Very Tense Moment On Draft Day
by Chris Brown, Lead Journalist Last Updated: 5/4/2007 12:44 PM ET
There's no question there were some anxious moments last Saturday as the Bills painstakingly tried to move back into the bottom of the first round to take sliding linebacker Paul Posluszny and found no takers. Ultimately Buffalo was able to land him in the top of the second round, but believe it or not there was a moment later on day one that trumped the tension before the Posluszny pick.
As Buffalo's third-round selection (#92) approached it became obvious to the Bills that Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards was their only realistic option in terms of value. No other player on the board was close to him in terms of grade.
The only fear was having another team leapfrog Buffalo and take the sliding quarterback before the Bills 92nd pick. That fear came a lot closer to being reality when the Saints called Buffalo's draft room four choices prior to the Bills' selection.
"New Orleans had called about a trade and gave us an offer and we turned it down," said Bills head of college scouting Tom Modrak.
The Saints had just taken Akron guard Andy Alleman with the 88th overall pick, but were apparently determined to trade back into the bottom of round three. Armed with two fourth-round picks and a fifth-round selection New Orleans had the ammunition necessary to pull off a deal.
Even though Modrak denied them the opportunity he knew the Saints would continue to try and find a trade partner in that area of the round.
Worse still with just two quarterbacks on the Saints' roster, including aging veteran Jamie Martin, the prospect of them trying to take a young quarterback was very realistic.
The picks slowly closed in on Buffalo's selection.
Green Bay at pick 89 took Virginia Tech safety Aaron Rouse, Philadelphia grabbed Penn State running back Tony Hunt with the 90th pick. New England was suddenly on the clock and the Bills were on deck. All seemed well. The Patriots had a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback in Tom Brady and a young backup they like in Matt Cassel. The threat of a quarterback pick was minimal.
That was until word came down that New England was trading the pick away. Was it New Orleans?
"Our assumption was that the Saints were going to try to make a trade with New England when we heard the Patriots were making a trade," said Modrak. "The Saints were trying to make a trade with everyone in that area. So we assumed it was them and my feeling was New Orleans wanted a quarterback."
But time was running out on the Patriots to complete the trade. Bills equipment manager Dave Hojnowski, who works at the Bills draft table in New York City every year, was on the phone with Bills head athletic trainer Bud Carpenter in Buffalo's draft room at One Bills Drive, and told him that the clock was winding down on New England.
"The Patriots got down to about 45 seconds left and the two guys that take the cards from the teams up to the head table suddenly go running from the Patriots table all the way across the room to the Oakland table," said Hojnowski. "In the meantime I'm telling Bud on the other end of the phone that we have 30 seconds before the pick is over. So Bud gives me Trent Edwards' name to write down so we have the card filled out."
Hojnowski is so busy filling out the card that he doesn't mention to Carpenter that Oakland is the team that has made the trade with New England.
So back in the Bills draft room the head decision makers are still fearful that New Orleans is the trade partner.
Meanwhile in New York a league representative approaches Buffalo's table.
"The guy from the league table sends one of his assistants to come to our table," said Hojnowski. "At this point the time has expired and we're on the clock officially. However they didn't turn the clock over up front, but our runner was taking our card up to the front with our pick."
The trade had taken so long to consummate between New England and Oakland that Buffalo was now in position to jump ahead of them and make their selection first. They wanted to try and get their pick (Edwards) in before the other team whose identity was still not known to the Bills brass back in Buffalo. They thought the other team wanted Edwards too.
As Buffalo's runner is heading for the league table to turn in the Edwards pick, the other runner leaves from the Raiders' table with Oakland's card. Hojnowski is adamant that Buffalo's card arrived first.
"I know our card got in there first and all of a sudden the league decided they were going to accept the Raiders' card," said Hojnowski.
"The league said it was a tie," said Modrak. "I guess you had to be there."
Buffalo's draft room was silent. Hojnowski ran back to the Bills table and got back on the phone.
"It's Oakland," he said. "The league is letting them pick first."
While this didn't please the Bills in the draft room, they were somewhat relieved it wasn't New Orleans. Then Oakland's pick was announced.
'With the 91st pick the Oakland Raiders select Mario Henderson, offensive tackle, Florida State.'
Modrak jokingly snapped his fingers as if Henderson was the player Buffalo wanted all along, but a smile quickly crossed his face.
"Oakland did us a favor by being the team that traded with New England," said Modrak. "If it was New Orleans odds are it would have been the guy we wanted. So it worked out well for us. We got our guy."
Buffalo promptly took Edwards and the rest is draft history. But for the head men in Buffalo's draft room and for Hojnowski at the draft table in New York City it was an edge of their seat moment.
"As many years as I've been going to the draft that was probably the tensest moment," said Hojnowski. "It was crazy. I was more nervous for the third round pick than any first round pick that I've ever had to write down on a card."
"That was as tight as it's been since I've been here on that type of thing," said Modrak. "The anxiety of moving up to get Poz was there on day one, but there's space in between the picks you were waiting to come down on him. With Edwards everything was jammed into a few seconds. It was a heart in your throat moment."
WOW! They must have really wanted to get Edwards if they turned down 3 picks to assure that position.
good to hear.
good to hear.
The Stanford football team has a solid claim on being the worst Division 1A school over the last two seasons. They were embarrassingly bad. Edwards had zero help. It's really hard to judge his talent based upon that, so I'm sure this is based upon his Wonderlic and his workouts. Maybe he'll work out, and maybe he won't. 
good to hear.
