NFL Draft

[WG]

What position should we look at for our 2nd rounder considering that our draft pick will figure to be in the mid-second round?

DTs and DEs are not reported to be deep, certainly not as deep as they were last season.

I'm not sure about OL possibilities or OLB possibilities.

Should we grab all of our 3 primary defenders in FAcy and take a QB, WR, or RB?

Thoughts?

[Novacane]

Address our needs in FA and take the best player on the board in the draft.

[ArcticWildMan]

LB or DT looks to be the deepest in our "need" areas. All in all, this is not a very deep draft. The drop off is quite steep after the first round in almost all positions except QB and possibly RCVR.

We will probably have the chance to grab a solid DT or LB with our second round pick, but it won't be a pro-bowl quality player.

[clumping platelets]

Originally posted by BledsoeTOreedfor6
Address our needs in FA and take the best player on the board in the draft.

Focus on depth and team speed

[TypicalBill]

Grab OLB (Boss Bailey or DJ Williams)

[Akhippo]

Focus FA on stud players, I think that we have the depth players. Pick up a RB, OL, or a DB. Since those are the easiest positions to get a very good player in the second rounds or later. JJ and TH are good examples. Or just the best player is fine.

[John from Hemet]

In my opinion I think we should trade our 2nd round pick...

Would the lions be willing to part with Robert Porsche? Hmmm

[losman2evans]

A CB FROM OHIO STATE

[PA Season Ticket Holder]

It's too early to say what we need to do in the draft. After Free Agency you can, but you have no idea what will happen in FA. That will determine what we do in the draft.

[TedMock]

I think addressing primary needs via FA is necessary. They need about 3 new starters on D. (DT, DE and OLB). After that things are pretty much in place unless we have a great opportunity to upgrade somewhere. I'd use the draft and Free Agency mainly for depth on the OL and DL. It can't hurt to draft a late round skill position or 2 either...just in case. All in all though, I say take the best player available in each round and use it to upgrade special teams. They're not far off. As disappointed as I am with the passing game falling off late in the year I still think some good things came out of this year. I believe the early passing game success helped open things up for Henry. I think Henry's success helped set things up for next year. Drew doesn't have to throw for 400 yards early in the year so they can win. They can now use Henry as a focal point in most of the games. They can now throw 30 and run 30 each week. The defense will be upgraded and that will directly help the O stay in balance......depending on Mr. Gilbride of course.

[TigerJ]

Personally, with the players available in free agency, I wouldn't trade my second round pick for a player. It remains to be seen who TD will be able to pick up in free agency. TD already got another DE in Marcus Jones. I think he may sign either a DT or OLB but not both. If that is the case, he'll want to draft what he doesn't sign pretty early in the draft. I generally agree with the merits of the "Best Player Available" theory, but I think it sometimes has to be tempered by need. For example, if when Buffalo is picking the very best player available is an offensive tackle, but there is an outside linebacker whom I have rated only a little behind that OT, I'm going to pick the OLB based on the Bills' need. On the other hand if that OT is rated so far above the next best player on my board he's not even in the same class (a situation the Bills found themselves in last year with Josh Reed) I might feel I have to pick him and then make adjustments (trade away Marcus Price for a need player or draft picks).

[SABURZFAN]

Originally posted by TypicalBill
Grab OLB (Boss Bailey or DJ Williams)

bailey probably won't be there but i like bradie james-LSU.

[Ingtar33]

DT is a horrible position this year in the draft, with only 2 or 3 players worth taking in the top 30 picks, and everyone after that not worth wasting a pick on (although since this is a need position for at least half the teams in the league, expect at least 2 or 3 marginal DTs to go in addition to the can’t loose picks in the first round. Additionally DT is a difficult position to draft since a rookie DT rarely makes any sort of impact, and the failure rate (the percentage who are out of the league in 4 years) on rookie DTs is one of the highest of all the positions to draft.

As a result I'd say it would be wise for the Bills to try and fill this need in FA... don't despair Bills fans, I know the list of scheduled FA DTs is week this year, however there will be several salary cap casualties to augment their number. Sam Adams is almost certainly going to be a cap casualty, and since he had a poor season he might even come with an affordable cap number. Daryl Gardner will probably be a cap casualty too, as may (I'm not sure about the Bears cap situation) Ted Washington or T.Pryce, who are both (I think) due large salary bonuses.

[The_Philster]

for the info, Ingtar.
Ted Washington may be ready to retire though I think Trevor Pryce could be a great fit if the Price is right.

[itsandthings]

Daryl Gardener is an unrestricted FA. He had an excellent year for Washington and is a dominant DT, but the risk in signing him is he has struggled with back problems the last couple seasons.

Ted Washington is under contract with Chicago in 2003 at a very affordable $2.633M cap figure. Chicago is well under the cap in 2003 at $65.66M (currently) without any major contract manipulation. The only reason they would cut Washington is if they feel he won't recover from his last injury and be an effective player.

Trevor Price was paid a large bonus prior to 2001 on a long-term extension. He is not due a roster bonus, although he has a large base salary. It is unlikey he will be released by Denver, since he is their best defensive player and his release would actually cost Denver about $500K on the cap rather than saving them anything. However, he is a likley candidate for restructuring, a move that would save Denver about $3.15M on the cap in 2003.

Sam Adams may be a cap casualty, but he way his contract is structured he could easily have this years salary changed to bonus and spread into a long term deal. Doing so would lower his 2003 cap number to about $2.7M for 2003, a savings of about $7.5M on the 2003 cap for the Raiders. If they release him outright, they save about $9.2M on the cap for 2003.