Buffalo Bills General Manager Buddy Nix said the team is not shopping Marshawn Lynch in a

trade, and he warned fans not to get too focused on the team's needs in the first round of the

NFL draft.

Lynch has yet to show up at the Bills' voluntary offseason conditioning workouts. He lost

his starting running back job to Fred Jackson last season. And it's believed he would welcome

a trade out of Buffalo.

Nix, speaking at the Bills' annual pre-draft news conference, said the team needs and wants

Lynch.

"Our intention is for Marshawn to be here," Nix said. "He's under contract. We think he's a

good back. We need two backs. Our intentions are for him to be here. All this trade talk, it's

not coming from us."

Nix has talked to Lynch in recent weeks. He characterized the conversation as follows:

"He's under contract," Nix said. "We expect him to be here. We want him to be here. Obviously

it's his decision [to stay away from workouts]. This is voluntary. That was the extent of it."

Has Lynch asked to be traded? "Look guys," Nix said. "He don't make that decision. He's

under contract to us. We're going to do what's best for the Bills. We need Marshawn, and we

expect him to show up when it's mandatory."

The Bills probably would be hard-pressed to get good return in a trade for Lynch, given the

fact he already has served a four-game NFL suspension and would be subject to a longer one if

he ran afoul of the league's off-field conduct policies again.

Meanwhile, the most definitive statement Nix made in talking about next week's draft was

that the Bills would not overrate their needs at the expense of taking one of the best players

available with the ninth overall pick.

Left tackle and quarterback are widely viewed as the Bills' two biggest needs.

"Let me try to make this where it won't be a shock come draft day or at the end of the

draft," Nix said. "You read about all the things we need. We've got to have a left tackle.

We've got to have a quarterback. We've got to have this. The way we see our players is

probably a little different than the way you guys see them. ... When somebody writes that you

need a left tackle, you gotta have a left tackle, then it just grows and it moves around. It

gets bigger.

"This is the point I'm trying to make. When it comes time, if we think there's two left

tackles in the draft that can come in at No. 9 and make an immediate impact, can play from Day

One, that's what we expect from a top 10 draft choice. That's what we want. Now, if one of

those two are not there, then we would look at the next need we have, which might be

quarterback, it might be something else. ... Our philosophy is to put as many good players on

this team as we can. We would like to fill a need, but if we can't we want to make sure we

don't compound the problem by putting another one in that position that cannot play."

Conventional wisdom holds that the Bills are not sold enough on Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy

Clausen to take him at No. 9. He's the only other QB, beside Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, rated as

a likely top-20 selection.

It's dangerous to draw many conclusions on what any NFL executive says a week before the

draft, since every team is wary of tipping off its strategy.

Nix suggested that last year's starting left tackle, Demetrius Bell, who is coming back

from a knee injury, might be able to handle the job.

"We think we've got a good left tackle," Nix said, referring to Bell. "He's injured right

now. He's coming along good. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if we can't get the

guy we know can fill that need, then we're going to try to develop what we've got. Or there's

still a chance we can fill some needs after the draft through free agency and getting guys off

of waivers We're going to be looking and work at it every day to make sure we get a guy that

fits and will make us better."

"But again," Nix stressed, "don't get us pinned down and get yourself pinned down thinking

mentally that it's got to be this position or this position, because it may not be."

There is a distinct possibility there will be a run on offensive tackles in the eight picks

ahead of Buffalo. NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock forecasted that on a conference call

Wednesday.

"The way I see it," Mayock said, "is [Russell] Okung, Trent Williams and probably Bryan

Bulaga are going in the first six."

Oakland has the eighth pick and also needs a left tackle.

Later on in his briefing, Nix had this to say in answer to a question about the pass-first

nature of the current NFL:

"I still firmly believe you have to play defense and you have to be able to run the ball to

win championships," Nix said. "If we build a strong defense and a strong front offensive line,

we can keep adding some talent, and that way we'll stay good for awhile."