(12-31-2018, 02:29 AM)JNev Wrote: MIs it more proper to judge based on results or on reactions based on information we knew at the time?
Caldwell was generally lauded for each of his drafts by fans and experts. Because things don’t turn out how is universally expected is that a fair way to judge someone?

 
 

You judge them on both. 

Evaluating a GM means you have to be careful to examine the decision making that led to a pick and also evaluating the results of the pick. 

For example , Luke Joeckel. He was a great LT prospect, widely considered to be one of most bust proof prospects in the draft. I can't fault Caldwell for drafting him based on everything they knew at the time. Now if we go back and look at him we might say the style of offense at Texas A and M was always gonna make his adjustment tough and he was more of a finesse tackle than most high end tackles to come out so there were a few red flags but that's with the benefit of hindsight. 

He ended up busting big time despite flashes of good play but I'm not gonna hold that against Caldwell. His decision making prior to the pick was sound and sometimes these guys just can't make jump.   


An example on the other end of things is Leonard Fournette. 

The key fault with this decision stemmed from trusting Blake Bortles after a disastrous 2016 season to be your franchise QB for the next 5+ years. They felt it was better to make Blake's job as easy as possible Vs drafting someone with far greater ability (even if there was risk) like Watson/Mahomes/Trubisky. So they took a power back with some vision and agility issues at #4 to fit in with the old school style over some great QB prospects and the rest is history. 

That was a bad decision prior to the draft despite and the results speak for themselves. 2017 was amazing , no doubt , but we currently have no QB , Fournette is close to being off the team and Watson+Mahomes have turned out to be the amazing QBs many thought they'd be, Trubisky to a lesser extent but he's better than Blake for sure..

Fournettes draft pick was bad process, bad self evaluation and god awful results. Arguably the worst non Gabbert pick in Jaguars history when you consider the ramifications.

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