NIAGARA FALLS — Going into my third year of Bills draft analysis, I’ll let my record speak for itself.

In 2008, I recommended the Bills take CB Leodis McKelvin, the top corner in that year’s draft with their first round pick. They did and McKelvin showed promise as a rookie.

Last year, injuries wiped out McKelvin’s season, but I still believe he has the tools to become a lockdown corner.

I recommended the Bills take linebacker Brian Cushing with their number one pick in the 2009 draft. I warned Aaron Maybin was a reach who had “potential bust” written all over him.

Of course the Bills tapped Maybin and he failed to consistently find his way onto the field on a defense that was mediocre at best. Cushing, heck, he just wound up as the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and went to the Pro Bowl.

So a word to my buddies at One Bills Drive, listen up!

The 2010 draft is one the most fluid of the three rookie crops I’ve reviewed. Honestly, the three best players on the board are a pair of defense tackles and a running back.

While the Bills need a legitimate nose tackle for their conversion to a 3-4 defense, the two best, Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh and Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy, can’t miss studs, will be long gone by the time the hometown team selects at pick number nine.

Likewise, while I think Clemson running back C.J. Spiller is something special (think like Titans running back Chris Johnson), a pick like that for the Bills will not help build the team for the long haul. Fred Jackson is an above average back and Marshawn Lynch (if he isn’t traded) is not a chump.

Forget Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen as well. First, I expect a lot of wheeling and dealing on draft, even in the top ten picks, and I’m not sure he’ll be there at number 9.

If he is, I have reservations about his maturity and his measurables are good, but not great. Good, but not great is actually my take on Clausen across the board.

Accuracy: good, not great

Arm strength: good, not great

Mechanics: here he excels

I generally prefer Clausen to Oklahoma Quarterback Sam Bradford, but that’s not saying much.

If the Bills want a franchise quarterback, they are better off looking to the 2011 draft when (if they can get high a pick) they’ll have a shot at Washington quarterback Jack Locker, Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallet and (if he comes out early) Boise State signal caller Kellen Moore.

The trenches is where the Bills need to start building, but with Suh and McCoy gone, the picking gets dicey. On the defensive side, the next best nose tackle prospect is Tennessee defensive tackle Dan Williams.

Though he is a little short (6 feet 2 inches) for my liking, he has great strength, can anchor down and knows how to eat up space, the most critical requirement of a nose tackle. I’m just not sure he’s a top 10 guy.

Top 15, heck yeah. Number 9, just not sure.

On the offensive side, there are three top ten tackles on the board, but only two fit the Bills overwhelming need for a stud left tackle.

I like every thing about Iowa tackle Brian Bulaga, but, for me, he projects as a RIGHT tackle in the NFL. So if Bulaga is there, I pass.

The Bills should jump for joy if either Oklahoma State tackle Russell Okung or Oklahoma tackle Trent Williams fall to them. I fear neither will.

When you watch Okung you think of Jets left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson. The Bills should be so lucky to get talent like that.

That said, Oklahoma tackle Trent Williams may be an even better pick. He has talent equal to Okung and may even have a bit more developmental upside. He does everything a left tackle in the NFL needs to do and does it very well.

Sadly neither, Okung nor Trent Williams will probably do available at the ninth pick.

So what are the Bills to do? Alabama inside linebacker Rolando McClain is a tackling machine, but not a pressing need.

Florida center Maurkice Pouncey is a special player, but nobody picks a center in the top 10.

If someone wants to move up, I’d entertain the idea of trading down, the Bills can use all the extra picks they can get, and then taking Southern Cal tackle Charles Brown.

Failing that, the pick is Dan Williams.

Rick Pfeiffer is the Niagara Gazette police and courts reporter, as well as a budding draftnik. Contact him at 282-2311, ext. 2252, or rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com.