Hi all, I’m not from around these parts, but please don’t run me off just yet…  I’m representing your Bills in a live mock of round one this Friday, so I’ve been trying to immerse myself in your team to the best of my ability.  That said, they’re your team and your passion, so I want to make sure that I’m doing them justice with the thoughts I’ve collected both from here and other draft sources.  Please correct me if I say anything untrue below, I’m certainly not arrogant enough to pretend I understand this team better than you guys do.

First things first, I can’t trade up or down, so I have to pick at 11 & 28. 

Assumptions:

1) Buffalo wants to position themselves to win in 2010; players who can contribute right away are a priority over ‘project’ guys.  I’m basing that on a few things; signing TO, Edwards entering what should be his prime, and the perception that Jauron may be on the hot seat if the team doesn’t take a big step forward.

2) This is about what they should do, not what we necessarily think they will do.  If the Bills are anything like the Seahawks, that makes a huge difference in the mock.

3) Positional needs are DE, OL, LB, and TE – OL is pretty self-explanatory after trading Peters, and it’s no secret that the Bills struggled to pressure QBs last season.  Adding a weapon at TE would help Edwards and take pressure off of him to force balls into TO when he’s double-teamed in the red zone. 

4) I’m also planning for the assumption that I’m not drafting with complete idiots, so I can’t plan on grabbing Curry or J. Smith at 11 or Monroe at 28 – nothing too silly like that.

5) I want to put together a 4 player wishlist (in order of priority) from players that at least have a decent chance to be on the board, as well as a 2-3 player emergency plan if those 4 all get sucked up ahead of my picks.  These lists are where I really want you to check my assumptions, both with who’s on them and in what order.

6) Thank you!

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I sent a message to Joe Reedy, one of the Bengals beat guys for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and this was his quick take on the Housh deal:

It's a good deal and they get a No. 1 receiver now. Hasselbeck has to be doing cartwheels

I'm skeptical about Hass doing cartwheels with the condition of his back, but it's interesting that he thinks TJ is a #1.  I'm not sure I agree, but he's seen more Bengals games than I have.  He also interviewed Housh right after the deal was announced. 

Maybe the seaplane mattered more than we thought...

OT (but on my own post):  Does anyone here use Twitter?  I found myself using it to follow PFT updates (as well as Joe here) and just generally keep track of the latest stuff.  John, have you thought about creating a Field Gulls twitter account?  I follow a handful of blogs that have it set up as a kind of RSS feed, pushing out links each time a post goes up.  It might even help drive a little traffic since lots of people can see them in the public timeline even if they aren't subscribed.  There's also a degree of interactivity possible if you're interested...

my account page

that's JO not TO - I don't know anything about him, so I'll let Scouts, Inc. do the heavy lifting here:

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