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Buffalo Bills pre-draft visitors, 2012 vs. 2013

The Bills entertained a lot of future first-round picks in 2012. What might 2013 bring?

Rick Stewart

As we have been keeping diligent track of all of the pre-draft visitors spending time with the Buffalo Bills this spring, we've had a few inquiries about those visits from previous seasons.

The Bills did not publish the list of 30 visitors until last year, but we do know that each of the three first-round picks that GM Buddy Nix has made in Buffalo (C.J. Spiller, Marcell Dareus and Stephon Gilmore) all made pre-draft visits to Buffalo. At least one other player (Kelvin Sheppard) made the trip, and there may be more - but memory fails us.

Last year's list is below. Of the 30 prospects that visited One Bills Drive, more than half (16) were eventually drafted in the first round, and three of them were picked by the Bills, including both of their top two picks (Gilmore and Cordy Glenn).

Player Pos. College Rd Pick Team
Trent Richardson RB Alabama 1 3 Browns
Matt Kalil OT USC 1 4 Vikings
Justin Blackmon WR Oklahoma State 1 5 Jaguars
Morris Claiborne CB LSU 1 6 Cowboys
Mark Barron S Alabama 1 7 Buccaneers
Ryan Tannehill QB Texas A&M 1 8 Dolphins
Luke Kuechly LB Boston College 1 9 Panthers
Stephon Gilmore CB South Carolina 1 10 Bills
Fletcher Cox DT Mississippi State 1 12 Eagles
Bruce Irvin DE West Virginia 1 15 Seahawks
Dre Kirkpatrick CB Alabama 1 17 Bengals
Melvin Ingram DE South Carolina 1 18 Chargers
Shea McClellin DE Boise State 1 19 Bears
Chandler Jones DE Syracuse 1 21 Patriots
Dont'a Hightower LB Alabama 1 25 Patriots
Whitney Mercilus DE Illinois 1 26 Texans
Brian Quick WR Appalachian State 2 33 Rams
Cordy Glenn OT Georgia 2 41 Bills
Jonathan Martin OT Stanford 2 42 Dolphins
Mike Adams OT Ohio State 2 56 Steelers
Brock Osweiler QB Arizona State 2 57 Broncos
Vinny Curry DE Marshall 2 59 Eagles
Josh Robinson CB Central Florida 3 66 Vikings
Olivier Vernon DE Miami (FL) 3 72 Dolphins
Russell Wilson QB Wisconsin 3 75 Seahawks
Jamell Fleming CB Oklahoma 3 80 Cardinals
Kirk Cousins QB Michigan State 4 102 Redskins
De'Quan Menzie CB Alabama 5 146 Chiefs
Tank Carder LB TCU 5 147 Bills
James Brown OG Troy UDFA Bears

So far this year, 11 pre-draft visitors have been confirmed by the team. 19 more are on the way; we'll continue to update this list (and the above StoryStream) as the team announces more names. Obviously we're not selling this as some sort of key to reading the tea leaves, but it's an interesting trend to monitor as draft day approaches.

Player Pos. College Ht Wt 40
Geno Smith QB West Virginia 6'2" 218 4.59
Matt Barkley QB USC 6'3" 227 4.90
E.J. Manuel QB Florida State 6'5" 237 4.65
Mike Glennon QB North Carolina State 6'7" 225 4.94
Landry Jones QB Oklahoma 6'4" 225 5.11
Matt Scott QB Arizona 6'2" 213 4.69
Jeff Tuel QB Washington State 6'3" 218 4.60
Justin Hunter WR Tennessee 6'4" 196 4.44
Da'Rick Rogers WR Tennessee Tech 6'2" 217 4.52
Ryan Swope WR Texas A&M 6'0" 205 4.34
Zach Rogers WR Tennessee 6'0" 182 4.46
Russell Shepard WR LSU 6'1" 196 4.46
Ryan Griffin TE Connecticut 6'6" 261 4.87
Dion Jordan OLB Oregon 6'6" 248 4.60
Barkevious Mingo OLB LSU 6'4" 241 4.58
Jarvis Jones OLB Georgia 6'2" 245 4.92
Alec Ogletree ILB Georgia 6'2" 242 4.70
Kevin Minter ILB LSU 6'0" 246 4.67
Jamie Collins ILB Southern Mississippi 6'3" 250 4.64
Kenny Vaccaro S Texas 6'0" 214 4.59
Cooper Taylor S Richmond 6'5" 228 4.49
Jonathan Meeks S Clemson 6'0" 209 4.55
Malcolm Bronson S McNeese State 5'11" 187 INJ