The NFL just held its draft last week, but if you’re a fantasy junkie, the REAL draft is only three to four months away!
It’s never too early to compile your big boards, and if you’re reading this, the influx of rookies likely has your draft lists sprouting like cherry blossoms.
Some of you will draft as early as July, but I prefer to wait as long as possible because rookies can be so unpredictable. So naturally, here’s a column predicting their value!
Obviously, you should track them through minicamps and the preseason to see where they fall on depth charts, who looks good, who doesn’t, and who gets hurt. But here are some initial fantasy impressions based on where they landed on draft weekend.
In possibly the most dominating performance in Coca-Cola Field history, Bisons’ hurler R.A. Dickey retired a record 27 consecutive batters in a 4-0 masterpiece over the Durham Bulls on Thursday night.
Dickey gave up a single to the first batter he faced and then put the clamps down for a shade under two hours. Needing only 90 pitches, he mowed down the best hitting club in the International League in a complete-game for the ages.
All that stood in the way of Dickey making even more history was an 0-2 knuckleball that just stayed a little two high in the zone. Bulls’ lead-off hitter Fernando Perez went the opposite way with the pitch, poking a single through the right side of the Bisons infield to lead off the game.
Here is the Buffalo Bills roster as of April 30. The roster includes restricted and exclusive free agents that have been tendered. The roster doesn’t include any unrestricted free agents that haven’t been resigned. It does include undrafted free agents that have officially signed with the club.
QB: Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Brohm, Levi Brown
RB: Fred Jackson, Marshawn Lynch, C.J. Spiller, Corey McIntyre, Walter Mendenhall, Rodney Ferguson, Joique Bell (UDFA)
WR: Lee Evans, James Hardy, Stevie Johnson, Roscoe Parrish, Chad Jackson, Marcus Easley, Naaman Roosevelt (UDFA)
Entering the 2009 season, Fred Jackson was well on his way to winning over the hearts of the Bills faithful. He made the team as an undrafted, former NFL Europe star in 2007 and his persistent toughness and unrelenting grit allowed him to flourish as Marshawn Lynch’s sidekick for two seasons.
Following opening games last year against the New England Patriots (140 total yards, 1 TD) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (163 rushing yards) when his repertoire of versatility was on full display, there was growing sentiment throughout Western New York that Jackson could replace the suspended Lynch as the Bills’ starter.
USA Hockey announced today that 11 players have been added to the 2010 U.S. Men’s National Team that will compete at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Men’s Championship, May 7-23, in Cologne, Gelsenkirchen and Mannheim, Germany. In addition, Joe Sacco, head coach of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and a finalist for the 2010 Jack Adams Award as the league’s coach of the year, joins the coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Highlighting the additions is defenseman Jack Johnson (Ann Arbor, Mich./Los Angeles Kings/Univ. of Michigan), who was a member of the silver medal-winning 2010 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team. A Team USA veteran, Johnson is making his third appearance on a U.S. Men’s National Team (2007, 2009). In addition to his recent silver at the Olympic Winter Games, Johnson has captured three medals at IIHF World Championships, including the gold medal with the 2005 U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team, the silver medal with the 2004 U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team and the bronze medal with the 2007 U.S. National Junior Team. Johnson was also a member of the 2006 U.S. National Junior Team.
Perhaps no one is catching more flack for the Sabres first round playoff collapse than general manager Darcy Regier. Among the chief complaint from fans is his inability to help the team at the NHL trade deadline.
Last year the lone move Buffalo made was sending a second round pick to Toronto to acquire forward Dominic Moore. After scoring 12 goals and 41 points in 63 games with the Leafs, Moore produced all of one goal and four points in 18 with Buffalo. The Sabres missed the playoffs.
This time around was different. Buffalo was leading the division and in a dog fight for seeding near the top of the Eastern Conference. Other teams close in the standings made moves left and right around deadline time for talent, and for the second straight year Regier overvalued the core of his roster and acquired but one player.
Lindy Ruff, Darcy Regier and Larry Quinn will address the media at the HSBC Arena this morning at 10am in a scheduled season-ending press conference.
There are many issues that need to be discussed and eventually resolved, though few if any will be decided today. But one thing we can tell you is who’ll be behind the bench next season.
The Buffalo News reported last night that the Sabres have exercised their option on Ruff to return as head coach next season.
Ruff has been with the Sabres since July 2, 1997 and has coached 984 games with the franchise, the third-longest tenure of any coach with one team. His 483 wins with the Sabres is fourth-best for a coach with one team, trailing Toe Blake (Montreal) by 17 for third.
Since Ruff became the Sabres coach in 1997 there has been 153 coaching changes in the NHL, a number sure to grow again.
We’ll have plenty more from the press conference later today.
The International League’s top offense was too much for the Bisons to handle on Wednesday night.
Durham got home runs from Chris Richard, Angel Chavez and Rashad Eldridge in a 9-2 victory over the Herd in the second game of their four-game series from Coca-Cola Field. The set is now tied a game apiece with another match-up on Thursday at 6:05 p.m.
Durham entered the game hitting .300 as a team. They also had a large lead on the rest of league in total home run (25) and stolen bases (31) after just 20 games.
If anyone still had visions of this group of Sabres skill forwards someday leading their team to a Stanley Cup run, then the events of the past six games should pretty much run the hope tank to empty.
What we witnessed during the Boston Bruins 4-2 series win over the Buffalo Sabres was a colossal vanishing act by Derek Roy, Tim Connolly, and Jason Pominville. Sure, you can point fingers at other players like Paul Gaustad and Drew Stafford, but on a team desperate for big goals it is pretty evident where the biggest holes are in this lineup.
Gritty efforts by players like Mike Grier, Tyler Ennis and Steve Montador were overshadowed by the poor all around performance of the three players in question, who stood out like sore thumbs in every facet of the game. They were the top three leaders in ice time on the power play that went 0-for-19. All three played major roles on the penalty killing units that allowed Boston an ugly 27% conversion rate.
As the curtain closes on the 2009/2010 Buffalo Sabres’ season, it’s hard not to be left wanting more. After an eternity of sound bites about “making noise” and “doing damage” once the postseason arrived, the chips fell, and the team flat out sucked.
Instead of erasing the history of two straight playoff-less seasons, every frustrating inconsistency of the past two years was maddeningly magnified. The Sabres’ couldn’t overcome any of the hardships of playoff hockey and demonstrated the same frailty that has characterized one of the most up and down clubs of the past few years.
With the team hitting the links after their first round defeat to the Bruins, major organizational and roster changes are needed to take the club to the next level, and that starts with sending both parts of the NHL’s longest tenured general manager/coach combo packing; Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff.
After hitting into four double plays in the first game, the Canisius College baseball team bounced back to earn a split in a doubleheader at St. Bonaventure on Tuesday. The Golden Griffins dropped the first game 7-2 and won the second 7-6 to improve to 28-15 on the season.
Seniors Ian Choy andShayne Willson each had three hits on the day, with Choy recording three RBI and reaching base in five of his seven plate appearances. Junior Josh Marshall allowed one run in four innings of relief in the second game to improve to 4-0 on the season.
St. Bonaventure slowly built a lead, scoring one run in the first and second innings and then scoring three runs in the third. Canisius had at least two runners on base in each of the first three innings, hitting into a double play in each of those innings. The Griffs cut into the lead with a two-run fifth. Sophomore Brad Medici led off with a single and senior Mike Deuschle walked to start the inning. Junior Will Chomicki had an RBI single while Choy had a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.
Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown, Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller are the three finalists for the 12th Annual NHL Foundation Player Award, the National Hockey League announced today. The award recognizes an NHL player who applies the core values of hockey – commitment, perseverance and teamwork – to enrich the lives of people in his community.
The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 23 during the 2010 NHL Awards that will be broadcast live from the Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms Hotel Las Vegas on VERSUS in the United States and on CBC in Canada.
NHL Clubs submitted nominations for the NHL Foundation Player Award and the finalists were selected by a judging panel. The NHL Foundation will present $25,000 to the chosen charitable organization of this year’s recipient. Continue reading ‘Miller named finalist for NHL Foundation Player Award’
Now that the Buffalo Sabres season has ended in outstandingly disappointing fashion, it’s time, albeit prematurely to begin reflecting on the playoff series loss to Boston as we attempt to contemplate exactly what went wrong.
We can probably go on for months debating it. Tim Connolly and Derek Roy were inexcusably horrific. Paul Gaustad was maddeningly inconsistent. Jason Pominville was habitually invisible. Adam Mair took his customary stupid penalties. Raffi Torres served as a reminder that Darcy Regier’s job could be in jeopardy. Yeah, we can keep going.
In fact, if you’re name isn’t Ryan Miller, Mike Grier, Thomas Vanek, Patrick Kaleta or Tyler Ennis — we could easily place a Bulls-Eye on your back… But I digress.
Instead, I break this series down to three crucial moments, which in my opinion are the primary reasons we’ll spend the next several days talking free agency, cuts and trades instead of the Pittsburgh Penguins or Philadelphia Flyers.
After the jump, we’ll take a look at what I feel were the three defining moments of this inconsolably brief playoff run.
Darius Willis, Albert Sparks, and Matt Hornbuckle all left the UB Football program today, the school announced.
“We are very disappointed when players quit,” UB coach Jeff Quinn said. “We all are. It’s not what I want in our program. Here’s the other thing: We will not leave this program up to the weak, timid and non-committed.”
This makes at least six players who have left the program since Turner Gill left for Kansas. Zach Maynard, Nick Sizemore, and Rich Perez previously left.
So far Maynard is the only starter to leave the program.
Willis was easily the best recruit ever to commit to UB up until last season. He was probably on the same level with James Potts, but academic problems kept him from committing to UB until after the 2008 season and he was sidelined with an injury last year.
Now that the NFL draft has at long last come and gone, we have a strong idea of what the 2010 Buffalo Bills roster will be comprised of.
Buzz around league circles, as one would figure revolves around not focusing on quarterback and left tackle in the draft; the two positions of most perceived need. But for better or worse the organization is determined to head into the season with what they got. If nothing else they have strength of numbers in each spot. They currently have four quarterbacks (Trent Edwards, Brian Brohm, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Levi Brown) on the roster and a slew of offensive tackles (Cornell Green, Demetrius Bell, Jamon Meredith, Kirk Chambers, Andre Ramsey, Jason Watkins and Ed Wang).
Quantity over quality is pretty much the standard, at least for this season.
Undisciplined penalties and ill-timed mistakes in their own end doomed the Buffalo Sabres as their 2009-10 season ended in frustrating fashion by losing to the Boston Bruins, 4-3.
Boston won the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, four games to two.
Patrick Kaleta, Nathan Gerbe and Thomas Vanek scored the Buffalo goals.
Twice Boston led by two goals before the Sabres would cut the lead down to one, but former Sabre Miroslav Satan’s backhand goal with under five minutes left sealed the Sabres fate.
Billszone.com put together a wonderful NFL Network highlight package called “Bills draft in 10 minutes”.
If you’re on the fence about Spiller, watch the highlights and listen to Mike Mayock, Marshall Faulk and Michael Irvin speak about him. If you’re mind isn’t made up now, I really don’t know what to tell you.
Irvin compared Spiller to Faulk . Faulk said despite already having Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson, they “are no C.J. Spiller’s”. Mayock cited a ridiculous stat; of Spiller’s 52 touchdowns in college, 21 of them went for 50 or more yards.
I also found interesting that both Mayock and Brian Billick defended not taking taking Jimmy Clausen in round two even before the pick of Terell Troup was made. Mayock said the team has three guys with starting experience, while Billick thinks Chan Gailey can “tap” into Trent Edwards for better production.
After missing the previous three games with a lower body injury, Sabres star forward Thomas Vanek will be back in the lineup for the Buffalo Sabres tonight as they face the Boston Bruins in game six of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, according to WGR’s Paul Hamilton.
Vanek hasn’t played since being slashed in the lower right knee by Boston’s Johnny Boychuk in the first period of game two. Although Lindy Ruff has never confirmed exactly what happened, It’s believed Vanek injured his ankle when Boychuk fell on him near the boards.
It hasn’t been announced who will come out of the lineup tonight to accommodate Vanek’s return, though Drew Stafford is the most likely candidate.
Nathan Gerbe was inserted into the lineup last Friday in place of Raffi Torres and will probably stay in the lineup tonight. We’ll have more information as it becomes available.
A trio of University at Buffalo football players who didn’t get selected in the NFL draft will get their chance at NFL stardom as undrafted free agents. Wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt, safety Mike Newtown and tight end Jesse Rack were all signed to deals by teams over the past 24 hours.
As we first reported Thursday morning, the Buffalo Bills jumped on Roosevelt after he was not selected in the draft. Roosevelt caught 70 passes for 954 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior last year. As a junior he set school records with 104 catches for 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Newton was signed by the Indianapolis Colts. Newton will join former teammates Drew Willy and Jamie Richards with the Colts.
James Starks, UB’s all-time leading rusher, got the chance to continue his football career on Saturday afternoon as Starks was drafted in the sixth round by the Green Bay Packers. Starks becomes the first ever UB tailback to be drafted in the NFL.
“I’m just grateful for this opportunity and I’m going to make the most of it,” said Starks. “I didn’t even play a year and God blessed me with an opportunity to do something I love, I’m very grateful for it.”
Starks, who missed all of his senior season due to a shoulder injury, is the school’s all-time leading rusher with 3,140 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns. He has scored the most points (222) of any player in UB’s history and ranks fifth in all-purpose yardage with 3,830 yards. Starks had been named to the pre-season watch list for the Doak Walker Memorial trophy, given to the nation’s top running back.
The Buffalo Bandits advanced to the 2010 Playoffs after defeating the Boston Blazers 13-10 at the HSBC Arena.
After a rocky 2-6 start to the season, the Buffalo Bandits had to find a way to climb back into the standings. They found that after winning four straight.
However, the standings stayed tight and to make the playoffs, the Bandits game-plan tonight was simple, win.
Back on March 31, Buffalo Bills GM Buddy Nix and head coach Chan Gailey spoke in front in front of the team’s premium and club season ticket holders in a Breakfast With The Bills event. That event will be immortalized in the history of the Nix/Gailey regime for the quip that Nix fired regarding his ultimate goal of building a consistent winner.
“Talk’s cheap, we all know that,” Nix said. “It’s like I’ve always said – ‘don’t tell me about the labor pains, just show me the baby.’”
For weeks, that quote has been used as a battle cry of sorts for Bills fans getting amped up for the 2010 NFL Draft. It was, unfortunately, the wrong quote to be paying attention to. If you listened carefully, it was a Gailey quote that gave away not only the team’s base philosophy, but precisely how the Bills planned on approaching draft weekend, as well.
One of the expected early criticisms emerging from nights one and two of the NFL draft is the Buffalo Bills failing to draft a quarterback within the first three rounds. If Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy were on the board when Buffalo picked at No. 41 at the latest, it was widely anticipated general manager Buddy Nix would grab one.
He didn’t.
Turns out that both Clausen and McCoy were available when the Bills were on the clock in the second round. They took all of 30 seconds before making their selection, defensive tackle Torell Troup.
In McCoy’s case he was passed over a second time in round three when the Bills elected to take defensive end Alex Carrington.
When asked why the team decided to pass over on Clausen, Nix was brief… and semi-defensive.
It certainly doesn’t take an expert to tell you that Buddy Nix’s company line claims notwithstanding, the Buffalo Bills are hoping to trade Marshawn Lynch. They were expected to try and move him before the Bills went on the clock with the ninth pick, and after C.J. Spiller was drafted to go with Fred Jackson, Lynch’s fate in Buffalo was pretty much sealed.
The problem however, is two-fold. The Bills don’t want to give away a player who was the 12th overall pick just three years ago, but there is a lack of teams interested in acquiring the talented, but oft-troubled running back’s services.
A handful of teams that were in need of a running back coming into the draft filled their void with rookie selections. San Diego took Ryan Matthews and Detroit nabbed Jahvid Best in the first round. In the second round a pair of teams traded up for running backs with Houston taking Ben Tate while Cleveland snagged Montario Haresty.
Days one and two of the NFL draft is in the books and to this point the Buffalo Bills have stood pat, making their first three picks as scheduled without moving up or down the draft board.
So far the 2010 draft has netted running back C.J. Spiller, defensive tackle Terrell Troup and defensive end Alex Carrington.
While the early consensus seems to be all three prospects could contribute and perhaps even start as rookies, its borderline shocking that the team didn’t draft a left tackle or quarterback with the first three selections.
The NFL just held its draft last week, but if you’re a fantasy junkie, the REAL draft is only three to four months away!
It wasn’t a no-hitter. It was better.
Here is the Buffalo Bills roster as of April 30. The roster includes restricted and exclusive free agents that have been tendered. The roster doesn’t include any unrestricted free agents that haven’t been resigned. It does include undrafted free agents that have officially signed with the club.
Entering the 2009 season, Fred Jackson was well on his way to winning over the hearts of the Bills faithful. He made the team as an undrafted, former NFL Europe star in 2007 and his persistent toughness and unrelenting grit allowed him to flourish as Marshawn Lynch’s sidekick for two seasons.
USA Hockey announced today that 11 players have been added to the 2010 U.S. Men’s National Team that will compete at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Men’s Championship, May 7-23, in Cologne, Gelsenkirchen and Mannheim, Germany. In addition, Joe Sacco, head coach of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and a finalist for the 2010 Jack Adams Award as the league’s coach of the year, joins the coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Lindy Ruff, Darcy Regier and Larry Quinn will address the media at the HSBC Arena this morning at 10am in a scheduled season-ending press conference.
The International League’s top offense was too much for the Bisons to handle on Wednesday night.
If anyone still had visions of this group of Sabres skill forwards someday leading their team to a Stanley Cup run, then the events of the past six games should pretty much run the hope tank to empty.
As the curtain closes on the 2009/2010 Buffalo Sabres’ season, it’s hard not to be left wanting more. After an eternity of sound bites about “making noise” and “doing damage” once the postseason arrived, the chips fell, and the team flat out sucked.
After hitting into four double plays in the first game, the Canisius College baseball team bounced back to earn a split in a doubleheader at St. Bonaventure on Tuesday. The Golden Griffins dropped the first game 7-2 and won the second 7-6 to improve to 28-15 on the season.
Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown, Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller are the three finalists for the 12th Annual NHL Foundation Player Award, the National Hockey League announced today. The award recognizes an NHL player who applies the core values of hockey – commitment, perseverance and teamwork – to enrich the lives of people in his community.
Now that the Buffalo Sabres season has ended in outstandingly disappointing fashion, it’s time, albeit prematurely to begin reflecting on the playoff series loss to Boston as we attempt to contemplate exactly what went wrong.
Darius Willis, Albert Sparks, and Matt Hornbuckle all left the UB Football program today, the school announced.
Now that the NFL draft has at long last come and gone, we have a strong idea of what the 2010 Buffalo Bills roster will be comprised of.
Undisciplined penalties and ill-timed mistakes in their own end doomed the Buffalo Sabres as their 2009-10 season ended in frustrating fashion by losing to the Boston Bruins, 4-3.
After missing the previous three games with a lower body injury, Sabres star forward Thomas Vanek will be back in the lineup for the Buffalo Sabres tonight as they face the Boston Bruins in game six of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, according to WGR’s Paul Hamilton.
A trio of University at Buffalo football players who didn’t get selected in the NFL draft will get their chance at NFL stardom as undrafted free agents. Wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt, safety Mike Newtown and tight end Jesse Rack were all signed to deals by teams over the past 24 hours.
James Starks, UB’s all-time leading rusher, got the chance to continue his football career on Saturday afternoon as Starks was drafted in the sixth round by the Green Bay Packers. Starks becomes the first ever UB tailback to be drafted in the NFL.
The Buffalo Bandits advanced to the 2010 Playoffs after defeating the Boston Blazers 13-10 at the HSBC Arena.
Back on March 31, Buffalo Bills GM Buddy Nix and head coach Chan Gailey spoke in front in front of the team’s premium and club season ticket holders in a Breakfast With The Bills event. That event will be immortalized in the history of the Nix/Gailey regime for the quip that Nix fired regarding his ultimate goal of building a consistent winner.
One of the expected early criticisms emerging from nights one and two of the NFL draft is the Buffalo Bills failing to draft a quarterback within the first three rounds. If Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy were on the board when Buffalo picked at No. 41 at the latest, it was widely anticipated general manager Buddy Nix would grab one.
It certainly doesn’t take an expert to tell you that Buddy Nix’s company line claims notwithstanding, the Buffalo Bills are hoping to trade Marshawn Lynch. They were expected to try and move him before the Bills went on the clock with the ninth pick, and after C.J. Spiller was drafted to go with Fred Jackson, Lynch’s fate in Buffalo was pretty much sealed.
Days one and two of the NFL draft is in the books and to this point the Buffalo Bills have stood pat, making their first three picks as scheduled without moving up or down the draft board.
