Former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Buddy Nix later became general manager of the Buffalo Bills and assistant general manager of the San Diego Chargers before retiring two years ago.When it comes to the NFL draft, 79-year-old Buddy Nix quickly morphs into a 9-year-old kid at Christmas.
After serving as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's football coach from 1984 to 1992, Nix spent the next quarter century in NFL front offices, ascending to general manager of the Buffalo Bills and assistant general manager of the San Diego Chargers. Thursday night will mark the second straight draft with Nix in retirement, but he was full of opinions Wednesday as a guest of "Press Row" on Chattanooga's ESPN 105.1 FM.
Q: Did you ever attend a draft or were you always at team headquarters?
A: "None of the teams really go to the draft. Everybody thinks that they do. We would send an equipment guy or maybe a security guy as a representative as a reward, and they would go pull the tag for us and turn in the name. Everything is done by phone."
Q: What is the biggest strength and weakness position-wise this year?
A: "I think the offensive line has the most numbers in terms of players who can play, and the defensive line has the most game-changers who will go early. The weakest place to me is linebacker and what you have to have. We used to have 250-pound linebackers in the league, and now they're guys who weigh 218 and can run a 4.35 and can cover.
"Those kind of guys are just coming into vogue, and they're not many of them."
Q: Which quarterback do you like more, Kyler Murray or Drew Lock?
A: "I like both of those guys, but I'm not much on small guys in the NFL. There are exceptions, but it's a big man's game, and it gets bigger every year. If you look back at the drafts I've had, if I made a mistake on a guy, it wasn't because he was too little."
Q: What's the biggest lie you told before a draft?
A: "First of all, it's not a sin to lie the week of the draft. There is a grace period. The year we took Eli Manning and traded him for Philip Rivers, I said before our pick that we would not take a quarterback. Quarterbacks were all we were looking at."
Q: Who among the mock-draft experts is the best?
A: "I don't think any of them are any good. I don't believe anybody gets close, because it's impossible. I heard the best guy last year picked eight out of 32. That won't get you much as far as a batting average in baseball. We never put any stock in mock drafts."
Q: Is Clemson close to catching Alabama in terms of producing NFL talent?
A: "I'm an SEC guy, but I would say Clemson is even with Alabama. They keep reloading on that defensive front. They're just like Alabama. It doesn't matter how many they lose. The replacements will be just as good or better."
Q: Who is the best player in this draft?
A: "I would say Alabama defensive lineman Quinnen Williams."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.