Bills Draft Reviews

(sharked this from buffalorange.com and I think bb.com)
by Chris Brown, Lead Journalist

A week after the NFL draft all the reviews are in, and most of them were in favor of Buffalo's approach in addressing the holes that existed on their roster. Below we provide a list of draft grades provided by some of the more notable national media outlets.

USA Today - Tom Weir
Three out of four stars
Buffalo Bills ***
RB Marshawn Lynch makes Willis McGahee's departure tolerable. LB Paul Posluszny is a mini-steal with the 34th pick. QB Trent Edwards is a questionable third-round pick, considering Buffalo has multiple defensive needs.

ESPN.com - Mel Kiper
Buffalo Bills: GRADE: B
The Bills had no choice but to go after Marshawn Lynch with the loss of Willis McGahee. Paul Posluszny could be a middle linebacker or OLB, making up for the loss of London Fletcher. Running back Dwayne Wright was a very good fourth-round pick if he can stay healthy. Down the road, Trent Edwards could give J.P. Losman some competition. And if Edwards develops in two or three years, the Bills could trade him, similar to what Atlanta did with Matt Schaub. John Wendling is a very athletic safety and was a good sixth-round pick. Derek Schouman is a pass-catching tight end with limited blocking skills.

ESPN - Scouts Inc. - Todd McShay
Buffalo Bills
Best pick: Paul Posluszny, OLB, Penn State. The Bills got a steal with this second-round pick. Posluszny lacks elite athleticism and he slipped a bit due to a knee injury a year ago, but don't doubt he could easily win the starting job by Week 1 of the 2007 season.

Worst pick: Marshawn Lynch, RB, Cal. Lynch is a very talented back with a strong build, above average speed and good receiving skills. But he has too many question marks to justify selecting him No. 12 overall. Instead of paying Willis McGahee market value, the Bills will overpay for a less talented back who never carried the full load at Cal.

FOXSports.com - John Czarnecki
BUFFALO BILLS
Czar's breakdown: The Bills had very strong needs in the draft and most of their competitors thought they had a very solid draft. With the loss of RB Willis McGahee, they needed to find a runner and they grabbed Cal's Marshawn Lynch in the first round and Dwayne Wright of Fresno State in the fourth round. Wright finished with 2,683 yards in 22 starts and also had a 295-yard game against Louisiana Tech. Lynch was considered the draft's second-best runner after running a 4.46 at the combine. In the second round, the Bills grabbed Penn State LB Paul Posluszny, a two-time winner of the Bednarik
Award as college football's best defensive player. He also won the Butkus Award and overcame partial tears to his right knee and was forced to wear a brace. Very productive and very instinctive and should be an instant starter. Stanford QB Trent Edwards was considered a solid choice in the third round and could end up being the backup this season. Boise State's Derek Schouman is a classic H-back candidate and a great blocker despite many injuries during his college career.
Grade: A

Yahoo Sports - Jason Cole & Charles Robinson
Buffalo Bills: This is not necessarily a complaint about the players the Bills drafted because running back Marshawn Lynch is very talented, linebacker Paul Posluszny was considered a first-round talent and quarterback Trent Edwards was highly regarded by many. However, you have to wonder if the Bills did a lot of checking into Lynch's background, given the character issues, before they used a pick this high on him. Even more, Lynch is probably going to like Buffalo's weather as much as former back Willis McGahee. That said, if the Bills get four or five good years out of Lynch, who cares if he
likes it there?
Grade: B+

CBS Sportsline - Charlie Casserly
Buffalo Bills
They filled immediate needs with their first two picks. Marshawn Lynch gives them an immediate starter at RB. I do not believe he is as good as any RB taken in the first round last year (Bush, Maroney, Williams and Addai). The problem is those players weren't in this draft. Darrelle Revis would have been a good fit here, too. Paul Posluszny was one of my favorite players I looked at this spring. I looked at 2005 tape because he was recovering from an injury. He had great instincts on tape and from my experience, this characteristic above all others, is the most important for linebackers.
Trent Edwards gives them a young QB to go along with J.P. Losman. Scouts I talked to last fall thought he had a chance to go late in the first round, but he did not have good workouts this spring and has some injury concerns. But he's still a good value in the third round. Dwayne Wright will help them at RB. He does not have great speed but he has good instincts and quickness. I like what the Bills did in this draft.

CBSSportsline - Pete Prisco
Buffalo Bills
Best pick: Taking Marshawn Lynch with their first pick will prove to be a great move. He will be their franchise back for a long time.

Questionable move: I know a lot of people like Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny, but I think he's a little stiff. Using a high second-round pick could backfire.

Second-day gem: Running back Dwayne Wright will be the perfect backup to Lynch. He's a real tough inside runner.

Overall grade: C. Lynch makes the grade decent, but the rest of the draft doesn't do a lot for me.

SI.com - Paul Zimmerman 'Dr. Z.'
BILLS - B
They're in the recycling business. They had a perfectly fine little running back, Travis Henry, and they recycled him for Willis McGahee. McGahee was doing well, and then they recycled him for the current top draft, Marshawn Lynch. Who knows? Maybe somewhere in some high school in West Virginia there's this big kid just waiting to ... you know. You can keep drafting this way. It's called marking time, and if this were all there was to the Bills' roster, their grade would be down somewhere in half moon land. But the trade-up for LB Paul Posluszny makes some kind of sense, and the third-round
choice, strong-armed QB Trent Edwards, is intriguing, although I can't understand what kind of competition they're trying to set up between he and J.P. Losman. And here's the pick that really gets me excited. Seventh round -- TE Derek Schouman, whose workout numbers absolutely blew away the competition at the combine. I just have a feeling about this guy.

Chicago Tribune - Don Pierson
Buffalo Bills
General manager Marv Levy and coach Dick Jauron know whom they like and aren't afraid to draft them earlier than their grades indicate. Last year they took safety Donte Whitner before anyone expected, and he started right away. This year Cal running back Marshawn Lynch filled a need with the departure of Willis McGahee. They traded up to get linebacker Paul Posluszny in Round 2, again to fill a need. Trent Edwards fell lower than expected, so they added another young quarterback.
Grade: C

Dallas Morning News - Rick Gosselin
Buffalo B
The Bills considered taking Posluszny in the first and wound up with him in the second. Lynch is an automatic starter, replacing Willis McGahee. Edwards is excellent QB insurance for J.P. Losman.

Detroit News - Mike O'Hara
Buffalo Bills: C+
They drafted for need in the first two rounds -- RB Marshawn Lynch and LB Paul Posluszny. Both filled spots created by the departure of free agents. QB Trent Edwards (third round) and RB John Wendling (sixth) were value picks.