Grade the Bills First Day

[Dr. Lecter]

You know the drill. Although I tend to loathe trying to grade drafts before they 3 years old, people do it, so fire away

[Mitchell55]

C+

Would be a D if it werent for Levitre and will be a B- if we trade Kelsay and Parrish to get another 4th.

[ddaryl]

I'm A-


I love the OL picks, rock solid versatile players

Maybin will give us some pass rush, and he has a lot of upside.

a ball hawking S to replace Simpson, and add some turnovers.


I am a lot more comfortable with our OL and I bet you our RB's WR's and QB is too.

[FlyingDutchman]

Im not sold on Maybin, but if the Bills really feel he is the best DE available, then you have to grade this draft pretty good. Bc in their eyes, they got their #1 DE, 1 of their top 2 centers (assuming they were interested in Mack), and their top gaurd. If Byrd does work out at safety then we just got 4 starters day 1.

[BILLSROCK1212]

Im not sold on Maybin, but if the Bills really feel he is the best DE available, then you have to grade this draft pretty good. Bc in their eyes, they got their #1 DE, 1 of their top 2 centers (assuming they were interested in Mack), and their top gaurd. If Byrd does work out at safety then we just got 4 starters day 1.
that's an A+ analysis

[seanbillsfan]

I pretty much hate our draft so far, and i dont see it getting any better

[The Spaz]

I say B+ could be an A if we find out the deal with Byrd.

[Michael82]

I like it! It would have been higher if the Byrd pick was tomorrow. But seeing how we see him at FS, where we have a major hole. I love the interior of our OL! I like Maybin at DE, we got a true pass rusher. Overall, a pretty good day! I'd like to see a TE tommorrow (trade for Scheffler) or maybe we trade for Henderson. Either way....nice start! :bf1:

[Al the Bills Fan]

I'm excited about our O-line, we have some flexible guys on that line in Hangarter, Wood and Levitre. This along with Bell who SEEMS to be progressing nicely will mean great competition at camp. I think Trent is probably sleeping a bit better now.

I am not sure how I feel about Maybin just yet, a gifted player no doubt but I was hoping for Orakpo. Either way, an upgrade over Kelsey for sure.

The Byrd pick is boom or bust for me. If we move him to safety and he adjusts well then we have a playmaking, ballhawking guy that this defense can certainly use. I am however concerned with using a 2nd round pick on a project player. He is a great player, a bit slow but a great player. Making the move to S from CB is certainly easier then the other way around. We'll see, jury is out on that one.

Loved the Wood and Levitre (too many jokes) picks. The games is won or lost in the trenches

[X-Era]

Im not a huge fan about where we took anyone.

But I think we got a lot of what we needed and feel much better about our inside OL and pass rush. I wanted that from day one. I dont feel we did anything at LB or TE, and that bugs me. McShay says we had a fantastic draft so far.

I think we could have gotten every pick later. But, we got what we needed at the same rate.

I think its a B.

This is the type of non-flashy draft that may pay HUGE dividends for many years to come.

[jmb1099]

I am still stumped by the Byrd pick, but even more stumped that he's got something like 17 ints???
I still don't know how we didn't end up with Brown or Orakpo... but we addressed the lines and if we somehow find a TE before the draft is done... well not as bad as I first thought.

I'm excited about our O-line, we have some flexible guys on that line in Hangarter, Wood and Levitre. This along with Bell who SEEMS to be progressing nicely will mean great competition at camp. I think Trent is probably sleeping a bit better now.

I am not sure how I feel about Maybin just yet, a gifted player no doubt but I was hoping for Orakpo. Either way, an upgrade over Kelsey for sure.

The Byrd pick is boom or bust for me. If we move him to safety and he adjusts well then we have a playmaking, ballhawking guy that this defense can certainly use. I am however concerned with using a 2nd round pick on a project player. He is a great player, a bit slow but a great player. Making the move to S from CB is certainly easier then the other way around. We'll see, jury is out on that one.

Loved the Wood and Levitre (too many jokes) picks. The games is won or lost in the trenches

[nateodoms'bff]

Loved the O-Line picks. Tough, young, and smart. Byrd is a reach IMO. And the Maybin pick was a disappointment. Raji wasn't there, and there was no guarantee about trading down. Would have liked Ayers, but it is what it is.

Overall B+, only because of the O-Line moves

[nateodoms'bff]

I am still stumped by the Byrd pick, but even more stumped that he's got something like 17 ints???
I still don't know how we didn't end up with Brown or Orakpo... but we addressed the lines and if we somehow find a TE before the draft is done... well not as bad as I first thought.

He's a ball hawk, that doesn't hit big or burn guys with speed. He's a good pick, but a reach at #42, especially with Sintim on the board. I think he would have been there at the end of the 2nd.

[psubills62]

I gave it a B+. I have a ton of thoughts swirling around in my head, but I'll try to summarize. Most of the picks seemed to be reaches (except Levitre), although they definitely filled needs. I think all of our first four picks can contribute in 2009, which is certainly necessary. I am also glad that they're not trading away future draft picks, like other teams are.

[Bert102176]

I chose D I feel Maybin will be a flop, Wood was the 3rd best c I wanted mack or unger since mack was gone we should of grabbed unger, the DB was a waisted pick the OT/G was ok only ok, but this is the same old Bills doing the same old picks but this year we'll be lucky to win 3 games.

[SquishDaFish]

As much as I wanted Orakpo I LOVE this draft. A- to A+

[BlackMetalNinja]

A firm B at the moment... I like that we've stuck to addressing needs for the most part, but I'm still not sold on the Byrd pick. If he plays safety, it's a better pick, but I still think we would have been better off addressing something else at that point.

[baalworship]

B+ I hate the idea of drafting a guy who can't play 3 downs or be a starter with the 11th overall pick but Wood and Levitre are the type of talented brawlers fans have been wanting for years.

I will say it right now, our run game is about to take off and this is EXACTLY how you play the 3-4 teams in our division. Run the ball!

[Jan Reimers]

A firm B at the moment... I like that we've stuck to addressing needs for the most part, but I'm still not sold on the Byrd pick. If he plays safety, it's a better pick, but I still think we would have been better off addressing something else at that point.
I think we really need a Free Safety. Ko was bad last year, and Whitner is a natural SS. So are Scott and Wendling. Wilson is strictly a backup. I don't see a decent FS on the roster, so a ballhawk like Byrd makes sense.

[ddaryl]

83 % vote B or better...

I really think we did real well yesterday

[Mr. Pink]

One bad pick, two really good picks.

Combine all that with the fact we picked positions of need...

B-

[SquishDaFish]

I hated the pick and was shocked (Byrd) but after settling down and reading up on the kid and listening to the experts I love the pick. Moving to FS and being an INT machine that we havent had in YEARS. I LOVE it

[SABuffalo786]

B. Would've been an A if we didn't take that DB in the 2nd round.

[Typ0]

My thoughts on the draft. We had some family over yesterday so the first time in many years I missed most of the draft. But I have been doing my research this morning and looking at how things went and people's reaction.

I'm on board with the picks we made. The arguement about Maybin not participating on downs one and two is something that has to make you think about the payoff we will get for that pick and opportunity cost. But the pass rush from the outside has been a huge need for years and I have been calling for that to be fixed for at least the last five drafts. They took the guy they thought was the best. Which brings me to my biggest beef with the criticism of the draft.

The comment about the picks being a reach is really a reach. Each team only has the picks they have during the draft. Maybe you are picking 38th and you could have had that guy at the 100th pick (maybe). Well, you are picking 38th so deal with it! The people running the team did what they felt was best for the team yesterday and they are going to do that today.

As far as the rest of the picks, I really like them. We need to fix this machine and I believe the guys we got are going to make contributions. Which would really be amazing to see our first day draft class contributing as a whole and I think these guys are poised to make some plays in our system and by filling some needs we have.

I do have to question what is happening with the run defense though. Along with the pass rush we need to find someone to really bottle up the middle of the DLine. I think with that we'd be in really good shape but without it we're in for a world of hurt yet again. Too much ability to move the ball around in that sphere of space on the football field just cripples the rest of the positions IMO. We need this really bad to win and I don't see it happening.

I'm holding back any letter grades until I see these players actually play (or not play).

[Michael82]

BUMP! If you didn't vote....get ur votes in. :up: