbath 2005: D- 2006: D 2007: C 2008: D 2009: B- Stevie and K. Williams save two of those drafts from an F. And Maybin prevents 2009 from anything higher than a B. Gunna go puke now. this. though generous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieatcrayonz Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I read this great article from Leo Roth below where he stated that you really can't "grade" a draft until three years after the final pick has been made. http://rocnow.com/article/leo-roth/2012304280038 He made me think....what grade would past years Bills drafts get? I am sticking to his suggestion and waiting until three years after the draft to grade. We'll start in 2005 Year: 2005 General Manager: Tom Donahoe 5 156 Eric King Cornerback Wake Forest Year: 2007 General Manager: Marv Levy 1 12 Marshawn Lynch[4] Running Back California 2 34 Paul Posluzny Linebacker Penn State Don't totally agree on 08-09 but close enough. On the others: 2005 I agree but watch out criticizing Eric King on this site. There is a dude on here who won several Madden titles with King and he will verbally assault you. 2006 You mock Whitner but last I checked he was an All Pro. FAIL. 2007 You can't blame Lynch for his being from Oakland and not knowing about Drunk Canadian Broads wandering aimlessly around the streets of Buffalo. He is productive in Seattle and was productive for us on the field. Also 2007 Agree on Poz but he did have beautiful hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOBILLS78 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Minor correction -- lack of first in 05 was due to trading back up in 04 for Losman. And i wouldnt hive anything higher than a D for any of these. Colossal whiffs. Too many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAWNDO Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Only five players still on the roster? Only one first round pick? How the heck did we not draft first every year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkhmlf Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 (edited) What's striking is how most of the marginally productive and good players came from the bigger programs but in general we didn't really go for players from powerhouse programs. It's like the previous regimes kept trying to find hidden gems from smaller colleges. Byrd Oregon Eric wood Louisville K Williams lsu Lynch cal Poz pen state Whitner Ohio state I think you forgot brad butler was a pretty solid player and he retired maybe in his prime. Hopefully nix( the antithesis of the prior gm's) will stick with the battle tested, character guys. Edited April 29, 2012 by jkhmlf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjmac Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 2006 You mock Whitner but last I checked he was an All Pro. FAIL. But not for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 (edited) Marv Levy was not GM in 2008. Russ Brandon was the GMINO, General Manager in name only. The 08-09 drafts were run by Jauron with reports from Modrak, and not surprisingly those years were poort. Even their successful picks (Byrd, Levitre, Wood) are at positions not as highly valued, especially considering their draft slot. Buffalo paid a tremendous price for having little to no leadership from 06-09. It's why this latest rebuild had to happen. Nix has done a better job, but whiffed huge by converting to a defense for which he never stocked. Hopefully he learned his lesson, but his first draft looks like another typical bad draft the bills experiened during the decade of fail. Edited April 30, 2012 by BillsVet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cocktosten Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 2006 You mock Whitner but last I checked he was an All Pro. FAIL. Making stuff up now? http://www.nfl.com/probowl/story/09000d5d82578253/article/2012-pro-bowl-rosters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvermike Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Making stuff up now? http://www.nfl.com/probowl/story/09000d5d82578253/article/2012-pro-bowl-rosters Yeah, I was about to ask. Which season was Whitner an all pro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Modrak sucked... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCinBuffalo Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 (edited) 5 156 Eric King Cornerback Wake Forest ...Nothing above average came out of this year's group. Bull. Some hilarious threads came out of the incredible contributions Eric King has made to the NFL, manhood, and mankind in general. Eric King has been the source of major lulz for me, and others, in that at the very mention of his name, idiocy abounds. When I was just a little troll, barely old enough to rickroll, I cut my teeth on Eric King. I know the handle of Eric King's chief ballwasher. I'm hoping this works like the candy man in reverse. If I say Eric King enough times in one post, ballwasher will show up so I can eviscerate him again. WE certainly got way more than above average, at TSW, out of Eric King. Butler was a nice surprise but had many health issues which led to his retirement. He was wasted on these old teams. I wish we could have drafted him this year. Except for this guy this year, and that guy that year....."The rest of this draft is pure crap!" IS my assessment Edited April 30, 2012 by OCinBuffalo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 That 2005 draft was awful and reminded me of Butlers last draft before he went to San Diego TD was a dope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 IMHO, I think you only need to look at the 1st and 2nd rounds to judge any draft. What happens in rounds 3-7 is meaningful to a football team, but not nearly as much as those 1st two rounds. The bottom line is either you drafted excellent to elite NFL talent in the 1st two rounds or you failed. The Bills have been a team of average starters and backups for a decade because they failed to draft elite talent in the 1st two rounds. Kyle Williams and Stevie Johnson are not substitutes either. They should be bonuses. 2005: F 2006: F 2007: D 2008: F 2009: C (only because those 3 starters may still be on the rise) And that explains the Bills situation right there. The lack of elite NFL talent and the Bills failure to recognize it and acquire it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeBill Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Good assessment of the draft, but horrible grades. Lynch made the Pro Bowl and Poz was never worse than average, and yet you grade them at an "F"? Just because we failed to retain the talent we drafted that year, doesn't mean the draft itself was a failure. Meanwhile, a draft in which everyone was a bust except for Kyle Williams, deserves a "B"? I agree "A" for Williams and "D" for everyone else. But that will average out to more of a C draft than a B draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homey D. Clown Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 (edited) 2006 You mock Whitner but last I checked he was an All Pro. FAIL. But not for us. Not for San Fran either. If anyone watched the playoff games, Whitner's play could have easily cost them the game against the Saints, and he was beaten so badly by the Giants receivers on a regular basis that I found it amazing he didn't get pulled. Let's not make chumps into champs so people can question the front office. I'll mention 3 that circulate around here that have somehow convinced people they are good. In order of how bad they really are: 1. Aaron Maybin - he is a pathetic joke, and if you watch his laughable 6 sacks, he was ridiculously out of position, and actually sucks so bad you can hear it from here. The Jests picked a Project situational pass rusher in this years draft, 'nuff said. 2. Donte Whitner - Sub par, less than average talent that was lucky enough to play for the best defense in the league, where his miserable deficiencies could be masked, well... until the playoffs, then it was clear he needs to be replaced. 3. Marshawn Lynch - Whoopdie Frickin Doo, he had a great run in the playoffs, where several people had multiple shots at him. 3.9 Career YPG average, VERY happy "Least Mode" is gone. If the Bills didn't waste a pick on this chump, we might have enjoyed a few more years of Fast Freddie. So in response to the crayonz comment, the only FAIL is that these lameass players seem to be better when they are gone, but in reality will never be the piece of a championship puzzle, and had much more down side than any benefit to any roster... well all except Maybin, I still contend there is zero upside, and he stands to be the biggest bust in Bills history. If you didn't think so after the Bears pre-season game last year, just go watch some of his Jests low-lights. so lets all look to the future and who IS here now, and I like whats going on with the current staff. Spiller is proving to be a very good pick, and one the team will need post Freddie, Dareus is the real deal, and Gilmore looks to be another great 1st round pick. When in Bills history could we have said that 3 years in a row? Very excited about this upcoming season if we stay healthy. Go BILLS!!!! Edited April 30, 2012 by McKinleys Curse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpberr Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 The last decade was a lost decade for a couple reasons but a big part of it was the annual marginal to downright awful drafts from 2002 to 2009. For a decade, you had a team devoid of leadership, coaching, quality free agents AND 1st round drafted talent. The Bills were both lucky and fortunate to have so many later round draftees blossom into NFL players. Imagine if that hadn't happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 2005 -- F completely useless. spare me the endless lovefest for a !@#$ing punt returner. 2006 -- C Whitner is everyone's favorite whipping boy, but at least he could start. Williams and Butler solid picks. 2007 -- D Lynch was a stupid pick, Poz was average, the rest crap. 2008 -- D Got lucky with SJ, but that doesn't override another miss in round 1 and a bunch of other crap 2009 -- C 3 good picks in a row (imagine that!), but weighed down by maybe the worst pick in team history 2 Cs, 2 Ds and an F; a 1.2 grade point average. Congratulations Mr. Kroger, you are at the top of the Delta pledge class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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