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.
So... Thurman Thomas. He was pretty good at football. He's in the Hall of Fame. He rushed for 12,074 yards, caught 4,458 yards worth of passes, and scored 88 touchdowns in his 13-year career. A supremely versatile runner, Thomas was one of the first multi-purpose NFL backs that hurt opposing defenses as a runner and receiver out of Buffalo's K-Gun offense. He was, is, and will always be one of the most revered players in team history.
He did all of this despite the fact that a knee injury caused him to slide into the second round of the 1988 NFL Draft, where GM Bill Polian selected him with the 40th overall pick out of Oklahoma State. When you pick a Hall of Fame player in the second round, you're doing something right.
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