Todd McShay Chat Wrap: Best & Worst in AFC

[Lurker]

Buffalo Bills

 

Best pick: Cornerback Ashton Youboty, Ohio State. Youboty was a terrific find in the third round. After giving up some big plays and seemingly losing some of his confidence last season, Youboty's ability to handle the mental aspect of the cornerback position was questioned, and he fell as a result. In all reality, though, Youboty is a late-first round talent with the speed and athletic ability to eventually develop into the starting cornerback opposite Nate Clements if his technique improves and his confidence is restored.

 

Worst pick: Defensive tackle John McCargo, N.C. State. Taking Ohio State safety Donte Whitner eighth overall was a reach, but not nearly as big a reach as McCargo was with the 26th overall selection. Making matters worse was the Bills' decision to trade up from the second round, where McCargo likely would have fallen to them in the first place. (give it a break, Todd. Maybe you should talk to Ernie Accorsi )

 

Work to do: Although Whitner and McCargo were reaches, at least they both fit positions of high priority for the Bills. The one area the Bills must still address, however, is offensive tackle. Brad Butler (Virginia) should provide depth as a fifth-round pick, but he is not projected as a starter. The problem is on the left side, where Mike Gandy lacks ideal athletic ability and has problems holding his own in pass protection.

[Pyrite Gal]

This view is certainly grounded in his desire to be the next Mel Kiper and opinionize rather than report, but everybody has an opinion and they all are aout worth the same thing and his view is not outlandish.

 

McCargo is the big question mark and there are good reasons to think/hope he works out and also good reason to have serious doubts about this. The kwy seems to me whether he was the one who made the other DL players on his team better by drawing attention or whether he is overrated because he played with other good players.

 

IF the Bills had their doubts about Ngata and Bunkley (both may be good but both also can be reasonably doubted as well, then trading up to assure they got the 3rd DT picked in the draft when no other NFL team (all of them, everyone) did not judge any of the other DTs worthy of a 2nd round pick) was likely a good move. Given that there is word that Accorsi would have plucked him with a late 1st and if this is true it was a very good move. Most of all if Mccargo proves it on the field and plays well enough to start immediately or at least in his first year this will be a great move.

 

2. He is right about the Youbouty pick because it really does give the Bills 3 players judged to be first round talents by reputable sources on the first day. I know folks are freaked about not using a 1st day pick on the OL, but quite frankly unless you do this then forget the draft as more than a long-term OL investment. With D'Brick chosen and Justice dropping like a rock and the Bills more than correctly made this BAP pick in the third. We already had leverage over NC and now it ain't even funny how much leverage we have in these negotiations..

 

I do not expect or even hope to get much more than future development talent from the draft and given we picked a bunxh of young trainable athletes who can make a contribution on ST, I liked out draft.

[ax4782]

I went to NC State and watched all of those guys play, live, every Saturday they were at home. McCargo was as good on every play as Williams or Lawson. He played on every part of the line, both tackle and end. He was very good for Chuck Amato for a number of reasons. He's big and very fast, but the thing is he's a smart guy. He makes good plays, but he also knows how to drive plays towards other good players. They would always use him to drive the pocket or the play to the short side of the field and towards either Williams or Lawson. He not only made huge plays in the backfield, but he made his line mates better. He has been well coached and I do NOT agree that this was a reach. Mel Kiper and this other bozo need to look at the facts. The Giants have said they were going to take him at 32. Buffalo knew he wasn't going to get him at 42 and so they gave up a 3 to get the best guy available at the time to fill a huge gap in the defense.

 

Ngata is not as good as he looks. Sure he's big and relatively quick, but if you watch the film, he takes plays off and he's often unable to beat the better centers in the college ranks one on one. He'll be average. In games where Bunkley and McCargo played each other, McCargo actually had better numbers. Saying that McCargo was better because of the line he played on is unfair. Florida State always has a terrific defense and a terrific O-Line. They had two guys go in round one, so that is not a fair statement. McCargo is going to excel for the Bills and in three years, people will think this was the best Draft decision that Marv ever made.

[gobillsinytown]

Very encouraging! Let's hope he can assimilate the speed of the pro game.

In talking to some pros, they said that the biggest adjustment they had to make on the field was the speed of the game, which requires that decisions be made much more quickly. One of my late father's friends, who played for the Oilers, said that NFL practices were harder than some of his college games.

Plus, I'd really love it if McCargo turns into a great player, just to prove the "experts" wrong.

 

 

 

I went to NC State and watched all of those guys play, live, every Saturday they were at home.  McCargo was as good on every play as Williams or Lawson.  He played on every part of the line, both tackle and end.  He was very good for Chuck Amato for a number of reasons.  He's big and very fast, but the thing is he's a smart guy.  He makes good plays, but he also knows how to drive plays towards other good players.  They would always use him to drive the pocket or the play to the short side of the field and towards either Williams or Lawson.  He not only made huge plays in the backfield, but he made his line mates better.  He has been well coached and I do NOT agree that this was a reach.  Mel Kiper and this other bozo need to look at the facts.  The Giants have said they were going to take him at 32.  Buffalo knew he wasn't going to get him at 42 and so they gave up a 3 to get the best guy available at the time to fill a huge gap in the defense.

 

Ngata is not as good as he looks.  Sure he's big and relatively quick, but if you watch the film, he takes plays off and he's often unable to beat the better centers in the college ranks one on one.  He'll be average.  In games where Bunkley and McCargo played each other, McCargo actually had better numbers.  Saying that McCargo was better because of the line he played on is unfair.  Florida State always has a terrific defense and a terrific O-Line.  They had two guys go in round one, so that is not a fair statement.  McCargo is going to excel for the Bills and in three years, people will think this was the best Draft decision that Marv ever made.

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[MDH]

This view is certainly grounded in his desire to be the next Mel Kiper and opinionize rather than report

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What exactly do you want when someone analyzes the draft? You simply want them to report which player was selected in each slot? Because anything more than that is giving an opinion. The problem with most of these types of reports isn't that they give an opinion it's that their opinion isn't very informed. That being said there are plenty of guys that have given informed opinions and tend to get trashed on this board.

 

Of course, most people tend to think of any opinion that isn't the same as their's is uninformed.