Can someone with some clout ask why we can't draft 1st Rounders?

[jpdex12]

...that actually stay on the roster for more than four years?

This is BS! I'm glad we dumped Lynch and got something for him but it's an outright emberassment to Ralph and all of us who root for this team that is ran by a bunch of idiots! Honestly, it's sad that a lot of us normal Joe fans who follow football can guess which college players getting drafted are going to be good and yet this team that has professional scouts, etc working these draft picks get it wrong damn near every year. WTF?

Why can't we draft a player in the first or second round that we actually keep that end up playing out two to three contracts? I know free agency is tough now adays but this is just PATHETIC! I'm so sick of this team.

When will some of these reporters from Buffalo or wherever start hammering Wilson, Nix and the rest of them about this glaring and embarassing statistic? It shows exactly how inept this team really is.

Tlong, Pat Moran, Coach Sal, Buffalo News, Rochester D&C, everybody...start hammering them with the hard questions that they can't answer, make them feel real uncomfrotable and irriteble to be asked this and demand answers! We deserve better!

[k-oneputt]

but, but, but this must know more then the fan, they work for the Bills.

I love that response.

carry on.

[Hogwasher]

Popular opinion has done a much better job of drafting than the bills in recent years.

[RoscoeMagic]

Popular opinion has done a much better job of drafting than the bills in recent years.

Did popular opinion want Jairus Byrd?

[Michael82]

Did popular opinion want Jairus Byrd?
What the **** has Jairus Byrd done this year? He looks just as bad as the rest of the defense.

[RoscoeMagic]

What the **** has Jairus Byrd done this year? He looks just as bad as the rest of the defense.

Just sayin :air:

[dannyek71]

You do not draft a RB in the 1st round. If you do, it better turn out to be Barry Sanders.

[Extremebillsfan247]

...that actually stay on the roster for more than four years?

This is BS! I'm glad we dumped Lynch and got something for him but it's an outright emberassment to Ralph and all of us who root for this team that is ran by a bunch of idiots! Honestly, it's sad that a lot of us normal Joe fans who follow football can guess which college players getting drafted are going to be good and yet this team that has professional scouts, etc working these draft picks get it wrong damn near every year. WTF?

Why can't we draft a player in the first or second round that we actually keep that end up playing out two to three contracts? I know free agency is tough now adays but this is just PATHETIC! I'm so sick of this team.

When will some of these reporters from Buffalo or wherever start hammering Wilson, Nix and the rest of them about this glaring and embarassing statistic? It shows exactly how inept this team really is.

Tlong, Pat Moran, Coach Sal, Buffalo News, Rochester D&C, everybody...start hammering them with the hard questions that they can't answer, make them feel real uncomfrotable and irriteble to be asked this and demand answers! We deserve better! Tom Modrak? John Guy who is no longer here? Jim Overdorf? take your pick. JMO excuse the poor spelling of names. lol

[Mr. Pink]

You do not draft a RB in the 1st round. If you do, it better turn out to be Barry Sanders.


Or Tomlinson.
Or Chris Johnson.
Or Adrian Peterson.

[dannyek71]

Or Tomlinson.
Or Chris Johnson.
Or Adrian Peterson.

Meaning someone REALLY special.


Look at the good teams from the past decade. How many had a starting RB taken in the 1st round who lived up to their 1st round status. More often than not, they did not.

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

Who doesn't have clout here?

[jpdex12]

Did popular opinion want Jairus Byrd?

No, popular opinion was screaming for Brian Orakpo, Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing, Patrick Willis, Aaron Rogers and plenty others. There were A LOT of others from this board who were clammoring for a number of these guys. There were a ton of Zoners who stuck with their hunches on certain guys and those certain guys are performing very well now while we get stuck with chit like #58! Or JPL or McCargo or #20 and Lynch.

F'em!

[k-oneputt]

You forgot Ngata.

[elltrain22]

I don't know if I have "clout", but I'll give this question a try. Its pretty simple to me, we just don't have very good football minds here, and we also have front office executives w/ a lack of common sense. The lack of football knowledge stems from miss after miss on players. Thought they scouted something good, but there evaluations were obviously oversighted or misinterpreted. I also think, to a large extent, the past decade, this franchise has lacked adequate coaching staffs to develop these guys. Guys like Jim Leonhard, Sam Aiken, and Mario Hagan are all playing better football since they left town. We've also taken chances we didn't need to take. Drafting Whitner at number 8 is case in point. Everyone knew he would've been there had we traded down, and gotten picks, but our "braintrust" lacked the common sense to see what we all saw. We have also stuck to the BPA (best player avab) theory on draft day, which is why we have no QB, no WR's, no TE's, no good OL, no good LB's, and 500 rb's, 678 db's, & a bunch of other garbage that never has or never will pan out.

to hash this out...
poor scouting + no common sense to make execuitive decisions+ poor coaching of young talent + poor drafting strategy + Ralph Wilson - Bill Polian or John Butler = The Buffalo Bills of the last 15 years

[X-Era]

Put players on a junk team in constant upheaval and you can destroy lots of potential.

[jpdex12]

We need to bombard the local beat reporters who interview these idiots at OBD and make them start stirring up the bee hive! I haven't heard of anyone yet publically criticizing OBD yet in their interviews with Nix, Brandon, Wilson, etc.

Someone that has this opportunity needs to start asking questions and either put them on the spot or get kicked out of the interview session and prove a point that OBD doesn't want to face reality. It will drive this organization into depths that might actually get some good change in place so we get a better product.

[ptd86]

Meaning someone REALLY special.


Look at the good teams from the past decade. How many had a starting RB taken in the 1st round who lived up to their 1st round status. More often than not, they did not.

It's funny that everyone says that because RB's are so recognized.. couldn't you say that for any position? More often than not a player doesn't live up to their first round status... to say the same for RB's is obvious

[Coach Sal]

It comes down to passing the buck, so therefore, no accountablity on the guys who are always "currently in charge."

Draft a guy in the 1st round.
He doesn't play well in time enough to help the team (or at all).
Team loses games.
Coach get fired and others get fired or 'restructured'
New decision makers take over.

They have no allegiance or loyalty to that player, the player is often put in a new system in which he doesn't fit, and when they get rid of him because he sucks, it's a convenient excuse to say "he wasn't part of out plans" or "didn't fit what we want to do."

But, ultimately, they don't have to take resposnibility for the pick. It's an easy way out for them with both the fans and media. Why would people in the media hammer them over it, knowing the easy (and generally truthful) response is simply that those people being asked weren't responsible for drafting him?

Lynch, Trent, Hardy, Meredith, Maybin (if he goes), Whitner (if he goes), none of them were taken by this regime, so they have an easy answer if you ask them these questions. The answer, in any way they want to answer it, is: "we didn't draft him."

Example. Why is Cornell Green still on the roster, but Meredith is not? Because they signed Green, and it would force them to admit to a mistake if they got rid of him, as well as force them to answer those very questions. But getting rid of Meredith is easy. He wasn't their pick-up. It's all under the "new regime" excuse.

Then, this cycle just keeps repeating itself for the newest regime every 3-4 years.

[Bill Cody]

...that actually stay on the roster for more than four years?



Nix just had his first draft. Should he be answering questions about drafts made before he was here? And let's say he decided to throw previous GM's under the bus, exactly how does that help us going forward? And let's go further and assume for this conversation that Nix is ALSO an idiot. How does busting his chops add any gray matter to his skull? I'm just wondering where you're going with this.

[Bill Cody]

Example. Why is Cornell Green still on the roster, but Meredith is not? Because they signed Green, and it would force them to admit to a mistake if they got rid of him, as well as force them to answer those very questions. But getting rid of Meredith is easy. He wasn't their pick-up. It's all under the "new regime" excuse.



I don't think so. I think if we had another option Green would be getting bus fare also. I have no reason to believe after less than a year in charge Nix is doing anything other than his best to build a roster. I will agree totally though that Green was a lousy signing and I said so at the time. Beyond that, I see Meredith as beating Green out the door but not by all that much they both sucked.

[Extremebillsfan247]

I don't think so. I think if we had another option Green would be getting bus fare also. I have no reason to believe after less than a year in charge Nix is doing anything other than his best to build a roster. I will agree totally though that Green was a lousy signing and I said so at the time. Beyond that, I see Meredith as beating Green out the door but not by all that much they both sucked. What I think Coach Sal was getting at is that the only reason Green is still on the team is because he is a Nix/Gailey guy, not a Jauron/Brandon guy, and it explains the turnover routine among player holdovers from another coaching staff.

[Ed]

I'm pretty sure Nix is as painfully aware as anyone how poorly this team has drafted. There's a reason he came out after the draft and said he wished he could have picked 3 players with each pick. He knew this team sucks, which is why he's working on getting rid of so many players.

[Bill Cody]

What I think Coach Sal was getting at is that the only reason Green is still on the team is because he is a Nix/Gailey guy, not a Jauron/Brandon guy, and it explains the turnover routine among player holdovers from another coaching staff.

I get his point I just think it's a stretch in the case of Green. I think Nix/Gailey know he's a turd they just can't cut 40 guys at once. Green is not long for this roster.

[Coach Sal]

I get his point I just think it's a stretch in the case of Green. I think Nix/Gailey know he's a turd they just can't cut 40 guys at once. Green is not long for this roster.

He may be. But the point is, if they're going to cut one, why not cut him instead of Meredith? If they both equally suck (which I'm not disputing), why did they choose JM to get rid of now and keep Green?

The evidence suggests it's because they want to keep THEIR players and get rid of the other regime's players, which is obviously partly because they'd rather say those other guys were mistakes and not their guys. At least not yet. It will get tougher to do that as time goes on.

I can only think of two guys this regime brought in, either as an undrafted FA before the draft, or a draft pick who they got rid of: Chad Jackson (UFA) and Kyle Calloway (Drafted in the 7th round). (I'm not counting guys they cut but signed to PS). There may be a few more, but I can't think of them right now and there won't be many. That's what I'm getting at. I don't think that's a coincidence.

[k-oneputt]

You are right on with your Green theory.

He shouldn't even be in the league.

[Ed]

He may be. But the point is, if they're going to cut one, why not cut him instead of Meredith? If they both equally suck (which I'm not disputing), why did they choose JM to get rid of now and keep Green?

The evidence suggests it's because they want to keep THEIR players and get rid of the other regime's players, which is obviously partly because they'd rather say those other guys were mistakes and not their guys. At least not yet. It will get tougher to do that as time goes on.

I can only think of two guys this regime brought in, either as an undrafted FA before the draft, or a draft pick who they got rid of: Chad Jackson (UFA) and Kyle Calloway (Drafted in the 7th round). (I'm not counting guys they cut but signed to PS). There may be a few more, but I can't think of them right now and there won't be many. That's what I'm getting at. I don't think that's a coincidence.
I think money plays a big factor also. I'm pretty sure Meredith was making minimal money and they signed Green to a multi-million dollar deal. I don't remember what his signing bonus was, but if Green had just been a vet minimum signing, I'm sure there's a much better chance he could have been cut. Everyone can see he is awful. I'm sure the front office is extremely disappointed in the Green signing, I just can't believe that they wined and dined this guy like he was something special.