<<Home Niagara Falls Reporter Archive>>

DONAHOE FINDS ANOTHER DRAFT GEM

By David Staba

There's no doubt the Buffalo Bills' selection of Willis McGahee in the first round of last weekend's draft was the most surprising selection of the National Football League's two-day shopping spree.

Not a single mock draft or ³draft expert² had projected Buffalo to take a running back with the No. 23 overall pick. There might have been more predicting that McGahee, whose knee got destroyed in grotesque fashion on national television during January's Fiesta Bowl, would get picked in the opening round, but there couldn't have been many.

But was it a gamble, to use the word most often used to describe the Bills' choice? Nah. It's not really gambling if you're playing with found money.

That's exactly what the Bills risked when they passed the envelope to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Saturday afternoon -- the football equivalent of a $50 bill that a slot jockey notices lying on the ground outside a casino.

The Bills, you'll recall, were supposed to take the first round off, having swapped their selection to New England a year ago in exchange for Drew Bledsoe. It's impossible to argue that they didn't get sufficient value for the pick, especially given a 2003 draft class heavy on quality players but light on superstars.

Tom Donahoe got Buffalo back on the first-round board with a deft bit of maneuvering. He slapped the franchise tag on Peerless Price, knowing full well that he had no intention of matching the kind of money Atlanta would throw at the wide receiver.

So, when the Falcons decided Price's breakout season was worth giving him an enormous contract and giving the Bills their first-round pick, Buffalo's president and general manager got a premium return for a player he wasn't going to keep anyway.

Most pre-draft analyses had the Bills taking a defensive lineman. But Buffalo went on the clock amidst an unprecedented run on tackles and ends -- nine went before the Bills' selection and two more before the first round ended.

That left Donahoe and the rest of Buffalo's staff with a choice between, at best, the eighth- or ninth-best defensive lineman available or a running back mentioned as a potential first or second overall pick before his knee injury. A (hopefully) solid starting pass rusher or a game-breaking franchise runner.

Not much of a gamble when you look at it that way. And to top it off, the Bills got their defensive end in the second round when Chris Kelsay, projected to go as high as No. 15 overall, was still available at No. 48.

The risk, of course, stems from McGahee's hideous injury.

Football history is littered with brilliant running backs whose careers got snuffed by knee problems, and McGahee's initially looked particularly devastating.

He dropped to the bottom of most draft boards, if not off the chart completely, moments after getting wheeled off the field during Miami's upset loss to Ohio State in the national title game.

But a combination of an intensive rehab program -- McGahee was doing leg-lifts in his hospital bed the day after surgery to reconstruct his anterior cruciate ligament and reattach two others -- and a flurry of spin-doctoring worthy of a presidential campaign by agent Drew Rosenhaus got the 21-year-old first back into the first day of the draft, and ultimately the opening round.

Buffalo is uniquely positioned to make sure McGahee doesn't rush back onto the field too soon.

With Pro Bowler Travis Henry at the top of the depth chart and former 1,000-yard rusher Olandis Gary right behind him, the Bills can take their time making sure McGahee's knee is as sound as it's capable of getting before testing it on autumn Sundays.

If McGahee eventually makes a full recovery, he and Henry, who is signed through 2005, give the Bills two top runners, with Henry worth a first-round pick and then some if Buffalo trades him.

And if Henry is miffed about the perceived slight of his team drafting a running back in the first round immediately following his 1,438-yard, 13-touchdown performance in 2002, well, tough.

The shelf life of NFL running backs is remarkably short (ask Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson about that), and Henry's 11 fumbles last season were a strong hint that a bit of extra motivation won't hurt him any.

Besides, Buffalo's situation and McGahee's potential made grabbing him a bet too good to pass up. Especially since Donahoe placed it with found money.


David Staba is the sports editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter and the editor of the BuffaloPOST. He welcomes email at dstaba13@aol.com.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com April 29 2003