One draft selection that shaped each AFC

[Thailog80]

good article

[merlin]

good article

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Interesting to note that the writer lumps St. Louis' Ryan Pickett as one of that club's long line of "defensive lineman draft busts"! Seems to me just about a month ago, Bills fans were ready to commit hari kari when Mr. Pickett spurned the Bills offer to sign with another club (Green Bay)?

 

 

"ST. LOUIS RAMS

Jimmy Kennedy, DT, Penn State, first round, 2003

It's hard to imagine the Rams' defense showing any sustained improvement until they stop taking underproductive defensive linemen in the first round. Kennedy, who went 12th in 2003, has followed in the tradition of defensive tackle Damione Lewis (12th in 2001) and Ryan Pickett (29th in 2001). Second-round defensive end Tony Hargrove (2004) has been a nice find, but the Rams once again need draft help at the front of their defense, and that can't be an every-year occurrence."

[Pyrite Gal]

Interesting to note that the writer lumps St. Louis' Ryan Pickett as one of that club's long line of "defensive lineman draft busts"!  Seems to me just about a month ago, Bills fans were ready to commit hari kari when Mr. Pickett spurned the Bills offer to sign with another club (Green Bay)?

"ST. LOUIS RAMS

Jimmy Kennedy, DT, Penn State, first round, 2003

It's hard to imagine the Rams' defense showing any sustained improvement until they stop taking underproductive defensive linemen in the first round. Kennedy, who went 12th in 2003, has followed in the tradition of defensive tackle Damione Lewis (12th in 2001) and Ryan Pickett (29th in 2001). Second-round defensive end Tony Hargrove (2004) has been a nice find, but the Rams once again need draft help at the front of their defense, and that can't be an every-year occurrence."

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I think that this view of the world which is not fully consistent with reality comes from folks (particularly we see this just before and after draft day) really overemphasize the draft as THE key to building a SB winning team and even as THE key to build a winning squad.

 

The draft is an important tool for building a winning team (mostly it seems to me because almost all good players get drafted and good players have to come from somewhere). However, it is only one many tools and at best is necessary but not sufficient for accomplishing NFL goals.

 

I have pretty consistently harped on the simple fact that when RoboQB played QB for an SB winning Pitts team last year, he was actually the first 1st round drafted QB to do this for the team that chose him since Aikman was drafted by Dallas way back in '89.

 

If folks view fielding an SB winner at the ultimate goal then perhaps we should have a bunch of mock drafts for the 6th round because this is where NE took Brady and he was the key draft pick for this team rather than the psychotic focus on 1st round picks. If you want to analyze the NE TEAM which worked with brady to score that first SB win in their run, then one should note that there is a good case to be made that the key to BB building that TEAM was his acquisition of 15 players that year after the June cut date.

 

Actually, pobably the key to that SB winner as best as I can tell was LB Lewis with the Jets. He was the one who socked Bledsoe and collapsed his lung forcing him out of the line-up. If this had not happened then by the time the team benched the 0-2 at the time Bledsoe (if the ever did since benching a big money contract for a 6th round rookie choice just does not happen in the NFL) the NE team would likely have missed the playoffs that year and given BBs record of failure as an HC with Cleveland the him going back on his word pulling out of an NYJ job he had taken, it is more than conceivable that without Lewis the best HC in the NFL may well have never even won an SB.

 

The Brady situation makes actually one of the better arguments of the importance of the draft (though the 6th round was way more important than the first) because if you look at the other QBs who led teams which won it all you have:

 

1. Robo, Brady and then twice cut Brad Johnson leading TB to glory.

2. Pedestrian Trent Dilfer showing why rather than choosing an overpriced QB early in the draft, it was a better team-building strategy to pick up a two-time loser QB to not make mistakes so your D can win you an SB and you only pay him the vet minimum.

3. Kurt Warner was plucked from the stock boys at Home Depot rather than over-relying on the draft

4. As so it goes back to the 1989 picks.

 

The effect of the psychotic over-emphasis on the draft are twofold-

 

1. Teams judge their first round choices like Pickett not on what the do in the real world but what is expected of them which is way more than a normal great athlete can produce. Thus a Pickett can be a far better than average player according to the market, but he simply can be a bust according to pundits and fans.

 

2. Great players like Favre and Young are avaialble to teams in trades or folks like Johnson and Dilferr on the waiver wire because fans and teams rise up against them in disgust but they actually are simply paid big bucks to learn by the team which drafted them and get paid lesser bucks (at least initially) to really play for teams which recognize the import of other means of acquiring players.

 

The draft is this week so its fun for the psychosis to infect us all, but when we return to normal there will be a recognition that this is all about realizing the draft is but one tool and oftern for a winner at a particulalar time well down the pike in importance for acquiring a winning team.