Am I the only one...

[northernbillfan]

It seems like I am one of the only ones who wanted Oher with the first pick. Not much discussion on this as the Bills sure could have used him. I hope to heck they weren't thinking he'd still be around at 28, all though it was pretty close.

Reading through the 10 million posts today and I didn't see anyone *****ing about not taking Oher.

[Night Train]

I lost count on how many bad reports I read on Oher.

Afetr Monroe was drafted at #8, the LT idea was finished. The rest of these guys can't play there.

[X-Era]

It seems like I am one of the only ones who wanted Oher with the first pick. Not much discussion on this as the Bills sure could have used him. I hope to heck they weren't thinking he'd still be around at 28, all though it was pretty close.

Reading through the 10 million posts today and I didn't see anyone *****ing about not taking Oher.

So, as the day unfolded, I think most simply cried for Oher as one of the guys we should want at 11, then at 28.

I know I did.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I don't know how many posts I made in the last 10 days saying that, if the Bills felt that Demetrius Bell had made sufficient progress in his development, there was a very good chance that they would not take a LT early on in the draft.

I also made the point in a couple of discussions that, after a year of working with NFL players with the Bills and being in a NFL conditioning program, Bell might very well have made up for enough of his deficiencies in his game--specifically the need to get stronger, lack of experience going against top level competition, and the need to learn and refine his blocking techniques--that the Bills might feel that he would be equal to or even ahead of a rookie prospect, like Oher, who would need some time to develop.

Oher's big plus coming into this draft was that he might well be the most athletic left tackle in this draft class and, as a result, has a great upside. But, Bell also is very athletic--with his bloodlines, size and basketball background, he may be equal to or even better than Oher athletically...he's at least close in that regard.

Oher's big minuses are that he needs to refine his techniques--in part because he had three offensive line coaches during his time at Ole Miss--and is inconsistent. Some scouting reports said that he either didn't always work hard in practice or that he was sloppy/lazy with his techniques.

Some coaches--in a number of sports, not just football--have been known to prefer players who have had little or no coaching to players who have had too much coaching as a result of having had a number of different coaches teach the player different styles or techniques. The reason is that it is easier to teach a totally raw player to do the things that a coach wants him to do, the way the coach wants him to do it, than it is to teach a player who first has to "unlearn" the things that other coaches have taught him before the coach can teach him what he wants him to do, etc.

Bell was so raw, coming from a D-II program, that he effectively had had no coaching coming into the NFL. Oher, on the other hand, has had high-level coaching, SEC quality coaching, in three different systems and still is considered "raw" from a NFL perspective. But, Oher is raw in a different way than Bell was. Oher is raw in a way that actually might make it tougher to "coach him up" on the NFL level than it would be to coach Bell.

I think a lot of fans here were aware of the scouting reports on Oher (and Britten) and realized that he might not be able to step in and take over the starting LT position for the Bills right away if they did take him.

I think a number of people here also realized that, if he had progressed in his development over the past year, Bell might be just as good of an option for the Bills to develop for the starting LT job as Oher or any of the other OT prospects that were available when they were picking.

Before the draft I stated that I thought that we would learn just how far the Bills thought that Bell had progressed by what they did with their picks in the first round: if they felt that Bell had made a lot of progress, they would not take a LT prospect; if they felt that Bell hadn't made enough progress to be able to challenge for a starting job, they would jump on Oher at # 11 if he was there or Britten at # 28 if Oher went in the top 10.

The fact that the Bills passed on Oher says that they feel that they have better options. Whether they are correct about this or not, only time will tell. But, without knowing exactly what they know and what went into their assessment, it is hard to fault them for passing on Oher when they moved so aggressively to address their other needs on the offensive line with Wood and Levitre. Taking two offensive linemen so early--and trading up to get one of them--sends the message that they know that the offensive line needed to be addressed and that they are trying to do so. What more can you ask them to do?

BTW: John Clayton just mentioned that the Bills might be a prime destination for Levi Jones, who may be parting company with Cincinatti. Russ Brandon indicated at the Bills press conference on Saturday that the Bills might not be done addressing the LT position, so there just might be something else in the works that we don't know about....

[northernbillfan]

Thanks ltbf. Your point of view and thoughts sure cleared things up.

[SABURZFAN]

i wanted Oher but what's done is done. i'm not sold on the Maybin pick but i hope he does well.

[northernbillfan]

i wanted Oher but what's done is done. i'm not sold on the Maybin pick but i hope he does well.But thanks to LTBF's post, we have a better understanding as to why the Bills passed on him.

[SABURZFAN]

But thanks to LTBF's post, we have a better understanding as to why the Bills passed on him.


if you think so.

[Ebenezer]

I wanted Oher.

[Ed]

I wanted Oher over Maybin too, but I like the Wood and Levitre picks. Oher seems like the safer pick to me and is more likely to have an impact and contribute over the next couple years. Once he started to fall though, I was really hoping we'd move up from 28 to grab Oher. I would have rather seen us trade a our 3rd or 4th to move up in the first and grab Oher, then trade back into the 2nd to grab Levitre.

[Philagape]

I was ok with taking Oher first, but I wasn't real excited about it.
Then again, I wasn't excited with anyone left at 11, including Orakpo

[Dying_-2-_Live]

I would not have minded oher one bit.... a pass rusher is harder to find than a quality OT

[kid mickey]

I was an Oher advocate. I was hoping like hell we were gonna draft him. It didn't happen so I guess the Bills are happy with what they have or they see a guy they may like possibly Levi Jones, coming in and contributing. Who knows whats going to happen.