Attention all draftniks who have yet to fill out your "team needs" column for the Buffalo Bills: Buddy Nix has your back.
The Bills' general manager detailed his list of wants for draft weekend to reporters. The team would like to get a few offensive tackles, a cornerback or two, a speed receiver, a linebacker and a quarterback. That should just about do it.
"We need tackles," Nix said Wednesday, according to the Buffalo News. "But I'm going to make this clear. We think Chris Hairston can play left tackle for us and win."
It was almost as if Nix realized "we need tackles" would become a headline and added the bit about Hairston. We have our doubts about Hairston, but a strong argument can be made that there will be no tackle worthy of the Bills' No. 10 overall pick. A cornerback like Stephon Gilmore could fit.
NFL Network's Mike Mayock says Riley Reiff's talent level would make more sense around pick No. 20. Stanford's Jonathan Martin looks like a boom-or-bust pick. The best available player at No. 10 is unlikely to be a tackle. Nix sounds keen on taking a tackle high.
"We did all these studies on left tackles and where they were drafted," Nix said. "There's a high percentage of them that's drafted in the top 10 -- left tackles. Other guys you find. Again, don't read into that. But most of the starters in this league, especially Pro Bowlers, were taken in the first eight or nine picks."
The draft is one week away. What else are we going to do except read too much into things?
