(05-08-2018, 01:18 PM)NYC4jags Wrote:

(05-08-2018, 01:04 PM)Deacon Wrote: The thing that I don't understand about the "don't waste a high round pick on a WR" philosophy is that it seems to not view the draft as a single entity, which from my perspective, it is. 

I do understand the idea of taking a larger perspective on the draft, to me each class has it's own intrinsic value and that is based on the talent of the available players. Each draft has a "best" player in it, every single one. You need to get as many good players as you can but you only get one pool to gain talent from. For those that would not want Fournette, my response is "then who is better?" Which player out of that top ten has more talent? I get that there are possible answers to it, but I (way too optimistically probably) think that is the reason for why the Front Office collects the talent that it does.

For me it really comes down to this simple opinion. (for better or worse)

I think it's easier to find an impactful RB in the second-fourth rounds than it is to find an impactful defender or QB there. (OT deserves mention as well ahead of RB when picking early)
Adams and Mahomes are the obvious examples of that in that particular draft to me. I'd see them as wiser usage of the pick. I could even make a case for Jon Allen there over Fournette. 

---

Another thing floating around this topic is this idea that "putting Fournette on the field forced defenses to load the box." I don't know about that. 
I think that about 60-70% of those loaded boxes were a direct response to the offensive formation. Not the guy standing in the backfield. The Jags telegraphed run quite often last season when Fournette was in the game - and the responses many of those run sets garnered would likely have been the same if it were Ivory lined up behind an identical set.

You make a great point, and I think that all of the changes around the organization are really masking the truth. With the installation of a quality Staff and a more dire commitment to the running game, who is to say that Yeldon could not have produced at the same level? Or if Hunt would have been as effective late in games? Despite starting in three less games, Fournette carried just four fewer times than Hunt. Granted, Hunt had 15 more Targets in the passing game overall, so maybe the touches smooths out but I don't know that this Offense would have maximized Hunt's abilities the way that Reid's system does.

---