FanHouse DonteWhitner

It was a surprise when the Bills drafted Penn State defensive end Aaron Maybin 11th overall in the April draft (especially since Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters had been recently shipped to Philadelphia and there was a gaping hole along the offensive line). Less surprising, perhaps, is that, two weeks into training camp, Maybin still remains unsigned.

It happens every August: the draft's top 10-15 picks play hurry up and wait while their agents work through contract details, making sure that, say, the 11th selection doesn't get a bigger signing bonus than the player chosen just ahead of him. It becomes tedious and frustrating for fans and rookies, and it doesn't take long for the accusations to fly. Usually in the direction of a 20-something kid just out of college suddenly thrust into the spotlight.

Last year, everything worked out. The NFL invited six players to Radio City Music Hall for the NFL Draft, and all were chosen with the first six selections. It hasn't always been that way; in 2007, a forlorn Brady Quinn spent six excruciating hours -- the last few out of camera shot in Roger Goodell's private viewing room -- waiting to hear his name called.

Two years before that, Aaron Rodgers sat uncomfortably through 23 picks before the Packers finally ended the misery and drafted him 24th.

A busy offseason for the Buffalo Bills got a little busier early Saturday morning when safety Donte Whitner had a run-in with the law in Cleveland. Police have confirmed that Whitner was arrested for aggravated disorderly conduct and resisting police outside the House of Blues at 3 a.m. He hasn't been officially charged with either crime, according to WIVB-TV in Buffalo.

Whitner, who went to Ohio State, has started 42 games in three seasons since the Bills selected him with the eighth overall pick of the 2006 draft. He had 61 tackles and one sack in 13 games during the 2008 season.

It wasn't long ago that people couldn't mention Trent Edwards without pointing to his league best passer rating in the fourth quarter. But that was back when Buffalo was 4-0, 4-1, 4-2 ... you get where I'm going with this.

After Sunday's loss to the Patriots, one in which Edwards looked Losmanian, the Bills are now 5-4 and tied for last in the AFC East. Part of the current three-game losing streak can be blamed on injuries -- the team was without Aaron Schobel and Donte Whitner -- but every club is missing key personnel this time of year.

The bigger issue, I think, is that Edwards has regressed to the point that people wonder if J.P. Losman changed uniform numbers and cleaned himself up.

Head coach Dick Jauron, always the level-headed Ivy League egghead, is keeping things in perspective:

"I think we have a quarterback, I really like this guy," said Jauron. "To start the season he played so unlike a young quarterback that now whenever he makes an error, we think there is something wrong.

"[Sunday] was probably not his best day, clearly, in a number of ways. It's a learning experience. We're going to have to live with some things because I think he is an outstanding player."

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: The J.P Losman era has come to its logical conclusion. Which is to say, he probably won't be around after this season. Trent Edwards, the team's 2007 third-round pick is now the starter, and if the Bills are to have any chance to improve on last year's 7-9 record, it will lie largely with him. Heat Index: 5

Running backs: Marshawn Lynch had a relatively quiet offseason until he accidentally ran over a pedestrian and bonked out before the cops showed up. The case has been settled, and he won't miss any time, which is great news for a Bills offense that can't afford to lose one of its best players. I suspect the hit-and-run victim might feel differently, however. Fred Jackson is more than capable behind Lynch. Heat Index: 8

Buffalo Bills strong safety Donte Whitner has one of the brightest futures of any NFL player. He's already started 29 games in his career, and he's only 22 years old. I like him a lot.

So that's why, while I'd consider this type of statement to be over the top coming from some players, I kind of like it from Whitner:

When asked if he expects the Bills to make the playoffs, Whitner makes it clear how serious he is. "Do I expect us to make the playoffs?" he says. "I'm guaranteeing it.

That's what Whitner said to Clifton Brown of The Sporting News in a story that portrays Whitner as one of the league's smartest and hardest-working young players, not to mention as a mentor to Bills rookie Leodis McKelvin, who is only a month younger than Whitner but is much less experienced.

I don't know if I'm ready to buy into Whitner's guarantee, but I do know that I like his confidence. It sure seems like a long time ago that people were criticizing the Bills for drafting him.

Via PFT.

Safety Donte Whitner is apparently very serious about helping the Bills turn things around. The former first-round pick is entering Year 3, and Buffalo has managed seven wins in each of his first two seasons. Not awful, particularly given their division, and the fact that they haven't had much stability at the quarterback position. But not great, either.

In any case, Whitner's not taking any chances. He's taking the team's 2008 first-round pick, cornerback Leodis McKelvin, under his wing.

"I'm having him stay with me until he finds a place of his own," said Whitner. "Each night I'm going to teach him a little bit more about the defensive scheme. It's hard as a rookie because you're going to make mistakes. So I'll try to slowly bring him up to speed on things and be a sounding board for him if he has any questions."

BuffaloBills.com's Chris Brown writes that McKelvin "was floored by the offer ... but happily accepted the invite." This could be the turning point in McKelvin's rookie season; often early-first-round defensive backs come into the league with humongous expectations only to flounder for a year or two. Usually, it has very little to do with being physically overmatched and everything to do with being mentally overwhelmed. The Redskins' Carlos Rogers immediately comes to mind.

Ideally, McKelvin would be eased into the lineup, but there's a chance he starts opposite Terrence McGee, and Jabari Greer moving to nickel back. And while it's way too early to pencil in the starters, working with Whitner certainly won't hurt McKelvin's chances for the gig.

With the upcoming Texans-Saints game matching Mario Williams versus Reggie Bush, Houston Chronicle columnist Jerome Solomon did a do-over of the 2006 draft. Here it is:

#1 Houston Texans - Joseph Addai, RB
#2 New Orleans Saints - Maurice Jones-Drew, RB
#3 Tennessee Titans - Vince Young, QB
#4 New York Jets - Jay Cutler, QB
#5 Green Bay Packers - Laurence Maroney, RB
#6 San Francisco 49ers - A.J. Hawk, LB
#7 Oakland Raiders - Reggie Bush, RB
#8 Buffalo Bills, Donte Whitner, SS
#9 Detroit Lions, Ernie Sims, LB
#10 Arizona Cardinals, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T

Hmmm. Redrafts are always hard because of what you should consider. Marketing? The failures or injuries of other players on the team yet to happen? And whether these players would have the same success for the redrafted team as they do on their current team.

For example, if the Texans knew for a fact that even after working with Gary Kubiak, David Carr was going to struggle as much as he did, they wouldn't have renewed his contract in February 2006 for three years. With no David Carr in the picture, the Texans would have had significantly more fan pressure to pick quarterback, and specifically Vince Young with the first pick in that draft. Nationally, NFL fans thought that the Texans should have picked Reggie Bush, but in Texas the sentiment was mostly behind Young.

Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.

This week I sat down with Chris Maier of The Bengal Blitz, a Most Valuable Network column that covers the Cincinnati Bengals.

Dan Benton: "What in the world is going on with Chad Johnson? We've seen him in Carson Palmer's face, we've seen him blow up on Keyshawn Johnson during an interview, and we heard last week on the NFL pregame that he's begging other coaches to get him out of Cincinnati. Is this just Chad Johnson being Chad Johnson or is this something a bit more serious?"

Chris Maier: "Rumors of Chad being combustible in the locker room are not new. People talking about it publicly is. Those people speaking out about it are hurting the team every bit as much as Chad has with his antics. Blaming Chad Johnson for the team's problems is making him a scapegoat for a bigger problem. Has he been a distraction at times? Yes. Does he play defense? No. Is he on kickoff coverage? No. Does he play offensive line? No. The Bengals aren't off to a disappointing start because of Chad Johnson, they are off to a bad start because the team is not playing well.

I give Chad credit for staying under the radar since the Keyshawn interview. His lower profile is keeping the focus on the field rather than providing a distracting sideshow. Of course a few more losses and who knows how he will react. After the season, look for the team to re-evaluate Chad's status but i expect the focus to be on adjusting the behavior with a trade remaining doubtful."

I guess the Bills have enough non-Spooky Mulder stuff to be concerned with that they aren't all that worried about the Patriots cheating this Sunday. Head coach Dick Jauron is "paranoid about the opposing teams stealing signals," but safety Donte Whitner says teammates aren't really talking about it:

"The Patriots are a good football team and whether they did use it or they didn't, you saw what they did Sunday night to a good Chargers football team. We're not worried about that. We're going to go out there and compete, play with effort and hope to come out with a win."

If nothing else, give Buffalo credit for learning a very valuable lesson from the Chargers. Namely, to paraphrase Hank Hill, they've decided not to "mess with the gorilla in the monkey cage."

Defensive end Chris Kelsay keeps it all in perspective:

"Regardless of what the situation, they play at a very high level and have for a long time. You take that (spying) away, they're still going to win a lot of those games. You have to give them credit because they've played well and they've shown it on the field."

I don't think anybody disagrees with that, but again, it raises the question: why, exactly, did the Patriots feel like they needed to cheat in the first place?