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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Bills approach to the NFL draft this year has much to do with EJ Manuel. After selecting the quarterback in the first round last year, the next step is adding talent to give Manuel the opportunity to progress after an inconsistent and injury-shortened rookie season. "Its a quarterback-driven league, so were going to give every avenue and every piece of the puzzle to surround EJ and make him as successful as possible," general manager Doug Whaley said. "What we did this off-season affords us the opportunity to go any way and every way in the draft. But our main focus is making sure EJ progresses." Manuels progression is a point of emphasis for a team that hasnt had stability at quarterback since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired following the 1996 season. And questions remain whether Manuel is capable of providing that stability. He went 4-6 and oversaw a sputtering offence that contributed to Buffalo (6-10) extending the NFLs longest active playoff drought to 14 seasons. The Bills can do little but cross their fingers in hoping Manuel can stay healthy after being sidelined by knee injuries on three separate occasions. What they can control is adding pieces to the offence. Buffalo began by creating two new offensive positions on coach Doug Marrones staff, including quarterbacks coach Todd Downing. Whaley also acquired Mike Williams, a proven receiver with a troubled off-field past, in a trade with Tampa Bay. The next step is the draft, which is top-heavy on receivers and offensive tackles. Here are five things to look out for from Buffalo, which opens with the ninth pick: DOUBLING DOWN ON WR: Despite acquiring Williams and drafting receivers Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin last year, the Bills might not be done restocking the position. Buffalos passing attack lacked a dependable threat, finishing 29th in the NFL in yards gained. At 6-foot-5, Texas A&Ms Mike Evans has the size and range Buffalo lacks. And Clemsons Sammy Watkins has the overall talent that might be too good to pass up despite his 6-1 frame. "We believe so," Whaley said of Watkins, for whom Buffalo probably has to move up. "We think his traits are dynamic enough to overcome his lack of height." Tight end is another option, with North Carolinas Eric Ebron in the mix. O-LINE NEEDS: With left tackle Cordy Glenn protecting Manuels blind side, the Bills are interested in upgrading the other side of their line. Whaley expects more teams to adopt what he calls "NASCAR packages," featuring swift-footed pass rushers across the defensive front. "You need a right tackle nowadays as athletic as your left tackle," he said. The draft features several highly regarded tackles, including Auburns Greg Robinson, Michigans Taylor Lewan and Texas A&Ms Jake Matthews. The Bills also have a pressing need at left guard that is expected to be addressed in later rounds. REPLACING BYRD: The Bills believe they have enough depth to overcome losing three-time Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd in free agency. Aaron Williams was solid in making the switch last season from cornerback. Returning players DaNorris Searcy, Jonathan Meeks and Duke Williams will compete for regular jobs. And then theres the free agent addition of Corey Graham, who can play cornerback and safety. WHALEYS DEBUT: After spending his first three years in Buffalo being groomed for the GMs job, Whaley gets to run his first draft after Buddy Nix stepped down a year ago. At 41, Whaley has extensive background as a scout after working his way up through the Steelers organization. And hes eager to begin being judged on how he does rebuilding the Bills. "Call me crazy, I like it," Whaley said. "Im a competitor and I want to win. If thats my role and thats my job, I embrace my destiny." REMEMBERING RALPH: This is the Bills first draft since owner and founder Ralph Wilson died in March. Wilson enjoyed being involved in the draft. Wilson proudly recalled the time he broke a deadlock among executives by urging them to select running back Thurman Thomas in the second round of the 1988 draft. Thomas went on to a Hall of Fame career. "This was his favourite time of year," Bills president Russ Brandon said. "People ask me all the time how we can honour Mr. Wilsons legacy. And my answer is always the same. Its one word: Win." Browns Jerseys China . - While a fast-paced offence has become more of a fixture in recent years, the San Antonio Spurs can still grind out games when needed. Wholesale Cleveland Browns Jerseys . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. http://www.cheapbrownsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-bernie-kosar-jersey . JOHNS, N. Sione Takitaki Jersey . -- Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes Thursday for a 7-under 63 to take the lead after one round of the Honda Classic. Cheap Browns Jerseys . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (5) - Simply put, Lundqvist was brilliant.The Vancouver Whitecaps were denied a well-earned three points against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, after Gonzalo Pineda converted a controversial penalty kick to level the score at 2-2. Whitecaps skipper Jay DeMerit was judged to have fouled Sounders striker Cam Weaver, though the "foul" that DeMerit allegedly committed was a mystery to me. In the aftermath of the game, I tweeted this: If we start giving penalty kicks every time players make minimal contact heading crossed balls, well ruin the game. — Jason deVos (@jasondevos) May 25, 2014 To which I received this response: @jasondevos LOL -too late! You already ruined it with your stupid LTPD plan. #keepscore — Jon Empringham (@92jays93) May 25, 2014 While Mr. Empringhams tweet wasnt relative to the Vancouver Whitecaps game against the Seattle Sounders, it did highlight another important point: LTPD, the CSAs long-term player development program, is still very misunderstood. According to his twitter bio, Mr. Empringham is an elementary school teacher who coaches basketball, soccer and track. Given his occupation, he would appear to be the ideal proponent of the principles of LTPD. Yet he seems adamantly opposed to the removal of scores and standings for youth soccer players below the age of 13. While the removal of scores and standings is just one small component of the changes brought forward by LTPD, the concept still faces considerable pushback. I believe that much of that pushback comes from the general publics misunderstanding of the reason why scores and standings have been removed. Keeping scores and standings is not inherently bad for children. We havent been doing young players a disservice all of these years by tracking the results of their games, nor by adding up their wins and losses at the end of their seasons. What we have done, though, is compromise their development by linking their opportunities within the game – perceived or otherwise – to their results on the field. As it is my home province, I will use Ontario to explain. Until the introduction of LTPD, the "Pyramid for Play" (the name of the competitive structure for youth soccer in Ontario) was based on promotion and relegation between multiple tiers. The higher the tier, the more "competitive" the level of play. Tier 1, provincial "rep" soccer, was considered the highest level of play, while Tier 7, local "house league" soccer, was the introductory level. Teams who won their leagues (or finished in the top two or three, in some cases) were promoted to the next highest tier, while teams who finished bottom of their leagues (or finished in the bottom two or three, in some cases) were demoted to the next lowest tier. This movement of teams every year caused a major problem. Players as young as 9 were coming under immense pressure to win promotion - primarily from their coaches and parents. In some cases, failure to win promotion would lead to the break up of an entire team, as players would scatter over the off-season in order to tryout for teams that did win promotion. The concept of promotion and relegation created a false belief amongst coaches and parents that the key to success in the game - the way for kids to "make it" - was to play at the Tier 1 level, which began at the under-14 age category. The years leading up to under-14 were becoming a dogfight, as players jostled to be on a tteam that was poised to win promotion to Tier 1.dddddddddddd It didnt really matter how games were won, or what players were learning, so long as promotion was achieved. The competitive structure itself reinforced this "win at all costs" mentality, and youth soccer in Ontario found itself spiralling into a vicious cycle that was getting worse every year. In my time working as the Technical Director of the Oakville Soccer Club, I once had to gather the parents of an entire age groups competitive program after a fight had broken out amongst parents on the sidelines of an under-10 boys game. On another occasion, I had to intervene on the field of a house league game, as the coaches and parents were incensed by a call made by the referee – who was a 16-year-old girl – and were verbally abusing the young lady. Yet another incident saw a 14-year-old referee leave the field in tears after being verbally abused by spectators at a game. Over time, we have collectively lost sight of the fact that youth soccer is a game that is supposed to be enjoyed by its players, coaches and spectators. Young children shouldnt have to shoulder the burden of "needing to win this game" in order to win promotion or avoid relegation. That pressure is difficult enough for seasoned professional players to handle. Imagine if children had to finish in the top three in their class in order to graduate to the next grade each year? Our school system would devolve into chaos - wed have parents submitting homework and assignments on behalf of their children, as theyd be terrified that their kids would miss out on graduation! Critics have argued that over-competitiveness amongst parents is a societal issue, and that other sports suffer from the same problems. If that is the case though, then surely it is up to our governing bodies to try to better the environments in which our children experience the game of soccer? Surely they should do everything in their power to compensate for our societys failings? Critics have also suggested that, rather than removing scores and standings, we should just remove promotion and relegation from the system. But doing so is far more difficult than it sounds. For starters, how does one determine which teams play at which competitive level? Does one make that determination based on population, geographic location, club size or historical club "success" – all the while knowing that any "success" that was previously achieved was done in a flawed system that was systematically abused? Additionally, there are many people firmly entrenched within the clubs and districts who rule the game in Canada who dont think anything is wrong with how we develop soccer players. Some of those individuals believe this because they do not know what a genuine, player-centric development system should look like, while others believe this because they have a vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo. It is those individuals who will fight the hardest to maintain the previous competitive structure. The only way to combat this is through education – by shining a light on what our real problems are. Because the only way we are going to fix our problems is if we first acknowledge what they really are. It isnt about scores and standings being "bad" for kids. It is about the behaviour that keeping scores and standings brings out in adults. 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