Things Looking Bad For Buffalo Bills 2010 NFL Draft Class

The Buffalo Bills drafted nine players in the 2010 NFL Draft, which happened to be the first year that GM Buddy Nix and head coach Chan Gailey were heading up the team's football operation. Of those nine players, it's looking quite possible that only two will make the team entering the group's third year of pro ball.

C.J. Spiller has not produced like a Top 10 pick, but has at least shown enough to not only (hopefully) emerge as a pseudo-starter (read: frequently-used weapon) this season, but completely eradicate doubts about whether or not he can perform at this level. Arthur Moats, a sixth-round pick, may be on the verge of a starting job in the team's new 4-3 defense, as well.

As for the other seven players, three have long since departed the roster, and four more rest squarely on the roster bubble as the first cut-down date looms in two weeks' time. It's officially make or break time for the quartet of Torell Troup, Alex Carrington, Marcus Easley and Danny Batten.

Troup's career may have ended before it even began thanks to a back injury that derailed a promising 2011 off-season, then required surgery that has left him to a painful recuperation that's still ongoing. He's had trouble getting onto the practice field (and then staying on it) this summer, and with the Bills employing a lot of veteran and youthful talent alike at his position, Troup may run out of time to get fully healthy. Read this article and try not to feel the guy's pain; you will likely fail.

Carrington, as a result of Troup's misfortune, probably has the best chance of making the team this year. That's no lock, however. He currently sits behind four very tenured veterans that coordinator Dave Wannstedt seems high on to varying degrees, and that could mean that it'll take the team keeping five tackles for him to be a consideration. That's not out of the question, considering how reliant on defensive line depth Wannstedt is supposed to be, but other young players like Kellen Heard and Kyle Moore are right in the conversation alongside Carrington, as well. You can add Troup's name to that conversation if he manages to get healthy enough to play this pre-season, as well.

Easley has been a fan favorite since the summer after he was drafted, but a knee injury and a heart ailment kept him on IR for two years, and now the team appears to be moving on at receiver. T.J. Graham is the new up-and-comer at receiver after being picked in the third round this past April, and Easley has fallen behind veterans like Derek Hagan and Ruvell Martin on the depth chart. Barring an unforeseen surge through the back half of August, Easley looks as if he's on the outs. (And no, I don't believe he's eligible for the practice squad, as I'm fairly certain that his two years on IR count as accrued seasons.)

Compared to the chances that Troup, Carrington and Easley have of making the team, Batten's chances look minuscule. He has not transitioned to linebacker nearly as smoothly as Moats has, and probably has the worst shot at making the team of any linebacker on the roster. His ability to long snap likely doesn't help his chances at all given the presence of the supremely underrated Garrison Sanborn.

As for the three players that were off the roster well before the 2011 season began: fifth-round pick Ed Wang is currently a third-team left tackle for the Oakland Raiders; seventh-round quarterback Levi Brown is on an injured list for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL; and seventh-round guard Kyle Calloway, as far as I've been able to find out, is currently out of football altogether.