1st Round Survey

man if crabtree fell to 11 i would totally want him but thats not going to happen sigh

With that said, if he’s not the Bills’ #1 rated center then they should do what it takes to get that guy—free agency, take their guy later in the draft, tell Lynch to pork up and go beast mode on DTs…..

but I have heard Mack will go into the second round, and possibly day 2. Maualuga seems like a must pick if he is available, but I would still have to go with a pressure DE. No preference, b/c one doesn’t stand out much within the top 5.

I actually voted for Aaron Curry. Curry and Mays are the only guys on the list that I would even consider at 11. I guess Laurinaitis is a player I would consider too, but I wouldn’t be too excited about drafting him that high.

I think Mt. Cody is WAY overrated based on his size and the fact that Alabama was ranked so high all seson. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slides all the way into the third round. He will have injury and weight issues at the next level. He fades away to the point where he almost dissappears late in games. I’m not sure Cody will ever be a guy capable of playing more than 50% of defensive plays without losing a lot of what makes him great.

Robinson, Moreno and Harvin probably shouldn’t be on the list. I don’t think they are top 15 type guys and none of them are big need positions.

I don’t view Maualuga as a top 20 pick for a 4-3 team and I think Selvie isn’t even a first round guy for 4-3 teams.

Andre Smith is gone by 11, but if he isn’t the Bills better trade down and let someone overpay to get a stud.

I like Mack, but I’m still not sure where the love afair is coming from. He is the best center in this draft and one of the best in a few years, but I don’t think the gap between him and the other centers warrants drafting a center 11th overall.

Honestly, I’m not sold on Crabtree who is slow and struggled to get seperaton a lot of the time. He is way to high of a bust risk for me when we already have a bust alert on the WR we just drafted in the second round last year. I think Maclin is a better pro prospect than Crabtree, but wouldn’t consider him at 11 either. A lot of his value is rapped up in his return abilities, which the Bills don’t really need and as a deep threat which the Bills already have in Evans.

I love Peria Jerry, but I don’t think he is special enough to take at 11, especially since we don’t have a huge need at DT. Same for William Moore, he’s a really nice player, but not a top 15 type of guy, especiallly consider that Taylor Mays is in this draft and the Bills would probably be better served drafting a versatile safety that could play either spot (not that Mays can).

I put other as the title up there because I would take Orakpo (i’m assuming he was left off because you think he will be gone), Michael Johnson or Greg Hady over most of the players on the list.

Why does no one show this guy any love? He was a force all season and played extremely well in the Bowl game. He is a DE for FSU. I think the Bills will bring back Angelo Crowell.

I voted for Peria Jerry. This guy is a big time player. He’s better then Kyle Williams and Spencer Johnson.

However, if OBD has another first round brain fart I hope they take a BIG DE. In order of preference I’d go Orakpo, Hardy or Johnson. Honorable mention goes to Laurinitais.

I can’t vote, because the top THREE prospects I’d pick aren’t even on the ballot!

TE Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma
DE Everette Brown, Florida State
DT B.J. Raji, Boston College

I voted Mack. He would make a world of difference immediately, and be a much bigger impact player than Whitner was at #8.

best DE or LB at #11. If Manualga can be an effective blitzer in our 4-3 and maybe be allowed to move Poz, and if that makes sense, I am all for it. We need to get more sacks out of a LB in our 4-3. Getting a guy that can free up Mitchell more to do that, or a new guy that can do that would be so big for our defense. I don’t see a DT coming in right away and having that impact. LB"s can have an impact right away and if we got the best one, I would be thrilled

I’m voting for Everette Brown…

I think our most desperate need is at DE and I believe that Orakpo is the man for the job. If he’s off the board then go with M. Johnson.
However, if both are gone by #11 (a good possibility) I’d be tempted to go Maualuga and plan on moving Poz outside.

once again Orakpo is definitely at the top of my DE board, I left him off simply to show the desperation for a C. People are willing to take Mack, a guy who comes along in EVERY draft… and pass on generational players like Maualuga, Curry, and Mays, or Harvin and Maclin, and maybe even Orakpo.

I voted for Aaron Curry and that’s if we do not re-sign Crowell.

I also like these players too…
Brian Orakpo, DE Texas (will be praying that he’s still on the board)
Michael Johnson, DE GT
Everette Brown, DE FSU
Brian Cushing, LB USC
Jermaine Gresham, TE Oklahoma
Brandon Spikes, LB Florida

And might I add, many experts considered Lynch and Witner were drafted too early based on value. I have a feeling the Bills pull the trigger early again and take Gresham. The draft is deep if a lot of the juniors enter the draft, and I’ll be happy with the Bills 1st rounder (unless they chose another bust like McCargo or J.P. Loss-man)!

I think Aaron Curry is the top rated player on that board. He’s disruptive, instinctive, smart and causes turnovers. otherwise known as everything the Bills are lacking on defense.

Trade down, and grab the best receiving TE in the draft and add another pick or two in the process.

No more high picks spent on WRs, please.

yeah, but the last 2 years the draft picks have been right along what the “experts” have thought. We have filled immediate need with the best at their position in each 2007 and 2008. Whitner is proving not to be a big time playmaker, but I think if our front 7 was studly, he would improve some. The good news is he’s still only 23 and will turn 24 next September. His best football SHOULD be ahead of him.

the key is you can’t screw up trade up decisions like Losman and McCargo. You just cannot do that. That sets a franchise back rather than forward. If guys like Youboty, Derek Fine, Alvin Bowen, Reggie Corner end up paying dividends then we will know that our FO is doing an OK job at scouting, evaluating, and finding guys to fit our systems

none of the top DE’s impress me that much……

pretty interesting right now where everybody stands. Pretty broad. I imagine it’ll narrow down to 4 or 5 prospects in a couple of months. I’ll do a SURVEY SAYS every now and again to see where the board stands on important issues… this one will pop up repeatedly because there’s so much talent in the 1st round and not much separation between prospects.

When I’m analyzing the draft I usually find myself looking at later round prospects more to find gems and possibly fill holes on the team. But really, the number of holes on this team has diminished every year, which is a credit to our beloved DJ. I really believe the problems with our D is 95% due to scheme and lack of a pass rush. Kelsay, Ellison, and Simpson are the weakest starters we have on D, and they’re all average players… by no means are they the only reason our D was ranked 14th (which is a huge improvement from last year, what more can you ask for?). So now I’ve been solely focusing on our 1st pick… because it is so crucial.

Imagine what our pass rush could be if we have Orakpo and Schobel getting after it. And there’s always the chance that Chris Ellis will pleasantly surprise us. Everybody was disappointed with him, but he was a project from the beginning: when they drafted him he as raw physically and technically.

Imagine what our offense could be like if we get a guy who can handle the DTs in our division and add a TE that can make DCs sweat about defending the middle of the field.

Right Now

Buffalo should try to resign Crowell, draft a DE (1), sign a Center, draft a TE & S (2-3). I wouldn’t even care if we spent picks on DE round 1 AND 2.

and i have a feeling our FA will be similar to years past. The Robert Royals, Langston Walkers, Kawika Mitchells of the world. Nothing too great

If Curry or Andre Smith were still on the board at #11, you’d have to take them. I don’t think they will be though.

My top three that I realistically think will be there would be Mack, Maualaga, and Gresham. I voted for Maualaga. He makes big plays, has that rare size/speed combination, and he plays crazy. We need a little more crazy. Besides, we’d have the craziest hair of any LBing corps in the league.

and won’t for quite some time yet. As others point out, we have Juniors yet to declare, and I will add, we have the Combine and individual workouts yet as well… I Suffice to say that at least half your list will fall to the end of the round, if not out altogether…
That said, I will be watching the TE’s and C’s closely for the next few months… Mack and/or Gresham may very well fit the billing as the “once every decade” player that would also fill a need for our team…

Remember the name and if Andre Smith, OT Alabama or Michael Crabtree, WR Texas Tech were there yes we would take them .Kinda like the dt idea though . but we gave up on pat Williams its his curse we cant stop the run

the only issue I would take is that he’s a safety. I would choke if the Bills took yet another DB in the 1st round.

now I want the big fellah from BC BJ RAJI………..him and stroud starting with Kyle Williams and Spencer Johnson rotating in behind would be AWESOME……..

Im sure Brian would be understanding of my decision.

Kinda odd to leave likely the top two guys the Bills will be looking at off the list!
I’d like a trade down for Duke Robinson so we can start giving our two great RB’s the blocking help they deserve and also go for either of Alex Mack or Max Unger in the 2nd or even Luigs in the 3rd instead if we go TE like Coffman in the 2nd or a DE like English or many others! That is if either of Orakpo does’nt fallor Gresham is not our target by value at 11!

Options:Not at all a complete draft but just options depending on how the draft breaks for us on filling our biggest needs and of course we would not draft this many players of the same positions but this is just the guys that could be at value for us per round!
1st-OG Duke Robinson in a trade down if DE Orakpo or TE Gresham is not an option!
2nd-C Alex Mack or C Max Unger or TE Chase Coffman
3rd-DE Larry English or DE Jerry Hughes or C Jonathan Luigs
4th-DE Will Davis or DE Cody Brown
5th-TE Darius Hill
6th-TE Kory Sperry or DE Ian Campbell
7th-QB Josh Freeman

resign Crowell
sign Atogwe,Leftwich or Garcia,Vilma,Birk or Saturday, Owen Daniels if by chance he does not get a 1st round tender!!!

I explained in this up above that this was not my mock draft but simply options per round of the positions we need most and depending on the way the draft broke and who fell to us and what direction we went in per round say if we did’nt take a TE until the 5th round—who I though would be the best players per round based on our most pressing needs!! Yikes yeah right, I know my stuff and I clearly did’nt say hey lets take a crap load of TE’s!! And yes Freeman might go very high in this draft and that will be determined by the combine—If he falls into the 4th or lower he would be a good pick but not higher than that as he makes some terrible decisions often and would be a deffinite project!

Then take him and find a way to trade back to get Mack. Curry looks like one hell of an impact player and there seems to be concensus that Mack will still be there in the late part of round 1…

Does anyone know which other team is looking for a top center this year?

Options follow each player based on who we take in each round as it goes and these are only our largest needs!
Sign-Owen Daniels,Jason Brown,Michael Boley,Oshomogho Atogwe,Vilma,Garcia

Trade down 1st OG-Duke Robinson/DE-Brian Orakpo/LB-Aaron Curry/TE-Jermaine Gresham
2nd C-Alex Mack/C-Max Unger/DE*LB-Greg Hardy
from Trade 3rd TE-Chase Coffman/TE-T.Beckum/DE-M.Shaughnessy
3rd DE*LB-Larry English/C-J.Luigs/C-Eric Wood/WR-Hakeem Nicks
4th QB-Josh Freeman/C-A.Caldwell
5th DE-Will Davis/TE-D.Hill/DE-G.Middleton
6th TE-Kory Sperry/DE-Ian Campbell
7th DT-Jarron Gilbert/C-AQ Shipley

I voted for Curry because I’ve seen him play more than any of the other players on the board and I think he’s not only a athletic guy who can make a difference in terms of the pass rush, but has solid hands and can make plays back in coverage as well, something our current LBs are not as strong at. He’s also an outstanding leader and comes from a great coach in Jim Grobe.

If he wasn’t available second vote would be for Alex Mack, and if not him then third would be Selvie.

Well, about 36% of voters reached for a player of need (28% reached for Alex Mack and 8% reached for George Selvie as of this posting). 64% of voters went with their perceived “best available” of the choices that were given. Now, there were some players left off that could have satisfied both parameters… but that was the rub with this poll. Personally, I don’t think it is wise to pass on impact players in the 1st round to fill a need. I think the Buffalo Bills should do everything they can in free agency to prevent that from even being an issue. Center is not a position that needs to be drafted necessarily. In fact, if you are all looking for someone to step in right away and have an impact on the line then a rookie center is not the best place to turn. I don’t want a rookie calling out line adjustments against the Baltimores and Pittsburghs of the world, do you? I would prefer a veteran player to be brought in. And it seems hard to believe the Bills could find someone worse than Preston or Fowler at run blocking. Good centers should be available in the 3rd or 4th rounds and they can be coached up for a while.

After watching Baltimore’s defense today, I’ve been pushed in the direction of acquiring world-beater athletes that can simply physically dominate a game. The Raven’s defense is full of players at every level that can change the game on any play. Whether it starts with Terrell Suggs getting pressure on the QB and forcing an INT to Ed Reed, or if it’s Haloti Ngata clogging the middle and allowing Ray Lewis and Bart Scott to blow up running backs. The amount of talent they’ve accrued has even allowed former Bills Justin Bannan and Jim Leonhard to make differences for them.

So come April, if the Bills call out Taylor Mays or Terrence Cody or Rey Maualuga I will not be shedding tears because we had bigger needs.

Center is taken care of with the 2nd round pick depending on who falls out of Mack and Unger or we could go in a different direction with that pick if a player of a different position who is highly rated on our board falls to our pick in the 2nd and then pick up Luigs or Wood in the 3rd! I also wanna saythat I really like this DE Will Davis of Illinois and I just hope we get him and that he does’nt sky rocket to high up the draft rankings leading up to it! As far as where we play Duke Robinson? Well we have our needs and I think other than TE and possibly QB we are pretty decent enough in other areas and depite the money we spent on our O-line that it still is not opening the run lanes and I feel like Duke Robinson would be the mauler we need, I would say that he would deffinitly puch Dockery to step up his game and most likely replace Butler at RG and allow us to have way more leverage in case of another likely Peters hold out or if we get a possible offer of a 1st round pick for Peters than we can feel comfortable that Butler could play his old position of RT and Walker at LT! I mean looking at it I dought Butler would do to much worse than Peters did this year when he led all LT’s in the NFL in sacks allowed in less than a full season and also we will not be seeing any distractions from Butler at RT!!! I think it is a very safe thing to do and of course if there was a trade for Peters for a 1st round pick than you can add another high rated player to that group of picks and go for maybe Jermaine Gresham with that pick or possibly Mauluaga or who Knows maybe E.Brown even though I feel he is better suited as a 3-4 OLB in the NFL at his size!