Teams have a hard time giving up on a player that they selected in the first round – especially in the top-15.
But Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News wants to know why the Bills haven’t parted with former No. 11 overall pick Aaron Maybin if they say they’re not trying to protect their financial investment (they paid the defensive end a $15 million signing bonus after he held out in 2009). Sullivan’s main point is that the Bills have the worst defense in the league, yet Maybin isn’t even good enough to be active on game days (he was a healthy scratch last week at Baltimore).
But Sullivan goes further:
It’s quite possible that Maybin is the worst player in the NFL (though a case could be made for John McCargo, another former Bills’ first-rounder who has been inactive all six games).
The Bills gave Maybin a $15 million signing bonus after his holdout in 2009. That’s not the sort of return on investment that made capitalism great. If Maybin were some seventh-round pick — like, say, Ryan Fitzpatrick or Stevie Johnson — he’d be long gone by now.
Well, it’s become increasingly apparent that Maybin isn’t really a football player, that while he possesses the raw speed to sack Big Ten players and impress gullible NFL scouts, he lacks the athletic ability to succeed in the NFL.
So go ahead and cut him.
Really, if it’s not about protecting a big investment, admit your mistake and move on. Maybin isn’t going to wake up and start performing like Brian Orakpo or Clay Matthews, linebackers who were drafted later and immediately played at a Pro Bowl level. The Bills can’t afford to waste another summer finding out that he’s not good enough.
The guy is playing behind Antonio Coleman, an undrafted free agent who played two snaps Sunday. Maybin can’t even get in on special teams. You can’t trust him to run up and down the field in his lane on kickoffs?
Someone should explain how the Bills concluded Maybin could be an NFL star after he played 10 games at Penn State. Maybin wasn’t even on the depth chart before that season. If a defensive end named Maurice Evans hadn’t been caught with marijuana, Maybin might never have become a starter.
This is yet another example of how NFL scouts can often be fooled by prospects coming off a big year. (And defensive ends are the biggest culprits when it comes to this.) The Falcons drafted Jamaal Anderson with the No. 8 overall pick in 2007 and now use him in a rotation at end and tackle. He’s fine against the run, but he’s shown zero pass-rushing ability, which is a problem seeing as how that’s why Atlanta took him so high.
I don’t disagree with anything Sullivan said about Maybin and it makes no sense to waste another year on a guy that can’t play. The only thing I’ll say is that it usually takes three years for things to click for defensive ends and Maybin is only in his second full year. I’m not saying the light bulb will go off for him, but it still may be a little premature to dump him.
