Mock Draft 2012

by Deadpool71 on Jan 19, 2012 9:09 AM EST

My mock draft looks to simply address what we need:
a. pass rush
b. depth

Round 1 - Quinton Coples - DE - UNC - Some people on this site think he is an underachiever and I have seen him take off plays. The chaos in UNC did not lead to stability and push that he needed. He will make an impact and that is what we need. When he is on his game he can get after the quarterback.

Round 2 - Bruce Irvin - OLB - West Virginia - He has been productive at getting to the quarterback and that is what we need. His stats do not lie.

Round 3 - Frank Alexander - DE/OLB - Oklahoma - He played in a high profile program and pressured the quarterback. He has the size to be an OLB or DE which is what we need.

Round 4a - Nate Potter - OT - Boise State - This is a solid player with experience and high character. He may eventually become a starter but for now he add to our depth at the position.

Round 4b (Evans Trade) - Brian Quick - WR - Appalachian State - This is a tall and speedy WR from a small school and could make an impact from day 1. This is the prototypical WR that Nix is looking for and if Easley works out Quick will give us help on special teams.

Round 5 - Quinton Pointer - CB - UNLV -He has good timed speed and if he comes back from his injury he can be a steal.

Round 6 - Russell Wilson - QB - Wisconsin - This kid is going to be told he is “too small” to play in this league. He has been productive at two different programs. He has the “it” factor. He just needs time to develop. He is a solid fit for Gailey’s system.

Round 6 - (Lynch Trade) - Nicolas Jean-Baptiste - NT - Baylor - Fat guy for the middle of our line. He is simply more depth at a position of need.

Round 7 - Garrett Celek - TE - Michigan State - I do not know how he is related to Brent Celek but that can be a bad thing. Blocker with a upside.

I know it is really too early to do this be I think this draft would be a home run for the Bills. Your Thoughts would be great.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.

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Comments

Interesting...

I like a kid coming out of F.I.U. ~WR T. Y. Hilton. On the small side 5’10’ 175 but is a playmaker a return specialist and was very productive. Worth a mid-round pick.

How come I always get blamed for everything I do ?

Dennis the Menace

by Goose22 on Jan 19, 2012 9:36 AM EST reply actions

Love it

I love all the defense in the first 3 picks I would do the same thing cause pass rush is the biggest issue. However I would go with Mercilus in the 1st over Coples. Also instead of going 3 straight rounds of OLB/DE I might go with a CB in the 2nd or 3rd. However, if your scenario happened I would not complain at all.

by Gesome77 on Jan 19, 2012 9:46 AM EST reply actions

Yup!!!

No complaints here! Would love to see Wilson here just because I’m curious.

"Aw snap, aw snap, come to my macaroni party and we'll take a nap!"

by J0ckam0 on Jan 19, 2012 9:53 AM EST via mobile reply actions

I would be..

ecstatic if this was how our draft came out.

by CBATL32 on Jan 19, 2012 10:03 AM EST reply actions

isn't coples

that guy that is an underachiever? Lazy? And only plays when he wants to? No thank you

by satyr on Jan 19, 2012 11:00 AM EST reply actions

Very solid draft.

by PineWoodsBillsFan on Jan 19, 2012 11:24 AM EST reply actions

LOVE IT

Pass rushers and more pass rushers. Can’t have enough. See: NY Giants.

by jmkney on Jan 19, 2012 11:33 AM EST reply actions

Are you envisioning Coples as a 3-4 DE here? Otherwise its pass rusher happy which I am fine with.

by DynamicHero22 on Jan 19, 2012 11:54 AM EST reply actions

Coples

I think everyone agrees that Coples is best as a 4-3 DE, and the only pure one at the top of the draft. Love the idea of stocking up on pass rushers, but are you anticipating the Bills stay with a 3-4 or shift to a 4-3. Don’t think Coples would fit in a 3-4 that well (another prospect we would have to transition over) and the other guys seem limited to only being 3-4 rush OLBs

by wagoncircler10 on Jan 19, 2012 12:18 PM EST reply actions

Not a fan of coples

I havnt seen anything that makes him special or worth the number 10 pick he does have decent size but he is a pure pass rusher and not a 3 down linebacker

With the first pick in the 2012 draft the Indianapolis Colts select Robert Griffen III

by Gpluehri on Jan 19, 2012 12:32 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Great idea

Everyone is going disagree on who the best OLB / DE are in each round. I just wish the Bills would follow this structure and pick three in a row. They have to hope you hit on two of them and solve this position for the forseable future.

Even if they pick a home run with the first round selection, we’re still overall weak at that position. Need depth and talent.

by Slick Shifty on Jan 19, 2012 1:41 PM EST reply actions

Coples

Coples has the talent to be an elite pass rusher in this league. At UNC he was asked to be their nose tackle and he had an overhaul of his coaching staff. He could work in a 3-4 or 3-4 scheme and we would be better with him actually getting to hte quarterback compared to this season where our pass rush disappeared for games.

The only way we are going to be able to get to the playoffs is to be able to beat everyone in our division and this draft will hopefully get us to do just that.

Fat, Drunk, & Stupid is No way to go through life.

by Deadpool71 on Jan 19, 2012 2:00 PM EST reply actions

Coples has the talent to be an elite pass rusher in this league

not everyone would agree with that. i certainly dont. even when hes playing hard (which is rare), i dont see the burst / explosion to turn the corner a whole lot in the NFL. hell be able to cause problems, but dwight freeney he is not.

Its fun to think quarterback, but i think the odds of nix taking one in the first are close to 0%.

by boomsauce on Jan 19, 2012 2:31 PM EST up reply actions

I get a bunch of UNC games living in Virginia, and watched them. I almost never noticed Coples playing nose tackle. UNC plays a 4-3, though they sometimes go with a three-man rush. Even then, Coples was on the edge.

Please show us where Coples played NT. If he did, I think it changes the dynamics a big. Somewhat similar to checking the effort of Carrington if Buffalo asked him to play nose. At some point, he’s going to continue to get beat up, and wear down.

That said, Coples didn’t play that hard this year.

Re-starting the official Buffalo "Draft a quarterback in the First Round in 2012" campaign.

by Der Jaeger on Jan 19, 2012 4:34 PM EST up reply actions

If you look

Coples up for his youtube videos, you can see him playing nose tackle against Florida State in 2010. He looked overwelmed. He also looked too small to play the position.

Fat, Drunk, & Stupid is No way to go through life.

by Deadpool71 on Jan 19, 2012 8:31 PM EST up reply actions

I have seen very little of Coples and what I have seen is draft analysis on Youtube. I believe the one that I clicked on showed his good and bad plays. I didn’t notice that he played NT in a 3-4. I mostly saw him play as either the DT or as the LDE or RDE in the video/videos that I saw. Even when he played DE, I wasn’t impressed with him. He is not a sudden athlete. He has very average acceleration and speed in my opinion. It seems to take him some time to get to full speed. And I think that is part of the reason why people think he is sleep walking through games.

by AP22 on Jan 19, 2012 8:47 PM EST up reply actions

Is that the only time he did this?

Re-starting the official Buffalo "Draft a quarterback in the First Round in 2012" campaign.

by Der Jaeger on Jan 19, 2012 9:11 PM EST up reply actions

He played as the rush tackle in 2010 due to suspensions (Marvin Austin in particular) and injuries.

And having seen Coples in person a bunch the last 2 years, I can agree to some degree with Der Jaeger that Coples was not consistent in his performance, though to be fair, when your head coach is fired just days before the start of training camp, and through all the other distractions and what not, he still had a decent season. I know, not an excuse but just perspective on his (and the entire UNC defensive) struggles.

by sabre74kkn on Jan 20, 2012 11:56 PM EST up reply actions

Coples

You said it yourself. When he is on his game, There are too many times when he isn’t. Nice effort the rest of the draft looks good

by Winnie33 on Jan 19, 2012 2:13 PM EST reply actions

garrett celek

is brent celek’s brother.

Give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to know one from the other.

by k8 on Jan 19, 2012 2:25 PM EST reply actions

i dont know where coples got this reputation as a big time pass rusher. hes not particularly quick off the ball, or blessed with big time redirection ability. coples game is about power. he got sacks in college by manhandling lineman, on the rare occasion that he felt like it. he wont be able to do that in the pros. he can be really really good, but the obvious laziness in his play is too much. i want buddy nix going after relentless defenders, not guys who go thru the motions on half the snaps.
if irvins there in the 2nd hes a guy the bills should pounce on. irvin has as much raw talent as anyone in this draft not named robert griffin.
wont comment much on the rest, besides this:

Fat guy for the middle of our line. He is simply more depth at a position of need.

how is nose tackle a position of need? besides the fact that the stache is almost certainly going to switch to a 4-3 base defense, the bills have 4 guys who can play NT and be effective (williams, troup, dareus, heard in a pinch). i just dont see the point of drafting a 4th or 5th string nose tackle..

Its fun to think quarterback, but i think the odds of nix taking one in the first are close to 0%.

by boomsauce on Jan 19, 2012 2:29 PM EST reply actions

Totally agree with Boom

The DT’s are solid. Even the backups are okay. Where this defense needs help is either the 3/4 OLB or the 4/3 DE to generate pressure. Coples is not a guy to trust to play hard. He could turn out to be like fat Al. Would you ever take a chance on a guy like that? Especially in the first round?

That is how we ended up with Maybin. Huge boom or bust guy. I will pass. Let some team with a proven locker room that can control him take him.

by satyr on Jan 19, 2012 2:45 PM EST up reply actions

I personally don’t think Coples has that explosiveness. Irvin does. It is like he is shot out of a cannon just like Freeney. However, Irvin is too small to be a defensive end in the NFL and would probably be just a situational pass rusher. You would think that you would want more out of a 2nd round pick. I am not a fan of Coples at all. I don’t care if they didn’t play you at your favorite position, you had better be giving it your all. To me that should be automatic and the first thing that you do. That shouldn’t be optional. Irvin is intriguing to me. I would want him in the third or fourth round and try to develop him into an ROLB if he could handle the weight and cover. And I don’t know if he can do either of those. But if he can that is where I would like us to draft him.

by AP22 on Jan 19, 2012 4:04 PM EST reply actions

Round 1 – Quinton Coples – DE – UNC – Some people on this site think he is an underachiever and I have seen him take off plays. The chaos in UNC did not lead to stability and push that he needed. He will make an impact and that is what we need. When he is on his game he can get after the quarterback.

Just that assessment of him alone makes me not want him. You want a high character, give it all type of guy in the draft. What was going on with the coaching staff shouldn’t have anything to do with his drive and work ethic. If he is lazy, I don’t want him.

"Security comes from earning it--not seeking it." Marv Levy

by howedyhowe on Jan 19, 2012 4:15 PM EST reply actions

IMO i dont like it

Irvin is a 3rd round guy and coples isnt a good pick

Ay Ay Ay Ayyyyy

by BuffaloBillsBigestFan on Jan 19, 2012 4:52 PM EST reply actions

Irvin is a 3rd round guy

well see how long it stays like that. id put money down that bruce irvin is a first round draft pick in april.

Its fun to think quarterback, but i think the odds of nix taking one in the first are close to 0%.

by boomsauce on Jan 19, 2012 5:57 PM EST up reply actions

Now that I think about it, I think he would be worth a late 2nd or early 3rd rounder. However, I do not see how he could be drafted in the first round. Yes he is a good pass rusher but that is just half of the game. You can’t put him at DE unless the situation is right because teams will run at him. He hasn’t played linebacker in college so we really don’t know how he will do with that. So I definitely don’t think a team is going to spend a 1st round pick on a player that probably can’t play his college position, except in certain situations, and they don’t know how well he will do at another position. I think whoever picks Irvin in the 1st round deserves to be fired.

by AP22 on Jan 19, 2012 6:30 PM EST up reply actions

literally everything you just said there could also have been written about von miller at this time last year. literally every word.
the best scouts are projectors. the fact that irvins gotta play a different position is totally meaningless. the only thing thats important is how good can he be at the position he will be switching to. with his talent i think the answer is: extremely good.

Its fun to think quarterback, but i think the odds of nix taking one in the first are close to 0%.

by boomsauce on Jan 19, 2012 6:49 PM EST up reply actions

However wasn’t Von Miller a linebacker already?

by AP22 on Jan 19, 2012 7:28 PM EST up reply actions

whoops. i apologize, i had forgotten he switched as a senior. although for what its worth he played a hybrid 3-4 kind of linebacker in school and switched to a 4-3 linebacker in john fox’s defense. basically he made the same kind of move i personally think irvin should be making. either way my point about player projection remains the same

Its fun to think quarterback, but i think the odds of nix taking one in the first are close to 0%.

by boomsauce on Jan 19, 2012 8:09 PM EST up reply actions

whoops. i apologize, i had forgotten he switched as a senior.

What is up with the sarcasm dude?

I did not know that Miller switched to linebacker for his senior season. I don’t follow college football so I didn’t know that. I assumed that was his position all along. I still stick to my point. Miller has at least played the position for at least a season. Irvin has not. Teams at least had a whole season to evaluate where he was, how he improved, and what he needed to improve on. Teams are going to have to forecast more with Irvin with less information. Therefore, I don’t think that they are going to risk a 1st round pick when they don’t know if he can make the transition. Miller did make the transition. We don’t know if Irvin can.

by AP22 on Jan 19, 2012 9:58 PM EST up reply actions

i wasnt being sarcastic at all with that comment. i had posted earlier as tho miller played his entire college career as a DE, when in fact i had forgotten that he switched to a 3-4 olb in his senior season. your comment made it seem like u knew that, so i apologized for my error.
again, the best scouts are projectors. what does this guys skill set allow him to do in the NFL, and how good can he be at it. figuring that stuff out is the reason these scouts make money. i think bruce irvin can be a 3 down nfl player if he gets used in a similar fashion to von miller in denver. its an opinion, and im a complete amateur, but thats just how i see it. if NFL scouts happen to see it the same way, that guys a first round pick

Its fun to think quarterback, but i think the odds of nix taking one in the first are close to 0%.

by boomsauce on Jan 19, 2012 10:09 PM EST up reply actions

ehh...

i liked some picks but i see quinton coples as another albert haynesworth..

by youngbillsfan83 on Jan 19, 2012 6:39 PM EST reply actions

If we substituted

Whitney Mercilus for Coples would people be happy. Mercilus did make a serious impact as a pass rusher in the Big 10 this season. He is a junior which is either good or bad at OBD. Either way drafting a pass rusher is a priority.

Fat, Drunk, & Stupid is No way to go through life.

by Deadpool71 on Jan 19, 2012 8:37 PM EST reply actions