Vote Now: Most disappointing 2008 Buffalo Bill

Because out of this list of players, he is the one I had the biggest expectations for.

but personally I’m leaning towards Ellis. He looked like a beast with a ton of potential every day that I watched him in training camp. I thought he was going to be special and the coaches were pushing him and getting on him to make him that player. Instead he wasn’t even active.

FS Ko Simpson:
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 He’s racked up 58 tackles – strangely, good for fourth on the team and tops amongst defensive backs – but has quickly gained a reputation at being one of the Bills’ poorest tacklers.

I voted Other, because i would go for both starting safeties. Simpson was bad, but Whitner was really a ghost on the field.

Donte Whitner. I know he’s been injured and played through pain several times this year, but for a #8 overall pick, he has been a decent, but not great player. Not an impact player you’d expect at his draft level and experience thus far in his career.

Now, if we drafted Haloti Ngota instead of Whitner …

Our coaches made some of the WORST moves EVER this season folks. Crowell on IR after he would have missed like 6 weeks. Terrible move that led to Ellison taking over and he is small and WAY below average. This is why Poz was somewhat out on an island. We didn’t sign Johnson or anyone else at receiver that knows how to run a route and has a big physical presence. Why do you think Edwards had such a terrible year?? We cut Will James, a great veteran with speed and knowledge of the game for the last 7 years. Not to mention he could have really helped out our weak and pathetic secondary.

I voted for Simpson because I saw a lot of the back of his jersey, chasing someone down. When you play free safety, nobody is supposed to get behind you. Terrible year for KO. Whitner must be a great vocal leader and a pretty smart “Jauron” like guy. When he was drafted I almost threw my F****** TV out the window. Now I know why, he is a ghost on the field, never making any big plays, let alone any plays period.

BIGGEST BUST = Terrence McGee

Ko was bad but did anybody really think he was going to be good? I think it is James Hardy far far and away. I know rookie receivers aren’t supposed to make an impact but one of our biggest grievances in the off-season was that Reed wasn’t a number 2 receiver and that our offense needed somebody to take the heat off Evans and get us points where we struggled to finish in the redzone.

Hardy did not do any of that. He didn’t displace Reed, in fact made us appreciate him more, he didn’t take ANY pressure of Evans who should be commended for a great season with yet again no one else to work with, and he didn’t do anything in the redzone save one grab.

One of our biggest problems last year was that Evans needed help, whether a tight end or a big possession receiver. For now the THIRD year in a row Evans has been our ONLY aerial threat that defenses have to fear. FOR SHAME BUFFALO! They didn’t get a free agent with the hope that Hardy would do something. He’s not a bust, but boy was he a disappointment

KO, Poz, McGee, Johnson, Kelsay, Schobel, Denny, Ellison, Whitner have all the same problems – their not playmakers. Maybe McGee from time to time but his prime is past him.

They don’t make enough game changing plays

then we wonder why out defense is suspect (well i think our D is below average)

Then you have to look at whos bringing these guys in and signing them.

I ordered this from least disappointed in to most (#6 – #1)

#6 Poz – I think he’s been pretty solid, I think most people were expecting a Ray Lewis type season from him and that is just not fair. I don’t know that he will ever be a dominating LB like Lewis, of course he probably wont stab anybody outside the superbowl either.

#5 Trent - I really don’t know that before the season started we had tons of expectations for him. I think after the team started 5-1, expectations were through the roof. I’m a little down on him right now, but I also can tell that he is easily the best QB on the Bills roster, and I still see the potential in him.

#4 Hardy – I know that lots of people were seeing him as a game changer and a huge weapon for the Bills this year. My whole argument about taking a WR like Devin Thomas or Malcom Kelly with the top pick in the ‘08 draft was that you can never really count on a rookie WR having good year. That said, he really didn’t do a whole heck of a lot, and when all is said and done 7th rounder Steve Johnson looks like a better prospect.

#3 Simpson – He’s been bad, but I can’t put him any higher or any lower.

#2 O-Line – The Peters hold out, the injury to Brad Butler, the regression of Melvin Fowler, (yes being a full time starter, then losing your job to Dookie Preston counts as regression) have all worked together to kill their season. They have looked much better of late however.

#1 Ellis – The way Forgein Arrow talked him up, I was expecting 5 or more sacks at least. This team needed help rushing the QB, Ellis was drafted to help in that regard even if only situationaly, he did little to nothing for us this year, and because of that the Bills will have to look for a DE early in the draft or via free agency for yet another year.

But went with Hardy. The kid’s total for the season would be low for a decent player’s 1-game total.

Schobel was playing waaaaaay under his value during the first month, and succumbing to injury for the season has to count for something. Where did that toughness go? Lisfranc is no joke, but it seems ironic that he suffered such an injury setback after missing nothing for many seasons.

Oh, honorable mention should be given to the FB/TE position.

And what about McCargo? He should be up there as well.

Did this many people really have high expectations for a rookie receiver? How many rookie receivers do that well in their first year? I agree with Krytime. McCargo sucks

Because if he was unable to win some playing time this year, a year where both our DE combined only have 6 sacks – This guy should be ashamed of himself pure and simple. We wasted a 3rd round pick on this guy. Rookies rarely get the opportunity to start handed to them on a friggin silver platter and this guy got it and did nothing with it.

I must admit that I don’t trust out coaching staff because Jauron tends to be so overly loyal that maybe Ellis could have started but Jauron was favoring the incumbents. But Ellis clearly would have started if he really showed something special in practices, which should not be that hard to do… My only guess is that he just not that good or he lacks motivation or he’s lazy or all of the above! He was clearly in a position to help us out and he didn’t.

It would have to have be McCargo. Remember all summer when most were salivating at what McCargo and Stroud would do on the inside. Props to Williams though.

continued to make rookie mistakes all year, always falls for the play action fake which makes him suseptible to reverses and qb roll outs. he has 2 sacks while his backup, denney, has 4. denney also has more tackles then kelsey. while the DE’s have been big disappointments I think Kelsey has been the biggest of them all.

If the Bills were to pull a Whitner type draft pick next year, I’d love to see Taylor Mays in a Bills uniform. I know they won’t, but Mays is not just a freakish athlete, he is also a freakish playmaker. FS,6’3, 225, 4.4 40 and hits like a linebacker. He may redefine the safety position. The other “can’t miss” prospect, IMO.

Hardy did have a crappy year, but he was constantly misused. On his TD catch vs Jags he ran to the corner from the middle of the field. He had an angle to work with. Every other time I saw him in the red zone he ran the endzone fade down the sideline. No angle. Ridiculous. I also saw him run several hook patterns where he was standing still waiting for the ball and the ball was usually late. He will learn to come back towards his QB if the ball is late. The times where he caught the ball were mostly in patterns and quick slants. This is what a rookie tall WR should be doing. He should be in motion when catching the ball, not standing still. As regards Hardy, the coaches have a bigger learning curve than James. The jury is out till year 3.

Undersized, supposedly quick and disruptive. Way overweight for a DT his size. So much for that theory.

My guess is that he’s missed more tackles than anyone else on the roster. Buffalo definitely misjudged his ability….perhaps blinded by his Super Bowl ring?

He used to be “the man”. Now I’m not sure what’s gonna happen when he’s back there. He’s by far not the biggest bust, but he certainly isn’t punting like he did in previous seasons.

None of the big time receivers, save maybe Randy Moss, had an impact first year. It takes them some time to realize they can’t just half-a$$ it and then run by someone for a score. It takes time to learn how to play the position and find soft spots in the zone that were huge in college.

Ellis was supposed to come in and at least be a situational pass rusher. He has been inactive for so many games and as a third round draft pick you’re at least expected to be on the roster on Sunday. I think that’s disappointing.

These two guys have really disappointed me personally this year.

I’ll give Poz, Trent, Ellis, & Hardy a pass this year. All of them were basically in or just past their rookie campaigns as far as actuall playing experience. Give them some slack (and no need to mention the Ryans, Flaccos, Royals, & Fortes of the leauge).

I forgive the oline somewhat because of the line shuffling & Peters’ holdout. I think they have been pretty good as of late.

No words for Ko, ecept thank you for introducing me to B. Scott

But McCargo & Whitner don’t have much of an excuse in my book.

McCargo seemed to come on strong last year, and I was delighted. I thought something had finally clicked for this guy. hen we bring in Stroud & Spence, and I’m like wow…we have the makings of a pretty decent DT rotation this year. But alas…this guy can’t even motivate himself, let alone our coaching staff. Ending up behind a 5th rounder on the depth chart, basically getting benched, and even a trade could’nt light this guys fire. Dude…why did you even declare yourself for the draft?

And then there is Donte’s Inferno….If you talk the talk, walk the walk. I’m sorry, he’s a good player, versatile, a vocal leader, pretty decent against the run….but he is not an impact player (at least not yet). While I am not ready to give up on him, am no where near being impressed. He is not that great in coverage, his tackling technique is questionable (possibly led to his shoulder injury), still takes bad angles, and has not showed that big play ablity. I was really hoping this year would be a breakout year from him.

Honorable Mentions: Me as a fan….for letting my hopes get too high on such a young team going into the season with a rookie OC, and ignoring our issues and admiring our 5-1 record

He’s a team captain, he’s getting paid 3 million this year, has played all 16 games i believe and he has been a non factor in basically every single game. He has 2 sacks…….thats atrocious. He’s basically just put into the line up to fill space. I can’t thing of any game changing plays hes made all year or even in his career besides the pick for a TD against dallas last year. Ralph and the Bills organization are spending money on these poor excuses for players when they could be going after high end free agents or paying the people that really do deserve it. And don’t tell me that free agents dont win championships because the patriots completely demolished our division and the entire league last year after they brought in a ton of good free agents. Arrrrrgh just thinking about this team now and how they started makes me want to explode. sorry for the Biography

Donte Whitner is the biggest disappointment on the Bills and I don’t even think another player is in the same zip code on this one.

This guy had the nerve to guarantee a playoff berth this year. To back it up, what did he do? A whole lot of NOTHING. This guy is probably the worst open field tackler on the team, is downright awful in coverage and the next big play he makes will be his first. I’ve thought he was a solid player before this year, but this year I consider him a major bust. He was thoroughly outplayed by Bryan Scott at SS this year. This guy makes me somewhat sick actually with all his talk and no walk. I’ve been contemplating asking everyone what they would think about a Whitner trade, but we don’t need to open another position even though this one could really use improvement.

The other major bust is McCargo. I fully expected him to take the next step this year after showing signs his first 2 seasons. With Stroud in the mix, I thought McCargo was going to have a big year. Ouch.

Trent has disappointed, but I’m more disappointed in how he was handled.

Hardy and Ellis were rookie disappointments, but it’s hard to really get worked up over them not contributing because they are rookies. I’m more worried that neither showed any sort of ability whatsoever. A sign of good things to come would have been nice.

And it’s hard to label guys like Poz and Simpson disappointments when I never considered them to be that good to start with, Simpson especially. I never saw anything I liked out of Simpson, another terrible tackler.

That 2006 draft is so disappointing at the top….Whitner, McCargo, Youboty and Simpson. Just imagine where we might be had we not wasted 5 picks?? Well, maybe 4, I’m not sure Youboty’s a waste just yet…

Has dropped more balls than anyone on this team this year! He was a huge disappointment and actually cost us games this year AGAIN!

Drafted to be a situational guy (not a starter or in on 75% of the plays). Handed the opportunity on a golden platter because of injuries, and still had almost zero impact regarding the role he was drafted for.