After reading several posts on this board (both pro and against Buddy Nix), I was curious what Bills fans consider a "successful" draft or offseason - in terms of acquiring talent and fixing holes.
In my personal opinion, a successful draft (7 rounds plus undrafted free agents) will net at least 3 players that could start for most NFL teams.
A successful free agency will net a positive upgrade of at least 1 starting position. So if a team loses a starter through free agency, they need to upgrade 2 other positions to consider that offseason successful.
By these standards, a team should be able to upgrade 4 starting spots per season. That doesn't sound like a huge amount. But within 3 years, a GM would have improved more than half of the players on his team. By the time those drafted rookies are hitting the wall (27-28 years old), the GM would have upgraded every single spot on the team.
In grading Buddy Nix, I look at what the Bills had in 2010 - when he was promoted to the position. At the time, I felt that Buffalo had 11 starting spots that needed to be seriously upgraded:
QB (Edwards), WR2 (Hardy/Parrish), TE (Nelson), LT (Bell), RT (None-Was Butler), C (Hangartner), LDE (Kelsay), RDE (Maybin), SLB (Ellison), CB (McKelvin)
Three full offseasons later, I believe we now have 8 starting spots that need to seriously be upgraded:
QB (Fitz), WR2 (Graham), LDE (Kelsay/Anderson), OLB (Bradham), OLB (None-Was Barnett), MLB (Sheppard), CB (Williams/McKelvin), FS (None-Was Wilson)
Of course, this assumes we bring back Byrd and Levitre. It also assumes that our young players like Dareus, Glenn and Gilmore develop into good players and don't create bigger holes.
Bottom line, our team will never get better until Nix starts drafting better.
In my personal opinion, a successful draft (7 rounds plus undrafted free agents) will net at least 3 players that could start for most NFL teams.
A successful free agency will net a positive upgrade of at least 1 starting position. So if a team loses a starter through free agency, they need to upgrade 2 other positions to consider that offseason successful.
By these standards, a team should be able to upgrade 4 starting spots per season. That doesn't sound like a huge amount. But within 3 years, a GM would have improved more than half of the players on his team. By the time those drafted rookies are hitting the wall (27-28 years old), the GM would have upgraded every single spot on the team.
In grading Buddy Nix, I look at what the Bills had in 2010 - when he was promoted to the position. At the time, I felt that Buffalo had 11 starting spots that needed to be seriously upgraded:
QB (Edwards), WR2 (Hardy/Parrish), TE (Nelson), LT (Bell), RT (None-Was Butler), C (Hangartner), LDE (Kelsay), RDE (Maybin), SLB (Ellison), CB (McKelvin)
Three full offseasons later, I believe we now have 8 starting spots that need to seriously be upgraded:
QB (Fitz), WR2 (Graham), LDE (Kelsay/Anderson), OLB (Bradham), OLB (None-Was Barnett), MLB (Sheppard), CB (Williams/McKelvin), FS (None-Was Wilson)
Of course, this assumes we bring back Byrd and Levitre. It also assumes that our young players like Dareus, Glenn and Gilmore develop into good players and don't create bigger holes.
Bottom line, our team will never get better until Nix starts drafting better.
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