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2016 NFL Draft: Buffalo Bills pick approval ratings

A look at eight years' worth of Bills fan approval ratings on all of the team's draft picks is... well, pretty hilarious

The 2016 NFL Draft was the tenth such event that we have covered here at Buffalo Rumblings, and for eight of those - starting in 2009 - we have published an approval poll with each pick that the Buffalo Bills have made.

After a year in which the team's top draft pick, Florida State cornerback Ronald Darby, garnered just a 50 percent approval rating from our community (and then subsequently nearly won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors), the 2016 draft class placed three picks inside the Top 15 most popular in our site's history. Shaq Lawson is now the second most-approved first-round pick for us, passing Eric Wood, while Reggie Ragland and sixth-round pick Kolby Listenbee earned high ratings, as well.

In fact, five of the seven draft picks this year garnered at least two-thirds approval from voting members of the community, including divisive developmental quarterback prospect Cardale Jones. (It helps when the project quarterback is taken in the fourth round instead of the first.) The only two players to dip below the two-thirds threshold were third-round pick Adolphus Washington and fifth-round pick Jonathan Williams - the former for, well, I'm not really sure why, and the latter probably simply because he plays running back.

Alas, none of the Bills' picks this year approached the wild popularity of 2009 fourth-round pick Shawn Nelson, or the crazy panning of 2009 second-round pick Jairus Byrd. We wait at least another year to see if the marks set by either of those picks can be approached again.

Year Rd # Player Pos College Approval
2009 4 121 Shawn Nelson TE Southern Mississippi 99 percent
2011 1 3 Marcell Dareus DT Alabama 96 percent
2013 2 41 Robert Woods WR USC 95 percent
2012 5 144 Zebrie Sanders OT Florida State 94 percent
2012 2 41 Cordy Glenn OT Georgia 92 percent
2015 6 194 Nick O'Leary TE Florida State 92 percent
2012 5 147 Tank Carder LB TCU 91 percent
2012 4 105 Nigel Bradham LB Florida State 89 percent
2010 7 216 Kyle Calloway OG Iowa 89 percent
2016 1 19 Shaq Lawson DE Clemson 88 percent
2014 5 153 Cyril Richardson OG Baylor 87 percent
2013 7 222 Chris Gragg TE Arkansas 87 percent
2014 4 109 Ross Cockrell CB Duke 86 percent
2016 2 41 Reggie Ragland LB Alabama 85 percent
2016 6 192 Kolby Listenbee WR TCU 85 percent
2009 1 28 Eric Wood C Louisville 84 percent
2010 5 140 Ed Wang OT Virginia Tech 83 percent
2009 5 147 Nic Harris LB Oklahoma 82 percent
2013 4 105 Duke Williams S Nevada 81 percent
2011 4 122 Chris Hairston OT Clemson 81 percent
2014 2 44 Cyrus Kouandjio OT Alabama 80 percent
2014 7 237 Seantrel Henderson OT Miami (FL) 80 percent
2013 2 46 Kiko Alonso LB Oregon 78 percent
2015 7 234 Dezmin Lewis WR Central Arkansas 78 percent
2014 1 4 Sammy Watkins WR Clemson 77 percent
2012 1 10 Stephon Gilmore CB South Carolina 77 percent
2010 6 178 Arthur Moats LB James Madison 77 percent
2011 6 179 Chris White LB Mississippi State 77 percent
2016 6 218 Kevon Seymour CB USC 77 percent
2009 2 51 Andy Levitre OG Oregon State 76 percent
2010 6 192 Danny Batten DE South Dakota State 76 percent
2011 7 245 Michael Jasper DT Bethel (TN) 75 percent
2012 4 124 Ron Brooks CB LSU 71 percent
2010 7 209 Levi Brown QB Troy 71 percent
2011 5 133 Johnny White RB North Carolina 68 percent
2016 4 139 Cardale Jones QB Ohio State 68 percent
2011 3 68 Kelvin Sheppard LB LSU 66 percent
2015 6 188 Tony Steward LB Clemson 66 percent
2010 3 72 Alex Carrington DT Arkansas State 65 percent
2011 1 11 Aaron Maybin DE Penn State 64 percent
2015 3 81 John Miller OG Louisville 64 percent
2011 2 34 Aaron Williams CB Texas 63 percent
2013 3 78 Marquise Goodwin WR Texas 63 percent
2013 6 177 Dustin Hopkins K Florida State 62 percent
2012 6 178 Mark Asper OG Oregon 62 percent
2011 4 100 Da'Norris Searcy S North Carolina 59 percent
2011 7 206 Justin Rogers CB Richmond 59 percent
2010 1 9 C.J. Spiller RB Clemson 56 percent
2016 3 80 Adolphus Washington DT Ohio State 56 percent
2014 3 73 Preston Brown LB Louisville 54 percent
2016 5 156 Jonathan Williams RB Arkansas 54 percent
2013 1 16 EJ Manuel QB Florida State 51 percent
2015 5 155 Karlos Williams RB Florida State 51 percent
2015 2 50 Ronald Darby CB Florida State 50 percent
2012 3 69 T.J. Graham WR North Carolina State 49 percent
2009 6 183 Cary Harris CB USC 48 percent
2010 2 41 Torell Troup DT Central Florida 46 percent
2013 5 143 Jonathan Meeks S Clemson 45 percent
2010 4 107 Marcus Easley WR Connecticut 44 percent
2014 7 221 Randell Johnson LB Florida Atlantic 44 percent
2009 7 220 Ellis Lankster CB West Virginia 42 percent
2012 7 251 John Potter K Western Michigan 42 percent
2009 2 42 Jairus Byrd S Oregon 23 percent