Drafting: Fans vs FO

[Mike]

If you have been paying attention to the Bills and their drafts you might have notices how often their picks end up opposing conventional wisdom and end up being horrible. For one I have been on these boards during the Draft and I hear many of you calling out a name like Orakpo only to hear Maybin, or Cody only to hear Troupe, and on and on we go.

So, in retrospect do you think some of the Fans would do a better job than this FO at picking players? Do the Fans get it right more so than the FO? If it were up to you, would you want this FO to pick again in April?

[Mike]

Personally, I feel that some of the Fans/Posters on this board would have done a better job.

[better days]

Well, I voted for the posters, but I am mainly going against the past regimes, not Nix. I have posted before that if the fans on this board were in charge of the draft the last decade, the Bills would be a MUCH better team today.

[Mike]

Well, I voted for the posters, but I am mainly going against the past regimes, not Nix. I have posted before that if the fans on this board were in charge of the draft the last decade, the Bills would be a MUCH better team today.


How unfortunate is it that your right.

[Michael82]

I think the problems of the season are actually more to blame on the prior regimes and the fact that they have hardly anyone from the 1st or 2nd round left on the team from those regimes. I'm still going to give Nix a chance to show what he can do.

[clumping platelets]

:clump:

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

I would not trust MY judgment but I'd Let Paladian Warrior draft for the bills and we'd kill every other team every year cause PW IS THE MAN!

:)

[Buddo]

It's very hard to get the taste of the Maybin pick out of the mouth.
Orakpo or Oher, would have been far better picks, even Cushing, who allegedly Modrak wanted.
All of those guys were talked about by posters on various boards, and there was probably good support for all three. There was very little support for Maybin.
One of Orakpo, Oher or Cushing, would have given us good starters for all of our first 4 picks, Wood, Levitre and Byrd being the others.
While personally, I would have taken Oher, in reality, the pick should have been Orakpo, who is a beast, and would be helping our current D a lot, while we would still be doing 'ok' with Bell and Hairston etc.

It seems to me, that when we make a mistake, it tends to be a big one, with a high pick, whereas a lot of our other drafting, has been likely on a par with most other teams - including some good teams tbh.
In retrospect, our first round picks, have often not been up to scratch, and they are the guys you are counting on to make a difference down the lline.
Circumstances have also played their part in things, imho. Something the FO over the years, didn't seem to be as clued up on as some other teams, was where the strengths of the next draft were going to be. It seemed to me, that too often over the last several years, the Bills needs didn't tie in very well with the available talent.

[better days]

It's very hard to get the taste of the Maybin pick out of the mouth.
Orakpo or Oher, would have been far better picks, even Cushing, who allegedly Modrak wanted.
All of those guys were talked about by posters on various boards, and there was probably good support for all three. There was very little support for Maybin.
One of Orakpo, Oher or Cushing, would have given us good starters for all of our first 4 picks, Wood, Levitre and Byrd being the others.
While personally, I would have taken Oher, in reality, the pick should have been Orakpo, who is a beast, and would be helping our current D a lot, while we would still be doing 'ok' with Bell and Hairston etc.

It seems to me, that when we make a mistake, it tends to be a big one, with a high pick, whereas a lot of our other drafting, has been likely on a par with most other teams - including some good teams tbh.
In retrospect, our first round picks, have often not been up to scratch, and they are the guys you are counting on to make a difference down the lline.
Circumstances have also played their part in things, imho. Something the FO over the years, didn't seem to be as clued up on as some other teams, was where the strengths of the next draft were going to be. It seemed to me, that too often over the last several years, the Bills needs didn't tie in very well with the available talent.

Well, it has been widly reported that Jauron had control over the 1st pick of the draft as stupid as that seems. I think that explains the stupid picks in rnd 1 while he was here.

[Cleve]

The board consensus would be at least 10X better than the paid 'scouting' department at One Bills Drive.

Regardless of whether Wilson incompetently lavishes money on players on field, guys like Chris Kelsay who aren't even worth it, Wilson more than makes up for it with his dedication to thriftiness in hiring bottom shelf talent that will work cheaply INSIDE the office - and it shows.

Our drafts are legendarily bad in the NFL - a monkey throwing darts at a board should be able to do better. Bob Mathews points on frequently on his WHAM radio show that you'd THINK the Bills could just get lucky once in a while with their draft picks - like my previous analogy of a monkey throwing darts at a board. But we consistently err and get outmaneuvered in the draft. We have the worst scouts and talent development staff in the league. This team and Ralph Wilson are a friggin' joke.

[mjt328]

I keep track of who I would have drafted in the same spot when the Bills come up. Here are the first and second rounds from the last couple years. Who do you think would have built a better team?


2011 - Marcel Dareus (first), Ryan Mallet (second)
2010 - Bryan Bulaga (first), Jimmy Clausen (second)
2009 - Brian Orakpo (first), Eric Wood (first), Andy Levitre (second)
2008 - Leodis McKelvin (first), Malcolm Kelly (second)
2007 - Marshawn Lynch (first), Paul Poszluszny (second)
2006 - Haloti Ngata (first), Winston Justice (second)


As you can see, about half the time I have agreed with the Bills choices.

I've had plenty of misses myself. But at least I attempted to shore up the offensive line and grab a franchise quarterback.
And, of course, we would have two Pro Bowlers on the team (Ngata and Orakpo).

[Mike]

2011 - Patrick Peterson (first), DeQuan Bowers (second) Ryan Mallet (third)
2010 - Bryan Bulaga (first), Cody (second)
2009 - Brian Orakpo (first), Eric Wood (first),
2008 - DRC (first), Deshawn Jackson (second)
2007 - Marshawn Lynch (first), David Harris (second)
2006 - Haloti Ngata (first), Winston Justice (second)

[ddaryl]

at least in the 1st rd some of us would have nailed a better 1st rd pick..

Then there is the we must draft any QB we can in the 1st rd club that would be a disaster

but for the most part we the fans would have nailed the 1st rds much better then the Bills FO