Was Willis a bust?

[Indy Bills Fan]

I would call his Buffalo career a bust, but he may turn out to be decent. I just can't understand why someone making NFL money wouldn't be prepared. Bet if he had to sit at a desk all day he'd be nose first into the playbook!

 

He should have some team mates to keep the fire lit in his butt in Baltimore, so he could be pretty good there.

[Brandon]

IMO, drafting McGahee was Donahoe's biggest mistake. When you consider the situation at the time and the investment the Bills made in him, there's no question in my mind that he was a bust. McGahee has never come close to his supposed potential. In fact, I don't think he's quite as good as Travis Henry even now. It was a terrible use of the 23rd overall pick.

[justnzane]

IMO, drafting McGahee was Donahoe's biggest mistake. When you consider the situation at the time and the investment the Bills made in him, there's no question in my mind that he was a bust. McGahee has never come close to his supposed potential. In fact, I don't think he's quite as good as Travis Henry even now. It was a terrible use of the 23rd overall pick.

Mike Williams or hiring Greg Williams were bigger mistakes IMO

[Blue Chipper]

IMO, drafting McGahee was Donahoe's biggest mistake. When you consider the situation at the time and the investment the Bills made in him, there's no question in my mind that he was a bust. McGahee has never come close to his supposed potential. In fact, I don't think he's quite as good as Travis Henry even now. It was a terrible use of the 23rd overall pick.

 

 

But TD loved the headlines and he definately had everyone talking about that pick.

[The Dean]

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

 

 

For a joke this bad, you decide to post?

 

Oy!

[mellaman101]

How do you figure he was a bust? The guy ran behind one of the worst O lines in the league!

[Brandon]

The pick of Mike Williams was certainly a mistake in hindsight, but the Bills also desperately needed OL at the time. He was generally expected to go in the top 15 picks, so while Donahoe reached at 4, he still should have turned into a very good player. I can't fault him a whole lot for that one.

[Brandon]

But TD loved the headlines and he definately had everyone talking about that pick.

 

And that's all the McGahee selection was ever about. Tom Donahoe wasn't so much trying to improve the team as he was trying to make himself look like a genius. I don't think it worked out too well for him.

[OCinBuffalo]

Can't be a bust - we got three draft picks for him. We didn't get schit for Mike Williams = bust.

[KD in CA]

A bust? Hardly. He was a healthy, quality RB during his time here. We used a late 1st rounder to get him and received two 3rd and one 7th in exchange for him.

 

The definition of 'bust' shouldn't be anyone who fails to become a perennial Pro Bowler.

[dave mcbride]

He's not a bust - he's a late first rounder, after all - but he was a disappointment for the Bills (he may well go on to do great things for Baltimore, however). He averaged 841 rushing yards and 17 receptions per year. I include the season he sat out, because from the Bills perspective, as a first round pick he occupied a premier space on the roster that could have been filled by another player. He also earned a hefty paycheck in 03.

 

In relation to other early round RB picks by the Bills since the merger, here's where I place him:

 

1. Simpson

2. Thomas

3. Cribbs

4. Henry

5. McGahee

6. Greg Bell

7. Antowain Smith

8. Ronnie Harmon

9. Terry Miller

10. Booker Moore

 

I placed Harmon higher than Miller because a) he was a good receiver while he was here and b) he actually had a strong career in San Diego. Bell had a decent career too, as did Smith when you add it all up.

[KD in CA]

I placed Harmon higher than Miller because a) he was a good receiver while he was here

 

Too bad he wasn't a good receiver in Cleveland. That game still pisses me off....even more than Homerun Throwup.

 

[Marv Levy]

He was durable, but not great. Then again, our O Line was a total bust trying to block for him. Overall, though, he had no heart and love for the City of Buffalo.

Coming back from a knee injury was remarkable, but he seemed to be the big mouth first before getting results. Not really a bust, but not sad to see him go either! BuuuByeee!!

[bartshan-83]

Too bad he wasn't a good receiver in Cleveland. That game still pisses me off....even more than Homerun Throwup.

 

That game...and drop...is actually my first, solid memory of the Buffalo Bills. I should have known what was to come...

[Buftex]

He's not a bust - he's a late first rounder, after all - but he was a disappointment for the Bills (he may well go on to do great things for Baltimore, however). He averaged 841 rushing yards and 17 receptions per year. I include the season he sat out, because from the Bills perspective, as a first round pick he occupied a premier space on the roster that could have been filled by another player. He also earned a hefty paycheck in 03.

 

In relation to other early round RB picks by the Bills since the merger, here's where I place him:

 

1. Simpson

2. Thomas

3. Cribbs

4. Henry

5. McGahee

6. Greg Bell

7. Antowain Smith

8. Ronnie Harmon

9. Terry Miller

10. Booker Moore

 

I placed Harmon higher than Miller because a) he was a good receiver while he was here and b) he actually had a strong career in San Diego. Bell had a decent career too, as did Smith when you add it all up.

 

 

The biggest crime of the Wade Phillips era, in my opinion, was the relegating of Antowain Smith to the bench, or splitting carries equally, with dreck like Jonathan Linton and Shawn Bryson, simply because he was in Joe Pendrys' large dog house. He may have been slow, he may have not been a great practice player, but AS was the ONLY legit game-breaker the Bills had...I think if they hadn't jacked him around so much, Smith would be up there, ahead of Henry, McGahee and Bell. But, that is the all in the past...good list though!

[Pyrite Gal]

IMO, drafting McGahee was Donahoe's biggest mistake. When you consider the situation at the time and the investment the Bills made in him, there's no question in my mind that he was a bust. McGahee has never come close to his supposed potential. In fact, I don't think he's quite as good as Travis Henry even now. It was a terrible use of the 23rd overall pick.

 

I disagree.

 

First off, I think that to make this assessment it is useful for the person to define what they mean by a "bust". To me it is a question of whether a player produced at a level equivalent to where he was drafted.

 

Since I think that the general expectation is that a player drafted in the 1st round is going to be a first year starter (with the strong hopes he will be an immediate starter) and this is a reasonable expectation, then WM was drafted with the knowledge he would be a bust his first year but with the hopes his upside was so high that he would recover to not only be a starting NFL RB but actually become the elite RB he was slated to become before his injury.

 

He did not achieve this elite status, but it strikes me as hyperventilating to call him a bust. In fact, since a bust means that a player did not meet expectations the failure can be either because the player did not achieve anything (Ryan Leaf for example) OR because the fan did not know football or they drank the Kool-aid of the team selling their product and their expectations were way too high.

 

It would have been rediculous for any fan to expect him to start immediately after such a huge injury which made most people squeamish to watch. However, the Bills made a medical judgment that WM would recover from the traumatic injury to such a level he could certainly be at least a credible NFL starting RB and potentially realize the potential which made him a likely top 5 choice prior to the injury.

 

Was he a bust?

 

I would say no in that he did become a credible NFL starting RB. He was an average NFL starting producer but virtually all agree that at worst he was an average NFL RB, given that the conventional wisdom really was that his career as an NFL starter might well be over before it began I think it is hard to really call him a bust,

 

If one's expectations were that he is a bust unless he became an NFL elite RB, then I tend more to question a person's football judgment that this was a likely outcome after the injury.

 

Perhaps one might say that whether he was a bust depends more on what the Bills gave up by picking him instead of someone else at #23. Even with this equation, I do not think you can call him a bust like one would call Mike Williams a bust. The Bills had to cut Mike Williams and get zero compensation for him. The Bills ate multiple years of millions of dollars in bonus money when they cut him. This made MW a bust.

 

On the other hand, WM returned the Bills 3 draft picks including 2 first day choice for him when he stopped being a Bill. This is a long way from being a bust in my book.

 

If one wants to rail at this choice because we already had Travis Henry on the roster, thats fine as this is another reality to contemplate However, if you want to add this factor into the mix then one should also add in that another first day draft choice that the Bills received as part of the WM situation.

 

Even if one wants to say that this is part of giving up a 2003 1st draft choice to get Bledsoe this comes out in the wash at worse as TDs PP manueverings was part of getting the 1st for WM and in total the bottomline is that the draft choice trade not only got us a productive 2002 from out QB for one year for free but overall the choice has now morphed into 3 more picks.

 

I think that if one draws a conclusion that this whole thing has been a bust for the Bills it says more about the person making that claim and their superficial evaluation of football than it says about the reality.

[dave mcbride]

The biggest crime of the Wade Phillips era, in my opinion, was the relegating of Antowain Smith to the bench, or splitting carries equally, with dreck like Jonathan Linton and Shawn Bryson, simply because he was in Joe Pendrys' large dog house. He may have been slow, he may have not been a great practice player, but AS was the ONLY legit game-breaker the Bills had...I think if they hadn't jacked him around so much, Smith would be up there, ahead of Henry, McGahee and Bell. But, that is the all in the past...good list though!

You know, in 99 Smith had turf toe, which is a very debilitating injury for a RB. That doesn't explain 2000, but all the same ...

[crackur]

he was/is a great rb...........dont diss him cos we got rid of him

 

same crap happens every yr

[/dev/null]

We got an average RB with a late 1st round pick. Thing is we already had one (Henry)

Willis wasn't a bust as much as he was a wasted pick

 

I really hate playing the "who we could have drafted" game but I remember wanting to draft TE Dallas Clark or G Eric Steinbach with that pick

[mary owen]

How do you figure he was a bust? The guy ran behind one of the worst O lines in the league!

 

 

I have seen that example used a few times on this post. I have to respectfully disagree for the fact that many a great back ran behing shoddy lines. Payton and Sandres come to mind, although they were exceptional....true. But they made the best out of their chances.

 

Now at the same time, I really don't think Willis was a total bust......although I am not satisfied with what we got out of him. He was not exactly the smartest, safest choice to take. We needed to start competing with the Patriots...and we spent a pick on a guy who would sit out his 1st season. And in the end, he was a non-factor against our biggest divisional foe.

 

another point i've seen here is that we got 3 picks for him. But it's not like teams were lining up to give us that deal. So we can't credit TD so much for the pick as we should credit the current regime with getting the deal done.