Ed. Note, by Brian Galliford: Bumped from the FanPosts.  It's a couple of days old, so you may have read it, but it's an important point to note.  The Buffalo Bills should have some opportunities to acquire more draft picks this April, and MARVelous makes many great points in pleading with the Bills to do so.

With the NFL Draft just 30 days away, we are starting to really see this event shaping up as Pro Day information is flying around the Internet, with the usual "misinformation" from various sources trying to put "red flags" on certain guys in hopes they will fall to them.  Most notably this year, the three top quarterbacks - Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman - all have been under the microscope.  Mike Mayock has let it be known that Stafford's "inconsistencies" are the reason he would stay away from him with the top pick.  The knock on Sanchez is that he only has 15 career starts and is not seasoned enough to be worthy of a Top 10 selection.  Then there is Kansas State's Freeman, who reminds people of Daunte Culpepper with his physical attributes (6'5", 249 pounds), but you will find more mixed reviews about this guy than any QB considered a first round pick in the draft.  Some talent evaluators are extremely high on his athleticism, arm strength, durability and lack of character concerns with no off-field issues.  However, you'll find just as many scouts that criticize him for his inconsistency, failure to play big in big games, and his overall lack of vision from the pocket as he forces way too many throws.

Stafford or Sanchez is destined to be a Top 10 selection with the Lions, Jaguars, and 49ers all in need of a QB; some would say the Rams and possibly Seattle could use one too.  Unless San Francisco drafts a second quarterback with their tenth overall selection, jockeying for position for Freeman and possibly Stafford or Sanchez will begin at that point..  Here is what Mike Lombardi stated in his notes on Monday in the National Football Post.:

If I’m working with Buffalo or Denver, I’m praying Sanchez goes to Jacksonville at seven and I can sell off the pick to all the Freeman lovers.

If Stafford and Sanchez are gone at #11, undoubtedly those teams that love Freeman might want to jump up and get him, much like Denver did for Jay Cutler in 2006.  I know that this current regime under Dick Jauron hasn't traded out of its spot yet because they target guys and love getting "their" guy, and maybe the offer just hasn't been right.  But, if Buffalo wants to keep improving the overall talent of its roster, the best way to do that is by maximizing their trade opportunities in the draft.

Trading Willis McGahee and Takeo Spikes to acquire extra draft picks served the Bills well in recent years.  With our organization not being able to buy the high priced free agents every year, acquiring extra draft picks allows a small-market team like Buffalo to increase the number of players from the draft that will pan out.  The draft is an inexact science as we have seen.  Thus, increasing your number of draft picks, especially in rounds 1-5, greatly enhances the opportunities to find players that will pan out and fit your system like you had hoped.

We've already seen Donte Whitner, John McCargo, and J.P. Losman as top tier guys that didn't pan out.  That happens.  But instead of just saying "well that guy didn't work; that sucks" they should try to acquire more picks, add talent at those positions to weed out the weaker players. The extra third-round picks we have acquired in recent years allowed us to acquire Trent Edwards in 2007 and trade for Marcus Stroud in 2008 - two players that you could argue are the most important acquisitions this front office has made since 2006 - and both of them likely would not have happened if we didn't have the extra arsenal of draft picks to do it.  Draft picks are to small market teams what an extra $20 million in the bank account does for big market players that can supplement failed draft picks with experienced players who have shown the ability to produce.

Of course, it takes two to tango, as they say, and we'll never know exactly what the Bills have been offered in the past.  But, this year, picking at #11, the Bills should look at every opportunity to trade out if the Jets, Bears, Bucs, or Lions at 17-20 come calling about Freeman or if the top two quarterbacks begin to slide.  It would be a phenomenal way to add value to this organization.  Moving up from 17-20 would cost those teams their first round selection, a third round pick and possibly a third pick somewhere between rounds five and seven.

This is discussed every year.  Every fan wants their team to hose another team, still get the player they want, and acquire extra picks.  But this year smells of 2006, when the team reached on Whitner.  If the team reaches on a guy again this year, the franchise cannot afford that kind of a hit.  So if Jauron and the "inner circle" are unsure about the value at #11 and the exact player they should take, hopefully a team like Tampa will be calling so Buffalo doesn't have to gamble on a guy that may end up making as few big plays as Whitner has done over his three years in a Bills uniform.  Just a thought.  Either way, hopefully this organization will know what to do when their time on the clock comes, as they have plenty of experience picking in the 8-13 range the last few seasons.