We're up to the ninth selection in our second annual CSC community mock draft already and on the clock now is the Buffalo Bills. Representing them is CSC member, saintfever09. Make the jump and read on to find out who he thought was best for the Bills.
Thank you very much to saintfever09 for your participation .
With the ninth pick in the CSC community mock draft, the Buffalo Bills select ...
Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame
In order to win in the National Football League, teams usually need to start by building three main things:
- A quarterback
- A guy to protect the quarterback
- A guy to rush the other team's quarterback
In the modern NFL, teams are built around the passing game. Whether it's the West Coast offense implemented by the New York Giants, a wide open offense like our very own New Orleans Saints, or some hybrid mixture such as the Atlanta Falcons; teams are driven by quarterbacks. The Giants have Eli Manning, the Saints have the best quarterback in the game (ahem, i think we all know his name), and the Atlanta Falcons have Matt Ryan. It is a quarterback driven league, and that is why i have the Bills selecting a quarterback at number nine overall in the draft.
With Chan Gailey as the new head coach of the Bills after management jettisoned Dick Jauron and Perry Fewell, he will be looking to find a quarterback who he can trust to make any throw from the pocket. Buffalo's designated signal caller during the 2009 season was Trent Edwards, a three year veteran at the time, from Stanford. Although Edwards has a tremendous amount of upside, he has a very bleak injury history that will likely cost him his starting spot in 2010.
In 2009, Edwards played in only 8 games, starting in just 7 of them. In those games, he had six touchdowns and seven interceptions...not a very good stat for a team in the same division as the Patriots, Jets and Dolphins. Over the past eight seasons, only one has been a winning one (9-7) for the clueless Bills. If they have any chance of turning the table, they have to draft a franchise signal caller and build around him.
Clausen is the man. At Notre Dame, Clausen was known for his ability to sling the ball down the field to guys like Golden Tate in the wide open offense of Charlie Weis. He will have the same in Buffalo with Lee Evans, a speedy wide receiver who is capable of getting behind the defense and making the big play.
Dez Bryant was also given some strong consideration at this pick because of the departure of Terrell Owens. Owens drew the double team which allowed Lee Evans to beat single coverage down the field. The only reason Jimmy Clausen gets the nod over Bryant is because franchises are built around quarterbacks...not wide receivers.
Dan Williams was a close third in my opinion. The Bills are rumored to be re-tooling their defense into a 3-4. The main things that a team needs to build a 3-4 defense is a nose tackle that can handle double-A-gap assignments (the space between the center and both guards), paving the way for linebackers to make tackles in the backfield and get to the quarterback. Although Marcus Stroud used to be a very powerful nose tackle in his prime, he has begun to regress and the Bills need to add youth to their defensive line. However, in the AFC East the Bills must be able to match the New England Patriots point for point if they want a chance to make the playoffs. In order to do so, they have to be able to score enough points. Thus, Jimmy Clausen.
In conclusion, the Buffalo Bills have many needs before they can become an AFC contender. However, first and foremost is the quarterback position. In the AFC, with quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Joe Flacco, Matt Schaub, and Ben Roethlisberger, you need an offense to win games and reach the playoffs. Jimmy Clausen brings great intangibles, a powerful arm, superior intelligence, and experience in a great offensive system under Charlie Weis to the Buffalo Bills.