Bills do a poor job of keeping draft picks on their roster.

[RevWarRifleman]

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2017/5/25/15688430/buffalo-bills-nfl-draft-pick-retention-brandon-beane

"It’s also the continuation of a bad trend for the Bills, who have been shedding their draft picks from the last few seasons at an alarming rate. Of the 46 players the Bills drafted from 2011 to 2016, only 16 remain on the team after Kouandjio’s release. Their draft pick retention rate over that time of 34.8% is dead last in the NFL, well behind runner-up Indianapolis and their 37.2% rate."

This has to change.

Thanks for posting. This and the ensuing discussion has been a very good read. Bills fans should keep these points in the for front of our minds

 

as the season begins, as well as next season. Bad trends have been going on with this franchise for a long, long time. It's not going to suddenly

 

turn around with yet another new coach & GM. I'd love it if it did turn around suddenly, but I'm not counting on it.

 

At any rate, this topic has been a good read.

[JM2009]

Thanks for posting. This and the ensuing discussion has been a very good read. Bills fans should keep these points in the for front of our minds

 

as the season begins, as well as next season. Bad trends have been going on with this franchise for a long, long time. It's not going to suddenly

 

turn around with yet another new coach & GM. I'd love it if it did turn around suddenly, but I'm not counting on it.

 

At any rate, this topic has been a good read.

Thanks. Well, the new hires are getting praise around the league. The Pegulas actually pay to get good help, unlike Ralph Wilson. The situation should improve.

[Big Turk]

McDermott/Beane are a firm believer in building through the draft. I can see this stat improving over the course of the next few years. However, does the above article include lost players like Kiko (who we traded away), A. Williams (career ending injury), Gilmore (lost because we can't afford him)?

Gilmore wasn't lost because we can't afford him he was lost because we made a judgement call his value wasn't equal to what he wanted to to be paid.

[Straight Hucklebuck]

Whaley was awesome. We are going to miss all the talent he got for us on this roster. Like Marv said with Jauron, he just needed more time.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Straight Hucklebuck

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

I will absolutely be one of those apologists...

 

Lack of player retention is not just attributed to quality of drafting and or the GM, if you continually change coaching, and schemes, players don't get retained, in this regard, Rex Ryan was a disaster for us, especially on D, he outright released Cockrell, and was instrumental in not trying to resign both Searcy and Bradham, 3 players who didn't fit his scheme, we could all really use this year

 

NO offense to HC Sean, but he just did the same thing with our impending FA's this off season, min 3 of em were draft picks, so another change in coaching isn't helping that stat, time will tell if he's right or wrong

 

That being said, yes DW had some misses draft wise which helped that stat, including busts, and a tendency to draft players with health and off field issues, with were contributory

 

Ownership should have take their share of blame, Wilson didn't wanna pay em, Pegs hired Rex, and created a structure whereas he gives the HC more license than usual to turn over roster, that creates a year to retention problem beyond just draft picks, the last couple of years has been roster crazy, we have gone through 2 D scheme player makeovers, its the offense which has stayed consistant player wise

 

jc

....another component is the usual $$$.....the rookie cap was to restore some fiscal sanity which it did....Bradford ($50 mil gtd) and Stafford ($41 mil) were the last big time cashers....BUT...it also pushed the fiscal insanity out to the next contract or FA because someone will always overpay and reset the bar which makes all desired retentions difficult despite annual cap increases...."capology" has gone from checkers to chess.............

[PromoTheRobot]

I will absolutely be one of those apologists...

 

Lack of player retention is not just attributed to quality of drafting and or the GM, if you continually change coaching, and schemes, players don't get retained, in this regard, Rex Ryan was a disaster for us, especially on D, he outright released Cockrell, and was instrumental in not trying to resign both Searcy and Bradham, 3 players who didn't fit his scheme, we could all really use this year

 

NO offense to HC Sean, but he just did the same thing with our impending FA's this off season, min 3 of em were draft picks, so another change in coaching isn't helping that stat, time will tell if he's right or wrong

 

That being said, yes DW had some misses draft wise which helped that stat, including busts, and a tendency to draft players with health and off field issues, with were contributory

 

Ownership should have take their share of blame, Wilson didn't wanna pay em, Pegs hired Rex, and created a structure whereas he gives the HC more license than usual to turn over roster, that creates a year to retention problem beyond just draft picks, the last couple of years has been roster crazy, we have gone through 2 D scheme player makeovers, its the offense which has stayed consistant player wise

 

jc

Too much information to process. Brain hurts.

Whaley was awesome. We are going to miss all the talent he got for us on this roster. Like Marv said with Jauron, he just needed more time.

Rex & Rob were even better. We'll miss those fat f###s

[RevWarRifleman]

Thanks. Well, the new hires are getting praise around the league. The Pegulas actually pay to get good help, unlike Ralph Wilson. The situation should improve.

That is encouraging, and I hope they do turn it around.

[SoTier]

You realize almost 70% of players drafted miss right? My biggest problem with your list is the high draft picks we used and later let walk whom were good that sets everything back further and further. You have to waste more high picks to replace them. See Gilmore... the cycle goes on and on.

 

http://www.dailynorseman.com/2017/4/12/15274148/most-nfl-draft-picks-are-busts

 

My list of major misses was for first and second rounders, the supposed blue chippers, not Day Three scrubs destined to spend their careers playing special teams if they stick at all. All teams miss on high picks on occasion but I don't think winning organizations regularly miss at the rate of 27% (ie, more than 1 out of 4) on first and second rounders. Moreover, I didn't include any of the first rounders in that group who most consider "disappointments" like Whitner or McKelvin but just the guys whom everybody considers busts. Frequently gambling on drafting guys with physical issues in the first and second round -- sometimes even trading up to get them like the Bills did for McCargo -- is plainly a stupid strategy ... like counting on winning Power Ball to fund your retirement.

 

How Is having to draft DBs with regularity in the first round to replace the good ones the Bills let walk not just another example of FO incompetence? The Bills have been shedding top class DBs with regularity long before the rookie salary scale came along. The Bills started that when they let Antoine Winfield, their 1999 first rounder, leave for Minnesota where he was a Pro Bowler several times.

[wilcoam]

Fingers crossed that new mgmt turns things around here but the irony is for those who complain that the Bills have a low draft pick retention rate - it should be noted the very first thing HC Sean did with our roster was not retain a number of our existing draft picks, lol

 

jc

[Hapless Bills Fan]

http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2017/5/25/15688430/buffalo-bills-nfl-draft-pick-retention-brandon-beane

"It’s also the continuation of a bad trend for the Bills, who have been shedding their draft picks from the last few seasons at an alarming rate. Of the 46 players the Bills drafted from 2011 to 2016, only 16 remain on the team after Kouandjio’s release. Their draft pick retention rate over that time of 34.8% is dead last in the NFL, well behind runner-up Indianapolis and their 37.2% rate."

This has to change.

 

The draft pick retention rate is in part a function of the rapid coaching turnover and scheme changes.

 

It will. Better GM in place now.

 

Perhaps the GM and his staff are better now. Perhaps they are not better. Either way, we won't have higher draft pick retention without stable coaching and schemes.

Correct.

 

Drafting for a different defensive scheme every year will result in high turnover.

 

Not just a different defensive scheme, different OL blocking schemes etc.

[Dragonborn10]

McDermott/Beane are a firm believer in building through the draft. I can see this stat improving over the course of the next few years. However, does the above article include lost players like Kiko (who we traded away), A. Williams (career ending injury), Gilmore (lost because we can't afford him)?

Unlikely it will improve. McD will get rid of more of the old players and he has already shown he will give up picks and draft for need.

I just want McD to fix the defense and leave the roster building to others.

[fansince88]

F5.....again. Time will tell in the future. That said. Does this years draft count as the new begining or will it be next year?

I GUESS WHAT I'm asking is 2017 or 2018 the official line in the sand?

[SoCal Deek]

You're not going to retain draft picks if you don't win.

 

You're not going to win if you don't have a solidly in place quarterback.

 

You're not going to stick with a quarterback if you keep changing Head Coaches.

 

You're not.....FILL IN BLANK HERE

 

(We're all hoping against hope that they've found a young coach they'll stick with. Now we're about to learn whether that coach is going to stick with the QB he inherited.)

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

This is a business people.

There are no loyalties in the NFL except for the almighty 💵

 

Start winning decisively and constantly and some "loyalties" can be found.

[Bill from NYC]

Whaley was awesome. We are going to miss all the talent he got for us on this roster. Like Marv said with Jauron, he just needed more time.

:)

[nuklz2594]

a winning and playoff franchise cures this

[Original Byrd Man]

Well then. The solution to the problem is intuitively obvious. We should trade all of our draft picks away for proven vets. BB*** already started in this direction.

For the draft picks to stick the coaching carousel has got to end.

F5.....again. Time will tell in the future. That said. Does this years draft count as the new begining or will it be next year?

I GUESS WHAT I'm asking is 2017 or 2018 the official line in the sand?

If you don't see improvement this year the media will start their undermining articles, and by the second year end will be calling for a change. That's how they do it here.

[Augie]

This is like the 17 year drought stuff. It's a new ball game with a new team in place. Start fresh with your judgement, unless you want to be miserable and therefore live in the past. I am hopeful, but time will tell.

[SoTier]

For the draft picks to stick the coaching carousel has got to end.

If you don't see improvement this year the media will start their undermining articles, and by the second year end will be calling for a change. That's how they do it here.

 

First of all, when 8 of 30 first and second round draft picks over more than a decade are outright busts -- they were essentially useless for the Bills and every other NFL team -- how is this a result of "the coaching carousel"? If they were good players, they could have been traded or they would have been picked up and gone on to have solid NFL careers with other teams. None of them did. The first and second rounders who left the Bills who went on to have good or great NFL careers for other teams had good or great careers for the Bills, too. That says that the Bills have had serious problems with talent evaluation since at least 2000. If they can't hit on first and second rounders as often as they should, then they're not likely to have a lot of success finding talent in the lower rounds, either.

 

Secondly, the Bills have continually let many of their best talent -- some of them bonafide Pro Bowl and All Pro talent -- walk rather than pay them the going rate for players of their caliber or sent them packing because they didn't demonstrate proper submissiveness to the aims of the football geniuses at OBD, and then the team has had to use draft picks to replace them. That's not on "the coaching carousel", either. I'm sure that Marshawn Lynch, Jabari Greer, and Chris Hogan all thank the Bills FO for their Super Bowl rings BTW.

 

Finally, if the sniping of jackarses in the media has much influence on coaches' tenures in Buffalo as you seem to think it does, then that's yet another indicator that the real cause of the Bills' failures over the last 17 years can be found upstairs at OBD rather than in the locker room or on the field. "The coaching carousel" is simply a manifestation of the incompetence and dysfunction in the FO that has existed since at least the departure of Butler and Smith in 2000, and which may go back further to the departure of Bill Polian.

Edited May 30, 2017 by SoTier

[GunnerBill]

 

First of all, when 8 of 30 first and second round draft picks over more than a decade are outright busts -- they were essentially useless for the Bills and every other NFL team -- how is this a result of "the coaching carousel"?

 

There is no doubt our drafting through most of the 00s was brutal. I think it has got better since Nix purged the FO of Modrak and Guy after the 2010 draft. Since then their picks in the first two rounds have been:

 

2011 - Dareus, A. Williams (pretty good)

2012 - Gimore, Glenn (outstanding)

2013 - EJ, Woods (mixed results)

2014 - Watkins, Kujo (an incomplete and a bust)

2015 - Darby (pretty good)

2016 - Shaq, Ragland (incomplete)

 

Still not sensational but 2 busts in 11 (12 picks) 1st and 2nd rounders is, I would guess, probably slightly better than the league average. Where I personally think the Bills haven't done very well since the beginning of this decade is with their later round picks. The only people we drafted after the 3rd round in that period who have become starters at any stage in their Bills career are:

 

Searcy - drafted in the 4th in 2011 who started 1 year after 3 as a backup;

Bradham - drafted in the 4th in 2012 who started 2 years after 2 as a rotational player;

Henderson - drafted in the 7th in 2014 started in his rookie year and lost the job halfway through his 2nd year.

 

Interestingly those two success stories - Searcy and Bradham - both walked after their rookie deal.