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With the Bills record in the past 3 years a lot closer to Arizona’s that NE’s, the heat is turning up a bit this year on Tom Donahoe. People can definitely question some of his moves, beginning with the hiring of GW, but not his courage to do what he thinks is right no matter how his decisions may be second guessed. But this draft gives some clues as to where TD thinks he needs to go by what he did and didn’t do.
1) The Evans pick. By taking Evans at 13, some would call that a bit early, TD was saying 2 things: 1st, this was a player they felt they had to have and could be a difference maker and 2nd, letting go Price hurt a lot more than he expected.
2) The Losman pick. TD likes Drew but felt he needed to cover the QB position for the future but he felt he had to have Evans. So the trade up plan was hatched with an eye towards jumping in front of GB, who he was sure would take Losman, allowing him to get both players. The interesting thing beyond whether Losman will be a future star or not is how much next year’s first rounder will be worth. TD is gambling it won’t be in the teens, otherwise he knows he paid a steep premium for Losman. I also think in the back of his mind he plans to recapture that 1st at the end of the year by trading Henry, assuming WM is proven healthy.
3) TD had to know trading his 2nd rounder this year meant no OL help. To me this is the biggest gamble of all, especially since he made a similar gamble last year taking WM over Eric Steinbach which gave us all a chance to watch the human cannon ball Mike Puccillo.
4) The Tim Anderson pick. I’m not down on this pick, although one could say when drafting DL’men TD goes with the old “best white player available” approach. But by taking Anderson, and passing on Derrick Strait, CB OK, an Antoine Winfield type player who was considered on all the mock drafts I saw at worst an early 2nd rounder, TD may be saying he’s planning on resigning Clements and possibly letting Pat Williams go at the end of the year.
5) The Euhus pick. I think TD likes Campbell but felt getting more production this season out of the TE position in the passing game this year was a priority, as well as having a replacement for Moore. Euhus isn’t a burner, but he runs a 4.8 40 and has shown at Oregon he can catch the ball. The interesting part of this pick, and Elltrain22 pointed this out in another thread, was that TD passed on Nat Dorsey to take Euhus. That tells me he thinks he can resign Jennings to an affordable contract at season’s end.
1) The Evans pick. By taking Evans at 13, some would call that a bit early, TD was saying 2 things: 1st, this was a player they felt they had to have and could be a difference maker and 2nd, letting go Price hurt a lot more than he expected.
2) The Losman pick. TD likes Drew but felt he needed to cover the QB position for the future but he felt he had to have Evans. So the trade up plan was hatched with an eye towards jumping in front of GB, who he was sure would take Losman, allowing him to get both players. The interesting thing beyond whether Losman will be a future star or not is how much next year’s first rounder will be worth. TD is gambling it won’t be in the teens, otherwise he knows he paid a steep premium for Losman. I also think in the back of his mind he plans to recapture that 1st at the end of the year by trading Henry, assuming WM is proven healthy.
3) TD had to know trading his 2nd rounder this year meant no OL help. To me this is the biggest gamble of all, especially since he made a similar gamble last year taking WM over Eric Steinbach which gave us all a chance to watch the human cannon ball Mike Puccillo.
4) The Tim Anderson pick. I’m not down on this pick, although one could say when drafting DL’men TD goes with the old “best white player available” approach. But by taking Anderson, and passing on Derrick Strait, CB OK, an Antoine Winfield type player who was considered on all the mock drafts I saw at worst an early 2nd rounder, TD may be saying he’s planning on resigning Clements and possibly letting Pat Williams go at the end of the year.
5) The Euhus pick. I think TD likes Campbell but felt getting more production this season out of the TE position in the passing game this year was a priority, as well as having a replacement for Moore. Euhus isn’t a burner, but he runs a 4.8 40 and has shown at Oregon he can catch the ball. The interesting part of this pick, and Elltrain22 pointed this out in another thread, was that TD passed on Nat Dorsey to take Euhus. That tells me he thinks he can resign Jennings to an affordable contract at season’s end.
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