-First off, you can call me Mel Kiper Jr.?! Who predicted the first three picks for the Bills? ME! Yup, I wrote that the Bills would go with Dareus, Williams and Sheppard. I am awesome! Buddy Nix has made me look like a genius. OK, he didn’t, but I feel smart for a change-
-Look, lets get a couple of things out of the way before we get into the 2nd day of the draft. This may all sound redundant, but we aren’t going to know how well this draft class is for at least three years. It’s also very rare to have rookies make an immediate impact on the team, especially 2nd day ones. If you look at the 2nd round of the 2010 NFL Draft, only Rob Gronkowski really had an impact on his team from last year. All I’m saying is that it’s going to take time. So, don’t think the Bills defense is going be ranked in the top 10. Will it be better? Yes-
-Alright, now that we got that out of the way…..HOOOOORAY!!!! Seriously, how can you not be excited about this year’s draft? For the first time since 2001, when the Bills selected Nate Clements, Aaron Schobel and Travis Henry, their first 3 picks of this year’s draft should start on opening day. Hell, even Todd McShay singled out our draft and said it was one of his favorites. It’s funny, because I hate when experts give grades to drafts, but when they end up giving your team a nice grade, you totally throw that line of thought out the window-
-Since December, I’ve been preaching that I wouldn’t have a problem if the Bills used every single one of their picks on defense. Now, I didn’t think the Bills would go that route, but they sure seem to have the same line of thought. OK, they aren’t going to use all of their picks on defense, but the needs they are filling were huge holes on this roster. Honestly, I’m still for going after defense in round 4. They could use another ILB or OLB-
-As for the players, I did a Q&A about Kelvin Sheppard, and after speaking with the writer, you could just sense that Kelvin would be perfect for the Bills. Judging by his highlights package, the Bills will finally have a legit linebacker who can play on 3rd and long. I’ve been beating a dead horse when it comes to talking about how Poz plays on passing situations. He stinks and it’s definitely not a part of his forte. With Sheppard, he’s fast enough to cover tight ends and backs out of the backfield. He also looks like someone who can actually make plays behind the line of scrimmage, which is something we have desperately missed from the linebacking core. Plus, he seems like a nice complimentary player next to Poz. Poz is a north/south pursuer, while Sheppard seems like he can go east/west. Of course they would have to resign Poz, which I’m willing to bet will happen-
-I know some fans weren’t thrilled about Aaron Williams, but as I’ve been touting for weeks, the Bills secondary is vastly overrated. With Whitner and Florence free agents, McGee’s history of injuries and McKelvin’s inconsistency issues, it was a position of need. I assure you, with the addition of Dareus, the Bills run defense should be better. Now, because of that, teams will now elect to throw more on the Bills. In a division with Tom Brady, you need as many corners as humanly possible. BTW, I should have a Q&A about Williams at some point this weekend with the Longhorns writer on bloguin.com-
-You gotta love the colleges that the Bills draft picks played for. These are top tier schools that are always competing for a national title-
-OK, if, and this is a BIG IF, the Bills can somehow have all the stars lined up: No injuries, Carrington/Troup/Edwards evolve, add an OLB/ILB via free agency, and have Shawne Merriman meet up with Mr. Miyagi, so he can do the same magic leg spell that helped Daniel LaRusso beat Johnny in all Valley Tournament, then this defense could be pretty decent next year–
-Without question, the man in charge of these drafts is Buddy Nix. I don’t have any sort of inside knowledge, but it always seemed like Dick Jauron had way too much of a say in who should come to Buffalo via the draft. Him and his damn cover 2 defense brought us the likes of Whitner, Maybin and McCargo. Jauron, being a defensive minded coach, always semed to be on the lookout for his own kind. I’m not saying Gailey doesn’t have a say, but under Nix, the Bills have selected 5 defensive players in the first three rounds of the last two drafts (CJ Spiller is the exception). We all know Gailey is an offensive guy, so, you can only assume he’d rather draft offensive guys. Of course, I’m just speculating, but you can just tell that the Bills aren’t drafting to appease their own coaches or the fans..which leads to my next point–
-I know some people are disappointed that the Bills didn’t get a QB. Look, for the 100th time, if the Bills didn’t think any of these QBs were franchise players, what the hell is the point of selecting one? It’s the exact same thing we went through last year when people wanted Tebow, McCoy or Clausen. Again, this is a 3-4 year rebuilding process. Build the defense up and then draft the QB. There’s not a written rule that states you must start rebuilding with a QB first. You could always add QB last. If the Bills only needed a QB, and their defense was ranked #1 in the NFL and their offensive line was awesome, then you reach for a QB-
-Also, I’d like to just remind you that if Ryan Fitzpatrick’s name was Val Johnson (Think a cool name), who was drafted in the 2nd round, started 36 NFL games (Just over two seasons), improved from his first season on, and threw for 26 touchdowns in his last 15 starts, would you be begging the team to draft a QB? I wouldn’t. Look, do I think they need a franchise QB? Yes. However, fans still forget that Fitzpatrick doesn’t have much game experience under his belt. What if after another year under Gailey’s system, Fitzpatrick improves even more? Hey, if we are judging him as a first round pick, he’s exactly where you would want your QB of the future to be at. All I’m saying is maybe we should just let this play out a little while longer. I mean, what’s your hurry? We are rebuilding for craps sake-
-Look, I’ll be the first to say that the Bills need a tight end. I’ve been bitching about it for the last 15 years! However, what is the point of begging them to pick one? They aren’t going to ever address it! At least not on day 1 or 2 of the draft. Every year we go through this?! One year, it’s Brandon Pettigrew who everyone wants. This year, it was Kyle Rudolph. It’s never going to happen! I don’t know why, but they just don’t believe in the tight end position. They never have and they never will. So, give up. Anyways, from a football standpoint, it probably wouldn’t make that big of a difference since Gailey is all about 4 wide receiver sets-
-As for the final day, I’m not going to name players, but I think they will go in this direction: 4th round will be OT and ILB. 5th round will be secondary. 6th round will be OT. 7th round will be TE and Secondary. Do I have any logic to that? Absolutely not. Bottom line: Pick the best player available-
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
