| May 10, 2005 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 11:53 PM |
I know there has been lots of debate on how Tom Donahoe used the Buffalo Bills' day one picks. It is easy to make a knee jerk reaction, and I am one of the people (big surprise, I know) that could feel the steam coming out of my ears when I saw we took Roscoe Parrish, WR, with the Bills first pick (2nd Round).
I will say this. From this draft, I think we can assume a few things on the direction head coach Mike Mularkey wants to take the team.
1. Mularkey obviously wants to use more WRs. It will be disappointing to see one of them cut, but we may actually keep six on the roster in Moulds, Evans, Reed, Aikens, Parrish, and “Fast Freddie” Smith. I hope that is the case. They all bring something a little different to the table and it opens up Malarkey’s playbook. I am not upset that we drafted Parrish; I just wish it could have been later in the day. In all probability, he may not have been around on the second day of the draft.It is tough right now to get excited about his size, but there are very few WRs that are his size that can play in the NFL. Former Miami alumni Santana Moss comes to mind. Others mention Marvin Harrison and make comparisons, but Harrison is 6' tall, not 5'9”. I hope he can bring a unique element to the team.
My immediate reaction was obviously major disappointment - simply based on what we heard from Tom Donahoe himself- we all expected some help at the left tackle spot. OT Adam Terry of Syracuse was really the only guy there in the second round when the Buffalo Bills picked, and TD also said in his press conference later, that they just didn’t have him rated that high. When I look at Parrish, I see a WR that has never put up big numbers in his career and most pre-draft scouting reports pegged him as a career 3rd WR/slot guy. Spending a 2nd round pick seemed to me a little bit expensive for that type of player. I still hope he does well and makes some plays for us, but my immediate reaction is that it’s a major disappointment for the 55th pick.
2. Mark Campbell and rookie Tim Euhus, the two TEs the Bills lost to major knee injuries last year may not be on schedule to recover. We took a tight end on day one, which a lot of top mock drafts had predicted. I do like Miami’s Kevin Everett and he was consistently rated the 3rd best at the position in the draft. I guess I was much more prepared for this pick. I thought that Alex Smith of Stanford could have been our second round pick. So it is not like this selection was out of left field or unexpected. I have seen Everett play against my Alma Mater, Virginia tech, which is a good defense, and he ate us up before we hurt his shoulder. Everett reminds me of Randy McMichael.
3. The Buffalo Bills still don’t have an answer at left tackle. My thoughts are that they must be ramping up to have center Trey Teague or recent free agent acquisition Mike Gandy fight it out, which is far from ideal. I do think that disgruntled Arizona Cardinals left tackle LJ Shelton and his $3 million per season salary will be cut soon by Cardinal coach Dennis Green. The Cards drafted Elton Brown, and while i know he is a guard, I just can’t see Green keeping $3 million dollar back up in his dog house. So the possibility of the Buffalo Bills grabbing Shelton still exists, if Donahoe has any interests in the former 1st round selection.
While I’m not enthused about the prospects of Trey Teague ending up as the left tackle, I will say this- he has definitely improved every year he has been in a Buffalo uniform. Many will point to his mediocre stats from being a LT in Denver (myself included). After spending a season under offensive line coach Pat McNally, he has turned into a competent center. If McNally feels he can make it at LT, then I’ll feel a bit better about the situation. However Teague will be entering the final year of his contract this season, so the Bills still don’t have a long term answer for now.
4. The two linemen drafted – “Duke” Preston and Justin Geisinger, look like solid players. OTCdraft.com has them both listed as guards, ranking them 11 and 13 respectively. I have confidence that they will be contributors. They are both very large guys and scored highly on intelligence. I don’t understand going for another guard when our need is LT. In the end, you can never have too many quality linemen. I also don’t think there is any way that converted defensive end Justin Bannan makes this team as a guard, not with Chris Villarreal, Gandy, newly acquired Bennie Anderson, Ross Tucker, and the two new draftees who can play guard. Justin Bannan is screwed.
5. It’s a shame that Donahoe couldn’t’ move disgruntled back Travis Henry. Hopefully something will still happen before training camp or at least the beginning of the season, and maybe there is hope for a useful player for player trade. However, I am not holding my breath. Hopefully Henry won’t be a big baby and will play out his contractual obligations and help the team make the playoffs this year. It is in his own best interest to keep his free agency value high if he remains a Bill. I loved the Lionel Gates pick, the rugged running back from Louisville. I have seen in the range of 5-6 of his games in the past couple years, and he was always a strong player that was fun to watch.
6. Donahoe obviously thinks that DTs Ron Edwards and Tim Anderson are more than capable of replacing the departed Pat Williams. I tend to agree, I guess they also think that DEs Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel are capable starters, since they are both locked up contractually for a while. There was no need to go get additional help in the draft there.
For the Bills roster, there are still some things that are up in the air, questions still remain unanswered for now. I am content with the talent drafted. The Bills have also snatched up some interesting leftovers in the post draft free-agency frenzy, an area that the Bills have found some real gems the past few seasons. Those are my thoughts from atop the soapbox for now- and the long waiting game until the start training camp begins.
