Quote:The problem with that approach is that it takes two to tango. If you're sitting at third overall with Jake Matthews on top of your board and the best offer you can get is a third-round pick to trade down to six, you've got a tough decision. You've probably got a couple of other players with about the same grade and perceived career potential as Matthews on your board, but what if it's only two guys, and they're the next two guys off the board? You've screwed yourself out of a top-level prospect, and all you've got to show for it is an extra third-round pick that will almost certainly not return the type of player you would have gotten at three overall.

 

In that situation, yeah, my "best available player" would be the guy with a similar grade to Matthews who plays a position of need. If it was something like Matthews had an 8.0 on my board and the next nearest player was a 7.3, then taking Matthews makes the most sense, much as it seems like a bad idea on the face of things to load up another tackle. I personally don't believe we're in the type of draft where you've got a clearly-defined top three, and then everyone else. There are going to be a handful of players with very similar grades at the top of the board. I would venture to say that I don't see any scenario in which drafting Matthews at three would make sense this year. No matter who the top two picks are, there will be several players available who make sense at three, even if it means drafting a 7.6 over a 7.7 to plug the holes at QB, WR or DE/LB.

 

I didn't say if he had a few players with the same grade to take the guy at the position you feel like you're deep at, I said if the GM sees a guy who he believes will be the better player he needs to take that better player or trade out. And if no one else wants to trade out you don't do like Shack and Gene did and constantly give up value to get some guy higher than he should be drafted.

 

In addition if he actually does take a BAP when teams think he won't trade out then it'll increase the regard for him as a hardball negotiator around the league who won't just give away value.

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