Bill Brasky
05-02-2006, 05:40 PM
In this past weekend’s NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills’ brain trust, led by GM Marv Levy, assistant GM Tom Modrak and head coach Dick Jauron made upgrading the defensive secondary their most important issue. They ended up drafting a grand total of three defensive backs, all of which were taken in the first four rounds.
With the eighth overall selection in the first round, the Bills chose former Ohio State safety Donte Whitner. Although it was and still is my opinion that the Bills should have taken ex-USC QB Matt Leinart with the pick, by no means am I taking anything away from Whitner. He was a fantastic player at Ohio State, and look for him to continue his torrid pace in a Bills uniform. Bills veteran middle linebacker London Fletcher highly recommended Whitner to the Bills’ brass, and they certainly listened to the 30-year-old, one of the team‘s most prominent defensive leaders.
Last year, the 5’10”, 203-pound Whitner accumulated 73 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions en route to First Team All-Big 10 defensive honors. He can play every position in the secondary, but will likely be the Bills’ starting strong safety, replacing departed veteran Lawyer Milloy. One of Whitner’s best traits is the ability to play up near the line of scrimmage and blitz the opposing quarterback a la Troy Polamalu in Pittsburgh or Roy Williams in Dallas. Perhaps even more importantly, Whitner is a defensive leader and great character player, which is exactly what Levy and Jauron want on their team.
In the third round of the draft, the Bills came up with one of the weekend’s biggest heists, grabbing Whitner’s former Buckeyes defense backfield mate, cornerback Ashton Youboty. Projected by most as a surefire late first-round pick, Youboty fell all the way to pick No. 70 for mainly trivial reasons. At 6’0”, Youboty has tremendous size for a cornerback, and joins Antoine Winfield from the 1999 draft class and Nate Clements from the 2001 class as the most recent well-known Buckeyes cornerbacks to be selected.
http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2006/05/buffalo-bills-secondary020506.html
With the eighth overall selection in the first round, the Bills chose former Ohio State safety Donte Whitner. Although it was and still is my opinion that the Bills should have taken ex-USC QB Matt Leinart with the pick, by no means am I taking anything away from Whitner. He was a fantastic player at Ohio State, and look for him to continue his torrid pace in a Bills uniform. Bills veteran middle linebacker London Fletcher highly recommended Whitner to the Bills’ brass, and they certainly listened to the 30-year-old, one of the team‘s most prominent defensive leaders.
Last year, the 5’10”, 203-pound Whitner accumulated 73 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions en route to First Team All-Big 10 defensive honors. He can play every position in the secondary, but will likely be the Bills’ starting strong safety, replacing departed veteran Lawyer Milloy. One of Whitner’s best traits is the ability to play up near the line of scrimmage and blitz the opposing quarterback a la Troy Polamalu in Pittsburgh or Roy Williams in Dallas. Perhaps even more importantly, Whitner is a defensive leader and great character player, which is exactly what Levy and Jauron want on their team.
In the third round of the draft, the Bills came up with one of the weekend’s biggest heists, grabbing Whitner’s former Buckeyes defense backfield mate, cornerback Ashton Youboty. Projected by most as a surefire late first-round pick, Youboty fell all the way to pick No. 70 for mainly trivial reasons. At 6’0”, Youboty has tremendous size for a cornerback, and joins Antoine Winfield from the 1999 draft class and Nate Clements from the 2001 class as the most recent well-known Buckeyes cornerbacks to be selected.
http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2006/05/buffalo-bills-secondary020506.html