Rock'em Sock'em Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I believe that the Bills have not been drafting any O-lineman early for a variety of reasons. 1.) The Bills signed a couple good FA lineman to huge contracts a couple years back and also "hit" on Jason Peters. At least for the last two years, that formula worked fairly well. Dockery, Walker, and Royal were all good additions that helped solidify an offensive line that was kind of horrible prior to their arrival. Note - they never addressed the GLARING need at center in a timely fassion. 2.) An O-liname takes longer to develop than some other positions. With FA five years away, the Bills probably see just a bit extra value in other positions for their draft picks as the get more potential starts. 3.) More value can be attributed to the young players you draft if they can play ST. 4.) The Bills have done a very good job of developing their later round picks and undrafted FAs. I think it's one of their strengths. For instance, I would start Peters, Chambers, and Butler over any combination of expected 1st and 2nd round picks available in this year's draft. In other words, I would not trade Peters for a 1st, nor Chambers or Butler for 2nd round picks - even though our guys were originally picked later (or not picked at all in the case of Peters). All of that being said, I'm hoping for a trade down scenario where we pick both DL and OL early. Then LB and TE in rounds 2 and 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cash Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Going off of drafthistory.com's database, here are every team's draft totals at DB since 2006, rounds 1-3 only: Falcons - 4 Bills - 3 Chargers - 3 Giants - 3 Chiefs - 3 Saints - 3 Vikings - 3 Buccaneers - 2 Packers - 2 Patriots - 2 Panthers - 2 Ravens - 2 Rams - 2 Jets - 2 Bengals - 2 Seahawks - 2 Lions - 2 Colts - 2 Cardinals - 1 Cowboys - 1 49ers - 1 Texans - 1 Raiders - 1 Bears - 1 Redskins - 1 Titans - 1 Jaguars - 1 Browns - 1 Dolphins - 1 Steelers - 1 Eagles - 0 Broncos - 0 If we expand the count to include round 4, here's what we get: Bills - 5 Falcons - 4 Buccaneers - 4 Chargers - 4 Raiders - 4 Giants - 3 Chiefs - 3 Saints - 3 Vikings - 3 Patriots - 3 Panthers - 3 Rams - 3 Jets - 3 Bengals - 3 Lions - 3 Colts - 3 Packers - 2 49ers - 2 Texans - 2 Ravens - 2 Eagles - 2 Bears - 2 Redskins - 2 Titans - 2 Seahawks - 2 Cardinals - 1 Cowboys - 1 Broncos - 1 Jaguars - 1 Browns - 1 Dolphins - 1 Steelers - 1 Your champion of under-prioritizing the secondary? The Denver Broncos, ladies and gentlemen, with just ONE 4th-rounder in the past 3 years. Your champion of loving 4th-round DBs? Let's give it up for Al Davis, who has gone DB in the 4th in all of the last 3 years! As for the Bills (under Jauron), it's clear that they are among the tops in the league when it comes to prioritizing the secondary on draft day. No, they're not the clear leader in that department, nor do they completely blow anyone away. But it's definitely been a money position for the Bills compared to the league as a whole. Through 3 rounds, the league has averaged 1.75 DB picks per team with a standard deviation of 0.95. Through 4 rounds, the average is about 2.5 with a standard deviation of about 1.1. Anyone is welcome to do a test for significance on these numbers. Now, just because the Bills have made their secondary a priority at the top of the draft for the last 3 years doesn't guarantee that they will continue to do so. Personally, I'm hoping they consider it shored up and look to other positions, as I think the team's secondary is probably its greatest strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Wow, you guys have blown me away. That's a hell of a lot of research. I'll have to bookmark this page for next time this debate comes up (and of course it will). Thanks for bludgeoning opinion with fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San-O Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Wow, you guys have blown me away. That's a hell of a lot of research. I'll have to bookmark this page for next time this debate comes up (and of course it will). Thanks for bludgeoning opinion with fact. Just out of curiosity, which is opinion, and which is fact? What's your take on the DB drafting topic after seeing this, because a couple of the posters say that Buffalo drafting a lot ot DBs is not true, then ALSO present stats saying noone has drafted more DBs than the Bills over the last 3 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Did you know San Diego drafted a DB with one of their top 2 picks every year for the past 4 years?Did you know the Giants have spent 3 of their last 4 1st & 2nd round picks on DBs? Did you know that Denver took DBs in the first round for 3 straight seasons earlier this decade? Did you know that the Eagles have drafted more DBs than any other team in football since 2004? Did you know that at least 5 teams have drafted multiple DBs in the top 3 rounds since 2005? Did you know that the Colts drafted Big Ten DBs with their top picks in the 2003 and 2004 drafts? I'm sure I'm not the only one sick and tired of reading this BS about how "the Bills only draft DBs". It's nonsense. They don't draft any more DBs than anyone else. Let's all let it go. to add to it, the titans have taken 4 first round DBs in the past 8 years. Atlanta has drafted 6.Chicago has drafted 6. Indy has drafted 6. (including consecutive drafts where they took 3 DBs) KC has drafted 6. The Giants have drafted 6. Tampa has drafted 6. Additionally, 12 other teams have taken 5 DBs in the past 3 years. So lets add it up. Counting the Bills, 18/32 teams (~56%) have drafted at least 5 DBs in the past 3 years. But lets pretend like every other team in the league rarely drafts DBs and the Bills are the only team that drafts lots of them. Because, you know, 7 is soo many more picks than 6. Going off of drafthistory.com's database, here are every team's draft totals at DB since 2006, rounds 1-3 only: Falcons - 4 Bills - 3 Chargers - 3 Giants - 3 Chiefs - 3 Saints - 3 Vikings - 3 Buccaneers - 2 Packers - 2 Patriots - 2 Panthers - 2 Ravens - 2 Rams - 2 Jets - 2 Bengals - 2 Seahawks - 2 Lions - 2 Colts - 2 Cardinals - 1 Cowboys - 1 49ers - 1 Texans - 1 Raiders - 1 Bears - 1 Redskins - 1 Titans - 1 Jaguars - 1 Browns - 1 Dolphins - 1 Steelers - 1 Eagles - 0 Broncos - 0 If we expand the count to include round 4, here's what we get: Bills - 5 Falcons - 4 Buccaneers - 4 Chargers - 4 Raiders - 4 Giants - 3 Chiefs - 3 Saints - 3 Vikings - 3 Patriots - 3 Panthers - 3 Rams - 3 Jets - 3 Bengals - 3 Lions - 3 Colts - 3 Packers - 2 49ers - 2 Texans - 2 Ravens - 2 Eagles - 2 Bears - 2 Redskins - 2 Titans - 2 Seahawks - 2 Cardinals - 1 Cowboys - 1 Broncos - 1 Jaguars - 1 Browns - 1 Dolphins - 1 Steelers - 1 Your champion of under-prioritizing the secondary? The Denver Broncos, ladies and gentlemen, with just ONE 4th-rounder in the past 3 years. Your champion of loving 4th-round DBs? Let's give it up for Al Davis, who has gone DB in the 4th in all of the last 3 years! As for the Bills (under Jauron), it's clear that they are among the tops in the league when it comes to prioritizing the secondary on draft day. No, they're not the clear leader in that department, nor do they completely blow anyone away. But it's definitely been a money position for the Bills compared to the league as a whole. Through 3 rounds, the league has averaged 1.75 DB picks per team with a standard deviation of 0.95. Through 4 rounds, the average is about 2.5 with a standard deviation of about 1.1. Anyone is welcome to do a test for significance on these numbers. Now, just because the Bills have made their secondary a priority at the top of the draft for the last 3 years doesn't guarantee that they will continue to do so. Personally, I'm hoping they consider it shored up and look to other positions, as I think the team's secondary is probably its greatest strength. Well SoCal, the conclusion I would draw is that whether you break it down by the entire draft or just the top half of the draft, the Bills have only slightly overemphasized DBs in the draft compared to the other teams and only by a small margin. Moreover, the degree to which they draft DBs is nowhere near the degree to which they are accused of drafting DBs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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