2010 SB Nation NFL Mock Draft: Round 1, Pick 9

The 2010 SB Nation NFL Mock Draft is underway, with each SB Nation blogger making selections for their respective teams. Brian Galliford, lead blogger at SB Nation's Buffalo Bills blog, Buffalo Rumblings, checks in to make the ninth overall selection in this year's mock. Take it away, sir!

With the ninth overall pick in the 2010 SB Nation NFL Mock Draft, the Buffalo Bills have selected Jimmy Clausen, quarterback, Notre Dame.

Brian Galliford says: GM Buddy Nix is preparing to run his first draft as the lead man in Buffalo, and his first pick is incredibly important - hit on it, and he's an instant celebrity; miss, and he's the latest in a long line of less-than-stellar decision-makers in Orchard Park. That's not fair, but that's exactly how it'll go down.

Jimmy Clausen's availability here makes Nix's decision easy. Or, rather, it makes my job easy in pretending to be Nix. Only Detroit has been on the outside looking in at playoff football as long as the Bills (ten years), and the chief reason behind that is the lack of a franchise quarterback. Reviews are mixed on Clausen, and he's not as popular amongst NFL talent evaluators as he could be, but Buffalo's need at QB is so huge that they almost have to roll the dice here. (Unless they want to toss twice and target a certain Mr. Tebow in round two.)

I have no idea if the Bills like Clausen, and that's probably a good thing. I, personally, like Clausen - for a junior entrant, I think his game has a solid amount of polish, and I think his oft-criticized intangibles are slightly underrated. This is not a prospect I want to simply hand the starting job to, but if he beats out Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brian Brohm in an even-playing-field competition, he'll have at least earned his keep.

One thing is certain: whenever Nix gets his QB, I'll feel pretty good about it. This is a man who was with a Chargers organization that drafted Drew Brees and Eli Manning - who was then flipped for Philip Rivers - during his tenure as Assistant GM. He was there for the selection of Charlie Whitehurst, who is apparently the greatest quarterback ever according to Pete Carroll. The man knows talent, and he seems to have good luck with quarterbacks. For the sake of Buffalo's sanity, I hope that lucky streak continues. I think it's got a good chance of continuing if Clausen is his man.

Mocking Dan reacts: It's become fairly obvious that the Bills are going to add a quarterback at some point this off-season, whether it's a veteran or a draft pick. The biggest issue with drafting a quarterback is that Buffalo still needs pieces to add to its 3-4 defense. A defensive tackle is a big-time need. Even though this would be a reach for Dan Williams, the nose tackle is the anchor of the defense and shouldn't be underscored. An offensive tackle is also a big need, and the second-round quality is nowhere near as good as the first-round quality.

Still, those quarterbacks on Buffalo have been mostly below average. Clausen would be the centerpiece of the offense and give the franchise its much-needed face.

Mocking the Draft's Top 5 remaining prospects: 1 - C.J. Spiller/RB/Clemson, 2 - Derrick Morgan/DE/Georgia Tech, 3 - Dez Bryant/WR/Oklahoma State, 4 - Joe Haden/CB/Florida, 5 - Earl Thomas/S/Texas

Sound off, SB Nation! What say you of the Clausen-to-Buffalo pick? Please be sure to check out Buffalo Rumblings for all of your Bills needs.