(10-20-2018, 02:35 PM)Caldrac Wrote:

(10-20-2018, 02:04 PM)SeldomRite Wrote: Thinking like you propose here is exactly why the team is in the position it's in now. Years and years of "need" drafting instead of best player drafting.

Last year the Jaguars "needed" a running back, so they flushed a top five pick on one with significant injury problems coming out. (didn't "need" a QB, lol!) In 2015 they "needed" a defensive end, so they flushed a top five pick on a guy that had never shown he could play the position. Keep going back and you'll keep finding examples of trying to fill roster holes with draft picks. It didn't help then and it wouldn't have helped now. If Chark, Harrison, and Bryan turn out to be players then this years draft will have worked out, if not then at least it won't be because they thought they needed to fill a roster spot.

Hindsight is always 20/20. I think when you have an opportunity to fill a need that equates to the proper value of your draft slot you take him. That player should be taken above any and all others. I think every selection a team makes. Especially between the first four rounds. Those selections should be along the lines of thinking "Does he offer instant impact? Does he have a shot to see a significant amount of playing time right NOW on this team?". And if the answer to those questions is "No". Then what the [BLEEP] are you looking at? 

The problem with that idea is that not all teams have the same grading systems or philosophical views when running and building a franchise. And of course situations will change those sets of rules and circumstances. And I get all of that. 

However. When you're taking players in RD1, RD2 and RD3 they shouldn't feel like luxury picks. And that's exactly what it looks like. And that's why this team is in the position it's in now. 

Taven Bryan - No official starts. Appeared in what? 4, 5 games?. Has a whopping 8 tackles to show for it...
D.J Chark - No official starts. Appeared in 6 games. 4 whopping catches for 87 yards...
Ronnie Harrison - 3 official starts.  - 14 tackles on the year.... 

Doesn't appear we're getting much returns there. We had an elite defense last year. It hasn't really played that awful until the last two games where the offense has failed to get anything going. It's demoralizing. I don't give a [BLEEP] what Wash or Marrone says. That defense isn't going to go out there completely as a unit and lay their bodies on the line when they know this offense won't reward them for it. Business decisions are being made at that point. 

The window of opportunity started closing last year in New England. When they started playing conservatively on offense and showed that they didn't trust Bortles enough to win you that game in a duel against Brady. All of the faults on this team started on offense last year. 

You can't convince me that Taven Bryan will be a better PRO in the long run that offers more return on his selection in comparison to Sony Michel, Will Hernandez, potentially Nick Chubb. You could maybe argue that this team should have drafted Courtland Sutton in RD1 and went in a different direction in RD2. We'll see. I hope all of these guys return dividends sooner rather than later. But they were close last season to a Superbowl and there's a good chance they may not get that close again because they doubled down too early on their strongest unit on the team.

We don't know yet if those guys will turn out to be great players worthy of selection or whether they'll end up as mistakes, but taking a lesser player to fill a spot is always a mistake.

Did KC need a QB last year? Do you think the fact that Mahomes did nothing of significance last year really matters?

How about the Packers in 2005? They had a future Hall of Fame QB that still had years of good football to play, did they get anything out of drafting Rodgers in 2005 and 2006?

Bad teams spend years doing what the Jaguars have done, trying to fill roster spots and hoping they get lucky and the guy they're taking to fill a spot turns out to be a difference maker. The great teams just go ahead and take the good players and trust that they'll keep talking good players to fill those other holes and it'll work out in the future just using some cheap free agents as temporary spackle where they have holes.

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