The problem with our draft options

[patmoran2006]

I had high hopes following last season that we would really be able to use our 2007 draft to continue to build on a team that won 7 games... I thought (hoped at least) that with that 12th pick we'd be able to bring in a guy that could help us at a position that was ALREADY a source of weakness for this team: A couple of examples would be DT, DE or 2nd WR.

But that's not the case at all- because with the exception of a clear upgrade we've yet to do a single thing that makes any position on this football team better than it was last year. Don't fool yourself about Jason Whittle. Anybody who signs for a 40 grand bonusis just happy to still be in the NFL.. Who cares that he played for McNally with the Giants. So did Dusty Ziegler, should we give him a call?

Anyway, we've lost key players that have left via FA or trade and we've done absolute squat at this point to replace any of them.

As a result, in my opinion anyway, instead of improving our 2006 team through the draft we're forced to draft people as replacements. Not sure if that sinks in for anybody, but it makes a huge difference.

I"m not taking anything away from any of these guys; but we now pretty much have to draft either Leon Hall, Patrick Willis or Lynch.

Because as of right now:
We've replaced Nate Clements with Ashton Youboty/Jabrari Greer
We've replaced London Fletcher for now with Keith Ellison
We've replaced McGahee with .. nobody. We only have Shaud Williams under contract. matter of fact, we don't even have a fullback.

The point i'm trying to make, and im sure to homers failing miserably; is that if we are able to replace some of these keys guys through FA now, then come draft day we could afford to use that pick on say a Bowe or Jarrett as a legit #2 WR for Evans---- Or a Jamaal Anderson or Charles Johnson at DE-- Or Okoye or Branch at DT. All positions that we already were weak at last year.

But because we've lost key players and have squat to take their place, we pretty much have no choice but to try and compensate through the draft.
That's not bettering the team. That's just getting younger, which means even more time before we can realistically overtake a very strong NE team.

[Jeff1220]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Because as of right now:
We've replaced London Fletcher for now with Keith Ellison

Just to clearify this part, A. Crowell has replaced London Fletcher. Ellison has replaced Crowell. Seems small on the surface, but is actually a pretty big difference.
And, oh yeah, we won't have a complete final roster determined until, I think, July. So, while I am not very confident going into the season with the roster the way it is right now, I'll hold off on worrying about it until after the draft at the soonest.

[camelcowboy]

Re: The problem with our draft options

I agree a team rebuilding shouldn't have to replace all these position players, it should be upgrading them. I believe they should have used Walkers money to address other spots in Free agency. Corner, LB, but ill reserve my opinion till i see what the plan is.

[patmoran2006]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Regardless of position..

Its Fletcher is out, and for now Ellison is in.. That's not improvement.. That's yet another downgrade.

[patmoran2006]

Re: The problem with our draft options

I agree a team rebuilding shouldn't have to replace all these position players, it should be upgrading them. I believe they should have used Walkers money to address other spots in Free agency. Corner, LB, but ill reserve my opinion till i see what the plan is.

Thank you.. Im not doubting Marv and Modrak's ability to draft.

My point the entire time is by doing nothing in FA to find good players to try and compensate for losses, it prevents us from using quality draft picks to help out positions that were already weak last year.

Even before we lost Clements, Fletcher and traded McGahee. We had no DT that knows what a backfield looks like, nor a WR who can get open more than 20% of the time, not a good thing considering Evans is going to get double teamed 99% of the time next season.

A guy like Jarrett or Bowe would've changed that.. Not Peerless Price or Josh Reed. But unless we start getting a lot more active before the draft, someone like them isn't even a viable option.

[HAMMER]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Thank you.. Im not doubting Marv and Modrak's ability to draft.

My point the entire time is by doing nothing in FA to find good players to try and compensate for losses, it prevents us from using quality draft picks to help out positions that were already weak last year.

Even before we lost Clements, Fletcher and traded McGahee. We had no DT that knows what a backfield looks like, nor a WR who can get open more than 20% of the time, not a good thing considering Evans is going to get double teamed 99% of the time next season.

A guy like Jarrett or Bowe would've changed that.. Not Peerless Price or Josh Reed. But unless we start getting a lot more active before the draft, someone like them isn't even a viable option.

What FA's do you propose we bring in to solve the problems you constantly hammer on?

[Mudflap1]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Dude... it's early.

I cannot fault the Bills for choosing not to spend their entire cap and more on paying Nate Clements the highest paying contract for a defensive player in NFL history (to this point). Fletcher is 32 and is not the protypical MLB for this defense. Willis McGahee is not a team player and is an underachiever. If the Bills paid top dollar for all of these players, this team really would've sucked for years to come because the cap would have been tied up for years.

Secondly, there aren't that many players in free agency that would've been that much of an upgrade. Sure, there's a few, but they get contracts that are so overinflated as to what their worth is, it's hard to justify taking those players.

There is still time to sign some guys for depth. There have been upgrades made to the offensive line. I'm sure the draft will be interesting. It's not fair to assess what the front office has done yet one way or another until at least after the draft.

I'm optimistic Youboty will be a good Cover 2 corner in time. Maybe not right off the bat this year, but obviously Jauron, Fewell, etc. think enough of him that they are willing to have him in the mix in a big way this year. In fact, there is a good argument that Youboty would've been a 1st round pick in this year's draft. If that was the case, we'd all be saluting Marv. and Co. So let's see what this guy's got.

As for LB, I'm not convinced the Bills are done addressing this. Cato June is still sitting out there, as our plenty of good prospects in the draft. Let's see what happens. Spikes, Ellison, and Crowell aren't a terrible alternative though. How many times have you seen 6th (?) round pick rookie linebackers step in and be solid right away?

On RB, Thomas is a decent back. Maybe the Bills will make a trade for someone else, who knows? I'm not all gung-ho about Lynch. He might be good, but there are plenty of backs in the draft, maybe a guy like Kenny Irons falls into our laps? Remember, Thurman Thomas and Emmitt Smith were not first round picks. We don't have to go all or nothing on Lynch or Peterson.

So just relax and see what happens. Again, it's early.

Jon

[HAMMER]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Great post Mud, great post.

[Don't Panic]

Re: The problem with our draft options

We've replaced Nate Clements with Ashton Youboty/Jabrari Greer
We've replaced London Fletcher for now with Keith Ellison
We've replaced McGahee with .. nobody. We only have Shaud Williams under contract. matter of fact, we don't even have a fullback.

The point i'm trying to make, and im sure to homers failing miserably; is that if we are able to replace some of these keys guys through FA now, then come draft day we could afford to use that pick on say a Bowe or Jarrett as a legit #2 WR for Evans---- Or a Jamaal Anderson or Charles Johnson at DE-- Or Okoye or Branch at DT. All positions that we already were weak at last year.

Youboty for Clements is deceiving... Clemets was unneccesary with the defense we run. You know this as well as anybody...

The Fletcher loss is a legit concern. I'm cool with the fact that he didn't fit what we were trying to do, but we still need another quality LB if we are going to field a corp that in any way was as good as last years. That makes this priority 1 IMO.

I truly believe that RB will work itself out. Its understandable to look at the RB spot in March and say, "Holy ****!!" However, I really think that with all the backs out there something can be worked to fill this void before training camp, whether it be through FA, the draft, or through a trade.

I would love to get a #2 WR with our 1st round pick, but I don't think that would've happened with or without these losses. I think OBD is OK with Price as the #2, Reed as the #3 and Parrish as a slot #4. That may scare many, but I think they're going to go into camp with that mentality.

The one guy we will have to consider passing on that we wouldn't have had to have passed on before is Okoye. If he truly does develop into a beast, it will suck to think we could've had him but decided instead to fill a spot that was weakened by FA. I'm with you there. That's why I still dream of getting Briggs in here (which most likely means Spikes is gone) and teaming Ellison with a day one pick. If that small miracle were to happen, we can still go BPA with the #12 pick and we will be in great shape come opening day. NE shape? Maybe not just yet, but not far off... especially if Losman has a ncie jump in production.

[patmoran2006]

Re: The problem with our draft options

What FA's do you propose we bring in to solve the problems you constantly hammer on?

Considering we havent brought in a single free agent on the defensive side of the ball in for a visit forget a contract offer; anyone would be a good start.

[patmoran2006]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Youboty for Clements is deceiving... Clemets was unneccesary with the defense we run. You know this as well as anybody...

The Fletcher loss is a legit concern. I'm cool with the fact that he didn't fit what we were trying to do, but we still need another quality LB if we are going to field a corp that in any way was as good as last years. That makes this priority 1 IMO.

I truly believe that RB will work itself out. Its understandable to look at the RB spot in March and say, "Holy ****!!" However, I really think that with all the backs out there something can be worked to fill this void before training camp, whether it be through FA, the draft, or through a trade.

I would love to get a #2 WR with our 1st round pick, but I don't think that would've happened with or without these losses. I think OBD is OK with Price as the #2, Reed as the #3 and Parrish as a slot #4. That may scare many, but I think they're going to go into camp with that mentality.

The one guy we will have to consider passing on that we wouldn't have had to have passed on before is Okoye. If he truly does develop into a beast, it will suck to think we could've had him but decided instead to fill a spot that was weakened by FA. I'm with you there. That's why I still dream of getting Briggs in here (which most likely means Spikes is gone) and teaming Ellison with a day one pick. If that small miracle were to happen, we can still go BPA with the #12 pick and we will be in great shape come opening day. NE shape? Maybe not just yet, but not far off... especially if Losman has a ncie jump in production.

I wouldnt have resigned Clements either, and I never blamed Buffalo for that.

I also don't expect to look up at a depth chart and see a guy (Youboty) who was active for all of two games to be the current starter, with a guy who had to see a shrink last season he got beat so bad (McGee) as our #1.. And umm Jabari Greer as our nickel back.

Dont worry though, we can just draft a new CB on day one. I hope we end up with about 7 day one picks though, becuase we need a better LB, RB, DT and WR as well on day one-- not to mention we dont even have a fullback on the team and our TE is a straight up scrub

[Michael82]

Re: The problem with our draft options

BTW....Kiwaukee Thomas is next! He'll be a Bill by the end of the week, IMO.

[Saratoga Slim]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Considering we havent brought in a single free agent on the defensive side of the ball in for a visit forget a contract offer; anyone would be a good start.

We'll sign a vet or two still. If you look around a good share of the mid-range FAs are still out there. For instance, I don't see how we'll possibly go into the draft without signing at least one FA cornerback. They may be content to let Youboty start, but there's no way they'll go into the season with McGee, Youboty and Greer as the only veteran cornerbacks on the roster--considering Youboty is barely a veteran and Greer is nothing more than a depth player.

Its only 12 days into free agency. The initial flurry of high-demand player signings is over, but that doesn't mean we aren't still looking for help.

[HAMMER]

Re: The problem with our draft options

Considering we havent brought in a single free agent on the defensive side of the ball in for a visit forget a contract offer; anyone would be a good start.

If you don't have a realistic wish list then stop complaining, please. Offer solutions, not complaints.

[justasportsfan]

Re: The problem with our draft options

And, oh yeah, we won't have a complete final roster determined until, I think, July.

someone needs to get that in Pat's head before he jumps in niagara falls.

On second thought. . Shsh