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Conventional mock-draft wisdom has the Bills using their 11th-overall pick on either a wide receiver or cornerback. Both make sense: Lee Evans' contract expires after the 2008 season and Trent Edwards could use a big target to line up opposite Evans, one of the most underrated wideouts in the league.

The defense could also use a warm body in the secondary, particularly if it meant Jabari Greer could move to nickel back. We'll know one way or the other in four days. In the meantime, the Buffalo News thinks Michigan State wideout Devin Thomas could be the guy.

Two years ago, the Bills picked safety Donte Whitner a tad higher than many draftniks had him rated- at eighth overall. This year the Bills may make a similar move in selecting Devin Thomas, the wide receiver from Michigan State. Thomas is rated by many as the best receiver in the draft but most experts don't put him among the top 12 players overall.

That's a good point: most people just assumed Marv Levy was senile when the Bills took Whitner. As it turned out, Levy knew what he was talking about and the rest of us didn't. Shocking, I know.

Maybe Thomas is the next Whitner. The biggest concern is that before his lights-out junior season (79 catches, 1,260 yards, eight TDs), he was invisible as a sophomore (6/90/1).

That would certainly raises some suspicions, I'd think, but here's the thing: as a freshman, Thomas caught 33 passes for 674 yards and had five touchdowns. That's pretty impressive. Not only that, but he put on a show at the NFL Combine and physically, he looks like he'd be impossible to tackle in the open field.

Is drafting Thomas a gamble? Yeah, sure. Just like every other guy who'll hear his name called this weekend.