Gilmore 'high on our board from start'

Offense is Chan Gailey’s thing, but the Buffalo Bills’ coach knew at the end of the 2011 season that his defense needed some major re-tooling.

So the Bills went out and signed the most coveted defensive free agent on the market, defensive end Mario Williams, then added another pass rusher, Mark Anderson, a few days later.

Thursday night, the defensive largesse grew by one when the Bills used the 10th overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft to select cornerback Stephon Gilmore out of South Carolina.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to upgrade our defense in the offseason and Buddy (Nix) and the personnel department have done a great job with that,” Gailey said.

Gilmore is a 6-foot, 193-pound speed burner who was one of the best defensive players in the best college football conference, the SEC. He made 40 starts for the Gamecocks and finished his three-year career with eight interceptions, four fumble recoveries, and 181 tackles.

“It's a great feeling to be a Buffalo Bill,” said Gilmore, a seemingly quiet kid who hails from Rock Hill, S.C. “I’m happy to play for them. I went on a visit to the Bills, visited the city, they believe in my talent and I’m looking forward to helping their defense out.”

And it certainly needed help after a 2011 season where it ranked 30th in points allowed, 26th in yards allowed, and 27th in sacks per pass attempt.

“It wasn’t all the (lack of) rush, we needed some help in the secondary,” Nix said. “We said we’d like to take two corners in this draft, and now we’ve got one of them. He’s got good ball skills, he’s a good tackler. He was high on our draft board from the start.”

So, too, was Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, and Alabama safety Mark Barron, but they were already gone when Buffalo’s turn came up, Barron to Tampa Bay at No. 7, Kuechly to Carolina at No. 9.

Gilmore, who was the second-highest rated cornerback in the draft behind LSU’s Morris Claiborne who went to the Cowboys at No. 6, was the obvious pick for the Bills once those two were gone.

With Terrence McGee in steep decline, Drayton Florence in subtle decline, and Leodis McKelvin still trying to find his niche, Gilmore should be able to come in immediately and join with last year’s second-round pick, cornerback Aaron Williams, to greatly improve the Bills in coverage.

“We’re trying to upgrade our defense where it needs upgrading the most,” said Gailey. “We identified pass rush as our No. 1 need, the one thing we had to address. And were fortunate enough to be able to address that in free agency. That freed us up in the draft to look at a bunch of different positions and pick the player that fit our team quickly.”

Nix has said that the Bills also are desperate for a wide receiver, and it seems plausible that in a draft deep at that position, the Bills may target one in Friday night’s second round. And don’t be surprised if the Bills go after another defender in the third round, perhaps that second cornerback Nix referenced, though linebacker could be a possible option.