Nice little blurb on Whitner in Fox Sports Rankings

[ParanoidAndroid]

You may not remember this now, but when Marv Levy, Dick Jauron, and the rest of the Buffalo Bills front office snagged Ohio State safety Donte Whitner with the eighth pick of the NFL Draft in April, there was a lot of second guessing. Mel Kiper’s hair moved, tons of “experts” gave the Bills an “F” on their post-draft report cards, and Buffalo was widely considered the big losers from the two-day event. Four weeks into the 2006 season and Whitner’s a starting safety, making a difference, and on top of the Bills’ list of leading tacklers. Not bad for a guy that forced more than one talking head’s cranium to burst less than six months ago.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/powerRankings?FSO1&ATT=HCP&GT1=8705


This team is a couple players on O-line and D-line from being a serious playoff contender. Let's hope that one tackle for loss is just a small preview of McCargo's career.

[Coach Sal]

I wrote this in another thread, but it bears repeating in this one:

Kiper was not one of those who blasted the Bills pick of Whitner. In fact, here's exatly what he wrote the day after the draft concluded:


(http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=buf)Buffalo Bills (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=buf): GRADE: C
While it was a reach to take safety Donte Whitner with the eighth pick, he is a great prospect and I like him. Giving up a third-round pick to get DT John McCargo in the first round was a reach. He's a solid player but not an elite one. Cornerback Ashton Youboty lasted longer than I thought but is a very good pick. Safety Ko Simpson and defensive tackle Kyle Williams are solid. Overall, the Bills reached on both of their first-round picks but drafted players who will help the team.

His take sounds reasonable considering what was out there. But Whitner has exceeded all expectations from everyone so far, and it's good to see some start to recognize it.

[Stewie]

Why did all the "experts" think Ohio State's star saftey was a reach? The buckeyes turn out quality d-backs and the bills tend to draft them. It was a need position and a solid pick.

[BillsFever21]

Nobody ever said Whitner was gonna be a total waste of a draft pick. They just felt he could've been had a few spots lower with 2 great QB's and the Top 2 DT's left on the board that many teams wanted.

Many teams wanted Leinart and Cutler along with Ngata and Bunkley. Many felt we could've traded with one of them teams down a couple spots and still got Whitner which we could've.

A shrewd GM would've made Arizona fear they were gonna lose Leinart because the Bills were gonna trade out of that spot. Some could've pulled it off but a lot of them couldn't too. They felt they could've maybe traded with Arizona or Denver so they could get their obvious QB's and still draft Whitner. That was the problem people had with it.

Marv decided on not taking the chance. That was where the "reach" comments came from. Nobody said Whitner was a loser but most felt with the Top 2 QB's and DT's on the board that a lot of people wanted and was valued higher then Whitner that the Bills could've traded down a couple spots and still picked up Whitner.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Reach or not, we got exactly the guy we wanted. So who the hell cares.

Ever paid a couple of extra bucks at Best Buy instead of searching and waiting on eBay just so you could have the DVD you wanted right there, right now?

[BillsFever21]

Reach or not, we got exactly the guy we wanted. So who the hell cares.

Ever paid a couple of extra bucks at Best Buy instead of searching and waiting on eBay just so you could have the DVD you wanted right there, right now?

It depends if I could've had an extra DVD of my choice for free down the road.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Nothing's for free. We still would've had to pay salary to that extra pick.

Like I said, Marv took no chances. We got what we wanted instead of wheeling and dealing for a little extra. I have no problem with that.

[BillsFever21]

Nothing's for free. We still would've had to pay salary to that extra pick.

Like I said, Marv took no chances. We got what we wanted instead of wheeling and dealing for a little extra. I have no problem with that.

So you give away draft picks because you have to pay them?

I'm just being hypotheical here but what if the player Marv wanted was somebody like Nick Mangold who was drafted in the 20's. Should he just take him at #8 because that's the guy he wanted and we wouldn't have to pay for another draft pick instead of trading down and drafting him? Plus the money you would save on the player by trading down and drafting him would essentially pay for the money it would cost to sign the other draft pick.

I'm not gonna argue about this. Whitner looks steady right now but still has a long ways to go. But you don't always just draft the player at any position because that's the guy you want if you know you can still get him lower and pick up an extra draft pick.

And you NEVER just give away draft picks because you don't wanna pay them. That's something the cheap Bengals of the 90's would've done.

[justasportsfan]

the so called experts are saying "no we meant to say HUff was the reach. It's not hard to make that mistake since both their surnames are almost spelled the same"

[Mr. Miyagi]

So you give away draft picks because you have to pay them?

I'm just being hypotheical here but what if the player Marv wanted was somebody like Nick Mangold who was drafted in the 20's. Should he just take him at #8 because that's the guy he wanted and we wouldn't have to pay for another draft pick instead of trading down and drafting him? Plus the money you would save on the player by trading down and drafting him would essentially pay for the money it would cost to sign the other draft pick.

I'm not gonna argue about this. Whitner looks steady right now but still has a long ways to go. But you don't always just draft the player at any position because that's the guy you want if you know you can still get him lower and pick up an extra draft pick.

And you NEVER just give away draft picks because you don't wanna pay them. That's something the cheap Bengals of the 90's would've done.
Your argument while makes sense does not apply to this particular situation. You're comparing a player drafted way lower than the #8 spot. Remember my analogy of paying a couple extra bucks, not a couple hundred. Manigold would be a reach at #8. Whitner would not have made it past #12 or so. So yes I wouldn't mind giving up a few spots for him.