You may not have heard much about it, but the National Football League is conducting its annual draft this weekend.
The last few weeks of most Aprils are consumed with pre-draft hype. The names change with each new crop of rookies, but you can count on a few constants:
All that and much, much more is out there nationally, on ESPN's multiple networks and scores of online draft sites. Locally, though, the Buffalo Bills aren't getting much more obsessive attention this April than they normally do in May or June.
Thank -- or blame, depending on the severity of your football addiction -- the Buffalo Sabres for seizing the Western New York sporting public's attention.
This might be the first time the Sabres have commanded more attention than the Bills in the final days before the draft. Even during the hockey team's run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999 and the Eastern Conference Finals last year and in the spring of '98, it opened the postseason as an underdog, its fans content to win even one series.
After sitting atop the National Hockey League standings all season, these Sabres opened the postseason amid the sort of frenzy that previously required a best-of-seven or two to build. And if the five-game triumph over the New York Islanders that just about everyone predicted wasn't the thoroughly dominant spanking some might have hoped for, Buffalo didn't do anything to dampen the hopes of its fans, either.
Through most of Friday's finale, the Sabres looked like the league's best team, thoroughly controlling the action at both ends. A couple late goals by the Islanders and Ryan Miller's sprawling, grasping last-minute save to avert overtime ended the series on its most dramatic note. Buffalo's 4-3 win gives the players nearly a week to rest and the fans a chance to get even more worked up over the second round.
The break also provides an opening for at least a few days of baseless draft speculation. As always, we're here to help.
The Bills held their annual pre-draft luncheon, during which the team's decision-makers strive to divulge as little information as possible about their plans. Marv Levy and Tom Modrak did that quite well this year, offering scant insight beyond their intention to focus their attention on young adult males who played football at colleges across the country in 2006. And that they'll probably use their first-round pick, presently the 12th overall, on a linebacker. Or a running back. Or a cornerback. Or maybe a wide receiver. Or a defensive lineman.
Of course, there's no upside in hinting at who you're looking at, no matter how much the media would appreciate it.
The understandable secrecy leaves the field wide open for speculation, not only on who Buffalo will take, but when they'll take him. A number of online mock drafts have the Bills swinging a trade with Washington to swap first-round selections in order to land Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma, the consensus choice as the top available running back.
Such a move would require giving up at least one other pick, likely a second-rounder, to jump up six spots. Since Levy wasn't willing to give up first- and third-round picks to land San Diego's Michael Turner, who has been highly productive while spelling LaDainian Tomlinson, it doesn't follow that he'd surrender a No. 1 and a No. 2 to acquire Peterson, whose impressive numbers with the Sooners are tempered by a sordid history of injuries.
The most logical scenario, given what the Bills have done since Levy took over the front office last spring, is to stay at No. 12 and take middle linebacker Patrick Willis of Mississippi.
At 6-foot-1 and 242 pounds, Willis would present an upgrade over the departed London Fletcher in terms of size, speed and athletic ability. He's also a punishing hitter and would give Buffalo the inside presence they lacked while getting routinely pounded up on the ground the last couple seasons.
Taking Willis would also be consistent with the philosophy Levy has demonstrated during his year-plus as general manager.
The Bills took safety Donte Whitner and defensive tackle John McCargo, who missed 11 games with a broken foot, in last year's first round, so adding Willis would give them three high draft choices up the middle, their defensive weakness since the early days of the century.
Levy concentrated on the offensive line in free agency, signing guard Derrick Dockery, tackle Langston Walker and utility man Jason Whittle. Defensive tackle Darwin Walker arrived in the Takeo Spikes trade, so drafting Willis would mean Buffalo has significantly fortified itself on both sides of the ball.
Levy's other big offseason trade -- the jettisoning of the modestly productive, yet highly annoying, Willis McGahee -- left the Bills with a hole at running back, with Nate Clements' departure as a free agent creating an opening at cornerback. But Buffalo has been stockpiling cornerbacks since the last administration and figures to add to the stable in the middle rounds.
Running back presents a more pressing need. Anthony Thomas is OK, but entering his seventh professional season, isn't going to get any more explosive. Look for the Bills to take at least two running backs, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
While only Peterson and Marshawn Lynch are expected to go in the first round, there should be a legion of good ball-carriers available in the second and third rounds, like Ohio State's Antonio Pittman, Kenny Irons of Auburn, Florida State's Lorenzo Booker and Brandon Jackson of Nebraska.
All of the above are traditional tailbacks, but there are a couple of intriguing options should the Bills decide to get creative with their running game.
Brian Leonard played fullback at Rutgers, a position that barely exists in Buffalo's playbook. But the 6-1, 226-pound Leonard has speed, agility and soft hands, in addition to size and blocking ability. He also should have scored points with scouts by accepting a diminished role in the offense as a senior, despite being hyped as a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate by the university.
Or Buffalo could go even bigger and riskier with Michael Bush of Louisville. The 250-pounder ran for 1,143 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2005, but carried just 17 times before breaking his leg as a senior. Dr. James Andrews, one of the nation's top sports surgeons, recently declared Bush "99 percent healed." Considered a sure first-rounder before the injury, Bush should be there in the second round, and maybe even the third.
Eddie Weiser IV of Casal's Boxing Club won the 178-pound sub-novice title at the New York State Golden Gloves tournament in Syracuse on April 13, earning a unanimous decision over Chip Darin.
Katie Zapala won the women's sub-novice championship at 125 pounds, while Tim Mallory took the 15- and 16-year-old crown at 178 pounds and Patrick Ciccarelli did the same at 114.
Angelo Fata earned silver in the men's novice 165-pound division, as did Rudy Lebron in the men's open 119-pound class.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 24 2007 |