When the snow melts and the ice scraper goes back in the trunk, it can only mean one thing:  It's draft season!  NFL Draft season, mock draft season, fantasy rookie draft season...  I love this time of year!  And every year there's a bunch of football nutbars that gather (albeit on a website) for an annual event, our "football diehards" community mock draft.  Similar to the SB Nation Mock Draft, this one takes place over the span of a couple of weeks.  And I kinda like that pace as it allows for more in depth discussion during the process.  Similar to the SB Nation draft, no trades allowed in this one either.

I posted the results of our 2010 draft on this site last year, and now that we're into the 4th round I thought I'd seek out the counsel of my fellow Rumblers for their thoughts, opinions and if I'm lucky...  a pat on the ass with a "good job kid".  =P  The full results can be found over at Mocking The Draft (Note:  it wasn't hosted on MTD) with rounds 2 and 3 found here.  The link to Round 1 can be found by clicking on the colored text you saw a 10-15 words ago. 

On to my selections for our beloved Buffalo Bills...

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As promised, I am going to share the results of the mock draft that a few good men from SB Nation and MtD volunteered to give us a hand with.   I posted Round 1 in another post, but I figured I might as well get the meat and potatoes of this draft closer to the top of the page.  I'll highlight the SB Nation/MtD member picks in brackets so that you can put a name to the pick for discussion purposes. Also worth noting, there are no trades in this mock. We've made pretty good progress considering we've only been at it for a week and a half.  I think there have been a ton of solid picks as well so mad props to the SB Nation members who helped us out.  On to the draft...

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As promised, I am going to share the results of the mock draft that a few good men from SB Nation and MtD volunteered to give us a hand with.  I'll try to provide some of the commentary as well, but if you'd like to see the full commentary feel free to head over to www.footballdiehards.com ( the host site ) and stop by the NFL Draft forum on the message board.  Again, this is not intended to increase membership or pimp another website...  it's the same exercise that is happening here, but with a different crew.  We are a bunch of fantasy football addicts who have football on the brain 365 days a year.  Maybe you do too.  If there's enough interest ( comments, rec's ) I'll update this fairly often.  We're going to keep drafting up until we finish or the NFL draft weekend arrives, whatever comes first.  I'll highlight the SBNation/MtD member picks in brackets so that you can put a name to the pick for discussion purposes. Also worth noting, there are no trades in this mock.  Although, the common theme seems to have a few of the top 10 picks wishing they could trade down.  On to the mock draft, after the jump.

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Hey fellas.  I posted an open invitation on Mocking the Draft for some help filling up a mock draft.  If you're interested, please check it out.  All the details can be found here.

We're starting tomorrow, so this is my final effort to fill the last few teams.  It's not being hosted on SBNation, I hope that's not a huge issue.  It will be a slow draft with a timer where discussion and analysis is encouraged.  We're a bunch of dynasty league fantasy football junkies and we'd love to have some input from someone who follows the team closely.  This isn't a scam or solicitation for anything but participation.  I promise.  Hope to see you there.  Thanks in advance.

Hey fellas.  I posted an open invitation on Mocking the Draft for some help filling up a mock draft.  If you're interested, please check it out.  All the details can be found here.

We're starting tomorrow, so this is my final effort to fill the last few teams.  It's not being hosted on SBNation, I hope that's not a huge issue.  It will be a slow draft with a timer where discussion and analysis is encouraged.  We're a bunch of dynasty league fantasy football junkies and we'd love to have some input from someone who follows the team closely.  This isn't a scam or solicitation for anything but participation.  I promise.  Hope to see you there.  Thanks in advance.

Hey fellas.  I thought I'd tap into the knowledgeable folk here on MTD for some help filling up a mock draft.  I have received Dan's blessing to post this and I promise to share the results on this site.  For the past few years, I've participated in a mock draft over at www.footballdiehards.com where 32 people claim a team ( you know the drill ).  But due to low activity on the boards, we're in danger of running out of time to even get it started.  We've gone 4-5 rounds in the past, but we'll be lucky to get 3-4 rounds done if we don't start soon.  We're a bunch of dynasty league fantasy football addicts, so we use this as an exercise to not only enjoy the actual NFL draft but to prepare for our own drafts.  If you can spare the time, I'd really appreciate it.  We're looking to get started ASAP.  If you've missed out on similar mocks on this site, here's your chance to claim a team.  Or, if you're a mock junkie like we are...  even better.

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I'll keep this really short, but don't be too upset by the Bills picking Spiller.  Clearly Nix and Gailey did their homework and were willing to trade back into the 1st rd for Tebow.  Yes, we need an OT.  But to go with the BPA when you know you can get a QB later, it's a good sign.  Our draft will be solid.  I can't wait until tomorrow. 

There will be plenty of deals tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.  At first, I hated the Primetime Draft idea...  now I love it!

I've decided to post the results of the latest multi-participant mock draft that I've been a part of.  What can I say?  Brian's work in the MtD mock inspired me.  It seems all my posts are mock draft related, but that will come to an end very soon.  I promise.  Perhaps many Rumblers have grown tired of reading yet another mock, mine especially.  But as always...  I have a lot of respect for the other participants.  This one is a continuation of my last fanpost.  Different group of people in this one compared the previous "Experts Mock Drafts".  I've alluded to it in the past.  We're into the 4th round ( we should be into the 5th or 6th by now ) but since free agency is still alive, things are-a-changin.  McNabb is a Redskin and we've signed Mendenhall...  the other Mendenhall.  =P

Brian has recently pointed out the fact that we should prepare for a draft that doesn't fill the most glaring needs in the early rounds.  And I can't disagree with him.  It's part of the disappointment that a Bills fan must suffer, or so it seems.  This draft started weeks ago, so keep that in mind.  I'm starting to think that Clausen will be available for our 1st round pick, but we'll end up passing on him.  Either by trade or by someone else on the board.

I'll spare you from the full results...  at least until after the jump. As you might expect, I've assumed the GM duties for the Bills.  Here are my picks so far:

1.09 - Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa

2.09 - Cam Thomas, NT, North Carolina

3.08 - Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Georgia Tech

4.09 - John Skelton, QB, Fordham 

I'm expecting a response from Ron, reminding me that I haven't included enough any trade scenarios.  Personally, I think we could have several teams end up as trading partners, but that wasn't the point of this draft.  No offense Ron...  but you love you some trade scenarios!  =P

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  And finally...  the results:

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Ok, same deal as the original "experts" mock draft fanpost.  We are not paid experts, we are experts in our own minds.  =P  In all seriousness, we are a bunch of dynasty league fantasy football addicts.  But not the same group of addicts, except for me.  What does that say about me?  Don't answer that.  If you've seen my last couple of fanposts, you know the drill.  Different people drafting for different teams.  Yada yada yada...  on to the draft results.  We are past the midway point of the second round.  I'm pretty sure we'll get to round 4 or 5 before the NFL Draft.  I'll provide updates if there's enough interest.  I drafted for the Bills.

"Editor's" Note:  I used the quotation marks because I've been terrible with my editing skills.  Having said that, it's important for everyone to know that we started this draft about 48 hours before Seattle signed Charlie Whitehurst.  This draft is still in progress. 

Disclaimer - Seattle's second pick was a bit of a head scratcher too.

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This fanpost is a follow up to my last fanpost.  I feel bad that I don't contribute more often than I do, but I'll get there.  This update covers our full 3 round mock draft.  I'm hoping one of the next mocks will make it to round 4 or 5. 

Things to keep in mind:  this draft started about a week after the Superbowl, making this information is pretty old, same idea as the SB Nation mock draft that Brian is currently involved with. ( different people drafting for different teams )  I'll be posting the results of two others very soon,  one with the same group of people and one with a completely different set of owners.  Posting this one will serve it's purpose by comparing to the new ones.  Plus, I need the practice.  =P

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Ok.  I suppose I should come clean.  This probably shouldn't be called an experts mock draft.  ( I apologize if you don't like a little misdirection in the headline.  =P )  But I do consider the participants in this mock draft to be very knowledgeable.  I alluded to this mock draft in the fanpost that kaiser put up a few weeks ago.  Same idea.  No trade considerations though, just a straight up mock draft.  Twenty-some members of a football community drafting for a different team.  There were a couple of us who drafted for 2 teams, but I don't think it should matter very much.  We're all a bunch of diehard dynasty league fanatics.  I drafted for the Bills in our first mock draft, and went with Bulaga and Cody in the first two rounds.  The guy who drafted for the Bills this time around is someone that I have a lot of respect for.  I should also mention that most of us tried to take a different approach the second time around.  In the first run, almost everyone drafted for their favorite team.  In the second run, we tried to mix it up a little bit more.  Still very realistic, but perhaps a little less conventional then your typical Suh/McCoy 1-2 punch.  We're planning on going 4 or 5 rounds and then starting over for a full one.  I'll provide updates if there's enough interest for it.  On to the results, after the jump:

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Yes, the title is a little corny...  but so am I.  I digress.

A lot has been said about Nix, Gailey and the potential transition to the 3-4 defense.  Emotionally, I've been all over the map with all the Bills changes.  I've been a Bills fan ever since I first saw Thurman Thomas in a Bills uniform so I've adapted to life with high's and low's. 

I won't spend a lot of time on some of the "older" news, but I'll try to recap my feelings on the changes at OBD.  I have mixed feelings about Buddy Nix as our GM, but it's mostly positive.  He knows how great Buffalo can be because he was here at the end of the Superbowl run as a scout.  And he was around to see what happens when you draft well and help turn around a team like the Chargers.

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Not to beat a dead horse, but I missed out on the discussion that was most recently started by kev83.  I think we can all agree that the Bills aren't a strong team.  We are among the worst in the league in both offense and defense.  But the issue of the Bills conditioning program has a lot of merit in my opinion.  In the past couple of years, we have lost more players to injury than any other team.  I'm almost positive about that.  Especially in the past 2-3 years. 

Poz's injury to the same arm might fall into the fluke or freak accident category.  How often does someone break their forearm?  Jason Peters' comparison between the Bills camp and Eagles camp doesn't exactly outline how that plays out during a game and over the course of the season.  It's not all about running sprints. 

The point that should make sense for everyone is this:  If you're not in game shape, you're not gonna last for 60 minutes or 16 games.  The best analogy I can think of is when you're working while having been awake for over 24 hours.  You're not sharp and you'll be prone to making mental mistakes in addition to being physically slower than usual.  So, if you're not in great shape you might put yourself in compromising positions during contact.  If you're one step ahead of your opponent, your feet should be moving your body out of harm's way.  But if you're wearing down, physically or mentally, you might not be able to avoid falling awkwardly or shed the full force of opposing contact. 

I think this is the issue when it comes to conditioning.  Freak injuries will happen.  But if your entire body is strong on a professional athlete level...  you shouldn't be getting nicked up and/or seriously hurt from a normal play .  The strongest survives in the wild.  But the Bills aren't surviving despite the young talent we have on offense and defense.  And I think there's a logical explanation for it.  It's not just the play calls or Jauron.  There's no doubt in my mind.