Who was the Bills best and worst draft pick of this century to this point?

[BigBillsFan]

Top 3 worst: Mike Williams, Whitner, and Maybin

 

Top 3 best by value: Kyle Williams, Jabrari Greer and Jason Peters.

Runner up: Tre White

[Orlando Tim]

1 hour ago, MiltonWaddams said:

Best: Tre

Worst: Flowers

I looked at this as best player drafted by the Bills since 2000. If we evaluate it based on value, Kyle is the best and Sammy is the worst. But the true best player ( not going to judge Josh’s “finished product” status yet) is Tre and the worst (without getting into bums that were bums when they were drafted) was definitely Flowers.

How do so many think Sammy is the worst value? Mike Williams and Maybin literally were net negatives and Sammy was a net positive while obviously not as the level we had hoped. Sammy was the best player on the field multiple times during his time here while Maybin and Williams were the worst every time they got on field. 

[Peace Frog]

2 hours ago, matter2003 said:

 

 

 

Tre is on target as a 27th pick in the first round?  He is performing more like a top 3 pick.  

 

 

 

You ask for my pick and then question my selection.  Are you just looking for someone to choose the same as you did?

[2003Contenders]

29 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

Maybin has to be the worst. He literally did nothing. Not one thing, other than a cool haircut. At least Losman had one pretty good year. Maybin was like throwing the pick straight into the toilet 

 

100% agree. And to make matters worse, there were PLENTY of signs heading into the draft that the pick was a real reach. The dude was not especially highly regarded heading into his last season in college. He did have a freakish first-step on game film, but he ran a terrible 40 time -- and had major issues with his weight fluctuating. He wasn't cut out to be either a 3-4 OLB or 4-3 DE (which is what Jauron and his staff were hoping for). Not many fans or pundits liked the pick back then, and there were plenty of decent players still on the board when Russ/Modrak made the pick. (Modrak later claimed that he really wanted to draft Brian Cushing there, but Russ over-ruled him.)

 

This was also one of the last years before the rookie wage scale kicked in, so Maybin and his agent (RIP, Eugene) milked the system and pretty much held out the entire 2009 training camp. I always felt that when Maybin heard his name announced, he thought his work was done (namely, doing the pre-draft stuff to get himself drafted in the 1st round) and was never serious about doing what was necessary to be the best he could be on the field. Ironically, what little Maybin did on the field was with Rex and the Jets a couple of years later. Rex utilized him as a situational pass-rusher. Guys like that grow on trees and are usually 5th or 6th round draft picks -- not top 10 overall!

 

The fact that the team actually did pretty well with their next few picks in that draft class -- Wood, Byrd and Levitre -- lessened the sting of that horrific first pick.

[Big Turk]

51 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

Maybin has to be the worst. He literally did nothing. Not one thing, other than a cool haircut. At least Losman had one pretty good year. Maybin was like throwing the pick straight into the toilet 

 

I disagree...I mean weren't you bumping his rap song back in 2010? ?

 

 

19 minutes ago, Peace Frog said:

 

You ask for my pick and then question my selection.  Are you just looking for someone to choose the same as you did?

 

Not at all, just don't understand how a first team all-pro is performing as expected as a 27th pick.  Not many people expect that from a 27th pick, just saying.

Edited April 20, 2020 by matter2003

[Manther]

12 hours ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Best pick - Kyle Williams. Bills Wall of Famer in the 5th Round and spent 13 years  in Buffalo? Pretty good. 

 

Worst Pick - I don’t see how it can be anybody other than Maybin. Zero sacks with the Bills, by the second/third week of Training Camp you could sense he was a problem (arguing with Wood, getting mauled in practice). 
 

 

I think these two will be the most common and I agree with them.  

 

Agreed, how can anyone not say Maybin was the worst pick.  We can almost call it a fact?

[Bill from NYC]

Best: Kyle Williams, easily I might add

 

Worst: Whitner in the same draft. There were great players that we passed on to take him. In fact, Levy said that he turned down numerous trade down offers to take this undersized safety. I don't think that any draft pick set the team back to this extent, although a case could be made for White.

[Big Turk]

8 minutes ago, Manther said:

I think these two will be the most common and I agree with them.  

 

Agreed, how can anyone not say Maybin was the worst pick.  We can almost call it a fact?

 

You could argue Erik Flowers, but Maybin was taken top 10 not 26th, so valid point.

[Bill from NYC]

58 minutes ago, BigBillsFan said:

Top 3 worst: Mike Williams, Whitner, and Maybin

 

Top 3 best by value: Kyle Williams, Jabrari Greer and Jason Peters.

Runner up: Tre White

Jason Peters was signed as a free agent or he would have been my top choice hands down.

9 minutes ago, Manther said:

I think these two will be the most common and I agree with them.  

 

Agreed, how can anyone not say Maybin was the worst pick.  We can almost call it a fact?

Because the question was "worst pick'" not "worst player."

[Putin]

Best - Jim Kelly / Bruce Smith 

worst - Aaron Maybin 

[ndirish1978]

JP Losman & EJ Manuel set this franchise back for years. While Maybin was a terrible pick, you could argue that Manuel cost us more. He was a terrible QB and the inept FO doubled down by pairing a bad QB with a WR they traded 2 1st round picks to bolster in a draft where they could have taken OBJ or Evans without making a trade at all. So, in short, we wasted 3 first rd picks trying to make Manuel a thing, which I consider a travesty.

 

Best draft pick would be Jim Kelly, even if took him a few years to get here, he was our last real-deal franchise QB until Allen can solidify himself as such. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by ndirish1978

[Billl]

The Sammy Watkins hate on this site is absurd.  He’s 26 years old with 4244 receiving yards and 31 TDs so far.  That doesn’t even include his 24 catches for 464 yards and a TD in the postseason the past 2 seasons.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Billl

[Big Turk]

6 minutes ago, Putin said:

Best - Jim Kelly / Bruce Smith 

worst - Aaron Maybin 

 

Kelly and Smith weren't drafted this century(ie, since 2000)

[Putin]

3 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

 

Kelly and Smith weren't drafted this century(ie, since 2000)

My bad ! 
Then it’s definitely 

Best - Meatball 

worst - Aaron Maybin  (  no matter what century) 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Putin

[machine gun kelly]

Putin, I didn't want pile on, but glad you can laugh it off.

 

Best, You can argue Kyle or even Wood.

 

Worst, that's hard as there are so many between Mike Williams (atrocious), Maybin, and its' sad I cant even remember that 6'5 WR from Indiana, was it Henry or something. He couldn't read a playbook, or couldn't basically read which is sad.  I remember years later was found dead by a river, speculated he committed suicide.  He was a nice guy, but a horrible pick.

[billsfan89]

Best? Hard to argue it isn't Kyle William's by a long shot thus far (although Tre, Edumonds and Allen got a shot at it.) 5th round pick who got 6 probowls and an All Pro Team (and probably would have been 3 or more All pro had he not been stuck on a bad team.) Kyle was a consistent starter and fixture for the defense for 12 years. 

 

He was a late 1st round pick who in a year or two will be in that conversation. But for longevity and value I am going with Kyle thus far.

 

As far as worst? I would go with Johnathan McCargo, McCargo was a late 1st round pick whom the team traded up for and was considered a massive reach while the team passed on Nick Mangold who went the very next pick and went on to be a top center in the league for the next decade (for a division rival.)

 

It was a bad pick at the time and Mangold who was a player of need would have been the much better pick.

[MiltonWaddams]

3 hours ago, Buffalo Timmy said:

How do so many think Sammy is the worst value? Mike Williams and Maybin literally were net negatives and Sammy was a net positive while obviously not as the level we had hoped. Sammy was the best player on the field multiple times during his time here while Maybin and Williams were the worst every time they got on field. 

I guess that my expectations for the fourth overall pick is to absolutely dominate and last past his rookie contract. My expectations for the 11th overall pick is extremely high as well, and Maybin was a absolute bust and a horrible draft pick. They might just be a tie for greatest disappointment in drafting. My hopes for Sammy were sky high and my disappointment was equally high. I expected Maybin  to have been a project as a one year wonder in college 

[RobbRiddick]

This is a great thread, bringing back a lot of memories, though sadly they're mostly bad as they just remind you of the incompetent shite Bills fans have had to put up with all these years. 

 

Jesus, when I think back to the turn of the century and I think about the young ***** kicker I was, before marriage and kids and being responsible, and then I think of going on that journey backdropped by such front office wonders as Marv Levy, Buddy Nix, Doug Whaley and Russ Brandon, getting ready for the drafts every year, always thinking "maybe this year things will be different". The hiring of Dick Jauron. Dick ***** JAURON! Mr 7-9 himself.

 

The only time I really felt any true joy watching the Bills over that time was when Donahoe was given an open check book and got Bledsoe, Milloy, Adams etc. I remember the day we signed Spikes and I was so pumped, I really thought we were going to win the AFC East. Then we hammered NE. Then we beat the living daylights out of Jax. Then it turned to crap and I started crying again.

 

The whole point of this (possibly lockdown induced) outburst is that I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so happy to have a competent guy like Beane running things. Even when he's being interviewed he just sounds on the ball, like he, you know, knows what he's doing.

[Straight Hucklebuck]

7 hours ago, Bill from NYC said:

Best: Kyle Williams, easily I might add

 

Worst: Whitner in the same draft. There were great players that we passed on to take him. In fact, Levy said that he turned down numerous trade down offers to take this undersized safety. I don't think that any draft pick set the team back to this extent, although a case could be made for White.

Whitner was bad because it underscored how little understanding the Bills has about the league.

 

In 2004, the Bills were Top 10 against the run because of Pat Williams. Then they let him go in FA and started Tim Anderson. 
 

They finished 2005 - 31st against the run. And instead of picking 340 pound Ngata, they pick Whitner and trade back to get a 3-Technique in McCargo because Jauron only knew his classic Tampa-2 defense which was outdated by league standards even then. 
 

After Pat Williams left, the Bills went about 9 straight years finishing 22nd or worse against the run. The Bills defensive line was manhandled in the Jauron and Gailey years. 
 

Not until Pettine did the Bills defense finally recover from the loss of Pat Williams and busts like McCargo and Troup. 
 

You go back and look, it’s guys like Spencer Johnson, Larry Triplett. In that stretch of years the Bills didn’t take a DT for 3-straight drafts despite being mauled. 

[Kirby Jackson]

Actually this is pretty easy. 
 

Best: Kyle Williams - He may have had the best Bills career of the last 20 years. Add to that him being a 5th round pick and it’s easy to crown him.

 

Worst - Aaron Maybin - This one is equally as easy. The Bills used the 11th pick of the draft on a guy to sack the opposing QB. He sacked the opposing QB as many times as I did in a Bills uniform. There is not another answer even close. He was a TERRIBLE player at TERRIBLE value. If you drafted a DE in the 7th round to rush the QB and he had no sacks you’d say it was an awful pick. Imagine picking him 250 spots higher!!