ESPN Insider 2012 Draft Grades

[fancy]

Saw this posted on ESPN insider by Mel Kiper...

Post-draft grade: B-





Summary: Buffalo fans might view this re-assessment as a little harsh. From a fan's standpoint, you can say the team landed starters at a few spots, which ostensibly means they drafted well. The flip side is you have to consider if those players are starting on a better team. Take second-round pick Cordy Glenn, for example. I really liked Glenn, and he was a regular on my Big Board last year, but I had questions about whether he could be an effective left tackle due to a lack of quickness. Well, he started there for Buffalo this season and held up reasonably well against low expectations, but the tape shows a player that wasn't among the top 20-25 left tackles in the NFL. Should he remain there? We still need to find out. But he wouldn't start there for most teams. Nigel Bradham also became a starter at linebacker, but that's a weakness for Buffalo, a team that couldn't stop anybody from running. T.J. Graham came on a little late in the season and could be a good player for the offense. Stephon Gilmore could be a good one, but he had major trouble with penalties. No obvious sleepers here. The grade stays basically the same as we hope this class shows more.


New grade: C+

[D2k]

Cue the Glenn apologists.

He could be a very good player down the line, but its delusional to think that he was great last season and the unquestioned LT of the future.

[FloridaGatorsBuffaloBills]

Not worried about a draft class just barely done with it's first year. Give me a break.

And for Glenn's size and his lack of experience playing LT, I have no probably giving him a year. Next year I expect to see vast improvements but he played what, 1 year of college at LT before being drafted? Graham we knew when we drafted him that it was going to take him a year or two to adjust to the NFL and outside of some penalties from Gilmore he had a great year.

Stupid analysis and pointless this early.

[BUFF BANDIT]

anyone that thinks gilmore was any better than a c- is just a homer and had blinders on because his coverage was average at best and his tackling was horrible !

[crimsonavenger]

I don't think he took into consideration time missed for injury, and just graded the stats for overall season. Glenn is a beast, especially compared to what we've been used to.

[DaBills4Life]

Glenn really slowed down as the season went on. I believe he had some lower body injury also that could have slowed him. He needs to work on his body this offseason, drop 15lbs. I would love to shift him over to RT if the offseason plays out in a way where we can fill needs and also bring in a legit LT. I think Marrone will get in Glenn's ear about his weight.

[54 spielman]

anyone that thinks gilmore was any better than a c- is just a homer and had blinders on because his coverage was average at best and his tackling was horrible !

[FloridaGatorsBuffaloBills]

anyone that thinks gilmore was any better than a c- is just a homer and had blinders on because his coverage was average at best and his tackling was horrible !

Yea, I guess some of the media outlet's who had them on their all rookie team are Bills homers who have blinders on. Corner is one of the toughest positions to adjust to from college to the pro's and he was top 5 in pass deflections this year. Sure, he had some bad penalties but that happens with rookies who are lined up on a teams best receiver. He'll be a stud next year.

[FloridaGatorsBuffaloBills]

Glenn really slowed down as the season went on. I believe he had some lower body injury also that could have slowed him. He needs to work on his body this offseason, drop 15lbs. I would love to shift him over to RT if the offseason plays out in a way where we can fill needs and also bring in a legit LT. I think Marrone will get in Glenn's ear about his weight.

He fell off towards the end of the year but not bad enough to consider moving to RT. Most rookies talk about how physically and mentally demanding a 16 game season is in the NFL and I'm sure it started to get to Glenn playing a very tough position. He does no need to drop 10-15lbs.

[Billzgobowlin]

I think the argument that Glenn wasn't that good is dumb he was very strong in the run and pass protection. Was he top 5? No but what do you expect from a second round rookie tackle. I think they were grading him as a first rounder and that isn't fair. I think it was a solid B class.

[silver]

Kiper is still butt-hurt his assessment of Glenn was completely wrong.

[Da Bills]

Kiper is still butt-hurt his assessment of Glenn was completely wrong.

Agree. Profootballfoucs thinks very highly of Glenn and they actually break down every snap.

With just Gilmore and Glenn this class is a B at min.

[D2k]

Agree. Profootballfoucs thinks very highly of Glenn and they actually break down every snap.

With just Gilmore and Glenn this class is a B at min.

Footballoutsiders does the best work as far as game charting and player analysis goes, they ranked Glenn as the 7th WORST LT in pass-pro last year.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/und...re-no-openings

Lets not get ahead of ourselves yet.

[UTBILLSFAN22]

I think Mel's assessment is a fair one. He's basically saying there's some stuff to build on, now let's see more. I'm not a big Kiper guy...but I actually think he got it right in this analysis.

[AndrewBills]

anyone that thinks gilmore was any better than a c- is just a homer and had blinders on because his coverage was average at best and his tackling was horrible !

anyone that posts that ^ has no idea what he is talking about and should be a jets fan because you probably think tebow could lead a team to the super bowl

[Raptor]

Glenn should be a RT but he's not a bad LT by any means, especially a rookie one

[Raptor]

anyone that thinks gilmore was any better than a c- is just a homer and had blinders on because his coverage was average at best and his tackling was horrible !

Yea, a CB that didnt allow a single TD or more than 50 yards receiving to his side after week 5 is horrible

[jcmccall]

I think the argument that Glenn wasn't that good is dumb he was very strong in the run and pass protection. Was he top 5? No but what do you expect from a second round rookie tackle. I think they were grading him as a first rounder and that isn't fair. I think it was a solid B class.

What people seem to forget is that most rookies hit a wall right around when their collegiate season ends. Also around this time we lost our starting center.

[je0592p]

Sorry but Kiper lost all credibility with Clausen. I even knew Clausen would suck at the NFL level(watched a lot of his games being a ND fan).

I'm not going to go out and say Glenn was good, i barely paid attention to him(watching a lot of Spiller). But i did not hear his name often while he was in the game which for an OL is good enough for me. We will have to see what his sophomore season brings.

And Gilmore was a great rookie this year. Not many rookies come into the NFL as the #1 CB on their team. Gilmore may have been beaten from time to time but he did manage to play pretty good the rest of the time. Penalties i feel are because of the replacement refs. He wasn't getting many penalties before that.

Bradham doesn't deserve recognition until he starts, if he starts, once our defense is top 10 or 15.

And Graham and Brooks have not been involved enough to be graded yet.

Imo when the 3 years are up this draft class will be one of our best if Marrone and Hackett use Graham right and Glenn/Bradham/Gilmore are able to build off of the first couple seasons.

[jhanley2020]

anyone that thinks gilmore was any better than a c- is just a homer and had blinders on because his coverage was average at best and his tackling was horrible !

You sir do not know football. For most of the season gilmore was asked to play in zone coverage even though he is a great man to man corner. He also had a ton of penalties but about half of them were awful calls, calls that a guy like revis would get. I bet pettine will turn this guy into a beast.