(04-04-2019, 09:38 AM)NYC4jags Wrote:

(04-04-2019, 09:25 AM)Mikey Wrote: As to the predictability of picks, the one thing I will say is that Caldwell seems very inclined to fill need with his early picks, whether or not the player is "BPA" or even best at the position chosen.

If you look at every one of the early picks (excluding Bryan), we had a glaring need at the position selected. You can argue that need forced the pick in some situations (Bortles over Mack, Fournette over any of the QBs), and hopefully what we saw last year is the beginning of a new trend - the roster doesn't have talent vacuums at most positions, so we have the freedom to pursue value over immediate need. This draft is really intriguing, because the closer we get to draft day, it seems extremely likely that high value will be available at a position that is certainly not an immediate need. What we do at 7 will be very telling of the philosophy we should expect to see in the future from Dave - does he forego a better defensive talent to fill an offensive need? Does he accept and offer to trade, and recoup some value by skipping over the defensive talent? Does he stick to the board and take a defensive guy that might not start immediately, but represent a longer-term vision?

I honestly don't know what we'll do. I love it!

I don't really have any disagreement here, but I feel a distinction should be made when reviewing Caldwell's drafting and first round picks etc. 

He owns 2013-2016 outright -- but the decisions have not been solely his the past two drafts, nor will they be solely his this year. 

I half-jokingly like to employ the term "CoughWell" when describing our personnel decision makers these days. 

From all the breadcrumbs I can gather through interviews and articles, Dave Caldwell still functions the same in his role as he did prior to TC's arrival, but when it comes time to pull the trigger on acquisitions and transactions, he requires Coughlin's approval and is subject to potential changes at that stage. So - both of these guys have to bear the burden of the 2017, 2018, and 2019 drafts in some fashion. For better or for worse.