Was Willis a bust?

[mary owen]

my neighbor in the next cube says...."You gotta admit...he was a BUST!"

 

to which my quick reply was "Well, you would know all about busts, being a Browns fan.."

 

after the laughter subsided, i was left pondering his assessment of Willis. I'm on the fence about it, but hey....he was a 1st round pick....

 

thoughts?

[silvermike]

I think, at a bare minimum, he'd have to be demonstrably better than Travis Henry not to be a bust. He wasn't. So yes, he is a bust.

[marauderswr80]

I wouldnt call him a bust. At one point they said he wouldnt play football ever again. Calling him a bust is a little much. Hard to make that assesment with the bad OL's we have had. I think he was a good RB that didnt play to his ability. I think he could have been a little better, but he could have been alot better if we fixed the OL a few years ago.......

 

So calling Willis a bust is incorrect.

[mary owen]

I wouldnt call him a bust. At one point they said he wouldnt play football ever again. Calling him a bust is a little much. Hard to make that assesment with the bad OL's we have had. I think he was a good RB that didnt play to his ability. I think he could have been a little better, but he could have been alot better if we fixed the OL a few years ago.......

 

So calling Willis a bust is incorrect.

 

 

well, when you take the homer glasses off......

 

seriously, the same can be said for other FIRST round RB busts.... really. You gotta look at the round and the gamble they took. Your reason about what he came back from (which I admire) can make the bust argument all the stronger....a bust that was reached on....UGH!!!

 

at least old whitey's gone, so it doesn't reflect bad on the current regime.

[2003Contenders]

Considering that the pick was a risk given his knee situation in the first place, I do not believe you can call him a bust. In fact, after the 2004 season he looked like a very good pick. Sadly, he never came close to matching the passion he showed that year.

 

I think "disappointment" may be a more appropriate word. I know it's just semantics, but to me a "bust" is more devastating than a mere disappointment.

 

My frustration here is less aimed at Willis than it is at TD for taking him in the first place. As I said, the pick itself was a risk -- one that was NOT worth taking, considering the other holes this team has had since then.

[Blue Chipper]

I dont think he was bust at all. He worked hard to overcome that horrible injury and I think he will have avery good year in Baltamore. Im sure they will try to seign him to a 3 or 4 year deal. If they dont then he will definately go all out for that big contract next year. Willis' problems came off the field- he didnt fit in or put forth the effort to become part of the community. He trained with his boys at the U in the offseason and not here.

 

Im glad we got something in return and that combined with the fact the average nfl career is something like 5 or 6 years for most nfl running backs Im looking forward to possibly drafting Lynch and seeing him split time his first year with Brown or Rhodes similar to what Addai did in Indi.

[buffalopdc]

I think he was a bust considering he got worse last season and he was never a team player. The character of the team has just drastically improved. WM would have been a cancer in the locker room this year. His agent is good at making his player a distraction that brings the team down, think TO. Also his heart was never in Buffalo.

 

In my opinion Baltimore got a back who I believe was tackled behind the line of scrimmage more times than any other back. A back that occasionally blocks really well (only when he wants), cannot catch the ball out of the backfield, gets run down by opposing defenders in open field, seldom knows what down it is or how to pick up a fourth down. Billick "knows the kind of preparation" that backs for Miami are known for. I hope he doesn't talk to Fairchild who admitted that WM had no idea what the play was during the early games of the year. Additionally, all the preparation cannot account for his lack of brains. Furthemore, they are looking forward to his toughness. Yes he played hurt but how many games did he go to the lockeroom in the middle of game for x-ray, sandwitches, et

[silvermike]

I think it's possible for Willis to have a decent career and still have been a bust for the Bills. When we drafted him, we had an RB on the roster who had just had back-to-back 1300 yard seasons. Willis was competing directly with that: It wasn't a case of the Bills needing to get first-round value for a running back (which would be the case this year), they needed to get first round pick + Travis Henry value, which they didn't.

 

What I think makes the pick so dreadful is that Henry+1st round value is really an impossible standard to set. How many RBs in the league would you trade a 1300 yard back and a first round pick for? LaDainian might be the only one.

[Koufax]

No question this makes him a bust since we closed the cycle at this point. Taken ahead of LJ, missing an entire year, playing a position with an established starter (we did get a 2nd for Travis), his numbers do not add up to value at his draft pick. Not a huge bust but you need more our of a #1 than a year off, two solid years as a decent player, and then a disappointing inconsistent year.

 

I don't think it was all his fault, since some of it was circumstance, coming off the injury, getting jerked around by MM, playing behind a troubled line and breaking some ribs last year. But he was not a star, and with Larry Johnson and Eric Steinbach shortly behind him, it would not have been hard to get more value over four years than we did.

[Mark Long Beach]

I bit of a disapointment, but not a bust. Heck he was a good/decent starter for 3 years. That's the life of an NFL runningback.

 

Disapointed, because I was promised more. A bust means we'd have gotten basically nothing. When in reality we got 3 years production and 3 draft picks out of him.

[crazyDingo]

"Is this some kind of bust?"

 

"Very impressive, yes."

 

--Detective Frank Drebbin, Police Squad.

[Koufax]

What I think makes the pick so dreadful is that Henry+1st round value is really an impossible standard to set. How many RBs in the league would you trade a 1300 yard back and a first round pick for? LaDainian might be the only one.

 

To be fair we got a 2nd back for Henry so it was Willis and a 2nd (and now two 3rds) for Travis and a 1st in the bigger picture, but that second came two years later and the 3rds come 4 and 5 years later. But I agree with your general reasoning. Having Travis on the roster and having Willis need a year off meant that a whole lot had to be done in Willis's next three seasons for it to be a good move. He didn't do enough to make it a good pick. I still think he could go either way and become an excellent back or just an average guy, but his time with the Bills and the circumstances in total make him a bust.

[DC Tom]

I bit of a disapointment, but not a bust. Heck he was a good/decent starter for 3 years. That's the life of an NFL runningback.

 

Disapointed, because I was promised more. A bust means we'd have gotten basically nothing. When in reality we got 3 years production and 3 draft picks out of him.

 

Just what I was thinking. Maybe he didn't live up to expectations...but he gave decent service for three years, and the Bills got something in return when he left.

 

In my mind, a "bust" is a spectacular failure. Mike Williams sucked it up for years, and was cut outright. That's a bust.

[Nervous Guy]

I think it's breast if we just leave this subject alone. One for the mammary books, though.

[Max997]

you cant say he was a bust because he was somewhat productive and played on bad teams behind a terrible O-line

 

you can say that he never regained his college form though

[Dan III]

my neighbor in the next cube says...."You gotta admit...he was a BUST!"

 

to which my quick reply was "Well, you would know all about busts, being a Browns fan.."

 

after the laughter subsided, i was left pondering his assessment of Willis. I'm on the fence about it, but hey....he was a 1st round pick....

 

thoughts?

I would have said two words.. William Green.

[bartshan-83]

I think the definition of "bust" varies person to person. I think a bust is someone that pretty much brings nothing to the table and is never considered to remain on the team for more than a few years. Plus, few "busts" are traded for with multiple 1st day picks, IMO.

 

But I will say this, the ultimate question is: Are you happy we drafted Willis?

 

I'm not. I wasn't when we did it...but I grew to love that he was here. But 4 years later, I believe, ultimately, it was a mistake. I'm not saying that whoever we would have gotten instead of him would have been better. But if I could go back and change the 23rd pick of the 2003 draft, I would.

[Buftex]

I didn't hate Willis as much as some, and I wouldn't say he was a bust, so much as just a disappointment. For all of the good things he did on the field, it is the fact that I can't remember him picking up a single key first down, in short yardage situations, that will always be my image of McGahee in Buffalo. He was very frustrating in that regards.

 

You read what Billick had to say, he is praising Willis' blocking and his pass catching abilities. Maybe he is looking at college video, or reading Drew Rosenhouses' PR sheet. If Willis is more than an average receiver, we never saw it in Buffalo. He blocked well at times, but was dreadful other times.

 

He wasn't as dominating a player as we would have hoped, but he wasn't completely unproductive. He showed just enough, to me , to have a small notion that he might do really well in Baltimore, and we will look foolish, in the national media, for trading him. But, that is only the national media (who's every word we seem to hang on, as if it means something), where they never get the whole story straight.

 

How much of Willis' woes were the result of a bad O-oline, and bad QB play, remains to be seen.

 

 

I have had more than one doubt about the current status of the Bills, but I really gotta hand it to Marv, or whoever worked out this trade, to get two third round picks out of the Ravens. Best case scenario, I thought, was getting a 3rd and a 6th or 7th this year, given how little trade value far more accomplished RB's than Wilis have had in the past couple of years.

 

I know, Willis' salary isn't too bad, especially considering how strapped the Ravens are, but they are going to have to re-sign him, either before, or after this season. I also don't think there was a snowballs chance in hell that McGahee would resign with Buffalo.

 

This trade will look all the more better, when we see what the Bills manage to do with all the draft picks, and how they plan to replace Willis....

[tcamedic474]

I wouldnt call him a bust. At one point they said he wouldnt play football ever again. Calling him a bust is a little much. Hard to make that assesment with the bad OL's we have had. I think he was a good RB that didnt play to his ability. I think he could have been a little better, but he could have been alot better if we fixed the OL a few years ago.......

 

So calling Willis a bust is incorrect.

Agreed!!! On WGR yestarday afternoon the topic of character came up. I believe Willis is a talented back and a great. To come back from the injury he sustained is proof right there. He is mediocre but not a bust. The Bills took a chance on kid who most thought would never play again. Now he is signed by another team who has great enthusiasm and expectations of him. Thats not a bust

But lets face it to be a true Buffalo Bill takes a type of devotion that you do not see anymore!! Steve Tasker, Mark Kelso, Biscuit, Jim Kelly, Thurman, Andre, (I dont think Bruce possesed it tho He was just great) They exemplified what Marv looks for in a player. Willis....he is the modern day talented premadonna---the next TO. When a player establishes longevity w/ one team it shows his devotion. To compete at this level takes devotion in itself. BUt to stick it out thru thick and thin in this era of FA is a true athlete. I believe JP posseses this to so let Willis go sow his arrogant oates in another city. Later Abbott

[SouthernMan]

my neighbor in the next cube says...."You gotta admit...he was a BUST!"

 

to which my quick reply was "Well, you would know all about busts, being a Browns fan.."

 

after the laughter subsided, i was left pondering his assessment of Willis. I'm on the fence about it, but hey....he was a 1st round pick....

 

thoughts?

 

 

I think any pick taken in the early rounds of the draft, particularly 1st and 2nd rounders, are a bust if they don't make significant contributions and become expendable after a few years. These picks should be the foundation of the team.

 

Could we get a 1st round pick for him today? Of course not. That comparison alone should earn THE PICK a "bust" label.

 

Which leads to the question: is the pick (Bill's 23rd in 2003) a bust, or the player himself? Considering his injury, McGahee probably turned out to be about as good as expected. Could have been great with 1500 yard seasons. Could have been a chronic training room regular putting up 500 yard seasons. He was somewhere in between.

 

In hindsight, the pick was probably a bust, since there were other players (Eric Steinbach comes to mind) that could have been fixtures and made an immediate impact, while we still could have retained Travis Henry. McGahee wasn't a regular at the start of the season until his 3rd year. I'd say it was a wasted 1st rounder.