Team Mock Draft: Buffalo Bills

The picture above is of John McCargo, one of many 1st round busts for the Buffalo Bills in the last decade (J.P. Losman, Marshawn Lynch…for them at least, Mike Williams, Eric Flowers, and it can be argued Aaron Maybin and Leodis McKelvin too, though they still have youth to make something of themselves). In fact since 2000, only Nate Clements, Willis McGahee, and Donte Whitner can be considered players of moderate success, but two of those three players don’t even play for the Bills anymore.

This is, in essence, why the Bills haven’t made the playoffs in forever…they can’t draft…especially in the first round.

Let’s take a quick look at the needs for the Bills.

Linebackers. Paul Posluzny is a good player, but the Bills could use an upgrade at all three other linebacker spots (Arthur Moats showed a little bit last year, but Merriman is a huge question mark and they don’t have much else at linebacker at all). The linebackers were a big reason why they couldn’t dominate against the run. Check that, stop anyone from running.

Offensive Linemen_I’ve met Demetrius Bell and he was a great, kind guy. I’m just not sure that he is a franchise LT who is a fixture at the position for the next 10 years. At RT they don’t have a franchise guy either. They have Andy Levitre and Eric Wood who play both guard spots or center (Eric Wood and Levitre as guard). Offensive linemen is a position they should consider early.

Cornerback-McKelvin hasn’t been as good as the Bills had hoped. He’s solid, though. Terrence McGee is getting old and was hurt all year. Drayton Florence is a Free agent (CBA depending). The Bills could use a cornerback to try and shut down the passing attack of the Patriots, a team they  haven’t beaten since the formation of the league, it seems.

Tight End-Kudos to anyone who can name a team with a worst TE group then the Buffalo Bills currently employs. You can’t do it, it’s impossible. Go Ahead and try though.

Franchise Quarterback-Fitzpatrick is serviceable until they add talent at all the other positions…the Bills don’t need a guy who can win them a championship (which he can’t), they just need to compete for a playoff spot (which he can do).

DL-90 percent of people mock DL to the Bills, which isn’t the most likely pick. The Bills drafted Terrel Troupe and Alex Carrington in the 2nd and 3rd rounds last year and will give them a chance to develop. They also signed Dwan Edwards a pretty good player from the Ravens and have Kyle Williams.

Depth Everywhere-The Bills could use depth everywhere.

I’m going to use National Football Post this time to create value for the picks to try to make it more unbiased. I’ll try to stay within 5-10 players on the big board depending on the round (the later the round the more I might stray a bit from the big board).

Mock after the jump

1st round, pick #3

A.J. Green

I assumed that Fairley and Peterson went 1 and 2 overall for this draft. Last year the Bills showed that in the first round they are going to take the best player available. Quinn is coming off an entire year of missing the sport, so he’s a bit risky.  Von Miller is a good pass rusher, but might be a reach at #3 overall, there are not OT worth taking here, and I’m going to assume they stay away from Cam Newton in this draft. Bowers might not fit their 3-4 system.  Anyway, the Bills have Steve Johnson who looks like he might be a pretty good player, and Lee Evans who is a pretty good player, but Evans will be a free agent after next season when he’ll be thirty one years old as a shorter speed guy in the league.

Green is the best player available and if they’ll draft Spiller as the B.P.A. they should consider Green here as well. I had trouble with this pick because I didn’t want to reach for a player here so early in the draft when the Bills are devoid of true impact players across the board.

2nd Round, pick #34

Anthony Castanzo, OT, Boston College (34 on NFP Big Board)

Castanzo could play LT or RT for the Bills and has a chance to be  a franchise LT who can hold down a position at tackle for the next 10-12 years with his exceptional technique and solid strength and athleticism. While’s he’s not the sexiest pick here, I think he provided the best value based on the board of players remaining.

3rd round, pick #68th

Kelvin Sheppard, LB, LSU (75 on the Big Board)

The Bills must improve their linebacker corps in this draft. Sheppard has the flexibility to play in a lot of spots in the Bills 3-4 system.

4th Round, pick #99

Lance Kendricks TE Wisconsin (109 on Big Board)

The Bills tight ends are abysmal. Kendricks has the ability to provide Fitzpatrick with a real pass catching threat at the tight end spot.

4th Round, pick #121

Jerrell Powe, Mississippi State, DL (# 129 on NFP Big Board)

Though I think the need to upgrade their DL early in the draft is overrated, I couldn’t pass up the value here of a potentially dominating run stuffing defensive linemen. The Bills need to improve their run defense, and adding good linebackers and another Big defensive linemen could help.

5th Round, pick #130

Mark Herzlich, LB, Boston College.

The Bills need more linebackers and at this point Herzlich is the best player available. Herzlich has the medical issue resulting from the cancer, but was at one point a legitimate first round talent. Unlike Maybin who has all the talent in the world, but lacks football instincts and intensity, Herzlich is a pretty good athlete (for an N.F.L. player), but has excellent instincts and football acumen. Herzlich can  grow into the leader of this defense in a few years when the Bills might be seriously ready to compete for something bigger then 2nd or 3rd in the division.

6th Round, pick #164

John Moffitt, G, Wisconsin

If the Bills can draft Moffitt and keep Wood at center permenantly with Anthony Castanzo they would finally have the makings of what could be an OL of the future.  Castanzo, Levitre, Wood, Moffitt, and whoever is going to play RT for them. Games are won in the trenches and the Bills started to build their Defensive trench last year, this year they should look to do the same for the offensive line.

7th Round pick # 195

Tyrod Taylor, QB, Virginia Tech

Chan Gailey has shown an ability to get the best out of mobile quarterbacks who are much less talented then Taylor. If Taylor was drafted by the Bills he’d have a good chance of working his way to the #2 spot on the depth chart behind Fitzpatrick this season. Right now Brian Brohm is the #2, but he has looked far from impressive.

Disclosure: Players I ignored as potential picks because I don’t believe they’d be available in the 7th round: Casey Matthews, Brooks Reed, Greg Jones. In the 5th round Allen Bailey, some others. But for the most part I tried to stay impartial with NFP’s big board.