Picking Last Special: Draftees Still With Buffalo
by FrankL on Oct 12, 2010 10:09 AM EDT
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In researching the fourth part of my "Picking Last" series (you can find part three here) that at least some of you have been reading (thanks!), I compiled this interesting tidbit.
With the release of Chris Ellis to make room for the return of Shawn Nelson, the following can be stated about the Buffalo draftees in the last 10 years.
- No one from the 2001 or 2002 draft is on the team (So long, Aaron Schobel)
- Since the 2003 draft, Buffalo has drafted a total of 63 players
2930 of those players started on the 2010 team this year in the off-season- Five
Fourof those players (Edwards, Lynch, Hardy, Calloway and Ellis) are already gone this year. - Levi Brown was also gone, but is now back.
- John McCargo, by all rights, should have been gone. He was traded away only to be returned from the Colts as damaged goods.
- Of the remaining
2223 players, 11 of them were drafted in 2009 or 2010. (Maybin, Wood, Byrd, Levitre, S. Nelson, C. Harris, Spiller, Troup, Wang, Moats, Easley-Not counting Brown again) - This leaves a whopping
1112 players from 2003-2008 who were drafted and are still on the team (Kelsay, McGee, Evans, Parrish, Whitner, Youboty, Poz, McKelvin, Corner, Bell, S. Johnson, and Kyle Williams-not counting McCargo again).
Of those eleven guys there is exactly one pro bowl experience. Only three of them are first round picks. So from 01-08 only first round picks are still here, one solid (Evans), one arguably under-performs at low impact position (Whitner) and one has the book still out on him by most accounts (McKelvin).
The three other first round picks (Maybin, Wood and Spiller) have one certain bust among them, and two players who look good so far in their young career.
Of the 25 drafted players on the team (now including McCargo and Brown) how many of them contribute in any meaningful way? How many are here because they just haven't brought in a better player yet? How many do you think are on Chix's chopping block?
Color me unimpressed. One of the larger themes coming out of this project is just how few people work out-and even those few that do, because of how we draft, inevitably get moved out of the way for cheaper younger talent. Even if "drafting a QB" is now our priority, it's hard to believe that the investment will be treated properly, or that it won't be erased three years from now by a new Head Coach/Front Office.
(Part IV, btw, will be up later this week).
Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.
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Correction
Sorry, I tried to edit this just now but a minor mistake.
Carrington is not on the team, he was cut in August.
So that makes 5 players already gone, from the 29 who started in the Offeseason and
22 still on the team (not counting McCargo or Brown) (11 from 09-10, 11 from 03-08).
Carrington is not on the team, he was cut in August
carrington is on the roster
Listen! You smell something?
Nice Post
Yes, this is why we suck. And I hate how every year Bills fans try to justify why we took this guy, or that guy when we know right then and there that it was surprising that they took this guy vs. what most people think we should take. Every first round pick over the last few years have really shocked me. From Willis McGahee to C.J spiller. We have spent 3 1st round picks on RB’s and none on important positions, like Offensive Tackles. A good OT can play for 10 years, while a RB avgs. maybe 4. And in our case, both Lynch and McGahee were off the team within 4 years. Now we took another RB but have no line for him. Just doesn’t make any sense to me. Especially when we had 2 starting RB’s to start the season
by csc06258 on Oct 12, 2010 10:15 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
We have spent 3 1st round picks on RB’s and none on important positions
Tom Donahoe drafted McGahee
Levy drafted Lynch
Nix drafted Spiller
as a Bills fan – and I know it’s tough, but you have to single out these regimes and fail them individually.
Give Nix a chance – as far as Spiller – here is my philosophy on BPA and Spiller with Nix. Nix said that this is going to be a long and painful rebuild. When he takes BPA (Spiller) he’s taking a guy that he knows (as much as you can know) will translate – even if it wasn’t a position of need because he was the best player available.
He could have went BPA need and gotten Clausen or whoever – but Spiller was BPA. that’s part of the reason why this is going to take so long – he’s going to take the best players, regardless of position and get some talent on the roster.
Listen! You smell something?
I'm not ready to crucify Nix yet
But If Donahoe hadn’t drafted McGahee, he wouldn’t have left a few years later necessitating the need to pick Lynch. Similarly, taking Spiller might be good (he probably was BPA) but you might not need to have taken him if Lynch and Jackson had been enough.
There is a problem with each regime trying to stack a roster with “their guys” when there already good players at those positions. Of the three RBs taken in the first round, McGahee and Spiller seem to be over the top. That’s two positions that we should have first round talent at other positions for.
Stacking talent at the RB position doesn’t seem to work. I hope Buffalo eventually learns that lesson.
I can agree with that – i’m just not sure that’s how they saw it.
I think they saw a roster with guys that aren’t difference makers and wanted to get them some. with Spiller I think he’s going to be a difference maker.
Listen! You smell something?
True
I also think its way to early to judge at least the 2010 draft, and probably still a little early to really judge the 2009 draft over all. Except for Maybin, who is probably done at the end of the year.
I think Maybin is a 3 year project at this point – much like our roster.
I honestly have little hope he’s goign to pan out and i’d really like an answer on who specifically was responsible for that pick. I have to think it was DJ and his need for a pass rusher in order to try and field a playoff team considering that was one of our largest issues. Right now – i’m pretty much pinning that on DJ.
Listen! You smell something?
Corruption within
No one denies a certain amount of chance factors into draft picks. For the bills picks to so consistently fail, perhaps look somewhere else: player development.
Young players get better through physical maturity, good coaching, and good competition.
To me, the Bills draft record indicates more than bad scouting. It indicates that young players who come here are wasted away by a losing mentality, bad coaching, and inadequate competition in practice.
Bad scouting, yes. But without a few Free Agent vets, who are the rooks supposed to learn from?. I pray that Nix isn’t going to merely try to draft his way out of this mess – it’s one thing throwing players against a wall and see who sticks, it’s another thing when there’s no wall.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
by Job 7:6 on Oct 12, 2010 11:58 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs
Agreed wholeheartedly
One of the things I wish I could do better research on is this very question. Are Buffalo players getting coached as well as other teams (I think you could guess not, fairly safely). How good would (Edwards/Maybin/Losman the list goes on) have been under the right tutelage?
Sadly, I don’t think its something you can directly measure-just speculate on from the outside. Still, there is some coming from inside the house and while I can’t see the fire, I’m sure there is one.
Very good point.
Rec’d
2010 Bills' truth in advertising: "Look out Cleveland, this year we score 6!" - bluecollarbuffalo
by thefourwinds on Oct 13, 2010 1:31 AM EDT up reply actions
You're right
Kyle Williams was drafted in 06, so that would make 12 people from 03-08 and 24 total draftees still on the team.
Ugh-yeah him too
I swear, you’d think it would be easier not to miss these things. The beauty of the crowd source, I suppose.
Sorry for the lackluster fact checking this time around, gang. I think the overall point of the article remains-we don’t keep a lot of players, and not a lot of the guys we draft are worth keeping
He's on IR
Which is why I probably missed him. Kind of hard to tell whether they’d have kept him around or not if he hadn’t been on IR. There are rules about cutting an injured guy that perhaps they couldn’t get around with him. He doesn’t count against the roster spot, so no problems for him yet.
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