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There is an article in today's Boston Herald about Vince Wilfork, the Patriots NT. The article talks about his slipping in the draft, and has several interesting quotes from Tom Modrak.
Here are the relevant parts for the Bills:
John Tomase, who wrote the story, added some additional details in his blog. He wrote that Modrak said the Bills were going to take Wilfork at #22, but when he went off the board they went to plan B and took Losman:
For those that aren't aware, Wilfork grew up a Bills fan, despite living in Florida, because of Bruce Smith and those Bills teams of the early 90's.
It is interesting that Wilfork, with his size and athleticism, would be a perfect fit at NT in the middle of the Bills line and would solve a lot of their problems up front. Tommy Harris would be a perfect fit playing the 3 technique beside him, and he went the pick after Evans. Imagine the defense you guys would have with those two playing together in the middle.
Here are the relevant parts for the Bills:
“I remember watching him drop,” said Bills scouting director Tom Modrak. “When he got close to New England, I said, ‘Oh no. This is where he’s going.’ He couldn’t have gone somewhere out west so we’d only have to see him once every three years?”
The Bills and Bears showed the most interest, picking 13th and 14th, respectively.
“The truth is we had two guys targeted,” Modrak said. “They were Lee (Evans) and Vince. They were 1A and 1B for us. If one was gone, we were going to take the other. Lee was our first choice and we thought he was going to be special, but we loved Vince. We had him in for a great visit and he talked about playing in Buffalo and the snow. He was ready to roll.”
“The truth is we had two guys targeted,” Modrak said. “They were Lee (Evans) and Vince. They were 1A and 1B for us. If one was gone, we were going to take the other. Lee was our first choice and we thought he was going to be special, but we loved Vince. We had him in for a great visit and he talked about playing in Buffalo and the snow. He was ready to roll.”
Wilfork nearly went at 13, but with Evans still available, the Bills grabbed the Wisconsin receiver while contemplating how to trade back into the first round, which they eventually did at No. 22 for quarterback J.P. Losman. “If we had had the 14th pick, too, Vince wouldn’t have slid,” Modrak said.
One bit that didn’t make the story was this nugget from Bills scouting director Tom Modrak, who said the Bills were torn at No. 13 over whether to take Wilfork or receiver Lee Evans. They ended up going with Evans and it’s a hard pick to fault after he caught 82 passes for 1,292 yards and eight TDs last year.
The Bills later traded back into the first round in a deal with the Cowboys for the 22nd pick, one slot after Wilfork went. They used the pick on quarterback J.P. Losman, but according to Modrak would have taken Wilfork if he had been available, believing they could get Losman a round later, especially since three quarterbacks had already been taken (Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger). Once Wilfork was gone, however, they didn’t want to take the chance of missing Losman.
The Bills later traded back into the first round in a deal with the Cowboys for the 22nd pick, one slot after Wilfork went. They used the pick on quarterback J.P. Losman, but according to Modrak would have taken Wilfork if he had been available, believing they could get Losman a round later, especially since three quarterbacks had already been taken (Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger). Once Wilfork was gone, however, they didn’t want to take the chance of missing Losman.
It is interesting that Wilfork, with his size and athleticism, would be a perfect fit at NT in the middle of the Bills line and would solve a lot of their problems up front. Tommy Harris would be a perfect fit playing the 3 technique beside him, and he went the pick after Evans. Imagine the defense you guys would have with those two playing together in the middle.
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