If you’re the sarcastic realist, you’ll note that the 4 sacks Maybin should get as an average rookie NFL DE would, in fact, put him in contention for the Bills team lead

Woulda been my comment exactly. But on a more serious note, if a 21 year old rookie comes in and leads the team in sacks with 4, is there a rule against cutting your entire front 7 on defense? What would be our cap hit?

My gut says Maybin will have 4-5 sacks this year. But I think you must remember he will be playing agains right tackles (hopefully), as Schobel will line up versus the LTs. Typically the RT is less athletic and more susceptible to athletica and quick DE’s, Maybin clearly falls into this category. Therefore, a RB might need to be kept in to assist if Maybin is able to get past the initial block. All-in-all I beleive Maybin’s impact will be felt significantly on passing downs. He creates problems on the right side, which should help Schobel and if Maybin proves to be an annoyance, teams will have to game plan for him (i.e. RB kept in scenario), this relates to one less receiver to have to deal with.

Even if Maybin out runs the play and moves past the quarterback. the QB will catch him in his peripheral vision and again create a diversion. I actually am buying into the fact that Maybin is exactly what we need to increase our pass rush.

considering he will only be playing situationally. I am more concerned with teams having to gameplan for somebody on our defense. If they even have to chip on him or put a RB on his side I would be happy. My hope is that Maybin or Schobel will draw a double team most of the time leaving the other one to actually go one on one and get pressure.

But I predict he does nothing to aid the Bills this season and people will call him a bust by week 10.

He’s going to contribute as much as Hardy did last year.

Probably not. And I’m not sure he’ll fix them next year either just because we need a lot of help. He’ll be the only threat next season, and may be the only one this year too. That’s why I wanted Brown in round 2 as well, as we needed more than just one pass rusher for this team.

As much as I think Maybin will help, he still is unlikely to get any more than 5 sacks or so, so he won’t be fixing anything unless he surprises everyone….

a) He will be a situational pass rusher which means:
       - He will be fresh and very hungry when given a chance
       - He will be opposite a guy that can get the job done when healthy
b) I think he will really help improve the efficiency of Schobel, teams will have to choose which side to double team. But now when both Aaron’s are in the game the outside rush will be a lot harder to contain. We might actually see the middle crumble as a result.
c) I know he will not play OLB but in 3rd and long situations I definitely see him lined up wide standing up, in order to give him a chance to get to the passer without being engulfed by the big RTs

I see him getting 5-7 sacks this year and his presence will help Schobel put up 10-13 sacks (if he stays healthy, which is a big if).

and improve our pass rush, regardless of sack totals, which should still be closer to 6 than 3. Here’s why:

Maybin has more in common with the 3-4 rookie types than the usual 4-3 guys. Maybin’s too quick, his first step is going to give tackles problems, enough so that the QB will have to adjust when he feels the pressure. I agree with Jason from OH-IO that Maybin going up against RTs will help. Also, let’s remember that Maybin’s first step is going to be even more dangerous because our secondary is good enough to force QBs to hold onto the ball longer than they would against most defenses.

I know its pretty popular are here over the last two offseasons to say that a pass rush makes a secondary better but it does work the other way around as well. If QBs do try to rush their throws against us you can get that Leodis McKelvin will be taking more than one the other way and we know hes a threat to go for 6. So that should buy Maybin more time or at least cause a few INTs.

Finally, as you said rookie defensive ends dont often contribute so the first year is not a fair gauge of their ability to be a pass rusher. In this light I expect Chris Ellis to add 4-7 sacks this year as well. Between the two of them we should get around a 10 sack bump, add a healthy Schobel, and a motivated one, and I’d add 4 more to that.

To be nitpicky, Lawrence Timmons doesn’t belong on that list. He played OLB at Florida St. and isn’t a great pass rusher. I think he’s actually going to start inside in place of Larry Foote. Jarvis Moss broke his leg and a healthy rookie season from Mario Williams would have landed him with twice as many sacks.

I wouldn’t expect more than 4-5 sacks from Maybin depending on how much Buffalo uses him and the kinds of 4th quarters Buffalo plays. Some early leads could result in a really good season from Maybin. I don’t think he necessarily needs sacks to make a big impact eiter. If Buffalo can just put him on the field at LE on obvious pass downs with a healthy Schobel on the right side and leave 7 guys in coverage as result, Buffalo could get some extra turnovers that way too.

jeveon kearse came in to the league and wrecked havoc as a rookie…perhaps, he was an exception.

Simple reason for that is also the biggest thing he brings to the table : Speed.

if you look at the list of 4-3 rushers, you don’t have many speed rusher, and none as good as Maybin. Most speed rushers now are 3-4 OLB’s. I think Maybin’s number’s will be closer to Ware’s and Merriman’s numbers then the DE’s on the 4-3 list.

Does that mean that he’ll get 10 sacks? I don’t think so. But I don’t think that 6 to 8 sacks are out of the question either.