2010 NFL Draft: Who Makes the Most Sense for the Buffalo Bills' First Pick?

Every sports fan probably envisions themselves as a closet general manager, feeling that they know exactly who and what the missing ingredients are to turn their team in to a championship squad. Guess I am no different than anyone else in that regard.

What if you are Buddy Nix, and the first selection in the draft is one that will forever be remembered by Buffalo Bills fans as designating you as potential savior or forever cast you as bumbling has been or wanna be? Your reputation is on the line, so you better step up and hit a home run.

Not too much pressure, eh?

So, we are going to conduct a little exercise, and ask you to assume the role of Buddy Nix for one day. Here at Bleacher Report, we are conducting a formal exercise where the featured columnists of each NFL team are going to participate in an ongoing mock draft. Each columnist will name the player that they believe their team should draft when that team's turn is up on the clock.

For the Buffalo Bills, I am going to co-ordinate our selections with fellow Bills featured columnist Chris Trapasso.

This mock draft experiment has already started this week now that the Super Bowl has come and gone. So far, the following results have been:

St. Louis Rams selected Nebraska def. tackle Ndamukong Suh with the first pick

-Detroit Lions selected Oklahoma def. tackle Gerald McCoy with the second pick

-Tampa Bay Bucs selected Tennessee safety Eric Berry with the third pick

-Washington Redskins are now on the clock with the fourth pick.

Who will be There for the Bills to Pick at Number Nine Overall?

For any of you that have been reading our columns regarding the draft, I did an extensive mock draft focused on the Bills needs:

Buffalo Bills 2010 Mock Draft: Rounds 1-7 Best Bet, Realistic Scenario & Worst Case

That article was then followed up by another story, where we floated the idea of the Bills exploring the merits of trading down in the first round to secure additional draft picks while still picking up a quality left tackle:

Buffalo Bills Should Trade Down in the First Round of NFL Draft

In that article, I ran a poll which resulted in a vote by Bills fans that showed a favorable reply to trading down in the first round. There was a fairly even split on who the Bills should draft, as the vote was fairly close between taking the best left tackle available versus taking the best quarterback available.

For the mock draft exercise, we explored the prospect of trading down in the first round, but were politely asked to stick with our true draft order, in case any of you were wondering why we don't practice what we preach.

So, now that we have all the build up and legal mumbo-jumbo out of the way, who would you take with that ninth pick?

Offensive Line

As of this writing we have all the O-Lineman top candidates still available, which includes Russell Okung (Oklahoma State), Anthony Davis (Rutgers), Bryan Bulaga (Iowa), Bruce Campbell (Maryland), and Trent Williams (Oklahoma U.).

Quarterback

Both first round worthy quarterbacks are still available now, which are Sam Bradford (Oklahoma U.) and Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame).

Defensive side of the ball

With the announcement of the Bills switching from the 4-3 to the 3-4 scheme, and the future of the Aaron Schobel still up in the air, would you be willing to overlook the offensive team needs for one round to secure a key piece needed for the new look defense?

As of now, these names are all still available: DE Jason Pierre-Paul (So. Florida), LB Rolando McClain (Alabama), DT Brian Price (UCLA), DE Derrick Morgan (Georgia Tech - Chan Gailey former player), DT Dan Williams (Tennessee), and DE Carlos Dunlap (Florida U.).

Check Back to see the Results of Picks 4-8

Each day as one of the teams makes their selection, I will update this article to show you who has been eliminated from our possible selections. As we get closer to our turn, please feel free to state your case for who the Bills pick should be and why you feel that way.

I am looking forward to a spirited debate as we inch closer to fame and the stuff that legends are made, or to verbal abuse and a one-way ticket out of town.

Updated results from the other Featured Columnists ahead of the Bills pick

Washington Redskins selected Russell Okung (Oklahoma State Tackle) with 4th pick

Kansas City Chiefs selected Rolando McClain (Alabama Line Backer) with the 5th pick

So, that leaves three more teams to pick before we are up. It also means that all of these guys are still available: Bradford, Clausen, Davis and Bulaga. Not only that but there are still four highly thought of players that we aren't even seriously considering: Joe Haden, (Flordida U. CB), Jason Pierre-Paul (So. Florida Def End), Dez Bryant (Ok. State WR) and Derrick Morgan (Ga. Tech Def End).

So, one or two of those four could be selected over the next three picks. It appears we will have our choice of a strong tackle or a quarterback unless both Bradford and Clausen go in the next three picks.

Seattle Seahawks with the 6th pick: Georgia Tech Defensive End Derrick Morgan. Here is a link to the story regarding their pick: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/344751-with-the-sixth-pick-in-the-nfl-featured-columnist-mock-draft

Cleveland Browns with the 7th pick: The Browns took U. of Florida Cornerback Joe Haden. Here is the article: The Browns selected Joe Haden

So, with just the Raiders ahead of us, only one offensive tackle has been drafted and no quarterbacks have been selected yet. I somehow doubt that this will be the case on draft day, but then again, anything is possible.

Oakland Raiders with the 8th pick: The Raiders selected Rutgers Tackle Anthony Davis. Based on the votes from Bills fans, the top three players that are still left for us to choose are Jimmy Clausen, Brian Bulaga, and Sam Bradford. Interesting that this trio is still sitting there for us to pick from. My fellow Bills Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Chris Trapasspo will have the honors of making the selection tomorrow, so please keep an eye out for his article on who we picked and why.

Buffalo Bills with the 9th pick: We decided to draft Bryan Bulaga. Here is a link to fellow Bills F/C Chris Trapasspo's story about why we decided to select Bulaga.  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/347368-2010-nfl-featured-columnist-mock-draft-the-buffalo-bills-take

Hope you enjoyed this exercise and thanks again to all the Bills fans that took the time to cast your votes leading up to this selection.

For the record, this was the final vote tally at the time of our pick (with 393 votes cast). Ranked in order by percentage of votes received:

Jimmy Clausen (19.8 %)

Rolando McClain (17.6)

Sam Bradford (17)

Russell Okung (16.3)

Bryan Bulaga (14.5)

Anthony Davis (7.9)

Derrick Morgan (2.5)

Dan Williams (2.0)

Jason Pierre-Paul (1.3)

Bruce Campbell (1.0)

Interesting note was recognizing that Bulaga drew more votes than Anthony Davis, who was selected just in front of the Bills pick by the Raiders F/C writers.