"In Gene Urbz We Trust"

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certainly, it COULD have been worse, but it's a headscratcher.

If we are planning to load up on the run game, we won't be winning a lot of 38-35 ballgames.

Etienne will be as much of a pass catcher as he will be a runner.  

It's not a head scratcher.  We want TL to be able to get the ball out on time.  One great way to do that is to throw to the backs.  If we want to use the backs for running and receiving, we need more than just James Robinson.  He can't carry that load by himself.

Would have preferred Najee Harris if this was about pass catching plus.

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Etienne will be as much of a pass catcher as he will be a runner.  

It's not a head scratcher.  We want TL to be able to get the ball out on time.  One great way to do that is to throw to the backs.  If we want to use the backs for running and receiving, we need more than just James Robinson.  He can't carry that load by himself.

Would have preferred Najee Harris if this was about pass catching plus.

Najee Harris was already taken.

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Would have preferred Najee Harris if this was about pass catching plus.

Najee Harris was already taken.

I would have traded up if the target was to get a pass catching back.  Because Najee was the best one in the draft.

I felt Etienne was a little bit of a reach and might have been a panic pick but he should be a good player.

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I have a few thought on this. Overall not a huge fan of this draft pick. However some of the other players we might have drafted at 25 are available at 33. So if we swapped picks no one would have cared as much.

First, while I used to agree that you dont take RBs in the first round, I dont believe that anymore. While I like James Robinson, I do agree that RBs like him are easier to find. He isn't a real gamebreaker taking long runs to the house but is it good at seeing the hole and getting up field. Very dependable and consistent. Guys like him are easier to find. But true multi-purpose weapons that can line up in the backfield, can play WR out of the slot, etc... true dynamic weapons, if you can find a guy like that in the first round, then take him. I dont care if he has a "WR" or "RB" next to his name. True game breakers can do either. And if Etienne becomes that guy then it'll be a good pick.

However I question whether Etienne really is that guy. A lot of his highlights are him running through wide open holes and there are lots of examples of him not being able to make a guy in the open field miss. He looks like a tougher runner than you'd think given his size but if he is truly a gamebreaker type player you'd want to see him make the guy miss instead of running through a guy. Every now and then you'll find a clip of a really explosive play (such as him catching a dump off pass in the semifinal game against Ohio St and blowing through the secondary for a long TD). But there are a lot of other examples where a guy has an angle on him and he cant outrun him. Or he gets in the open field and doesnt make the guy miss. He does look like he is really good at seeing a hole open up in the line, making a cut, and hitting the hole hard. Obviously we all hope he becomes Alvin Kamara. But what if he is more just a pass catching version of Robinson? Not sure he'd be worth the 25th pick.

Final point is this is why I think the whole conversation of drafting BAP, value, need, etc.. is dumb. This very well could have been their BAP. When they evaluate Etienne maybe they see him as Kamara. And if so then they picked the right guy. But if Etienne turns out to have been a bad pick, it wouldn't have been drafting methodology that caused it but instead lousing scouting. I have to think the vast majority of GMs and front offices around the league are smart enough to not draft a player in the 1st round that has 3rd round value because that just happens to be the best player at the position of biggest need. I don't believe that happens. Maybe there are a few teams that truly go with BAP but I'm sure the vast majority are doing their best to marry value with need. And at the end of the day a team's ability to scout is far more important than whatever drafting methodology they use.

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Scouting well is all that matters.  Draft philosophy is all fluff.

You don't take change of pace RB's in round 1. We could've had a player like Michael Carter, Kenneth Gainwell or Chuba Hubbard (all who are very fast with excellent hands,) in later rounds and they would have been just as effective in the same role. A RB is only as good as the O-Line and the reason Robinson was so good last year was that we have an established interior O-Line. He is a straight ahead, run you over type guy who runs in between the Tackles. That is the strength of our O-Line. Etienne is a small, speed back, who needs to get to the corner and follow his OT's, so he can break long runs, using his exceptional speed. Our OT's suck! He's not gonna see the same type of success here, that he had at Clemson until we address the OT position. We had a chance to take a good OT. Christian Darrisaw fell almost within our reach. We should've traded up a few spots and taken him, but we blew it. Now, we've gotta hope this team has the smarts to get Liam Eichenberg, Teven Jenkins or Spencer Brown or we will be stuck with poor O-Line play for another season and this change of pace RB we just spent a first rounder on, will be a wasted pick, because Meyer and Baalke "put the cart before the horse. "

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And Etienne is not a scatback. He's 215lbs. In context MOJO weighed like 210.

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And Etienne is not a scatback. He's 215lbs. In context MOJO weighed like 210.

He was brought in to be a change of pace RB. We have a good lead RB (Robinson), who runs in between the Tackles (the strength of the O-Line is the interior.)

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My comp for Etienne is Christian McCaffrey. I think almost any team would take Christian McCaffrey at pick 25. And yes, we already have James Robinson, but all RBs get injured, or tired, or cannot play for whatever reason. All RBs need relief. And QBs need weapons so they don't have to hold the ball.

And yes, we could get "a RB" in a later round, but statistics show, the best RBs are taken in the first round and they tail off after that, just like any other position.

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My comp for Etienne is Christian McCaffrey.  I think almost any team would take Christian McCaffrey at pick 25.  And yes, we already have James Robinson, but all RBs get injured, or tired, or cannot play for whatever reason.  All RBs need relief.  And QBs need weapons so they don't have to hold the ball.  

And yes, we could get "a RB" in a later round, but statistics show, the best RBs are taken in the first round and they tail off after that, just like any other position.

My comp is C.J. Spiller.

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I have a few thought on this.  Overall not a huge fan of this draft pick.  However some of the other players we might have drafted at 25 are available at 33.  So if we swapped picks no one would have cared as much.

First, while I used to agree that you dont take RBs in the first round, I dont believe that anymore.  While I like James Robinson, I do agree that RBs like him are easier to find.  He isn't a real gamebreaker taking long runs to the house but is it good at seeing the hole and getting up field.  Very dependable and consistent.  Guys like him are easier to find.  But true multi-purpose weapons that can line up in the backfield, can play WR out of the slot, etc... true dynamic weapons, if you can find a guy like that in the first round, then take him.  I dont care if he has a "WR" or "RB" next to his name.  True game breakers can do either.  And if Etienne becomes that guy then it'll be a good pick.

However I question whether Etienne really is that guy.  A lot of his highlights are him running through wide open holes and there are lots of examples of him not being able to make a guy in the open field miss.  He looks like a tougher runner than you'd think given his size but if he is truly a gamebreaker type player you'd want to see him make the guy miss instead of running through a guy.  Every now and then you'll find a clip of a really explosive play (such as him catching a dump off pass in the semifinal game against Ohio St and blowing through the secondary for a long TD).  But there are a lot of other examples where a guy has an angle on him and he cant outrun him.  Or he gets in the open field and doesnt make the guy miss.  He does look like he is really good at seeing a hole open up in the line, making a cut, and hitting the hole hard.  Obviously we all hope he becomes Alvin Kamara.  But what if he is more just a pass catching version of Robinson?  Not sure he'd be worth the 25th pick.

Final point is this is why I think the whole conversation of drafting BAP, value, need, etc.. is dumb.  This very well could have been their BAP.  When they evaluate Etienne maybe they see him as Kamara.  And if so then they picked the right guy.  But if Etienne turns out to have been a bad pick, it wouldn't have been drafting methodology that caused it but instead lousing scouting.  I have to think the vast majority of GMs and front offices around the league are smart enough to not draft a player in the 1st round that has 3rd round value because that just happens to be the best player at the position of biggest need.  I don't believe that happens.  Maybe there are a few teams that truly go with BAP but I'm sure the vast majority are doing their best to marry value with need.  And at the end of the day a team's ability to scout is far more important than whatever drafting methodology they use.

Yeah I'm not convinced he can do it at the NFL level.

For a smaller back his speed isn't blazing. 4.41 Pro day speed may be a 4.5 NFL Combine 40.
Didn't run the 3 cone and is considered a long strider which seems to indicate not quick/explosive.

From a business standpoint I get it because you've cornered the market on Clemson players (Clemson's NFL team) and that means higher TV ratings and filling the stadium

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My comp for Etienne is Christian McCaffrey.  I think almost any team would take Christian McCaffrey at pick 25.  And yes, we already have James Robinson, but all RBs get injured, or tired, or cannot play for whatever reason.  All RBs need relief.  And QBs need weapons so they don't have to hold the ball.  

And yes, we could get "a RB" in a later round, but statistics show, the best RBs are taken in the first round and they tail off after that, just like any other position.

I don't like the mcCafrey comp because it sets the expectations way too high.

McCaffery was a top 8 pick, track star, all purpose dominator. 6.57 3 cone (Top 2o 3 cone times in NFL combine history)
If teams really though that Etienne had the same ability as McCaffery, then Etinne goes in the top 10.

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My comp for Etienne is Christian McCaffrey.  I think almost any team would take Christian McCaffrey at pick 25.  And yes, we already have James Robinson, but all RBs get injured, or tired, or cannot play for whatever reason.  All RBs need relief.  And QBs need weapons so they don't have to hold the ball.  

And yes, we could get "a RB" in a later round, but statistics show, the best RBs are taken in the first round and they tail off after that, just like any other position.

My comp is C.J. Spiller.

Shocker the pick you don't like you compare to a bad player. He's at worst somewhere between the two and gives us some insurance if Roninson pulls a Steve Slaton.

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My comp is C.J. Spiller.

Shocker the pick you don't like you compare to a bad player. He's at worst somewhere between the two and gives us some insurance if Roninson pulls a Steve Slaton.

Spiller was not a bad player. He just went to a team that didn't provide him the weapons he needed to succeed and he got injured a lot because of it. The same goes for Etienne. He is a very good RB, but in order to succeed, he needs to be able to hit the corners and have room to break free. That all depends on the OT's. A RB can only do so much with the space he is given. I'm not complaining about the player, I like Etienne. He was my #2 RB, but he doesn't fit with what we currently have. He needs good edge run blocking. Unless he starts running between the Tackles, he isn't gonna find much running room.

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Because Jaguars. Even the new regime can't get out of their own way and it seems the STUPID sticks to them as well. Why pick a RB in the first round? They Jags have much bigger holes to fill and they pick some stupid RB...

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"If you always do what you've always done, You'll always get what you always got"

Because Jaguars. Even the new regime can't get out of their own way and it seems the STUPID sticks to them as well. Why pick a RB in the first round? They Jags have much bigger holes to fill and they pick some stupid RB...

Why pick a RB in the first round?  How many times to I need to post this?  

Since 2005, here is a breakdown of the RBs taken in each round who became 1,000 yard rushers: 

RD 1  - 55% 15/27
RD 2  - 29% 11/38
RD 3  - 16% 6/37
RD 4  - 7% 3/45
RD 5  - 7% 3/42
RD 6  - 4% 2/46
RD 7  - 2% 1/51

That's why.

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Because Jaguars. Even the new regime can't get out of their own way and it seems the STUPID sticks to them as well. Why pick a RB in the first round? They Jags have much bigger holes to fill and they pick some stupid RB...

Why pick a RB in the first round?  How many times to I need to post this?  

Since 2005, here is a breakdown of the RBs taken in each round who became 1,000 yard rushers: 

RD 1  - 55% 15/27
RD 2  - 29% 11/38
RD 3  - 16% 6/37
RD 4  - 7% 3/45
RD 5  - 7% 3/42
RD 6  - 4% 2/46
RD 7  - 2% 1/51

That's why.

It's more a longevity issue though.

The careers of RBs, especially elite level years is much shorter than other positions.
This is the reason that people are not drafting RB's in the high rounds compared to past eras.

That plus the emphasis and rules changes that have benefitted the passing game over running.

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Because Jaguars. Even the new regime can't get out of their own way and it seems the STUPID sticks to them as well. Why pick a RB in the first round? They Jags have much bigger holes to fill and they pick some stupid RB...

Why pick a RB in the first round?  How many times to I need to post this?  

Since 2005, here is a breakdown of the RBs taken in each round who became 1,000 yard rushers: 

RD 1  - 55% 15/27
RD 2  - 29% 11/38
RD 3  - 16% 6/37
RD 4  - 7% 3/45
RD 5  - 7% 3/42
RD 6  - 4% 2/46
RD 7  - 2% 1/51

That's why.

You keep copy / pasting that everywhere - but it pretty much stands to reason that first round players will probably outperform players from lower rounds, regardless the position. 

You want  to make EVERY running back better? You want EVERY wide receiver better? Improve the offensive line. Do you want TL to be sitting on the sidelines injured because we didn't protect him? Jenkins was a more valuable pick.

You want our offense to run up higher numbers? Keep the opposing offense off the field. Defensive picks would have been more valuable.

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To call it a bad pick is just wrong. Fair enough you don’t have to like the pick or agree with it but you cannot call it a bad pick when he hasn’t stepped on the field, most good teams have two good running backs these days,

Yes you can find running backs everywhere in the draft but just because you can doesn’t mean you do, pretty much every team drafts a running back every year between 4th round and UDFA and last time I checked every team doesn’t draft a kamara every year.

The team liked the player and felt he fit what they wanted to do, if they had him ranked top of there bored after watching 100s of hours of film then so be it they do much more work on this thing than us.

Let the kid play and see what happens. What ever your opinion non of us truly know if it was a good pick or not

Every pick is a bad pick if the Jags don't take who these board idiots want..

This. So much this.

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What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is agoin' on here???

My comp for Etienne is Christian McCaffrey.  I think almost any team would take Christian McCaffrey at pick 25.  And yes, we already have James Robinson, but all RBs get injured, or tired, or cannot play for whatever reason.  All RBs need relief.  And QBs need weapons so they don't have to hold the ball.  

And yes, we could get "a RB" in a later round, but statistics show, the best RBs are taken in the first round and they tail off after that, just like any other position.

Alvin Kamara

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My comp for Etienne is Christian McCaffrey.  I think almost any team would take Christian McCaffrey at pick 25.  And yes, we already have James Robinson, but all RBs get injured, or tired, or cannot play for whatever reason.  All RBs need relief.  And QBs need weapons so they don't have to hold the ball.  

And yes, we could get "a RB" in a later round, but statistics show, the best RBs are taken in the first round and they tail off after that, just like any other position.

My comp is C.J. Spiller.

My comp is Alvin Kamara.

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My 2 pennies worth...

Don't take a RB in the first round, especially if you have a boatload of other needs. Always believed this, and always will. Therefore not a big fan of this pick.

However...

There are definitely positives here too. This draft is "The Trevor Draft", and I'm not sure that there was another player at #25 that would be as much of an immediate help to Trevor as Ettiene is. He brings a very different skillset to Robinson and Hyde, and the way Urban talked about him playing outside and in 2 back sets is a plus. Essentially he can become the safety valve for the rookie QB, offering dynamic playmaking ability on higher percentage throws. We now have one of, if not the best, RB groups in the NFL, behind an o-line that did a very good job in the run game for a putrid team last year. Add super blocking TE Manhertz to that too. Again, having an elite running game is a huge boost to a rookie QBs chances of success.

So overall, while I wouldn't have made that pick, I do think he's a hell of a player who will add an extra dimension to the offense and help TLaw to thrive, so I ain't mad.

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