Kryk Slants

NEW YORK – Of the 23 top draft prospects who accepted invitations to attend the NFL draft, six had official visits with the Buffalo Bills.

Here’s what four of them told me about how those visits went:

E.J. MANUEL, quarterback, Florida State: “I think Buffalo’s probably going to take a quarterback, and I think they’re going to take one early. So I hope I impressed them enough that they believe in me, and that I’m their guy … We went over the offence and things like that, which was really good. And I had really good meetings with the head coach (Doug Marrone) as well.”

BARKEVIOUS MINGO, defensive end, LSU: “It went really well. I had a really good time up there. Coaches seemed to like how I play and stuff, so it was good … We went over a lot of stuff (about how he might fit into their hybrid defence). But mostly it was just trying to meet me as a person. Very little football. But it was a pretty good day.”

DION JORDAN, defensive end, Oregon: “It was a good visit. I got to sit down and talk with the coaches, and just to see the plan that they have for me, so I understand the scheme and everything … They’d drop me into space, and get after quarterbacks.” And does he have a preference — OLB or DE? “Naw, man, I just want to chase quarterbacks. That’s it. If they can find a job for me to do that, I’m good.”

CORDARRELLE PATTERSON, wide receiver, Tennessee: “The trip was pretty good. I sat down with the coach, just talking to him. We sat down for a couple of hours, getting to know each other as a person and as a player — what I can do on the field and off the field. I respect him a lot. The visit was great.”

The other two of the 23-man invitees who took official visits to Buffalo were quarterback Geno Smith of West Virginia and safety Kenny Vaccaro of Texas.

The Bills pick eighth in the first round on Thursday night. Many, including me, are urging the Bills to take a quarterback with that pick — as there is no guarantee they’ll be able either to trade back into the bottom tier of Round 1 to get their QB, or that that guy will still be available by their Round 2 pick (41^st overall).

Speculation was out of control by Wednesday night. One reporter heard the Bills were high on quarterback Matt Barkley, seen by most as a late Round 1 talent.

Unless the Bills trade up or down, months of speculation will end Thursday night somewhere between about 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. EDT.

NEW YORK – Luke Joeckel is about as pleasant, jovial and well-mannered a young man as you’ll ever meet.

At least off the football field.

The offensive tackle from Texas A&M is the odds-on favourite to be selected No. 1 overall by the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night, to kick off the three-day NFL entry draft (8 p.m., TSN2 in Canada and NFL Network).

“It’d be a huge honour,” Joeckel said on Wednesday at Chelsea Waterside Park. “We’re all competing for that No. 1 draft pick. That’s what this whole process is all about.”

But the 6-foot-6, 306-pounder said he parks his Mr. Nice Guy persona once he puts on a helmet and pads.

“A mean streak is huge,” he told me. “When I started tackle football in fourth grade, the first thing my Dad told me was, ‘You can be the nicest guy off the field, but when you step on that field you’ve got to be the nastiest guy out there. You’ve got to want to finish guys off. You want to be able to dominate them.’

“And that’s something I’ve taken with me since peewee football. I try to be the nastiest guy out there. Always legal, always inside the whistle — but I’m going to block to the echo of that whistle, I’m going to finish every single play, and I’m going to anger some of the guys I go against.”

Pay the man.

NEW YORK – West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith fired back at his critics on Wednesday.

A day before the entry draft, and shortly after the NFL’s fun morning event to encourage children to become more active, Smith actively defended his character during an open session with football writers.

Back on April 1 — no fooling — Pro Football Weekly’s senior editor Nolan Nawrocki crushed Smith’s character in a pre-draft story that seemed to open the door to more such speculation.

In addition to downgrading Smith’s on-field skills, Nawrocki wrote that the 22-year-old from Miramar, Fla., is “not a student of the game, (has) nonchalant field presence, does not command respect from teammates and cannot inspire. (He has) mild practice demeanour — no urgency. Not committed or focused — marginal work ethic.”

This week Smith finally has had it with the personal attacks.

On Tuesday he tweeted this:

Just want to thank all those so called “experts” who say I can’t be an NFL QB. Thursday will be a special day but the work has only begun

— Eugene Geno Smith (@GenoSmith_12) April 23, 2013

On Wednesday I asked Smith — one of 23 top prospects in attendance at Chelsea Waterside Park — to explain what he meant.

“I mean, everyone has doubters,” Smith said. “I don’t see what’s so wrong with (the tweet).

“But, you know, I understand that in the position that I’m in, everything’s going to get overblown, everything’s going to get analyzed. You know what? I’ll just let people do their jobs. I’ve got to do mine, and they have to do theirs.”

And Smith doesn’t mind one bit that his biting response reveals a burning competitive streak.
“I’m not going to sit back and take all that criticism, especially the unjust criticism — things that are made up.”

Like what?, I asked him.

“You know what I mean. But I just push that stuff to the side. I continue to work.

“The one thing that I know is that the GMs and coaches, they don’t listen to any of that, and I don’t either. They have scouts and the people who do the research. And if you do your research on me, then you’ll see exactly what I’m about, and who I am.”

Later, Smith wisely said he didn’t feel as though he was being singled out.

“I think most of it is the nature of the position. I mean, I’m not the only guy who’s been criticized coming into this thing, and I’m not the only guy who’s fired back. So it’s not the situation where (I’m) trying to make myself bigger than the draft, or the process — because I understand what goes on.

“But I’m just that type of competitor. I’m going to fire back when I feel I need to.”

Smith said he doesn’t believe he’s being unfairly criticized because he’s black.

“I think that’s a misconception. That’s just the process.

“The quarterback is the hardest position to play on the field — everyone knows that. And in the NFL if you don’t have a good quarterback, the head coach is going to be looking for a job. So that’s why the scrutiny is there with quarterbacks. Whether or not that’s a racial thing — I don’t believe so.”

Why does he take such criticism about his character to heart? Because, he said, they’re unfair, inaccurate and he takes it “extremely” personally.

“Anything on the field you can say whatever you want. Basically, that’s an opinionated thing.

“(But) if you say I’m a bad-character guy, or I’m this type of guy — I’m immature — then obviously I think that reflects on my mother, and on my father. Because they raised me up to be a high-character, humble guy. And I was raised in the church, and I’m high on my faith. So when I hear that type of stuff, I just brush it off, because I know it’s not who I am.

“So it’s obviously made up. I’ve had no altercations in college or high school — never been arrested, never had anything to warrant those types of criticisms.”

As with all quarterbacks in this draft, opinions as to where Smith will be selected are all over the map. He could be the first quarterback taken, and early, on Thursday night — or not go until Friday night.

In the latter event, I can’t wait for his tweet.

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WEST VIRGINIA TEAMMATE TAVON AUSTIN DEFENDS GENO SMITH:

Here’s what West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin said Wednesday about Geno Smith, and how he’s handling criticism about his leadership ability:

“Pretty much he’s handling it good. Whenever we talk … I don’t ask him about it, I don’t want to be the one who keeps bringing it up. I just let it go. If he brings it up, he’ll speak on it. But most likely he doesn’t … He stays to himself, he stays quiet and lets everything play out.

Does it bother him?

“No … At the end of the day he knows it ain’t true. So he’s not going to believe it.”

What about his leadership ability?

“I’ve been with him for four years,” Austin said by way of shooting down such reports, “and he’s been the leader on our team since we’ve been there.”

NEW YORK – Just days before the NFL draft, at least three teams were seeking more information on Canadian college player Matt Sewell, QMI Agency has learned.

He’s one of two Canadians with the best shots to be selected in the NFL draft. University of Regina defensive lineman Stefan Charles is the other.

A two-time all-Canadian offensive lineman at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., Sewell played in the East-West Shrine Game in January, a post-season all-star game for departing college players.

It’s still a long shot whether any NFL teams would select the Milton, Ont., native on Saturday — when the last four rounds (4-7) of the draft are held. But after the last pick of Round 7 is made early Saturday night, all undrafted players become free agents, able to sign with any team.

For Sewell, the last-minute interest expressed by three NFL teams might foretell such a signing.

Sewell is gargantuan. He stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 339 pounds. He played left tackle with the Marauders and started for four years.

The CFL Scouting Bureau has Sewell rated No. 4 overall for that league’s May 6 entry draft.

Normally, an O-lineman as tall and hefty as Sewell plays tackle at the NFL level, but Sewell projects better as a guard, sources say. He possesses more athleticism than most men his size, but he lacks upper-body power, as his 17 reps of 225 pounds in the bench press at the CFL combine attest. Any number under 20 is deemed disappointing by NFL standards.

Charles, an interior defensive lineman at Regina, has an NFL-sized body but, like Sewell, lacks upper-body strength that wins over NFL talent men. Nevertheless, Charles is relentless as a bull-rusher.

Charles’ D-line mate last year, Akiem Hicks, was a surprising third-round pick (89^th overall) of the New Orleans Saints last year. NFL people thus have seen Charles on tape, too.

The CFL Scouting Bureau ranks the 6-foot-4, 324-pound Charles No. 2 overall. He’s from Oshawa, just east of Toronto.

Other Canadians hoping to land with an NFL team, probably as an undrafted free agent, include Luke Willson of LaSalle, Ont., (just outside Windsor) and Linden Gaydosh from the University of Calgary.

Willson is a 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end who played at Rice University in Houston. The Toronto Argos selected Willson in the fourth round of last year’s CFL draft, and he’s also the property of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team and played A-ball last summer.

Gaydosh, a 6-foot-3, 314-pound defensive lineman from the University of Calgary, was as impressive as Charles at the CFL combine. The CFL Scouting Bureau ranks him No. 3 overall.

He’s from Peace River, Alta.

Bills assistant GM Doug Whaley and GM Buddy Nix, last week. (my grainy photo)

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The Buffalo Bills are more hard up for a decent quarterback than North Korea is for electricity.

If you don’t think the quarterback string of Rob Johnson, Alex Van Pelt, Drew Bledsoe, Kelly Holcomb, J.P. Losman, Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick is tied to the fact the team hasn’t made the playoffs since 1999, well, I have some bullish North Korean hydro-electric stock you might wanna buy.

It’s why so many Bills fans are imploring — no, begging — GM Buddy Nix to select a signal-caller with the team’s No. 8 overall pick Thursday night on Day 1 of the NFL entry draft.

But will he?

Whether any of the buzz-bereft quarterbacks in this draft are even worthy of being taken that high matters not. Fans will be livid if Nix passes in the first round, then somehow misses out on the top tier of QBs by the time their second scheduled pick rolls around on Friday night — the 10^th choice of Round 2.

Since late last fall, Nix himself has fanned all those flames. Perhaps too much so, and that’s maybe by design. Maybe the club actually intends to pick a non-quarterback.

In that case, I’d suggest Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert. The Bills have Stevie Johnson, project speedster T.J. Graham and that’s about it to catch passes from whoever will line up under centre. Eifert is more of a sure thing than any of the wideouts, perhaps with the exception of West Virginia’s super-slot Tavon Austin.

But in December and again at the scouting combine in February, Nix hasn’t exactly been reticent about saying the club will draft a quarterback earlier than later.

And if that was tantamount to displaying their heart’s desire in the shop window, Nix and club evaluators added flashing neon lights after meeting with, or working out, more than half a dozen of the top QB prospects over the past few weeks.

Nix and his heir-in-waiting, assistant GM Doug Whaley, either are being overtly thorough, or cagey.

The dilemma facing each of the QB-needy teams is that whoever passes on a QB at the top of the first round can’t be sure the QB they covet will still be around when they pick again at the top of the second.

Speculation is that such teams will attempt either to trade down in Round 1 to take their quarterback — and gain one or more additional draft picks in the process — or trade back into the late first round from the second.

The problem with the first scenario is finding a team willing to surrender another high pick, or picks, to trade up that high.

The bigger problems are with the second scenario. Say the Bills trade their Round 2 pick with Houston’s 27^th overall. Who’s to say another QB-desperate team doesn’t trade back into Round 1 even higher, and takes the QB the Bills had been targeting — like a cut-throat bidder on The Price is Right who adds a dollar to the previous poor sap’s bid?

Besides, the Bills have only six picks total in this draft. Trading back into Round 1 would cost them at least one other high pick — something the talent-deficient club cannot afford.

Thus, the shrewdest course of action for the Bills to get the quarterback they want without surrendering additional draft picks is to just take the guy at No. 8 — regardless of where he might sit on their big board.

Draft purists cringe at such heresy.

After all, one of the main reason teams have all those scouts, and hold endless pre-draft meetings both internally and with prospective players, is to grade players to the 10^th decimal point, then draft the best player available whenever it’s the team’s turn to pick.

Nix embraces that old-school drafting approach, as he said again last week. You don’t reach. If you don’t have a first-round grade on Jimmy Bob Bohammer, then you sure-as-rain don’t draft him in the first round.

The other long-standing purists’ rule of thumb is if you have a Top 10 pick, you’d better get someone you think is a future all-pro, otherwise you’ve wasted it.

But in today’s NFL, what trumps everything is having a talented, dependable, play-making, gaffe-avoiding quarterback.

And so what if, as most experts maintain, this draft does not contain a ready-out-of-the-box quarterback? The Bills presumably acquired Kevin Kolb and clung to Tarvaris Jackson for a reason. Let one of them play in 2013 if necessary, while over the next year you coach up the kid you take at No. 8.

If you’re a Bills fan, you might not have faith that Nix and his staff can even identify the best quarterback to take. These guys, after all, in the past two years passed on the likes of Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick, Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles — under the belief that Ryan Fitzpatrick was Their Man.

If I were the Bills GM, I’d do what Greg Cosell told me happened not too many years ago.

“A team’s top-rated quarterback was 29^th on their board — and yet they drafted him No. 1,” the NFL Network and NFL Films talent evaluator told me. “With quarterbacks, all bets are off.”

Right on. Unless the Bills are targeting a lesser-regarded QB who’s absolutely sure to be there when they pick in Round 2, they should take him at 8.

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SO WHICH QB AT 8?:

Which QB do the Bills covet most? Not who I’d pick, but who they’d pick? Based on the obvious, plus tea leaves, intuition, and conversations with some who earn their living off NFL happenings, herewith my two cents — in this order:

1. Ryan Nassib, Syracuse

2. Matt Barkley, USC

3. E.J. Manuel, Florida State

4. Tyler Wilson, Arkansas

5. Zac Dysert, Miami (Ohio)

If the Bills choose not to go with a QB in Round 1, then:

1. Tyler Eifert, TE, Notre Dame
2. Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia
3. Jonathan Cooper, G, North Carolina
4. Chance Warmack, G, Alabama
5. Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee

He’s known in NFL circles as the “Wizard,” or the “Wizard of Oz.”

He’s not a huckster. He’s not a ’fraidy-cat. And he does not use smoke, mirrors or projected images to defeat his enemies, like a famous member of the fictitious wizardry.

The general manager of the Baltimore Ravens also does not hide behind a curtain, nor does he live in an emerald city.

What he does do is render his rivals green with envy.

“Ozzie Newsome has, year in and year out, put out relevant teams and given his team a chance to win a Super Bowl,” New York Giants GM Jerry Reese told USA Today, before Newsome’s perennial playoff power won Super Bowl XLVII in February. It Baltimore’s second NFL championship in 17 years under Newsome’s tutelage.

Former Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian described Newsome’s ability to keep his team in contention most seasons since 2000 “in this day and age, in the salary-cap era,” as “the most difficult thing to do in sports.”

This year’s NFL draft is only days away — Thursday, Friday and Saturday in New York City. It’s a good time to delve into why Newsome and his player-personnel staff have more successfully identified pro-level football talent than anybody since the late 1990s.

That is not to say Newsome has been perfect. His draft classes aren’t spectacular every year. And he has selected his share of big-name duds. Prime example: blanks-firing quarterback Kyle Boller in 2003, whose failure led directly to a brief but decided mid-decade swoon for the Ravens’ franchise.

But by and large, the Ravens’ early-round picks under Newsome have been winners, and his ability to unearth late-round or undrafted diamonds is as uncanny as it is unrivaled.

“We’re all chasing Ozzie,” Reese said.

A roll call of Newsome’s acumen after 17 years:

– In his first draft as Ravens VP of player personnel in 1996, he selected two players in the first round: offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden (4^th overall) and linebacker Ray Lewis (26^th). Ogden became one of the best left tackles in NFL history and enters the Hall of Fame in August. Lewis is sure to join him in five years, after a 17-year career as the prototypical 21^st century inside linebacker.

– Newsome has drafted 15 Pro Bowl players. That’s almost one per year.

– His other standout first-round picks include safety Ed Reed (24^th overall in 2002), linebacker Terrell Suggs (10^th overall in 2003), defensive tackle Haloti Ngata (12^th overall in 2006) and quarterback Joe Flacco (18^th overall in 2008). Reed is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, and the other three have a chance to reach Canton.

– Newsome’s second-round gems include running back Ray Rice (2008), wide receiver Torrey Smith (2011) and defensive end Paul Kruger (2009). His third-rounders include cornerback Lardarius Webb (2009), offensive tackle Marshall Yanda (2007) and tight end Ed Dickson (2010).

– Newsome’s undrafted free-agent gems over the years include running back Priest Holmes, linebacker Bart Scott, linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and, just last spring, placekicker Justin Tucker. Tucker’s overtime field goal in Denver capped an unlikely comeback playoff victory over Peyton Manning’s Broncos, and Tucker’s late field goal provided the decisive points in Baltimore’s 34-31 win over San Francisco in Super Bowl XLVII.

(At right, Ravens depth charts for Super Bowl XLVII)

As a player himself, Newsome starred in college under Bear Bryant at Alabama, then had a Hall of Fame career as tight end on the Cleveland Browns from 1978-90.

As a GM, Newsome team-builds primarily through the draft. The Ravens aren’t the only modern-day NFL club to find success that way, of course. So have the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and New England Patriots, to varying degrees.

Don’t get it twisted, though. Avoiding free agency whenever possible does not guarantee long-term success in the NFL. Exhibit A: the Cincinnati Bengals.

It isn’t so much what Newsome does, then, as how he does it.

His secrets?

Two things, apparently: the club’s talent-evaluation process, and the breed of player the club covets.

In a scrum with a small group of reporters at Super Bowl media day in late January, Newsome explained his core philosophy in talent identification.

“I think it’s allowing all my scouts and all my coaching staff to voice an opinion on a player,” Newsome said. “And they disagree with me. We allow all our information to be put out on the table. And we let the information make the decision. So that makes it a lot easier.”

Newsome’s managerial style in that process plays a large factor. He told Sports Illustrated he doesn’t “say anything” in player-assessment meetings until a week before the draft. Not a thing.

“I try to take the opportunity to be a good listener and try to consume as much information as I can,” Newsome told SI’s Don Banks, “and I think that drives my ability to make a decision. If I’m doing all the talking, then I’m probably not doing all the listening.”

“And the other thing,” he told that group of reporters at the Super Bowl, “is you’ve got to have people who enjoy coming to work. I think my scouts really enjoy coming to work for me, and I enjoy working with them.

“And the relationship — one of the things I’ve always said is there’s never going to be a wall between the personnel department and the scouting department. They’ve got to work together, and I think we work together as well as any team in the league.”

At the outset of Super Bowl week, a former protégé of Newsome’s – Daniel Jeremiah, now an on-air talent for NFL Network and columnist for NFL.com — offered this vital, additional insight.

“Newsome never got too carried away with height, weight or speed,” wrote Jeremiah, once a Ravens scout for a few years. “He wanted football players. Period.

“Ozzie always made a point to ask the important questions during NFL draft meetings. These were the two that he repeated most often:

One, How well will he fit in our locker room? Two, Does he help us beat the Pittsburgh Steelers?”

If the latter seems too nebulous a goal around which to build a championship team, know this: all NFL teams’ primary goal is to win their division. It’s the only sure path to the playoffs.

In New Orleans I asked Newsome about the “beat Pittsburgh” factor, and he confirmed it’s a paramount consideration for the Ravens in the AFC North.

“You can’t win our division if you can’t beat Pittsburgh,” he told me. “To be able to have players that can go into Heinz Field and play their best, you have to have those kinds of players.”

OK, but what kinds of players are those, particularly?

“You better have some competitors,” Newsome replied. “And they better be physical. And they better want to play for 60 minutes.”

Newsome left it at that.

I knew I’d heard a similar three-prong assessment before, but where?

Most coaches and GMs are wont to say that. But how many value it as highly as Newsome and the Ravens?

Eventually, the penny dropped: Frank Leahy.

Two decades ago, when I was researching Natural Enemies — my history book on the football rivalry between Notre Dame and Michigan — an assessment from Leahy had stuck with me.

Leahy coached at Notre Dame in the 1940s and early ’50s, and he was as good a talent assembler as he was a football coach — which is to say no one ever was better. To this day Leahy owns the second best winning percentage by a coach in major-college football history: .864.

How was he churning out so many superstar players — some that other top schools had passed on?

In his 1949 book Notre Dame Football: The T-Formation, Leahy explained that the “first and foremost requisite” a player must possess if he wants to suit up for his Fighting Irish was not anything to do with physical talent, or even work ethic.

Rather, it was that “he must have a burning desire to play the game (emphasis his). There is absolutely no substitute for this … We have never seen a man achieve gridiron success who did not possess a burning desire to win. (It) must be inherent in a player.”

That that characteristic, in Leahy’s eyes, trumped all others — physical or otherwise — was a revelation.

The second most important trait, Leahy wrote, was aggressiveness. After that, a willingness to work.

Sound familiar? What did Newsome tell me again?: “You better have some competitors. And they better be physical. And they better want to play for 60 minutes.”

Same criteria as Leahy’s, basically.

To me, this philosophy goes a long way to explain why Leahy had six undefeated teams and five national champions in 13 seasons at Notre Dame. And why, some six decades later, Newsome has the edge on most of his GM counterparts in talent identification at the NFL level.

“Ozzie brings in the right kind of players,” Rex Ryan, a former Ravens defensive coordinator and current New York Jets head coach, once said. “And one thing we’ve always talked about is we don’t want to coach effort. And that’s the thing — we don’t.

“(Ravens) guys love to play the game, and those are the guys you surround yourself with. That’s why you have a chance to be successful (in Baltimore).”

A chance? It’s more than just a chance. It’s a probability.

As eight 10-win seasons, four 12-win seasons, nine playoff appearances, a 14-7 playoff record (tops in the NFL since 1970) and two Super Bowl wins all attest.

#    #    #

One way to gauge just how successful Baltimore Ravens are at the draft is to compare them to a club that usually isn’t — the Buffalo Bills.

Success in the draft can maybe best be measured by how many draftees start for a team over the long term, by how many draftees it has in the backup ranks, and by how many undrafted free agents the team identifies and signs from year to year.

The chart below (big thanks to Toronto Sun‘s Derek Tse) compares the number of these “home-grown” players on the rosters of the Ravens and Bills at end of the 2012 season — grouped by the draft round in which they were selected (regardless of year), and divvied as starters or backups:

Important takeaways from the above chart:

1. While the Ravens had only three more home-grown starters than the Bills (18 to 15), the Bills’ draft failures going back many years compelled the club to backfill its (one-man short on Dec. 30) 53-man roster via free agency and, in one case, via trade. Specifically, a whopping 20 of 27 Bills backups were not home-grown.
2. By comparison, the Ravens had 20 home-grown backups, and needed to back-fill with only eight free agents — almost the exact opposite of Buffalo.
3. The late-round drafting acumen of the Ravens compared to the Bills is particularly stark. Among players selected from the 5th to 7th rounds, as well as undrafted free agents, the Ravens boasted six starters and 13 backups. Combined, those players accounted for more than a third of the Ravens’ Super Bowl roster — incredible. By comparison, the Bills had only three starters and three backups. And two of the starters were special-teamers — punter Shawn Powell and long-snapper Garrison Sanborn, whose positions often are filled in the NFL by undrafted free agents.
4. Of the 12 players current GM Buddy Nix and staff have selected in the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th rounds since 2010, only four remained on the team by the end of the 2012 season, and not one was starting. They are offensive lineman Zebrie Sanders (a rookie who spent 2012 on injured reserve), linebacker Arthur Moats (demoted to second string) linebacker Chris White (third-stringer who had two tackles in 2012) and cornerback Justin Rogers (backup and special teams). That’s abysmal.
5. Never mind late-round draft picks. The Ravens on Super Bowl Sunday had an amazing 14 of their own undrafted free-agent players either on the roster or on injured reserve. Four started, including 11-year nose tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu.
6. By comparison, apart from Powell and Sanborn — the two special-teams starters — backup interior offensive lineman David Snow was the only undrafted free agent signed by the Bills since Nix’s arrival in 2010 who remained on the active roster.

Here’s another comparison …

The NFL draft is now less than a week away, and still no one really has any idea when the top quarterbacks will be taken.

Will there be a surprising run in the first round on Day 1? Even early on Day 1?

Or, as draftniks implore, will teams wait until Days 2 and 3 to select most, or even all, of this year’s group of sizzle-deficient quarterbacks?

As this position by far is the most vital on any NFL team, here are my analytical takes on the Top 10 quarterbacks available this year. My analyses and draft grades are based largely on my own observations at both the Senior Bowl and scouting combine, and on my interviews with (1) some of the most respected draft experts, (2) two scouts and (3) most of the QBs themselves.

1. Matt Barkley

FROM: Newport Beach, Calif.

COLLEGE: Southern Cal

EXPERIENCE: Started all 4 years, plus all 4 in high school

SIZE: 6-foot-2 1/2, 227 pounds

PROS: Deep experience at high levels in pro-style passing schemes. Accurate on short and medium passes. Accurate on rollouts. Strong intangibles.

CONS: Mediocre arm strength. Poor footwork in pocket. Coming off separated throwing shoulder. Efficiency dropped as senior behind more porous pass protection.

IDEAL SCENARIO: Team with a West Coast offence takes him, to accentuate his pros and diminish his cons. Could flourish.

WHAT HE SAYS: “I would disagree,” he told me proudly at a scouting combine news conference when I mentioned those who say he lacks arm strength. “Look at the tape … I’ve made throws in tight windows. I can make every NFL throw that you need.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 1^st round.

2. E.J. Manuel

FROM: Virginia Beach, Va.

COLLEGE: Florida State

EXPERIENCE: Had six starts over first two seasons, before starting full-time in 2011 and 2012.

SIZE: 6-foot-4 5/8, 237 pounds

PROS: Tall. Good arm. Quick delivery. Fleet. Natural leader. Only 3^rd NCAA QB to win 4 bowl games.

CONS: Inconsistent. His sometimes stunted delivery too often leads to inaccuracy, even on simple or short throws.

IDEAL SCENARIO: Becomes a backup, learns subtleties of read-option, hones his delivery, then blossoms as a potential dual-threat star in Year 2 or 3, a la Kaepernick.

WHAT HE SAYS: “My physical skills kind of speak for themselves,” he told me at the Senior Bowl. “I have the size, and I can throw, I can run. But I think mainly it’s the pedigree in my mind … I finished 26-6 as a starter at Florida State, so I think I can do the same thing in the NFL.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 1^st round or high 2^nd.

3. Ryan Nassib

FROM: West Chester, Pa.

COLLEGE: Syracuse

EXPERIENCE: Three-year starter who broke myriad school passing records.

SIZE: 6-foot-2 1/8, 227 pounds

PROS: Strong arm. Most accurate of all these QBs on short and medium throws, even when scrambling. Hangs in pocket under duress. Ran hurry-up offence and excelled as fast decision-maker. Tough.

CONS: Tries to puncture brick walls with every throw. Result: he lacks touch on short ones and lacks accuracy — and sometimes even length — on deep ones. Must adjust at pro level. Can he? Struggled mightily to do so at three Senior Bowl practices I watched.

IDEAL SCENARIO: Too obvious. He goes to Buffalo, where his college head coach and offensive coordinator, Doug Marrone and Nate Hackett, now run the Bills. They’d know better than any team how to best utilize Nassib’s talents, and minimize his weaknesses.

WHAT HE SAYS: “I think I do a good job of getting the ball out quick, going through my progressions, and not really forcing the ball,” he said at the Senior Bowl. “(I want to prove) that I’m an NFL-ready quarterback, that I can play at the next level, mentally and physically.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 2^nd round.

4. Geno Smith

FROM: Miami, Fla.

COLLEGE: West Virginia

EXPERIENCE: Three-year starter. Broke a slew of school passing records.

SIZE: 6-foot-2 3/8, 218 pounds

PROS: Fantastic arm — which is what has so many scouts drooling. Blazing fast, too. Smart. Good instincts. Has huge ceiling.

CONS: Footwork is bad, but correctable. Even draftniks that rank him as the top QB agree he didn’t attempt many NFL-calibre throws in college, despite all those insane stats. Worst of all, lacks anticipation on his throws. That means he hesitates to throw until his receiver breaks open, rather than just before. No one can succeed like that in the NFL. Puzzling why so many drafniks rate him No. 1 regardless.

IDEAL SCENARIO: A team with a good QB coach and a creative offensive coordinator drafts him, lets him watch from the sidelines for a year or two, coaches him up, then unleashes him on the league.

WHAT HE SAYS: “I’m totally confident in my abilities,” he said at his combine news conference. “I’m not cocky or trying to say I’m this all-world player right now, because I have many areas I need to grow … I played in three different systems in college (including) the read-option system. I think I have the skill set that fits any offence.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 2^nd or 3^rd round.

5. Tyler Wilson

FROM: Fort Smith, Ark.

COLLEGE: Arkansas

EXPERIENCE: Was a backup until taking over as starter in 2011 and 2012.

SIZE: 6-foot-2 1/8, 215 pounds

PROS: Productive against SEC defences. Hangs in pocket and keeps eyes downfield as well as any QB in this class, even when he gets the hell knocked out of him. Was arguably the most consistent QB at Senior Bowl. First-rate leader.

CONS: Average arm. Maddeningly inconsistent at times. Play dropped off as a senior after the team got Petrino-ed. Poor mobility.

IDEAL SCENARIO: Wears a ballcap for a couple years, awaiting his chance behind a veteran QB in a traditional offence.

WHAT HE SAYS: “(What makes me NFL-ready) is my ability to comprehend a pro-style offence, and what I’ve done at Arkansas,” he told me at the Senior Bowl. “There was a lot on my shoulders as far as protection responsibility, run-game checks and responsibility, and because of that I think I’ll be able to digest a lot early, and come in and play.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 2^nd or 3^rd round.

6. Matt Scott

FROM: Chino, Calif.

COLLEGE: Arizona

EXPERIENCE: Only one full year of starting, after backing up Nick Foles. Ran Rich Rodriguez’s spread read-option offence in his starting year.

SIZE: 6-foot-2 1/8, 213 pounds

PROS: Completed 60% of senior-year passes for 3,620 yards, 27 TDs. At combine, showed off a strong arm and fast release with surprising accuracy. Not only mobile but most adept of all these QBs in running read-option.

CONS: Threw 14 interceptions in ’12 in an offence that gets receivers wide open everywhere. Inconsistent. Bad footwork on throws. A bit too lean. Most of all, he’s raw — lacks experience attempting NFL-type throws.

IDEAL SCENARIO: A team will gamble earlier than expected on his upside potential, based mostly on his impressive arm and release.

WHAT HE SAYS: “After the season, I played in the East-West Shrine game,” he said at his combine news conference. “Since the season got out, I think I’ve put on about 11, 12 pounds. I think that’s going to help in how the coaches look at me.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 3^rd round.

7. Zac Dysert

FROM: Ada, Ohio

COLLEGE: Miami (Ohio)

EXPERIENCE: Four-year starter with RedHawks, broke career passing records of Ben Roethlisberger.

SIZE: 6-foot-2 7/8, 231 pounds

PROS: Strong arm. Thrives in chaotic pocket. And he’s sneaky fast: threw for 500+ yards and rushed for 100+ vs. Akron as a senior. Three-time captain.

CONS: Disturbingly inconsistent on his throws, which was on display at Senior Bowl. Misses easy throws.

IDEAL SCENARIO: If Chiefs miss on the above QBs, pocket-thriving Dysert might make him ideal for Andy Reid, as understudy behind Alex Smith.

WHAT HE SAYS: “Coming from a smaller school like Miami, I think some people won’t give me the credit, or might think I can’t handle the bigger situations,” he told me at the Senior Bowl. “So that just made me have a chip on my shoulder.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 3^rd or 4^th round.

8. Landry Jones

FROM: Artesia, N.M.

COLLEGE: Oklahoma

EXPERIENCE: Started all four years. Critics say he peaked as a sophomore.

SIZE: 6-foot-4 1/8, 225 pounds

PROS: Usually came up big in big games. Strong arm. Not afraid to move around in pocket.

CONS: Makes bad decisions on throws. Too quick to check down. Lacks accuracy, especially on NFL-type throws.

IDEAL SCENARIO: Like so many college QBs, including these, operated mostly from the shotgun. Needs time to get used to NFL-style offences, and work on progression throws.

WHAT HE SAYS: “I think it’s always going to be a passing league,”he told me at the Senior Bowl. “If you can’t throw it, you can’t be a quarterback in the NFL. That’s always going to be the deal … I’m able to throw the ball on time. And I’m able to move around.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 5^th or 6^th round.

9. Mike Glennon

FROM: Centreville, Va.

COLLEGE: North Carolina State

EXPERIENCE: Succeeded some guy named Russell Wilson on the Wolfpack, and started the past two seasons.

SIZE: 6-foot-7 1/8, 225 pounds

PROS: Has no problem seeing over linemen. Great, strong arm. Can throw any pass. Usually accurate, too, so long as … (read on)

CONS: Remember Bills/Redskins QB Todd Collins? Glennon is a taller, skinnier version. Has mule-like escapability in the pocket, and unless the pocket’s clean he’s utterly ineffective most of the time. Also a string-bean — thus durability concern.

IDEAL SCENARIO: He shrinks three inches, adds 5 or 10 pounds, and injects athleticism into his feet. Failing that, a team with a stout offensive line and vertical passing game would suit him best.

WHAT HE SAYS: “I think that’s one of the biggest strengths I have is I can throw the ball pretty well. It comes off my hand well,” he told me at the Senior Bowl. “(Escapability) is something I do need to work on, but a lot of people under-estimate it in me, probably, because I’m so tall.”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 5^th or 6^th round.

10. Tyler Bray

FROM: Clovis, Calif.

COLLEGE: Tennessee

EXPERIENCE: Took over as starter as a true freshman, missed half of his sophomore season with a hand injury, then started all last fall.

SIZE: 6-foot-6 1/8, 232 pounds

PROS: Possesses all the protypical NFL skills that scouts covet — height, thickness, great arm, good footwork, exceptional downfield accuracy. Had a 34-12 TD-INT ratio in third (and final) year.

CONS: Minimizes out in all the intangibles — otherwise he could be a 1^st-round pick. Delivery needs work.

IDEAL SCENARIO: What he said, below.

WHAT HE SAYS: “I’m 21 years old — the youngest quarterback in the draft,” he told Scout.com. “So, coming in and starting is probably a bit unrealistic. Coming in to back up a guy, learning the system, just getting used to things and eventually become a starter (is my goal).”

MY DRAFT GRADE: 6^th or 7^th round.

Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff was born in Ohio but spent all of his teenage and college years in Southern Ontario.

He returns on Dec. 1, when his Falcons play the Buffalo Bills in the sixth annual Bills-in-Toronto game at the Rogers Centre.

“It will be nice to be able to get back to Southern Ontario when we take on the Bills in Week 13,” Dimitroff told Canoe.ca exclusively on Thursday night, minutes after the 2013 NFL schedule was announced.

“I have some fond memories of my football experiences in Canada, and it will be good to be part of the NFL’s experience in Toronto.”

Dimitroff lived in Burlington, Ont., while his father, Thomas Dimitroff Sr., was head coach of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and University of Guelph Gryphons.

Dimitroff played defensive back at both M.M. Robinson High School in Burlington and at the University of Guelph in the late 1980s, after his dad had moved on in football. Burlington is almost halfway between Toronto and Buffalo, on Lake Ontario.

The Falcons last season tied for the best regular-season record in the NFL, at 13-3. They narrowly lost at home to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game this past January.

The Bills have won only one of the previous five Bills-in-Toronto games, and likely will be a big underdog this year.

Hope you like Peyton Manning, because you’re going to be seeing him a lot on your TV again this NFL season.

Maybe right up to and including Super Bowl XLVIII next Feb. 2 in New York/New Jersey.

The league unveiled its 2013 schedule on Thursday night, and Manning’s Denver Broncos not only have the easiest schedule of all 32 teams, they somehow also seem to have the most marquee games.

It’s a head-scratcher.

The Broncos play host to the first game of the year — against the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, Sept. 5.

The next week, it’s the Manning Bowl — Peyton against younger brother Eli, as the Broncos visit the New York Giants.

On Oct. 6 the Broncos play in Dallas.

Two weeks later, it’s the Kleenex Bowl on Sunday night. Peyton Manning returns to Indianapolis, where he invented the wheel, discovered the atom and personally hung the retractable roof at Lucas Oil Stadium. Pity those Colts fans who’ll be wearing their 18 jerseys, unsure what the hell to do.

And on it goes. On Oct. 27 it’ll be the “Peyton vs. RG3” showdown in Denver.

On Nov. 24, Denver visits New England. Manning vs. Brady for the 14^th time. Tom has bested Peyton so far, 9-4, but boy oh boy does Peyton want revenge!!!

Three days before Christmas, Denver plays the Texans in Houston. Peyton vs. Matt Schaub? Naww. But Peyton vs. J.J. Watt?! Oh yeah.

We’ve got 140 days to steel ourselves for it all, folks.

HELLUVA START FOR NINERS: The defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers better be focused coming out of training camp. Get a load of their first five games: vs. Green Bay, at Seattle, vs. Indianapolis, at division rival St. Louis on Thursday night, and vs. Houston.

The Niners’ final seven games aren’t exactly a breeze: at New Orleans, at Washington, vs. St. Louis, vs. Seattle, at Tampa Bay, vs. Atlanta, at Arizona.

It’s not as tough a schedule as the ridiculous slate the New York Giants faced last season — if you’ll recall, a year ago we predicted the defending Super Bowl champs would be hard-pressed just to make the playoffs — but the Niners could be a better team and have a worse record in 2013 than the 11-4-1 mark they had last year.

HOMECOMINGS GALORE: In Week 2, Atlanta running back Steven Jackson plays the St. Louis Rams, his team for his first nine years in the NFL. In Week 3, Andy Reid brings his Kansas City Chiefs to Philadelphia (where he was head coach for 14 years until January), and safety Ed Reed returns to Baltimore with the Houston Texans, to play the Ravens — his employer for 11 years until last month.

MONDAY NIGHT’S COMEBACK?: Last year, the best matchup almost every week was scheduled for Sunday night. This year, that’s mostly the case again. But there are a few killer Monday night tilts — such as Chicago at Green Bay (Nov. 4), Colin Kaepernick and San Francisco at RG3 and Washington (Nov. 25) and the NFC championship game rematch: Atlanta at San Francisco (Dec. 23). Shades of Howard, Giff and Dandy Don.

THREE DAYS A WEEK: Tell the wife now. There are NFL games three days a week, every week but Week 17: Sunday, Monday and Thursday. The Thursday night games are here to stay. Ratings were solid, even if most games were duds. Many players complain that three days of rest between games when their team plays on Thursday isn’t nearly enough. On first glance it appears there are more divisional rivalry games scheduled for Thursdays this year, which probably is intended to have more inspired games.

EXTRA POINTS: NFL Network said there were 824 trillion possibilities for the 2013 schedule. Somewhere, there is a website devoted to exploring all those other might-have-beens … Bye weeks go from Week 4 to 12 … For the fourth consecutive year, all 16 games on the final weekend (Week 17) are on the Sunday, and all are division games … Each team plays 16 games over 17 weeks … Playoff games will go Jan. 4-5 (wild-card games), Jan. 11-12 (divisional playoffs), Jan. 19 (AFC and NFC championship games) and the Super Bowl goes Feb. 2, outdoors, at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands. Brrr.

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MY PICKS FOR GAMES OF THE WEEK:

My picks for games of the week in the NFL in 2013, after the league released its schedule on Thursday night:

WEEK 1: Monday night, early game. Philadelphia @ Washington. Innovative Chip Kelly’s debut as Eagles head coach, and RG3’s possible return from an exploded knee.

WEEK 2: Sunday night. San Francisco at Seattle. Possibly the NFL’s two best teams this year, in first of two NFC West showdowns.

WEEK 3: Thursday night. Kansas City at Philadelphia. Andy Reid’s third game in charge of Chiefs is against the team he coached for 14 years until January.

WEEK 4: Sunday night. New England at Atlanta. A possible Super Bowl preview.

WEEK 5: Sunday late afternoon. Denver at Dallas. Elway and Peyton against … Jerry and Romo..

WEEK 6: Thursday night. New York Giants at Chicago. Two expected NFL powers, featuring Eli vs. Jay.

WEEK 7: Sunday night. Denver at Indianapolis. Peyton Manning’s homecoming. Good luck booking a therapy session in Indy the next week.

WEEK 8: Sunday afternoon. Buffalo at New Orleans. New Bills head coach Doug Marrone tries to show his old NFL mentor Sean Payton how much he’s learned.

WEEK 9: Monday night. Chicago at Green Bay. Black and blue. Blue and black. Sackfest again?

WEEK 10: Sunday afternoon. Cincinnati at Baltimore. If Bengals intend to unseat Ravens in AFC North, a win here goes a long way.

WEEK 11: Sunday afternoon. Detroit at Pittsburgh. Both teams have designs on returning to playoffs.

WEEK 12: Monday night. San Francisco at Washington. Colin Kaepernick against RG3. Yes, please!

WEEK 13: Thursday night. Pittsburgh at Baltimore. Second of their two AFC North showdowns closes traditional U.S. Thanksgiving Day triple-header.

WEEK 14: Sunday night. Atlanta at Green Bay. Matty Ice vs. Aaron Rodgers. By then both should be worth about $200 million more.

WEEK 15: Sunday late afternoon. Seattle at New York Giants. Russell Wilson vs. Eli Manning at the Meadowlands in mid-December. Big.

WEEK 16: Monday night. Atlanta at San Francisco. Rematch of the NFC championship game, this time in the Bay.

WEEK 17: Sunday afternoon. Washington at New York Giants. Might well decide the NFC East.

NFL Network’s draft expert Mike Mayock was taking questions from NFL writers early this afternoon on a conference call.

I asked him about the Buffalo Bills and their yawning need at quarterback.

You can read the transcript, below, or listen to the exchange here.

Specifically, I asked Mayock this:

With the Buffalo Bills picking 8^th overall, and then not again until 10^th in the 2^nd round, and given the state of their roster, and that there are so many other teams above them and behind them that need a quarterback, can they afford NOT to select the quarterback they covet most with their first-round pick?

Mayock’s answer:

“I don’t think Geno Smith (Mayock’s No. 1 QB) makes sense in Buffalo. I saw him play in cold weather in the bowl game, I saw him play in cold weather at Iowa State, and I don’t see him fitting in in an outdoor arena in Buffalo.

“So if it’s not him, you want Matt Barkley or Ryan Nassib or E.J. Manuel at 8? That’s way too high, for me. (GM) Buddy (Nix) could be sitting there going, ‘Hey, I don’t care what round I get my quarterback in, I just need to get him.’ And I understand that.

“But for me, I’d rather get a positional player at 8 that’s going to help me immediately. And hopefully it’s an offensive lineman. But if it’s not an offensive lineman, I’m going to get somebody at 8 — whether it’s (guard) Chance Warmack or an edge player to pressure the quarterback — but I’m going to get someone that I can plug in to make our team better.

“And then I’m going to come back in, and if I have to come back in and trade up to get to 26 to 32, I’ll do that. But I don’t want to give up my first-round pick to have that — I want to give up my third, or I want to give up something else, but I don’t want to give up my first.”