Bill Polian's first draft, 1986

[YardRat]

1a. RB Ronnie Harmon
1b. OT Will Wolford
3. C Leonard Burton
5. RB Carl Byrum
7a. TE Bob Williams
7b. LB/DE Mark Pike
7c. TE Butch Rolle
8. LB Tony Furjanic
9. WR Reggie Bynum
10. DT Guy Teafatiller
11. DT Tony Garbarczyk
12a. QB Brian McClure
12b. LB Derek Christian

Wow.

A situational RB in the first round, despite having Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs in '85. ANOTHER RB in round 5, to boot.

No QB until the last round.

A starting LT, back-up/special teams DE and TE, back-up center, and 8 guys never to be heard from again.

The Bills started off 0-2 in 1986.

Maybe Bill was another dumb-ass who should've been fired two games into the season.

[mikemac2001]

Perfect example of people spazzing give people a chance

Think we knew it might be a rough year

[Dujek]

What were we thinking keeping him around all those years, the guy obviously should have been out the door immediately.

Though apparently making this sort of point and not simply crucifying the GM is "toeing the company line".

[X-Era]

1a. RB Ronnie Harmon
1b. OT Will Wolford
3. C Leonard Burton
5. RB Carl Byrum
7a. TE Bob Williams
7b. LB/DE Mark Pike
7c. TE Butch Rolle
8. LB Tony Furjanic
9. WR Reggie Bynum
10. DT Guy Teafatiller
11. DT Tony Garbarczyk
12a. QB Brian McClure
12b. LB Derek Christian

Wow.

A situational RB in the first round, despite having Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs in '85. ANOTHER RB in round 5, to boot.

No QB until the last round.

A starting LT, back-up/special teams DE and TE, back-up center, and 8 guys never to be heard from again.

The Bills started off 0-2 in 1986.

Maybe Bill was another dumb-ass who should've been fired two games into the season.
Read my notes in my thread.

3 years in a row he traded picks and players to get more picks or move around (1985, 1986, 1987).

He traded a 1st and a 2nd round pick for Cornelius Bennett.

His method was clearly to be aggressive in both the draft and through trades to make his team better. I hope Nix learns from our history.

And to be fair, he already had Kelly (we picked him in 1983 and he didnt want to sign with us). who made his debut in 1986 after tearing up the field for Houston in the USFL... it wasn't like we had no QB.

[YardRat]

Polian was aggressive...all season long, also.

He wasn't afraid to give up picks, or ship out veterans, to try to acquire better talent.

New England and Billicheck get a lot of credit for stockpiling picks, etc, but Polian was way ahead of them on the curve.

[Dr. Taylor Zaius]

I will cherrfully eat crow if Nix's moves turn out to be as brilliant as Polian's. Unfortunately as a lifelong fan, my guess is this will not happen.

Nix is no Polian. I only wish he were...

[X-Era]

Polian was aggressive...all season long, also.

He wasn't afraid to give up picks, or ship out veterans, to try to acquire better talent.

New England and Billicheck get a lot of credit for stockpiling picks, etc, but Polian was way ahead of them on the curve.

And yet we have tried to go opposite from that approach for some reason.

[Extremebillsfan247]

1a. RB Ronnie Harmon
1b. OT Will Wolford
3. C Leonard Burton
5. RB Carl Byrum
7a. TE Bob Williams
7b. LB/DE Mark Pike
7c. TE Butch Rolle
8. LB Tony Furjanic
9. WR Reggie Bynum
10. DT Guy Teafatiller
11. DT Tony Garbarczyk
12a. QB Brian McClure
12b. LB Derek Christian

Wow.

A situational RB in the first round, despite having Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs in '85. ANOTHER RB in round 5, to boot.

No QB until the last round.

A starting LT, back-up/special teams DE and TE, back-up center, and 8 guys never to be heard from again.

The Bills started off 0-2 in 1986.

Maybe Bill was another dumb-ass who should've been fired two games into the season. I commend your effort, but trying to reach a hardened dis spirited fanbase such as this one is breaching on the border of impossibility. lol To all against better judgment who expected a quick turnaround that has not yet happened, that little note might as well fall to the blind. JMO

[NOT THE DUDE...]

yeah but look at polian who wasnt in charge in 85 but played a huge role in picking the players... bruce, reed, tasker, hull, reich...

[patmoran2006]

1a. RB Ronnie Harmon
1b. OT Will Wolford
3. C Leonard Burton
5. RB Carl Byrum
7a. TE Bob Williams
7b. LB/DE Mark Pike
7c. TE Butch Rolle
8. LB Tony Furjanic
9. WR Reggie Bynum
10. DT Guy Teafatiller
11. DT Tony Garbarczyk
12a. QB Brian McClure
12b. LB Derek Christian

Wow.

A situational RB in the first round, despite having Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs in '85. ANOTHER RB in round 5, to boot.

No QB until the last round.

A starting LT, back-up/special teams DE and TE, back-up center, and 8 guys never to be heard from again.

The Bills started off 0-2 in 1986.

Maybe Bill was another dumb-ass who should've been fired two games into the season.
Thanks for a great story idea, yard! Im straight out housing this theory.

[Johnny Bugmenot]

A starting LT And for that, he's already above Nix.

[Ebenezer]

Actually, that was BP's first draft officially as GM. He conducted the '85 draft and picked Bruce Smith when everybody else wanted Flutie. He ran the show after Terry Bledsoe's heart attack in February '85.

[YardRat]

Actually, that was BP's first draft officially as GM. He conducted the '85 draft and picked Bruce Smith when everybody else wanted Flutie. He ran the show after Terry Bledsoe's heart attack in February '85.

He had Smith signed before he was even picked, for all intensive purposes, so there really isn't much merit to the "everybody else wanted Flutie" argument.

[Ebenezer]

He had Smith signed before he was even picked, for all intensive purposes, so there really isn't much merit to the "everybody else wanted Flutie" argument.
let me rephrase...

before the days of 24/7 TV and the internet all the fans who called the one local radio show that talked sports for four hours a night with Stan Barron wanted Doug Flutie. People were shocked when he drafted Smith.

is that better?

point is that he ran the '85 draft.

[Ebenezer]

He had Smith signed before he was even picked, for all intensive purposes, so there really isn't much merit to the "everybody else wanted Flutie" argument.


...and it is "intents and purposes"...just saying.

[YardRat]

let me rephrase...

before the days of 24/7 TV and the internet all the fans who called the one local radio show that talked sports for four hours a night with Stan Barron wanted Doug Flutie. People were shocked when he drafted Smith.

is that better?

point is that he ran the '85 draft.

I have a different memory...I don't recall too many being shocked with Smith.

[YardRat]

...and it is "intents and purposes"...just saying.

Oops :D

That phrase is one of my Achilles' heels...along with 'irregardless' and the pronunciation of 'chasm'.

[Ebenezer]

I have a different memory...I don't recall too many being shocked with Smith.
i still remember, vividly, how people wanted Flutie and the attitude on campus the day of the draft when he was not taken.

[bocephuz]

1a. RB Ronnie Harmon
1b. OT Will Wolford
3. C Leonard Burton
5. RB Carl Byrum
7a. TE Bob Williams
7b. LB/DE Mark Pike
7c. TE Butch Rolle
8. LB Tony Furjanic
9. WR Reggie Bynum
10. DT Guy Teafatiller
11. DT Tony Garbarczyk
12a. QB Brian McClure
12b. LB Derek Christian

Wow.

A situational RB in the first round, despite having Greg Bell and Joe Cribbs in '85. ANOTHER RB in round 5, to boot.

No QB until the last round.

A starting LT, back-up/special teams DE and TE, back-up center, and 8 guys never to be heard from again.

The Bills started off 0-2 in 1986.

Maybe Bill was another dumb-ass who should've been fired two games into the season.


Will Wolford alone justifies that draft. Pro Bowl LT in Buffalo for many years and I believe he was the first LT to get a huge Free Agent contract when he left.

Rolle and Pike ended up being solid role players as well.

[Jan Reimers]

Oops :D

That phrase is one of my Achilles' heels...along with 'irregardless' and the pronunciation of 'chasm'.
I think you can only have 2.

[Historian]

Ironically, the only persons who survived to the Super Bowls was Pike, a situational player, and Wolford, who bolted for greener pastures like Polian himself.

In fact, that draft pretty much stunk. Harmon was a lazy malcontent, Byrum ended up a bouncer at Impaxx bar, and Rolle landed in Phoenix.

The reason those Bills turned a corner was because their QB, Center, Kicker and a few others had no place else to play.

[Historian]

Plus Superman was in that training camp...

[mark1126]

Nix is conservative and will tcontinue to acquire other teams cuts and build thru the draft..yikes!!!!! by looking at this years draft, we're in deep doo doo..

[Lexwhat]

Polian was aggressive...all season long, also.

He wasn't afraid to give up picks, or ship out veterans, to try to acquire better talent.



His method was clearly to be aggressive in both the draft and through trades to make his team better. I hope Nix learns from our history.


Moot points. That was a completely different era of NFL management.


Why don't you look at what Polian has done with the Colts the past ~10 years?

He never gives away draft picks to another team.
He never trades away his own players.
He never trades up or trades down within a draft.
He never signs free agents (Adam Vinatieri and Corey Simon are the only 2 exceptions I can remember, over TEN YEARS).

That's a fact.

[Novacane]

I have a different memory...I don't recall too many being shocked with Smith.


I remember the same as you. Everyone knew the Bills were gonna take Bruce even before they signed him. It was just the talk show fans that wanted Flutie.

[Ebenezer]

Ironically, the only persons who survived to the Super Bowls was Pike, a situational player, and Wolford, who bolted for greener pastures like Polian himself.

In fact, that draft pretty much stunk. Harmon was a lazy malcontent, Byrum ended up a bouncer at Impaxx bar, and Rolle landed in Phoenix.

The reason those Bills turned a corner was because their QB, Center, Kicker and a few others had no place else to play.
Ding ding ding...had the USFL not "won" in court and gotten real damages the Bills would have never seen 1990.