Ross Tucker on Sirius Radio

[Saratoga Slim]

While I generally like Ross Tucker on the radio about the same as I liked him on the field (not particularly noteworthy on either), he and Randy Cross had some interesting BIlls-related material today.

First, they had Coles on and asked him about his choice of the Bengals. He said that more than anything it came down to two things:

1. The chance to have Carson Palmer throw at him. He said that Palmer was very involved in recruiting him and he's excited to play with Carson. He was looking for solid QB play, and had some pretty ambivalent things to say about his experience with Favre.

2. Being a #2 to Chad Johnson. He said this will be the first time in his career where he will definately not be the guy that coverages are rolled towards, and he thinks he can really take advantage of that to finish his career on an up note.

Second, while discussing whether Haynesworth is going to go soft now that he's gotten paid, Ross Tucker said that he's seen it before, and then started off using "a high draft pick tackle that I used to play with" as an example of someone who was just plain lazy and only put in the effort he needed to keep the paycheck coming. He was trying to be discrete, but in telling a story about how this Tackle once tried to bench himself because his eyes were dry from smoke during the pre-game fireworks, he said "so Mike goes...." If there was any doubt before that he was talking about Mike Williams, that pretty much cleared it up. Said that the only time he ever saw MW motivated regarding football was during games of Madden in the players' lounge.

Not all that germane to the events of today, but thought I'd pass it along....

[rcd333]

So coles was thinking he was going to be a number 1 here?




...and **** Mike Williams

[Goobylal]

The money was the biggest factor. Don't let what Coles claims fool you. Everyone and their mother knows/knew that Evans was the #1 in Buffalo. And despite having Palmer, the Bungles have been no better than the Bills the past 5 years, save for a playoff appearance (in which they were blownout).

[Michael82]

:rofl: What a great Mike Williams story! Man, was that guy a bust or what? :ill:

[don137]

The sad part about the Mike Williams story is how could the Bill brass not figure this out before the draft. This tells me they did not do their homework. If they did their due diligence they would of figured this out and avoided him.

[feldspar]

The sad part about the Mike Williams story is how could the Bill brass not figure this out before the draft. This tells me they did not do their homework. If they did their due diligence they would of figured this out and avoided him.

I'm not so sure I agree with that.

What were we supposed to do, look into our crystal balls? Mike Williams was an extremely highly regarded player coming into the draft that year, and I don't remember ANYONE saying anything about his motivation or attitude...that includes ALL of the so-called experts.

I think the sad part is that players picked high in the draft are guaranteed outrageous amounts of money before they even prove themselves in the NFL. Mike Williams was once the highest paid player on our team.

The #1 pick is not a good thing to have a lot of times. It's supposed to give the worst team access to the best players coming out of college, but what it does is make the worst teams take a huge monetary risk on an unproven commodity. You HAVE to pay him way too much before he proves anything. Ask San Francisco about Alex Smith. What about Tim Couch? It's ridiculous.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

The sad part about the Mike Williams story is how could the Bill brass not figure this out before the draft. This tells me they did not do their homework. If they did their due diligence they would of figured this out and avoided him.

Geez don't let your frustration get in the way of the facts!

Every draft expert--and I mean EVERY draft expert--who offered an opinion prior to the draft said that Mike Williams was the safest pick of all of the offensive linemen in that draft class--a SURE THING at RT and potentially able to slide over to LT--a guy that you could plug into your starting lineup for the next 10 years.

There was a bit of a debate about whether Bryant McKinnie or Mike Williams was the best offensive tackle prospect going into that draft: McKinnie was a bit more athletic and had some absolutely dominating games in college, but also had had some games his last year where he didn't play up to what he had shown in the games where he was dominant and there were some questions about McKinnie's attitude, especially about money. McKinnie was thought to possibly have a bit higher upside, but to be a bit more of a risk, while Mike Williams was considered to be the guy who would probably be more consistent--as safe a "sure-thing" as you could get in an offensive lineman at the top of the draft.

Well, they were right about McKinnie: he held out 10 games for more money his rookie season and has been very good overall, but inconsistent at times.

But, they couldn't have been more wrong about Mike Williams: he turned out to be the exact opposite of what everyone thought he would be.

While you will hear a tinge of scarcasm in the voices of the talking heads who cover the NFL on TV when they mention JP Losman's name, you have never heard that or even the least criticism of the Bills, outside of Buffalo, for their pick of Mike Williams. Because EVERYONE was wrong about Mike Williams. And, some commentators have even admitted as much when his name came up after he left the Bills. Any GM in the NFL at the time, including Parcells, faced with the needs that the Bills had at that point, would have taken Mike Williams with that pick.

There are a LOT of things that you can fairly rake the Bills over the coals for--and deservedly so--but the pick of Mike Williams is not one of those things. Rip the Bills all you want for those things, but, when you try to re-write history in this instance to fit in with those criticisms it only serves to detract from your argument. And, it is not necessary because there are plenty of very real mistakes and misjudgements that the team has made that they deserve to be seriously taken to task over.