one of the problems with Nix's drafting-Southern players only

[Sisyphean Bills]

Im gonna stick to the draft record.

 

My point was that we tried drafting from other areas prior to Nix, and Failed miserably. Using the premise that you can't judge a draft class till after the 3rd yr in the league I would go as far as to say that Buddy has improved the overall talent and direction of the franchise. He does not play, he does not coach, he simply provides the staff the players, and they are responsible for utilizing the talent in the best way possible.

 

yr 1: Spiller, and carrington, and to a lesser degree Moats are the only noteworthy players in that class. plus we STILL don't know what we have in Troup.

 

yr 2: Dareus, williams, sheppard, Searcy, hairston, white and rogers have all become solid players/rotational/role players for us. The unbelievable situation that Dareus had to deal with last yr is certainly a reason for his decline last yr, but his arrow is pointed up, make no mistake about it.

 

yr 3:Gilmore was far from a disappointment, did he struggle at points, yes, but he was a solid player who has star potential.

Glenn had a great yr and should be better if he can stay healthy.

Graham, despite the fanbases misconceptions, had a solid yr considering his draft position. Is it what we WANTED, no, but fan expectations are a bit unrealistic in comparison to coaches expectations.

Bradham and Brooks both played well all things considered and should only get better, and Sanders, while stashed on the practice squad, should be expected to push for PT this yr as well.

 

Again, it was their first yr, you can't crucify a rookie class for not becoming instant All-Pros. There is Talent to mold.

 

in comparison, the 3 yrs prior produced the following players of note:

Wood, Byrd, Levitre, Leodis, Stevie, Lynch and Poz. The rest were dreadful busts. We were more diverse then, drafting from all over the places.

 

I guess my bigger point is that IMO, the Coaching is the bigger culprit than the drafting during the Nix era, and yes i understand he hired Chan, as a last resort because nobody wanted the Job, despite what Nix said to the contrary.

 

It is my belief that the solid drafting Buddy has done over the past 3 yrs will finally show results with the new coaching staff, especially on defense. I guess we'll have to wait and see, until then, agree to disagree...

 

I disagree with much of your assessment as have others. But, I'd like to add that for a team that is annually drafting in the top 10 of the draft, a GM that adds one solid player a draft is merely mediocre to average. And at that rate, the team has very minimal chance of ever turning the corner to be in a position for a Super Bowl season. Even with a QB, you could be like the Bears or Lions and still be a few crucial pieces short.

[Koufax]

It is but there are a lot of people on this board that hated the Troup and Williams picks when they were made not just in retrospect

 

Troup and Williams join Whitner over Ngata and Maybin over Orakpo as four examples where this forum clearly outperformed our front office. Could we all pitch in and buy the team like the Green Bay Packers, but with actual fan voting on moves? I'm just kidding, but I think we would have outperformed the "professionals" over the last decade.