Bills GM talks NFL Draft
By: John Kucko
Updated: April 18, 2012
Bills GM Buddy Nix held a pre-Draft luncheon today with media members in Orchard Park. Below is a transcript of his comments:
General Manager Buddy Nix Opening
Remarks:
This really culminates a year of work for us. These guys
and our scouts, it comes down to this. We start out, and I think I tell you this
every year, but there are about 2,000 names that we start with to go through and
we wind up with, this year we've got 10 picks. It just keeps coming down each
time we meet. We eliminate and keep trying to stack them and get them in the
right place. You do everything you can to make sure you make all the choices
count. You very seldom ever do that but that's the goal. These guys have been,
of course Tommy has been working and Doug in free agency and he still keeps up
with that. We overlap and do college stuff, he does. And Chuck will do some pro
scouting. These guys can help talk about individuals. I will just tell you this,
I tell you this every time and you don't listen and you don't believe me, but
I'm going to tell you any way. Don't get pinned down by connecting the dots.
It's fun, I enjoy reading it but it's fantasy football. It has nothing to do
with what we might do. I don't care how many draftniks think that that's where
we're going and that's the best pick for us, if that's not the guy we've got
graded there, we won't take him. Don't get yourself in a spot where it sounds
like you know and then it doesn't work out that
way.
On what the thoughts are about sitting at the
10th spot in the
draft:
Buddy Nix: It seems to me and I've been
doing this a long time and I've picked just about everywhere. If you pick
15th there's 14 you
really like, and if you pick 10th there's nine that look
good. It's higher than we want to be picking. I guess the question you're asking
is, would we consider moving down? I always here sources quoted, sources say, I
wish when they say we'd be better off moving down they'd tell me who we can
trade with because it takes two and it's normally not a lot of action with us
for people wanting to move to 10. We'd consider everything. You might get the
same guy. A good chance you might get the same caliber guy. If that presents
itself we'd consider it.
On if the thought is to get an immediate starter from
the draft this year:
Buddy Nix: You'd think at 10 you'd get
a starter. With us, what we'd like to get, like everybody else we'd like to get
a difference maker or a playmaker, the impact guy. You should get a starter. But
again we don't and I guess I don't feel the pressure that we've got to start a
guy just because we drafted him 10th. That's Chan's philosophy,
it's ours that a guy is going to compete for the job rather than giving it to
him right off.
On some teams not taking offensive tackles high and
what his philosophy is on taking offensive tackles high in the
draft:
Buddy Nix: There are a high percentage
of them that's drafted in the top 10, left tackles. Again, don't read into that
but most of the starters in this league, especially Pro-Bowlers, were taken in
the first eight or nine picks.
On how high does he prioritize an offensive
tackle:
Buddy Nix: We need tackles but I'm
going to make this clear, we think Chris Hairston can play left tackle for us
and win. He did it and he went in there and everybody say's Fitz gets the ball
out quick and that's true. We run our offense; we run a lot of empty sets with
five blockers, if they bring six he better get it out quick or he's going to get
hit in the mouth. In this offense he's got to get it out quick. But Chris
Hairston, he may not be the prettiest foot athlete but he's got so much length
that he can protect the back side. We feel like he can do that. Now we've only
got two and Sam Young in coming off of knee surgery. That's three tackles in the
house. That's not enough. We'd like to have two
more.
On the strengths of Offensive Tackles Riley Reiff,
Jonathan Martin, and Cordy Glenn:
Doug Whaley: You look at Jonathan Martin
first of all coming from Stanford; he's going to be a highly intelligent guy.
He's a competitive guy. I think he's a guy that has a chance to play both left
and right tackle, so the versatility for him makes him very intriguing. Reiff,
you just look at the pedigree from guys coming from Iowa. They're well schooled,
well coached. The head coach there has coached in the league so he knows how to
produce NFL linemen. You're going to get a guy that we believe, most people
believe, and the pedigree from that school are going to come in and step in and
compete right off the bat. Reiff I think he can play both, left and right. I
think you start him out on the left and see how he goes from there. Those left
tackles are hard to find like Buddy says. We believe that you start a guy there
and if he fails it's easier to move him to right than right to left. With Glenn
for us a guy of that size and that type of foot athlete you'd try him out at
left tackle. He's got a chance to play there and produce there at a high level.
On taking a franchise quarterback if he's
there:
Buddy Nix: We'd still do it. That's
any position, but obviously quarterbacks too.
On the 41st pick and how they are
looking at it with so many good players that will still be on the
board:
Buddy Nix: That does have something
to do with it. You look at what will be there in the second. It might have some
bearing on what you do in the first. There is some depth at positions we need.
We think from the second round on that they'll be some really good
players.
On how much more value does he see in an offensive
lineman that has been in a three-point stance during his college
career:
Chuck Cook: My experience tells me,
they're in a two point stance in college but can learn to get their hand down
and run block. Everybody's doing the spread offense and that's what we evaluate.
We feel like our offensive line coach can get them down. You'd like to see that
natural pro offense, that's always a great evaluation tool for us scouts as we
hit the road. I don't think it's a big, big defense. They can put their hand
down and run block. Guys have done it.
On the emphasis he has on drafting a
quarterback:
Buddy Nix: To be honest, I'd like to
draft one every year, in an ideal world. If you didn't have needs that you had
to use every pick for to try to get better overall. The better we get the more
we can do stuff like that. I think you need to keep, you need to draft a corner
every year so many of them play, I think a quarterback because they're so hard
to find. There are quarterbacks somewhere in the draft, we don't know exactly
which one it is, that might be another Brady, or somebody that was picked late
that blossoms and comes on. I think if you can and you've got enough picks, you
should take one every year.
On how the off season additions impact what they do
in the draft:
Buddy Nix: I think it had a lot of
impact on us really. We knew, my wife knew we didn't get enough outside pressure
and we were pretty good inside. We had to try to fix that. We were able to do it
I think in free agency. Therefore we're a little freer as far as who we pick.
You don't want to get yourself in a spot that you've got to reach and we've said
that from day one. And most of the time reach term comes from all the stuff we
hear from mock drafts and folks that have them ranked, well that's too high and
that's too low. I think that gives us more freedom there for
sure.
On the parameters of the linebacker position they are
looking at with the new 4-3 defense:
Buddy Nix: It's similar, very similar.
You need a little more height; you need a little better cover guy. But we think
that a guy can probably, if he can play one he can probably play the other,
especially those two outside guys.
On the need at the linebacker
position:
Buddy Nix: We need more. We need some
depth. We do.
On which spot LB Luke Kuechly's can
play:
Buddy Nix: He could play all three for
us.
On the wide receiver position and the importance of
getting one in the draft:
Buddy Nix: Let me just say one thing,
the wide receiver position is deep in this
draft.
Doug Whaley: The wide receiver position,
like Buddy said, is deep in this draft. We are deep on our team. Now we have a
lot of guys that have question marks that we want to see go out there and show
what they have. With that being said, we always believe that competition brings
out the best in everybody. With the deepness in this draft, hopefully if the
opportunity presents itself we bring somebody in here to push those guys or
maybe over take those guys, but we want to bring in competition. The one thing
we're trying to get to as a team is getting to the point where the drop off
where the first team guy gets hurt the level of expectation from the guy that
takes his place is minimal. Just keep rolling and keep the thing going and keep
the momentum going. That's what we're looking at in any position we draft or any
position we bring in or any transaction we
make.
On even after signing Mario Williams and Mark
Anderson, how much of a priority it is to patch up the pass
defense:
Buddy Nix: I think we helped it some
with those guys. If we can get that quarterback from throwing from his back
we'll be better off covering. We do need some depth in some places in the
secondary and you'd always like to have a shutdown corner that you could get and
put over to start with and not worry about that side. We will try to add some
secondary guys.
On how much does CB Terrence McGee's injury history,
CB Leodis McKelvin's free agent status, and DB Drayton Florence's age play into
the defensive back position:
Buddy Nix: It does a lot. With
Terrence, when Terrence is healthy he's good as any of them. Hopefully he'll get
through this year healthy but we've still got to, we can't get caught. I don't
want to get us in a position that we were in last year and the year before. If
we get one hurt it's a big drop off. You lose the ability to compete. So we're
trying to, we're going to try to fix that. Leodis going into his last year,
he'll probably play lights out. I hope he
does.
On his general philosophy of trading down and if this
year is better for that than other years:
Buddy Nix: You probably would say this
year's a little better for that because of there's more equal guys. You might
get the same from 10-20 that you get from 1-10, now you don't know that but that
could probably be the case this year. Again, I don't think if there's a guy
there even though he may not be one that's got the wow factor that some of them
have, if he's a guy that can come in and make a difference in us then I don't
think you move from 10. You might get one.
On CB Stephon Gilmore's strengths and the depth of
cornerbacks in this year's draft:
Chuck Cook: Gilmore from South
Carolina, we like him. We think he's a good strong sturdy corner that can press,
can run in a hip pocket and he makes plays. We like his physical-ness in coming
up in support. I do think this is a good year for cornerbacks. I really think
the depth is good. You never know what we do early but from the second to the
fourth we stack our board. We're going to take the best player available
regardless of position, but we hope to get a few corners in the second or fourth
too.
On CB Dre Kirkpatrick from
Alabama:
Chuck Cook: Dre obviously from a great
scheme in Alabama. They're known they're so solid up front. That helps the
corners, obviously helps the DB's. He can play more physical. He can play the
ball and he can gamble a little bit more in that scheme because they are getting
to the quarterback quicker. I think he's physical, he can support and he's
proven that. He can play the deep ball.
On who's the better in press coverage; Stephon
Gilmore or Dre Kirkpatrick:
Chuck Cook: It's a tossup. Both those
guys are valuable candidates for us. We're looking at them. We think both those
guys can do it about the same, the press. And that's what Dre majored in
too.
On if he pays attention to anything the league says
and if he thinks that anything he says influence's what other people
do:
Buddy Nix: I think you can have a
little impact as far as keeping them guessing on who you're taking. I don't
think anybody will listen to me saying this guy is better than that one. And I
sure don't put my stock in anybody else. We pay these guys (scouts) and they're
good at it. That's where we go for our information, from our scouts. The only
thing that a little misinformation might make a guy move ahead, he thinks you
might take one you want.
On if there has ever been a player who came for a
pre-draft visit that has totally changed their
minds:
Buddy Nix: I think it's just a piece
of the puzzle. I know that's not the right answer they want. You might get one
in here that turns you off but still as far as his being with us and where we
would take him, that probably doesn't change it. Let me expand on that just a
little bit. One of the things that we bring him in here for is to be sure about
their learning ability. We let them spend time with the position coach when
they're in here. Our coaches don't scout. They look at tape and they visit with
the guys at the combine and then we bring them in here to put them on the board.
Everything else you see but when you start trying to figure out how our guys are
going to do as far as scheme and learning from the playbook or learning from the
board, you actually need to put him up there and see what he does and what he
retains.
On when looking at quarterbacks, how much emphasis
does he put on what they did in college:
Doug Whaley: It's obviously something you
look at it and you factor into it. What we are trained to do is look at what he
does and how he does what he does. How he releases the ball, what decisions he
makes, decisions he makes under pressure, the arm strength, the foot work. Again
it's something you factor in just because you're going to be seeing different
types of throws from guys that are from spread compared to guys that are in pro
offenses. Again like I said, what we get paid for to do is to determine how they
do what they do and if that can translate to our game.
On WR Michael Floyd from Notre
Dame:
Chuck Cook: We think he's a big physical
good looking receiver with really strong hands and body control. Just think the
guy really has upside. He's a guy that we think he's a football player. You'd
like to consider him at some time but you never know what's going to happen.
He's a good looking kid and we think he's going to be a big
pro.
On WR Stephen Hill from Georgia
Tech:
Doug Whaley: At the workout and at the
combine it was very impressive. A guy with that height and that speed to be able
to do what he does physically it's rare, you don't see every day. Now the thing
that you kind of have to balance is you don't see just because of the offense
that he plays in you don't see him doing that on the football field. It's one of
those things where it's going to be a balancing act. It's a little bit of a roll
of the dice just because you'd like to see him in an offense where he's going to
be making all of those running the route tree for a receiver, you don't see
that. You see the ability that he can do it from the work outs. The guy is very
impressive and it's something that's very intriguing with his physical
attributes.
On what they do to guard picking a bust in the first
round:
Buddy Nix: You can go with just a
clear cut formula but the more you can find out, the more of the pieces you
check out the better chance you've got. I think one of the reasons and I know
we've made this mistake before, and I'm talking about me, is not being prepared
if the guy you want at that spot all of the sudden is gone and you've got five
minutes to make the next pick. You better have your plan of where you're going
if he's not there. There's a good chance, even though you think you're set all
the sudden jumps over you and takes that guy. I've had it happen more than once.
The mistakes we made were not being prepared to go to the next guy. All you
research and that's again part of the reason we bring them in here to make sure
that we don't draft a guy and then a year later the coach says, "I can't play
him, he can't learn" or he doesn't know what to do. The test scores, all those
things are indicators for you and they're red flags that you have to check out.
A lot of times a guy can play football but can't read and do tests. You've got
to find out how much football he knows.
On if the combine, workouts matter to how they
evaluate a player:
Buddy Nix: If I had to guess and put a
percentage on it, I'd say for us we're 70% on how he played. The other junk that
goes into it, all that other stuff might make a difference in whether or not
he's successful but that makes up a very small percentage for us. All this
moving up and down the boards that you hear about it's hard to believe how a
fella can do that without playing, but it all comes back to one of the guys is a
clear cut first rounder. He's the second best tackle, he's a third best tackle
and he's moving up. I mean (Ryan) Tannehill, I asked him yesterday I've never
seen a guy go up and down like he has without playing. It's all what you
hear.
On why he thinks Ryan Tannehill has gone up and down
so much on the board:
Buddy Nix: I think again it's the junk
that we hear and see every day. I'm not talking about the media in particular
but everything that the mock drafts come up with and he can do this and he can
do that and he can't do this. It affects your
opinion.
On if they do a mock draft and if their board is set
right now:
Buddy Nix: Sometimes I'll go around
and ask them who they'll take. Our board is changing. We put the board up, Doug
and them put the board up in January. And then we meet before the combine and
it's that way then. Then we go and if we find out more about a guy, if a guy
gets in trouble with the law, anything like that might change it. This time we
go through it again. Next Wednesday it will be set in
stone.
On forecasting what other teams are going to do in
the draft:
Tom Gibbons: What I do right now is I'll
track team needs. Team by team go through and if they're light just in depth at
a position or if they lost a starter in free agency we'll just track that and
keep on top of what their needs are right now. Over the last few weeks teams
will be signing some of their players back and you get a little better grasp of
the next week of where they're at going into the
draft.
Buddy Nix: In Tom's office on the
board, and I go look at it every day, plus he gives me a handout of what teams
have filled since yesterday and now looks like they may need this position or
that position. In his office every free agent is listed by position and every
time one is signed they take him off and put him on the team. If they lose a guy
then he'll have a blank place at linebacker where they need a guy. It's pretty
easy even for me to tell kind of what they might
do.
On Central Florida CB Josh Robinson's speed and
production during the season:
Chuck Cook: Josh Robinson from Central
Florida ran like a deer at the underwear and shorts (Combine). He's tremendously
fast. He showed things. We saw him pre-Combine and evaluated him. And then he
goes and runs good. He's got upside and that's how we're stacking them. We're
stacking guys that we think can come in here and fit what we do.
On if Robinson dominated at Central
Florida:
Chuck Cook: He had flashes of doing such
but he's a guy that we had some guys with some discrepancies. But we try to put
all that together and that's what we do in these meetings. Everybody gives their
opinion and we shake it down. That's where we stack
them.
On Georgia CB Brandon
Boykin:
Chuck Cook: He's got kickoff return
ability and we think the guy's got a chance to be a potential
player.
On if he thinks tackles are considered
playmakers:
Buddy Nix: If you hadn't got one, yea.
I think they are, especially left tackles. Normally that guy is by himself on an
island and I consider them a playmaker. I think it's kind of like a long
snapper, they really get important if you hadn't got
one.
On the last tackle he's drafted in the top
10:
Buddy Nix: Not in the top 10. We took
him (Marcus McNeill) in the second round so I don't guess we have, at least I
can't think of one.
On if they consider depth at a position on the team
when deciding between a couple of comparable prospects by
grade:
Buddy Nix: Yea, maybe, especially if
you're pretty equal on the guys and you think you can get one next round. Then
you'd take the one where there's not many.
On if the rule changes relating to player safety
makes it difficult to find defensive players who can play within the rules and
be effective:
Buddy Nix: I just think it's hard to
play defense, really. I think you've got to react on defense instead of having
plays called where you know what you're going to do when you go to the line of
scrimmage. You've got to be able to sit and then react to it. So I think it
takes better athletes, and I'm probably glad Chan's not in here to hear that but
they've got to be instinctive and be able to move on the snap. I think that's
probably the main thing. I don't believe that the rule change, maybe concussions
might affect because of the long term affects might affect how you draft now if
you've got past injuries that way. But as far as they play I don't think it
does.
On if it comes down to a gut decision on character
issues with draft prospects:
Buddy Nix: I wish I could tell you it's
scientific, but it's not. It's more of a gut feeling. There are some things that
you do that's immaturity that kids do. They do it their first year in freshman
and sophomore years and then you say well he's changed. But most of that comes
from learning about life and how to act so we think that that doesn't really
eliminate a guy. But if it's a repeat offender and it's the wrong kind of
trouble then we stay away from it.
On North Alabama CB Janoris Jenkins and if they'd
consider him:
Buddy Nix: You know I just would not
get into that. But if you mean whether we'll take him or not, ability-wise
obviously you would. This is a political answer I'm fixing to give you, but
otherwise you wouldn't. You get enough trouble without getting one that you know
is a problem.
On Nebraska LB Lavonte David and Miami LB Sean
Spence:
Doug Whaley: With the new 4-3 defense that we're employing right now the size of those guys, especially on the will side, is not that big of a determining factor. We believe Lavonte David is an instinctive guy that adds an added bonus of being able to detach from the box and cover a split out wide receiver or a flex tight end which we're going to be seeing a lot of in our division. Sean Spence is a heck of a football player. He's instinctive, more in the box, and if he was two inches taller we'd probably be talking about him as a MIK because of his instincts and his ability to play the run. Now that doesn't mean he still doesn't have the ability to detach and cover, but both of those guys are very good football players; one maybe a little stronger in the coverage and the other a little stronger in the run. But they both would be assets to our football team.
Doug Whaley: With the new 4-3 defense that we're employing right now the size of those guys, especially on the will side, is not that big of a determining factor. We believe Lavonte David is an instinctive guy that adds an added bonus of being able to detach from the box and cover a split out wide receiver or a flex tight end which we're going to be seeing a lot of in our division. Sean Spence is a heck of a football player. He's instinctive, more in the box, and if he was two inches taller we'd probably be talking about him as a MIK because of his instincts and his ability to play the run. Now that doesn't mean he still doesn't have the ability to detach and cover, but both of those guys are very good football players; one maybe a little stronger in the coverage and the other a little stronger in the run. But they both would be assets to our football team.
On most of the team's recent draft picks coming from
the Southern region:
Buddy Nix: I think I'd be really dumb
to turn a guy down because of where he played, so I hope that answers your
question. The reason we go South is we go where the players are. If we were
trying to go by area, all ours would come from
Buffalo.
On why the SEC produces dominate defensive
players:
Buddy Nix: I don't know that I can
answer that except that football is a way of life down there. Where you get a
guy, let's just go back to high school quickly. In some areas you got four
coaches in the high school that teach class all day and they don't make a lot of
money. Then you go to Texas or down South and you'll have 12 coaches. None of
them teach and they make good money and get a good car once a year to drive.
It's whatever your priority is.
On how many people he knows at Tennessee-Chattanooga
and QB B.J. Coleman:
Buddy Nix: I know a lot of people, (my
wife) Diane's down there. BJ, I saw him in high school play. He's got all of the
prototype as far as size, strong arm and that kind of thing. Again, would he be
a guy that would be a franchise pick or could make a run? I think he's got the
ability to do that. We don't pinpoint them again. He being from Chattanooga has
nothing to do with it.
On the factors that go into considering a guy can
play left or right tackle:
Doug Whaley: One of the major aspects
that we believe a left tackle has to have is length and range, not only body
range but range with his feet to be able to get those fast guys that come off
the edge. They're going to be on the blindside and most of your predominant
rushers are rushing from the right side coming off to get the blindside of the
quarterback. So you need a guy that's a foot athlete and that can make that park
a lot longer than the defender wants it to be. A right tackle most offenses
historically have been right handed when they run so you want a right tackle
that's a little more physical, aggressive and a better run blocker. Historically
on the defensive side that rusher's not going to be as quick or fast or not the
dominant rusher on the defense. Now hopefully we change that with the guys we've
signed so you got to have basically two left tackles when they play against us.
But for our determination that's kind of how you want to split them up and peg
them right or left. Now, if you got a guy that does both then he's usually going
to go real high in the draft.
On Arizona State QB Brock Osweiler as a prospect and
Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson's height:
Chuck Cook: Brock obviously has the
prototype height. He's a 6-6 guy and has a good arm. We like what we see in the
big guy and he's done a nice job at Arizona State. Now he doesn't have a great
body of work but we look at all of this and that's how we shake this thing out.
He's a big, good looking quarterback that can see the field and can throw all of
the balls needed and we think he's a good prospect. We think he's got upside.
Russell Wilson, the man is short and obliviously that's known. And how many
short guys under six feet are playing in the league? We look at that. We look at
his body of work and what he brings to the table. We'll evaluate that and plug
it in to take the best player.
On if Russell Wilson can overcome the height
disadvantage:
Chuck Cook: It all comes down to heart
and we feel like nobody knows that until it happens. So whoever pulls the
trigger is going to hope it happens for the
positive.
On why there isn't an increase of tight end prospects
with 17 attending the Combine:
Buddy Nix: People are running spread
offenses. You don't see many folks lining up with a tight end anymore. You look
at college and everybody says that college is following what we do, but that's
not necessarily the case. We follow a lot of what they do because that's where
we get players. If you look at the spread offenses you look at people that are
using the tight end in the old way. You'd look at Alabama and Stanford who do it
but when you
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