By Budd Bailey

Josh Reed of the Bills

Taken in Round 2 in 2002

The next pick: The Cowboys probably were happy that Andre Gurode fell to them. The team made him the first rookie ever to start for it at center on Opening Day. He played nine seasons on the Dallas offensive line, and qualified for the Pro Bowl in five of them. Gurode spent his final two seasons in Baltimore and Oakland.

Other picks in that round: Two very good wide receivers were the bookends of the round: Jabar Gaffney of the Texans and Deion Branch of the Patriots. Others from this round are listed for Ryan Denney at No. 61. Langston Walker (Oakland) is considered one of the Bills’ biggest mistakes in free-agent signings.

The details: Reed wasn’t a great addition to the roster, but he made his share of contributions. Josh was a regular at wide receiver in three different seasons, and caught at least 50 passes in each of them. Reed finished with 311 receptions for 3,575 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Other 36s: Tim Edwards was a top lacrosse player at Canisius, which caught the eye of the Bandits at draft time in 2017. It took this terrific athlete time to find a niche, but eventually he became a faceoff specialist here and Colorado. Kristen Hamilton was the 36th and last player taken in the National Women’s Soccer League draft, going to the Western New York Flash. Kristen has won three championships in the NWSL, including one with the Flash, and she also plays soccer in Australia.

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

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