Jump to content

The Worst Bills Draft Picks of the 2010’s


Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

Let’s look back to past Bills drafts and find which picks set the team back.  Below are my thoughts:

 

Sammy Watkins 2014  (R1, #4) - this move really hurt the Bills.  Sammy was good when healthy but it’s fair to say he was far from the “generational talent” Doug Whaley claimed.  A foolish trade which crippled the team.

 

EJ Manuel 2013 (R1, #16) - This was a bad pick, not because EJ turned out to be a bad QB, but because he was not projected as a Round 1 QB.  Buddy Nix’s poor management of the QB position forced him to draft a QB in a terrible QB draft.  However he didn’t have to take EJ in Round 1.  He could have waited till Round 3 or 4 and Manuel still would have been there.  Basically Nix and Whaley drafted a QB with a Round 3 grade in the 1st round.  Waste of a pick.

 

CJ Spiller 2010 (R1, #9) - CJ showed some great flashes and had 1 great year but it was not enough to live up anywhere near his top 10 selection.  Also in 2010 the Bills has Marshawn Lynch and Freddy Jackson on the roster.  There was no need to draft a RB that high.  A foolish pick by Buddy who could’ve been influenced by Ralph Wilson (who reportedly loved drafting running backs)

 

Torell Troupe (R2, #41). Terrible terrible terrible selection by Buddy.  Not only passing on homegrown Rob Gronkowski but drafting a player with injury issues who has an unproductive NFL career.

 

These are a few high picks...let’s hear your selections.

 

Troupe was the worst but EJ's failure set us back (again, like all our QBs besides Allen)

 

Also wish we drafted JJ Watt over Dareus.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Jeetz1231 said:

The amount of top tier talent we passed over for Sammy makes him take it for me, especially considering the trade. 

 

We traded up to get the third QB off the board last year, and that was qb.

 

With all the receiver talent in 2014 why the hell would we move up to take the first receiver off the board, especially at the cost of a number1?

 

I agree with you on this, but the EJ pick definitely played a part in this.

Edited by dollars 2 donuts
  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, metzelaars_lives said:

Watkins was as can't miss a prospect as you will ever see.  Especially after seeing the Juilo Jones trade up work out the way it did, it made some sense at the time.  

 

Manuel was a perfectly fine pick at the time.  That was the worst draft ever (literally, not hyperbole).  They needed a QB.  You tell me who else they should've taken there.  Plus they traded back to get him and picked up another second rounder in the process.  And I nearly got run off this website for being so adamantly anti-EJ Manuel.

 

Maybin was bad but not absurd.  They should've taken Orakpo but whatever.  He was gonna go in the next couple picks regardless.

 

There are two answers: 

 

Torell Troup over Gronkowski and TJ Graham over Russell Wilson.  Both were instances where guys at positions of need who should've been drafted way earlier, magically fell right into our lap and we instead took guys who should've gone multiple rounds later.  They were both completely INSANE draft picks at the time and, suffice it to say, look even worse now.

 

Now you may close the thread.

 

Im going to disagree on EJ Manuel being “perfectly fine.”  Yes they did trade down for an additional pick, but it doesn’t change the fact that EJ was not rated as a Round 1 pick or even Round 2 draft pick on most boards.  He likely was rated in the 3rd or 4th round.

 

In his his infinite wisdom, Buddy Nix decides to make EJ a 1st round draft pick.  He just didn’t have that type of talent and never should have been selected.  In doing so, it put unrealistic expectations on EJ in the organization and the fan base.  This pick was dreadful

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EJ is the correct answer.  Let's say we didn't trade up for Watkins and select the best WR available (OBJ) and the best player available in 2015 at the spot we gave up (Landon Collins).  We still have nobody to throw to OBJ who likely would've forced his way out of here as OBJ wouldn't turn EJ into a franchise QB.  Landon Collins is a good player, but a safety's impact on a team is limited.

 

Having said that, 2013 and 2014 sucked for QB's.  Only Derrick Carr had any kind of success so the Bills were screwed anyways.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, BillsfaninSB said:

Cautionary tale for this year.   Maybin.  #11 in 2009. 

 

He was a high energy guy. He had two great pre-season games against Akron and Coastal Carolina and parlayed that into a first-round draft pick.

 

Ugh! He may be the worse Bills #1 of all time?

 

Fortunately for him, he wasn't all about football and is now making a difference influencing young kids in the Baltimore school system

 

Football player - nope!

 

Very good human being - Yes! A role model in many ways.

  • Like (+1) 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dareus made sense at the time, but it hurts now because the players drafted around him will probably be hall-of-famers.

 

Watkins was the stupidest pick at the time when you consider that draft was loaded with WR's.

 

What makes it worse is the fact that the poll on BBMB  had a better draft record than the Bills' for the last two decades.

 

 

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, metzelaars_lives said:

Watkins was as can't miss a prospect as you will ever see.  Especially after seeing the Juilo Jones trade up work out the way it did, it made some sense at the time.  

 

So what? What difference does this make when there was the lack of a quarterback to get him the ball.

 

Mortgaging the future and drafting Watkins was equal to putting a complete new roof on a house with a crumbling foundation. 

 

The Bills needed a quarterback and blockers.  Watkins was a ridiculous pick considering what the Bills had and what they gave up.

 

Jmo.

  • Like (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whitner in 2006 was perhaps the dumbest pick I ever saw and I mean ever, but; the question was from 2010 so I am going to run with Spiller.

 

Nice guy, but he was barely able to understand plays. He was an undersized part time player in college and although some draft "experts" had him rated high, the kid was a 4th round pick at best. Not enough? They put him behind an OL that sucked.

 

I have said many times that Bills Fans are the best. It really is true. It is SO easy to be a fan of some teams, and every team does make mistakes. That said, the Bills drafts have been so bad they were actually painful sometimes.

 

Please, can we have a good one tomorrow?????!!!!!

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, metzelaars_lives said:

Watkins was as can't miss a prospect as you will ever see.  Especially after seeing the Juilo Jones trade up work out the way it did, it made some sense at the time.  

 

Manuel was a perfectly fine pick at the time.  That was the worst draft ever (literally, not hyperbole).  They needed a QB.  You tell me who else they should've taken there.  Plus they traded back to get him and picked up another second rounder in the process.  And I nearly got run off this website for being so adamantly anti-EJ Manuel.

 

Maybin was bad but not absurd.  They should've taken Orakpo but whatever.  He was gonna go in the next couple picks regardless.

 

There are two answers: 

 

Torell Troup over Gronkowski and TJ Graham over Russell Wilson.  Both were instances where guys at positions of need who should've been drafted way earlier, magically fell right into our lap and we instead took guys who should've gone multiple rounds later.  They were both completely INSANE draft picks at the time and, suffice it to say, look even worse now.

 

Now you may close the thread.

hate to say this but Gronk should be thanking the Bills for not taking him, he would never have made it to the Super Bowls he was in and most likely given the QB's we had, wouldn't of had the career he had, statistically speaking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, DallasMac said:

You could probably do this for every year but being a Texas alum taking Maybin over Orakpo was a miss.  Even though Orakpo never became a big star.  I really wanted Evans when we drafted Sammy and it wouldn't have cost nearly as much to trade up.  Hated the Ej pick.  Didn't really like the Cj pick because of who we currently had but if you look at that draft there really weren't a lot of good players taken.  I wanted Bulaga but the thought was you don't take a RT that high.  Dareus stings because I remember seeing Von Miller wearing a Bills hat at the Senior bowl and wanted him on the team so badly.  Unfortunately Denver made the right choice.  

 

Dareus was a good pick in 2011, and he played well early in his career, making Pro Bowls and even being named an All Pro while under Doug Marrone.  I don't pretend to know what happened to him while he played for Ryan and McDermott  but he doesn't seem to have regained his early form when playing for Marrone in Jax.  My guess is that something in his personal life or with his mental health changed his interest/attitude towards the game.

 

5 hours ago, MJS said:

EJ because we did it for all the wrong reasons. Buddy wanted to retire but publicly promised he wouldn't until he got a franchise QB. So that meant taking a QB in that draft no matter what. It turned out to be one of the worst QB drafts in many years, but they had their mind made up. So even trading down to get him, it was a big reach.

 

My guess is that it wasn't Buddy NIx or Doug Whaley but Russ Brandon.  Brandon was all about putting butts in the seats, as evidenced by his signing Terrell Owens in 2009 in order to placate fans upset over the extension of HC Dick Jauron after the horrendous collapse in 2008 (the Bills then set a then-record for season tickets sales in 2009).    In 2013, Ralph Wilson had died and the future of the team was up in the air.  Fans were nervous.  The Bills had a new HC with, to say the least, modest NFL credentials.  That he had been pretty successful at Syracuse was probably his biggest selling point.  The best way to excite the fan base at that point was to draft a first round QB, which always excites the fanbase.  Hence, taking a first round QB in 2013 was a no brainer for Brandon -- that there wasn't a QB worth a first round pick in that draft -- even no QB even worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick in that entire draft -- was immaterial to Brandon.

 

5 hours ago, metzelaars_lives said:

Watkins was as can't miss a prospect as you will ever see.  Especially after seeing the Juilo Jones trade up work out the way it did, it made some sense at the time.  

 

Manuel was a perfectly fine pick at the time.  That was the worst draft ever (literally, not hyperbole).  They needed a QB.  You tell me who else they should've taken there.  Plus they traded back to get him and picked up another second rounder in the process.  And I nearly got run off this website for being so adamantly anti-EJ Manuel.

 

Maybin was bad but not absurd.  They should've taken Orakpo but whatever.  He was gonna go in the next couple picks regardless.

 

There are two answers: 

 

Torell Troup over Gronkowski and TJ Graham over Russell Wilson.  Both were instances where guys at positions of need who should've been drafted way earlier, magically fell right into our lap and we instead took guys who should've gone multiple rounds later.  They were both completely INSANE draft picks at the time and, suffice it to say, look even worse now.

 

Now you may close the thread.

 

If the Bills had drafted Gronkowski, most of the MB GMs would be whining about him being "injury prone", but AFAIK, the Bills never had an iota of interest in Gronkowski because they didn't even meet with him at the Combine despite his Buffalo connections.  My guess is that Troupe was a "need" pick.   Certainly Graham was, although how the Bills didn't NEED a QB in 2012 was bizarre, especially the only fault in Wilson's game was that he wasn't 6'2".

 

35 minutes ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

 

Im going to disagree on EJ Manuel being “perfectly fine.”  Yes they did trade down for an additional pick, but it doesn’t change the fact that EJ was not rated as a Round 1 pick or even Round 2 draft pick on most boards.  He likely was rated in the 3rd or 4th round.

 

In his his infinite wisdom, Buddy Nix decides to make EJ a 1st round draft pick.  He just didn’t have that type of talent and never should have been selected.  In doing so, it put unrealistic expectations on EJ in the organization and the fan base.  This pick was dreadful

 

Agree.  Manuel is the absolute poster boy for NEVER taking a first round QB just because you need a QB.   The Bills decided that they needed/wanted a QB in 2013 in the first round, and they were taking one, even if the entire QB draft class was simply awful.  

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, TAinLA said:

hate to say this but Gronk should be thanking the Bills for not taking him, he would never have made it to the Super Bowls he was in and most likely given the QB's we had, wouldn't of had the career he had, statistically speaking.

Actually, Gronk should be thankful he wasn't taken in the 1st round because I heard, right here on this forum, that the outlook is very bleak for a tight end taken in the first round of ever becoming great...

 

But I digress.

 

As for my worst pick candidate of the 2010s: Sammy Watkins. I liked Watkins; however, 2 1st round picks and a 4th round pick could have been spent more wisely for a team with greater needs. Getting Watkins for EJ Manuel was like giving a Ferrari to someone who would only ever be able to master driving a moped...

  • Like (+1) 3
  • Thank you (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, jahnyc said:

Cyrus Kouandjio was another poor second round pick and if not in the top five worst picks this decade, then just outside of it. 

Yeah, he was an awful choice. Even as a Crimson Tide Fan I was against that pick. I said at the time that there were at least three, but possibly all 4 starters on the Alabama line that were better than him, plus he was hurt.

 

I wish it could have worked out for him because despite the rather serious problem he had, he seemed to be a really nice kid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, jahnyc said:

Cyrus Kouandjio was another poor second round pick and if not in the top five worst picks this decade, then just outside of it. 

 

Yea I never liked that pick either. I thought it was right position, wrong player - Morgan Moses who went later to the Redskins was my guy.

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Jeetz1231 said:

The amount of top tier talent we passed over for Sammy makes him take it for me, especially considering the trade. 

 

I agree but I put that on Whaley. Watkins was a good player but the price we gave up for him while having an unproven QB was absolutely dumb. One of the dumbest GM moves in Bills history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...