admarc
April 24th, 2006, 11:04:32 PM
BB.com (http://buffalobills.com/blog/?blogger_id=1)
Positions of depth
CORNERBACK, TIGHT END DEEP: After asking a few members of Buffalo's personnel department to assess where the depth lies in this year's draft, every one of them listed cornerback first. That's good news for the Bills because with the need to address their lines, hopefully in rounds one and two, they'd likely prefer to wait until round three to take a corner. With the class of corners as deep as it is they could still get a decent prospect in round three or possibly round four.
The most impressive thing about the CB class is the speed that most of the Day One prospects bring to the table.
“There are a lot of fast guys," said Bills scout Joe Haering. "The times at Indy (combine) overall were real good. They had the new field turf inside the RCA Dome now and many thought that would slow the times down compared to the Astroturf, but it really didn’t. There was a lot of speed there.”
Tight end is also deeper than it usually is with a lot of athletic talent. Junior eligibles Vernon Davis-Maryland, Anthony Fasano-Notre Dame, and Leonard Pope-Georgia certainly strengthened the class.
ILB AND RB GOOD TOO: Linebacker, particularly inside backers got the nod for good depth as did RB which was helped by the addition of seven underclassmen including Reggie Bush.
SALARY CAP NOTE: So everyone is ready for 2007, the salary cap will be $109 million a $7 million increase from 2006 ($102M).
Draft Luncheon
INTERESTING DRAFT COMMENTS: Marv Levy and Tom Modrak were fairly candid in their comments on the draft today. Hearing Modrak say passing up Vernon Davis at 8 would be hard if he's there made me a little nervous, but I'm confident that San Fran will take him at 6 so it shouldn't be an issue.
Marv talked about trading down a few times and said they're more likely to do that than trade up. I suppose that's not shocking. The money really gets ridiculous once you get into the top 5 with these players.
I don't think we should read too much into the fact that Michael Huff came in for a personal visit. Modrak basically said they only had 8 guys visit. The reason why is they're so thorough in talking to so many players at the combine with their personal interviews and informal conversations that they often don't need to fly too many guys in each year. Huff is tempting at 8 especially if you can't keep Nate for more than a year.
I like that Modrak thinks Ngata is a fit. I've felt all along that he is effective enough as a penetrator to be an effective NT in this system. And more importantly for Larry Tripplett to be effective the guy next to him needs to be bigger to command the double team, otherwise Tripplett is attracting the attention and not being as effective a pass rusher as he can be. That's not to say that I'd be disappointed with Bunkley, but I do prefer Ngata because he's a true nose and he's not a slug like some people think.
Modrak doesn't believe Winston Justice is a top 10 talent and as I mentioned in a blog a few days ago, I agree. Modrak sees him somewhere between 12-20. I maintain he's still a very good value anywhere from 12-15. You've got to believe if Buffalo trades down he'll be on the radar screen.
Positions of depth
CORNERBACK, TIGHT END DEEP: After asking a few members of Buffalo's personnel department to assess where the depth lies in this year's draft, every one of them listed cornerback first. That's good news for the Bills because with the need to address their lines, hopefully in rounds one and two, they'd likely prefer to wait until round three to take a corner. With the class of corners as deep as it is they could still get a decent prospect in round three or possibly round four.
The most impressive thing about the CB class is the speed that most of the Day One prospects bring to the table.
“There are a lot of fast guys," said Bills scout Joe Haering. "The times at Indy (combine) overall were real good. They had the new field turf inside the RCA Dome now and many thought that would slow the times down compared to the Astroturf, but it really didn’t. There was a lot of speed there.”
Tight end is also deeper than it usually is with a lot of athletic talent. Junior eligibles Vernon Davis-Maryland, Anthony Fasano-Notre Dame, and Leonard Pope-Georgia certainly strengthened the class.
ILB AND RB GOOD TOO: Linebacker, particularly inside backers got the nod for good depth as did RB which was helped by the addition of seven underclassmen including Reggie Bush.
SALARY CAP NOTE: So everyone is ready for 2007, the salary cap will be $109 million a $7 million increase from 2006 ($102M).
Draft Luncheon
INTERESTING DRAFT COMMENTS: Marv Levy and Tom Modrak were fairly candid in their comments on the draft today. Hearing Modrak say passing up Vernon Davis at 8 would be hard if he's there made me a little nervous, but I'm confident that San Fran will take him at 6 so it shouldn't be an issue.
Marv talked about trading down a few times and said they're more likely to do that than trade up. I suppose that's not shocking. The money really gets ridiculous once you get into the top 5 with these players.
I don't think we should read too much into the fact that Michael Huff came in for a personal visit. Modrak basically said they only had 8 guys visit. The reason why is they're so thorough in talking to so many players at the combine with their personal interviews and informal conversations that they often don't need to fly too many guys in each year. Huff is tempting at 8 especially if you can't keep Nate for more than a year.
I like that Modrak thinks Ngata is a fit. I've felt all along that he is effective enough as a penetrator to be an effective NT in this system. And more importantly for Larry Tripplett to be effective the guy next to him needs to be bigger to command the double team, otherwise Tripplett is attracting the attention and not being as effective a pass rusher as he can be. That's not to say that I'd be disappointed with Bunkley, but I do prefer Ngata because he's a true nose and he's not a slug like some people think.
Modrak doesn't believe Winston Justice is a top 10 talent and as I mentioned in a blog a few days ago, I agree. Modrak sees him somewhere between 12-20. I maintain he's still a very good value anywhere from 12-15. You've got to believe if Buffalo trades down he'll be on the radar screen.