With the 2011 NFL Draft quickly approaching, we thought it'd be a good idea to run down the Buffalo Bills' ten biggest draft successes and failures. I decided at the last minute to make this an "of my lifetime" series, meaning that the only busts and gems that you'll see listed here every day were picked in 1985 or after.
Aaron Maybin turned 23 years old last week, on April 6. It is extraordinarily difficult to put any 23-year-old football player on a list of NFL Draft busts, especially when the player was the No. 11 overall pick, and even when the player's career stat line reads 26 games, 24 tackles, zero sacks.
Maybe it's premature. I'd love to think that I'm jumping the gun on this one. Were there any indication that Maybin might even have the opportunity to turn things around, I'd have left him off the list. But it has become crystal clear since the start of the 2010 regular season that Maybin won't be handed anything, and head coach Chan Gailey has stated plainly that Maybin will have an uphill climb to make the roster next season. That's an unusual level of failure on a rookie's part - even if he's still only 23. Therefore, Maybin makes our list, and ranks quite high for a player that still, when you get right down to it, has upside.
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