(02-28-2024, 09:41 PM)cland Wrote:

(02-28-2024, 05:22 PM)flgatorsandjags Wrote: The draft should be the easy part because at that point the board is made and just follow your board.  The one thing we don't get is the interviews.  The interview process is something that should break some players you have rated equally if one interview goes better than the other.  They also deep dive into their background something we can't really do.

It's not as easy as just following a draft board, particularly when you're adding in draft-day trades.  I think something that doesn't get talked about enough, is all of the non-executed trades.  The GM has to continuously value draft capital (picks) vs the players that are still available.  Whether player X is or isn't worth trading up for and if so how much is he worth? Do you think player Y will be available after trading down, is taking a chance he's not worth a 2nd round pick, or is it worth a 2nd and next years 3rd, etc.

To add, just following your draft board without regard to how the draft is unfolding or without regard to positional strengths and weaknesses of a particular class will, more likely than not, have you leaving with a less optimal group of selections.

As an example, let’s say on your board the WR group of a given draft class is very strong and deep and defensive tackle has a big drop off after the first couple of guys and these two positions are also your biggest needs.  You’re on the clock in the late 1st.  There are 3 worthy receivers left on the board which you have graded at 90, 89 and 88.  There’s also one worthy DT left which you have graded at 85 and then the next guy after him is in the mid 70’s.  Other positional grades outside of WR top out in the high 70’s.  You pick again in the top half of the 2nd and there’s a decent chance that WR graded at 88 is still there.  What do you do in the 1st?  Do you risk missing out on one of those 3 highly rated WRs or do you stay true to your board and take the 90 grade and wind up with some mid guy at another position in the 2nd?  Add in that the 31 other big boards all have the players graded slightly differently if not significantly so.

I don't think there’s necessarily a right answer to the above scenario unless you can be assured of getting the DT and one of the 3 WRs, but you can’t be assured of that when you make the decision on how to spend your 1st.  It’s not as simple as just “following your board” or at least it shouldn’t be.  There are tough decisions like that regularly I’d think.  More so in the earlier rounds I’m sure. If you just follow your board I think you’re gonna wind up getting finessed by other GMs and I’m generally a BAP guy. Just obviously not pure BAP as I recognize where it could potentially steer you wrong. Pure need is a recipe for disaster though. You can just put me in the BADC (Best Available Draft Class) camp.

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