Top 10 Buffalo Bills Players Age 25 Or Under - Redux

I like our young guys prospects going forward. Really happy about CJ and Hairston progress.

Looks like calls for Nix’s head might be premature. I think the Bills should give this experiment one more year of evaluation before choosing a new direction.

As much as some would like to pull the plug on the GM or coach, how many of us want to suffer another system overhaul? It may not be showing up in the ‘W’ column yet, but I think the depth of talent on this team has improved from when Jauron was here. IT also is nice to have NFL size linebackers, linemen and receivers for once.

What I want is an experienced Dareus next to a healthy Kyle Williams. Add in a PASS RUSHER !!!! and all of a sudden our pass defense becomes top notch. If our defense improves a little, our current level of offense should suffice.

This roster is awful – not only do we not have much worth keeping over 25 but the under 25 has Donald Jones in the top 10. So not only do we not have a productive team now our future roster by virtue of our players under 25 isn’t looking very rosy either.

Marcus Easley? Donald Jones? Make it a top 8 Bills prospects and be done with it – yuk!!

To find hope for 2112 with this Bills organization, I think the list is one way of finding some.
Thanks Brian and Happy holidays to you and your’s and everyone at buffalo rumblings.

Go Bills!

if you added the ages of every defensive player on the Bills, then multiply it by three, that total will be half the total age of the Pittsburgh Steeler defense.

or Ravens defense, whatever, your preference is.

I really thought Bell showed he has what it takes to be a VERY good LT for the Bills???

The past 2 years have gone well looking at the young talent we have now. Hopefully next year will be a great off season and we will continue to get better. Fitz can be the guy for the short term. A year in the Bills off season conditioning program will decrease the amount of injuries and with a couple more talented players this team can make the playoffs. A WR, CB and 2 OLBs away, and obviously more depth.

Marcell Dareus has had a capable rookie season. I’m satisfied enough with his play to accept that he’ll be just fine in the years to come. I’m not really sure whether he can be expected to get 10 sacks a year; but he might. For the moment he’s an athletic 330 lb. thorn in the side of our enemies’ offensive line and looks like he’ll get better as he gets into his prime, picks up some understanding and training.

Aaron Williams looks like the next Terrence McGee as a worst scenario, a guy who in the very least will be around for 10 years and hold down the position with some talent. I’m really excited to see how he develops in years 2 and 3. He was one of the least hyped players in his draft class here at Rumblings, but he may turn out to be the best player yet in Nix’s drafts.

I always thought CJ Spiller was a bad use of a draft pick, for reasons that are dead horses by now, but I’m finally seeing something really good. Until this year I never really saw anything out of the guy. He looked like an explosive that someone forgot to light the fuse to. He’s more than flashing things now, he’s displaying technique and pro-level instincts. Let’s see some more of that, because Fred Jackson won’t be around torching defenses forever.

Chris Hairston‘s probably going to be better than Bell, but will that be enough to make him more than a stopgap at LT? I need more sample size to make a conclusion here. At least we know that someone’s manning the post now who needs more of a look. Bell was done here.

I didn’t give Justin Rogers two looks until he was kept in favor of Reggie Corner. I didn’t give him a third look until he made the first play on defense. Now I can’t take an eye off the guy. 30 yard kickoff returns and blossoming coverage skills has me really intrigued. Maybe another classic late-round Bills find.

I’m rooting for Kelvin Sheppard, and wondering if maybe outside linebacker could help mitigate his coverage deficiencies. Probably another year in the league next to Nick Barnett will do wonders for his game in general, though. I’d rather leave him in the Will and see how he responds after another year or so.

Da’Norris Searcy is somewhat of a mystery – it’s clear the Bills are getting bigger and more physical in the secondary. He played competently, but then again, so did Ko Simpson at times. Looks like good depth in his second year.

Alex Carrington seems to be somewhere in the middle of expectations. He’s not a bust like some have labeled him, but he’s not lighting up offensive tackles or the stat sheet, either. If anything, he looks indistinguishable from Spencer Johnson. Good, but not much better than depth or stopgap starter quality.

I wish Marcus Easley could stay healthy, because this guy might actually be the No. 2 WR we’re all looking for to put next to Steve Johnson. He had such a good preseason this year that he’d almost claimed that slot by his play. Yes, yes, preseason doesn’t mean that much, but it’s not meaningless either. Honestly, he may be the guy.

Donald Jones probably didn’t deserve to be put at No. 2 receiver. A few comments from Fitzpatrick during the lockout workouts and his size measurements gave him the advantage there, along with Easley’s absence. Right now I don’t think it’s a big deal to retain Jones past his rookie contract. He’s what we have in spades at receiver already; middling talent that’s capable of overachieving but doesn’t look like the real future.

I don’t see enough on this list to write off the team’s struggles as the obligatory growing pains for a young, re-building team. Dareus looks like he has a bright future and while Spiller has finally shown flashes down the stretch to anticipate much bigger things, his overall body of work two years in is still pedestrian. Aaron Williams and Hairston have had an injury plagued rookie seasons and while I like the flashes Rogers has shown, I doubt many view him as a legitimate starting cornerback down the line.

All and all, this is merely list of young players who probably belong in the NFL on some level, but really haven’t distinguished themselves as players likely to develop into the cornerstones of a contender from what I’ve seen. In other words, every team in the league has executed a number of draft picks over the past two seasons and most of them have received some playing time simply by virtue of the investment made in them. Have any of these players above (aside from Dareus) really differentiated themselves from their peers league-wide? Personally, I find it distressing that only Dareus above has earned a starting job thus far for any reason other than “by default.”

It is nice to see that Spiller could turn out to be Fred Jackson, but with elite speed. The Bills should attempt to get a bruiser running back in the draft (later rounds)…. Defense again I believe is the order of the day on days 1 and 2 of the draft….

I see some good arguments for considering Buffalo’s run game elite and some good points about the passing game setting up the running game. Freddy and Spiller have put up very similar numbers in the running game this season. As a season ticket holder and someone who has watched every game, I can agree that our run game isn’t elite. I can think of countless 2nd-3,4,5,6,7 that turned into 3rd-1,2,3 which was followed by a pass on third down. When we tried to punch it through it has been stuffed a lot. If you have watched spiller closely the last few weeks, he has had a couple of nice gains up the middle, but most of them are from draws( out of shotgun), counters or sweeps. That’s not to say the Bills having the leading rusher after week ten isn’t impressive or elite its just that we don’t know how to pound the football. I’m not even sold the line needs much of an upgrade, but instead point to this team needing a Lendale White( no I’m not saying White was good past that season). When Chris Johnson was at his peak he was used much like Spiller is now. The only difference was he wasn’t asked to keep drives moving on third an 1 every time, something he doesn’t do well either. Buffalo’s run game is close to giving people a lot of problems next year, a healthy Wood and company will help as well.

But to say they were elite this year, is a bit of an overstatement, especially if you look at the Run defenses we played early this season. A power back could put us right there in 2012.
As for the list Brian, couldn’t agree more LOOKS PRETTY FREAKING SWEET (minus Donald Jones ever starting again). :)

A qb by round three, I will be flabbergasted.

I say we take a QB in round one. Everyone git rid of those Fitz jerseys.

My hope is that we get a big name FA or two this offseason. Bell and Stevie are huge losses.
Bell’s only problem is staying healthy. Otherwise he is now a quality starter.
My season-ticket holding friends tell me Stevie Johnson is frequently open without a pass coming. And when it does come, Stevie usually has to adjust to make the catch and loses any chance of getting some RACY. Fitz is done in bflo. If stevie goes, we will regret it.

We will never get good enough without filling a hole with a probowl FA. Pass rusher would be ideal, but may be too rare to hit FA.
So, get us a franchise CB, Wr or TE chixy.

This list looks considerably better than it did during Jauron’s last year here, in my opinion. But that probably has a lot to do with hindsight.

but in order to do that, we have to have 2 more great drafts. We have some nice pieces in place, just need some more play makers, one at WR and OLB or two, another cover corner, another ILB, maybe DE or another NG, a few more depth players, i guess i’m not asking for much. Franchise QB would be nice to have for 15 years of dominance. Of course, if you believe in the Myan prediction about 2012 then i guess my prediction will fail.

I loved reading the back in forth of these comments. My opinion lies somewhere in the middle of most of the comments.

J2, I think you’re being a little harsh with this list. It’s a fairly solid list and the Bills have plenty of young guys on the roster who could overachieve their draft status or performance to this point in their career and make the list look better in hindsight (although, I guess you could also make this argument the opposite way considering that there are an absurd six rookies on the list).

I also totally get where J2 is coming from though. It’s not nearly as impressive of a list as Bills fans seem to be making it out to be. IMO, it’s an average, at best, group compared to other NFL teams and that’s despite having the luxury of having a 3rd overall and 8th overall pick and earlier picks in later rounds as a result of picking that high. Somebody mentioned Green Bay, but when the Bills list isn’t any better than a team that’s been picking at the back end, it’s not something to get excited about.

That was the best thread I’ve read in a while.

Arthur Moats? I would say he should be 9 or 10 over one or both of the WRs. Is he older than 25 or has that hype train passed?

If he does fit the age criteria I think a guy with pass rushing ability and athleticism at a weak position for the Bills should get the nod over a guy who hasn’t played a down in 2 years and a marginal possible #2 option.