You know what it felt like? A time warp. For a minute there, I could have sworn it was Tom

Donahoe sitting beside Tom Modrak at the interview table at One Bills Drive, explaining the

logic behind drafting a damaged Willis McGahee or trading up to take J.P. Losman in the first

round.

I wanted to give Buddy Nix the benefit of the doubt in his first draft as an NFL general

manager. Nix says he's never been the smartest guy in the room. But he knows football players,

and the Bills needed a lot of them. So you figured he'd get smart and address one of the

team's desperate needs with the ninth overall pick.

But Nix got cute instead. With his first big pick, the new GM repeated the folly of the

previous regimes, ignoring the Bills' need for big men on both sides of the ball and grabbing

the shiniest toy instead. Nix went to a position of modest need by taking C.J. Spiller, a

dynamic running back out of Clemson.

Related: Spiller gets Bills dialed in for speed Spiller was in no rush to leave college

Audio: C.J. Spiller VP of College Scouting Tom Modrak

Video: Bills GM Buddy Nix

Gallery: Photos of the newest Bill, C.J. Spiller

First-round review: Running blog The picks

BillBoard blog: What will Bills do in second round?

All right, so Spiller might turn out to be a combination of O.J. Simpson and Thurman

Thomas. He'd better. This is a dubious choice, a luxury pick reminiscent of Donahoe reaching

for McGahee seven years ago, when the Bills had an established running back in Travis Henry

and urgent needs at many other positions.

This pick reveals management's true feelings about Marshawn Lynch. Nix said nothing has

changed with Lynch. But this is a clear sign that the Bills are prepared to part ways with

Lynch, who has been a disappointment on the field and an embarrassment off it. It's a further

indictment of Marv Levy's tenure as GM.

Lynch will now take his place alongside all the other dubious first-round picks of the past

decade: John McCargo, J.P. Losman, Erik Flowers, Mike Williams, Donte Whitner. We'll stop

there, since we don't know if Aaron Maybin will turn out to be an actual player.

It also mitigates Levy's one great discovery as GM: Fred Jackson. The Spiller pick suggests

that the Bills aren't fully committed to Jackson as the featured back. Nix said Spiller is a

playmaker and world-class talent, a player who will make an immediate impact. Spiller is also

a gifted return man — another of the few positions where the Bills didn't have an urgent

need.

"He's a playmaker," Nix said, "a guy that creates field position and scores points, and

he's exciting. We need some excitement, somebody that can make a big play and create some

things on their own."

There's no denying that. The Bills have finished in the bottom eight in the NFL in total

offense seven years in a row. They've put on some forgettable offensive shows at home in

recent years. Hearing Nix talk about the need for excitement, it made you wonder if selling

tickets was a consideration.

"The fans like winning," Nix said, "and we think he'll help us do that. Everybody likes big

plays, and he obviously does some of that."

You do need big plays to be a playoff team in today's NFL. But if there's one thing we've

learned since the millennium began, it's that small, skilled football players are only useful

if you surround them with big guys who wear down the opposing team.

That's why I expected the Bills to go with a defensive player. They're going to a 3-4

defense, and they need athletes. They haven't added an impact player to their defensive front

seven with a first-round pick since taking Shane Conlan in 1987. It was another 13 years

before they used a first-rounder on a defensive lineman or linebacker.

Their last three first-round defensive linemen have been Flowers, McCargo and Maybin. It's

no wonder they're so bad against the run. The Bills were 30th against the run last season.

They allowed 1,151 yards in their six AFC East games.

This was Modrak's ninth year in the Bills' draft room. He's seen a lot of promising picks

go awry during that time. The Bills have been criticized for often making the splashy pick,

for taking the luxury finesse choices instead of fortifying the trenches. I asked if that

notion was discussed before the Bills took Spiller.

"We didn't address it that way at all," Modrak said. "It was who we got to make this team

better. We have picks to go. I know the emphasis is on the first pick, and rightfully so.

We're going back and find other ways to improve this team in other ways, today, tomorrow and

the next day."

Bills fans better hope so. Nix and Co. can't afford to squander draft picks, not after the

front office's sorry performance over the past decade. Maybe Nix is being honest about the

team's circumstances and simply wanted to take a player who was certain to be a star in the

league for the next 10 years.

Spiller is a rare talent, but the NFL is an unforgiving league. The kid will get a rude

awakening trying to run wide behind an offensive line with no proven tackles. Nix says the

Bills need some excitement. Part of the fans' excitement will be watching the rookie running

back run for his life.