Vince Wilfork almost a Bill, instead of Losman?

[Ickybaluky]

There is an article in today's Boston Herald (http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1029914&format=text) about Vince Wilfork, the Patriots NT. The article talks about his slipping in the draft, and has several interesting quotes from Tom Modrak.

Here are the relevant parts for the Bills:


“I remember watching him drop,” said Bills scouting director Tom Modrak. “When he got close to New England, I said, ‘Oh no. This is where he’s going.’ He couldn’t have gone somewhere out west so we’d only have to see him once every three years?”


The Bills and Bears showed the most interest, picking 13th and 14th, respectively.

“The truth is we had two guys targeted,” Modrak said. “They were Lee (Evans) and Vince. They were 1A and 1B for us. If one was gone, we were going to take the other. Lee was our first choice and we thought he was going to be special, but we loved Vince. We had him in for a great visit and he talked about playing in Buffalo and the snow. He was ready to roll.”


Wilfork nearly went at 13, but with Evans still available, the Bills grabbed the Wisconsin receiver while contemplating how to trade back into the first round, which they eventually did at No. 22 for quarterback J.P. Losman. “If we had had the 14th pick, too, Vince wouldn’t have slid,” Modrak said.

John Tomase, who wrote the story, added some additional details in his blog (http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/?p=1558). He wrote that Modrak said the Bills were going to take Wilfork at #22, but when he went off the board they went to plan B and took Losman:


One bit that didn’t make the story was this nugget from Bills scouting director Tom Modrak, who said the Bills were torn at No. 13 over whether to take Wilfork or receiver Lee Evans. They ended up going with Evans and it’s a hard pick to fault after he caught 82 passes for 1,292 yards and eight TDs last year.

The Bills later traded back into the first round in a deal with the Cowboys for the 22nd pick, one slot after Wilfork went. They used the pick on quarterback J.P. Losman, but according to Modrak would have taken Wilfork if he had been available, believing they could get Losman a round later, especially since three quarterbacks had already been taken (Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger). Once Wilfork was gone, however, they didn’t want to take the chance of missing Losman.

For those that aren't aware, Wilfork grew up a Bills fan, despite living in Florida, because of Bruce Smith and those Bills teams of the early 90's.

It is interesting that Wilfork, with his size and athleticism, would be a perfect fit at NT in the middle of the Bills line and would solve a lot of their problems up front. Tommy Harris would be a perfect fit playing the 3 technique beside him, and he went the pick after Evans. Imagine the defense you guys would have with those two playing together in the middle.

[gr8slayer]

I would have taken Wilfork for sure.

[Ickybaluky]

I would have taken Wilfork for sure.

I love stories like this. It shows how fortunes can change with a little draft luck, not that Evans was unlucky or anything. I love reading the thinking behind the picks, because it is rare you get the real story from the draft room.

When the Pats were picking in 2000, they they went into draft believing they would take a QB on Day 2 if the opportunity came up. Before the draft, they liked 2 QBs they thought they might have a shot at: Tom Brady and Tim Rattay. The scouts were split on which one to pick, so Bill Belichick dispatched his QB coach, Dick Rehbein (who died a couple years later) to work both out. Rehbein came back raving about Brady, and that swayed the Pats to take him over Rattay.

Think about that, how different would the Pats fortunes, as well as a lot of other teams, if they take Rattay instead of Brady?

Another tidbit about that pick: Brady was picked with a 6th round compensation pick they were awarded after the Jets signed Tom Tupa in free agency the year prior.

I love this kind of stuff, but I am digressing.

[bflojohn]

Another story I heard making the rounds years ago was the Philadelphia Eagles being absolutely in LOVE with soon to be Buffalo Bills WR Perry Tuttle. The Eagles got leapfrogged by Buffalo in the first round , and as a result were left flat footed. They regrouped and selected a WR nontheless, his name was Mike Quick!! The rest is history!!!

[bflojohn]

Man, you've got me revved!! I recall the 1985 Draft when the Bills held the number one overall pick. The franchise had languished for quite a few years, and Bruce Smith was coveted by the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL, who held his rights. It seemed that Bruce was on the verge of going the USFL route when, so the story goes, Gil Brandt, of the Dallas Cowboys called Bruce and told him, in essence, what an honor being picked #1 in the NFL Draft would be, and NOT to foul that up in any way (Paraphrasing obviously). Mr. Smith saw the light of that pearl of wisdom, and he was selected by our Bills.

[Goobylal]

It is interesting that Wilfork, with his size and athleticism, would be a perfect fit at NT in the middle of the Bills line and would solve a lot of their problems up front. Tommy Harris would be a perfect fit playing the 3 technique beside him, and he went the pick after Evans. Imagine the defense you guys would have with those two playing together in the middle.
I was pulling for Harris and then Wilfork. And the Bills would have been fine on defense if they'd kept Pat Williams. But imagine him with either one of them!

[Carlton Bailey]

I'd rather have Evans, but Wilfork is awesome.

[Ebenezer]

I love Evans but would have taken Wilfork.

[Elminster]

Well, I don't see the use of this. Interesting tidbit, but what happened happened and we cannot tell whether we would have been better or worse off because only one chain of events actually ocurred....

[jamze132]

If we didn't get Losman, I wonder who would be our QB today. I would bet that Bledsoe would have stuck around at least another year.

[Carlton Bailey]

If we didn't get Losman, I wonder who would be our QB today. I would bet that Bledsoe would have stuck around at least another year.
Maybe Cutler, Young or Leinart. Bledsoe probably would have been here for the 2005 season, thus paving the way for the Bills to grab one of those big three QBs in the '06 draft.

[clumping platelets]

Bills took CB Derrick Burroughs instead of WR Jerry Rice :ill:

[Bling]

I'm curious how many players the Pats missed out on. I'm sure Belicheck has that on lock down, so we'll never know, but I wouldn't be surprised if the guru had missed out or made some dumb picks in his career.

[patmoran2006]

Great story NE39.

Here's one even further from the year before.

I heard in 2006 that in 2003 Modrak with the 23rd pick wanted to take Eric Steinbach, and Donahoe insisted on taking Willis McGahee.

Vince is the man, but Lee Evans was the right pick for us.. Sucks about Vince going one pick before JP though.

[patmoran2006]

If we didn't get Losman, I wonder who would be our QB today. I would bet that Bledsoe would have stuck around at least another year.
Good question.

If we dont draft a QB (Losman) in 2004 then we almost certainly would've in 2005.

We traded the first rounder (2oth) to Dallas that year for Losman the year before.

I mean- who's to say for sure, maybe we will that need via FA. But for the sake of discussion-- let's say they drafted the QB of the "future" the following year.

It probably would've been Aaron Rodgers-- who went 22nd (two picks after Buffalo would've picked) to Green Bay. Jason Campbell went to the Skins' with the next pick.

It's impossible to say how Rodgers would be for us, because he's been literally stuck behind Bret Favre in Green Bay.

[BADTHINGSMAN]

Great story NE39.

Here's one even further from the year before.

I heard in 2006 that in 2003 Modrak with the 23rd pick wanted to take Eric Steinbach, and Donahoe insisted on taking Willis McGahee.

Vince is the man, but Lee Evans was the right pick for us.. Sucks about Vince going one pick before JP though.

To bad Buffalo cant redo the 1st round of the 2003 draft..

[Ickybaluky]

I'm curious how many players the Pats missed out on. I'm sure Belicheck has that on lock down, so we'll never know, but I wouldn't be surprised if the guru had missed out or made some dumb picks in his career.

I'm sure everyone has made some, just like many have gotten lucky. One area the Pats have done very well is the 1st round, where they have hit to some degree on every pick since Belchick took over.

However, all you have to do is look at his taking Tommy Vardell in the first round in Cleveland to see that he is fallible. Vardell was a pretty good FB who could get some tough yards between the tackles running, but that is hardly first round value.

[chernobylwraiths]

Man, you've got me revved!! I recall the 1985 Draft when the Bills held the number one overall pick. The franchise had languished for quite a few years, and Bruce Smith was coveted by the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL, who held his rights. It seemed that Bruce was on the verge of going the USFL route when, so the story goes, Gil Brandt, of the Dallas Cowboys called Bruce and told him, in essence, what an honor being picked #1 in the NFL Draft would be, and NOT to foul that up in any way (Paraphrasing obviously). Mr. Smith saw the light of that pearl of wisdom, and he was selected by our Bills.

I remember the talk was between Smith and Ray Childress who I think was taken second overall by the Oilers. Another note from that draft, I was REALLY hoping the Bills would draft Doug Flutie first overall. I liked him when we finally got him 13 years later, but I'm sure glad we didn't do THAT.

[chernobylwraiths]

Travis Henry grew up a Bills fan too. 9 kids later...

[acehole]

I feel this way about
Haloti Ngata (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/player?id=10294) - DT (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/position?id=32)

This link explians what happened during that draft.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus



There is an article in today's Boston Herald (http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1029914&format=text) about Vince Wilfork, the Patriots NT. The article talks about his slipping in the draft, and has several interesting quotes from Tom Modrak.

Here are the relevant parts for the Bills:







John Tomase, who wrote the story, added some additional details in his blog (http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/?p=1558). He wrote that Modrak said the Bills were going to take Wilfork at #22, but when he went off the board they went to plan B and took Losman:



For those that aren't aware, Wilfork grew up a Bills fan, despite living in Florida, because of Bruce Smith and those Bills teams of the early 90's.

It is interesting that Wilfork, with his size and athleticism, would be a perfect fit at NT in the middle of the Bills line and would solve a lot of their problems up front. Tommy Harris would be a perfect fit playing the 3 technique beside him, and he went the pick after Evans. Imagine the defense you guys would have with those two playing together in the middle.

[X-Era]

Bills took CB Derrick Burroughs instead of WR Jerry Rice :ill:

man did we make bad CB choices back in the day

Thomas Smith
Ken Irvin
Marlon Kerner

[TheWingHead]

I met Wilfork once two years ago, on vacation with my family and friends, our friends are NE season tix holders.. They knew exactly who he was when they saw him.. So we were sitting in the hot tub, me, my dad, and our friend, Ed (tix holder).. About 10 people in the hot tub with us including Vince and his buddy, so we get to talking about what everyone does for a living and they ask Vince and he tells them, noone really seemed to care, it was kinda funny.. So I say "you played in Miami, with Willis mcgahee, right?" He turns and looks at me and says, "ya i played with willis, why?" So being the Bills fan that I am i say "Oh im a huge Bills fan, season ticket holder, cant stand the Pats" Exactly at the moment the sprinkler turns on and starts hittin him in the back of the head with cold water.. He jumps up and out of the hot tub to step on a shard of plastic/glass.. He is freaking out and no one knows what to do.. he calms down and jokingly goes "figures, only seat open is next to the bills fan" So he makes people move over so he doesnt have to sit next to me.. spending the next 15 minutes having his buddy try to take the thing out of his foot.. Funny experience.. I did talk to him a little bit more, real nice guy.

[Illmatic15]

Kind of OT- I did some research and Vince Wilfork said he was a buffalo bills fan growing up

[Mr. Pink]

I'm sure everyone has made some, just like many have gotten lucky. One area the Pats have done very well is the 1st round, where they have hit to some degree on every pick since Belchick took over.

However, all you have to do is look at his taking Tommy Vardell in the first round in Cleveland to see that he is fallible. Vardell was a pretty good FB who could get some tough yards between the tackles running, but that is hardly first round value.

Even better Belichick story, even though he wasn't the man mainly in charge of the Browns drafts. In 95, the last season before the Browns left for Baltimore, Cleveland held the 13th pick I believe. They coveted Kyle Brady, Belichick actually was enamored with Brady. The Jets took Brady, the Browns braintrust panicked and sent the pick to San Francisco who took JJ Stokes. Cleveland ended up having the 30th overall pick in the first round from San Fran and ended up with Linebacking great Craig Powell.

On the plus side for the Baltimore franchise, they ended up with an extra round 1 pick in 96 which ended up being Ray Lewis. I believe they took Ogden with their original pick.

[Philagape]

On the plus side for the Baltimore franchise, they ended up with an extra round 1 pick in 96 which ended up being Ray Lewis. I believe they took Ogden with their original pick.

Wow, there's the Super Bowl draft

[Devin]

It is interesting that Wilfork, with his size and athleticism, would be a perfect fit at NT in the middle of the Bills line and would solve a lot of their problems up front. Tommy Harris would be a perfect fit playing the 3 technique beside him, and he went the pick after Evans. Imagine the defense you guys would have with those two playing together in the middle.

:ill:

Thanks for that NE39, appreciate it really.

[justasportsfan]

this kinda tells me that Modrak isn't a bad scout. TD and his ego again veto's his own people and going with Willis.

[Illmatic15]

I wish...