Jaguars' GM Dave Caldwell was on 1010XL earlier today (and Frangie just announced they will air the interview again later this afternoon), and he said something particularly interesting today.

 

Specifically, he has indicated his approach to the draft will change this year.

 

He said in the past couple of drafts, he took a needs based approach to picking players.

 

But this year, he said the team will take more of a BAP approach to the draft.

 

Now of all the things he could have said and actually said, I did not expect this at all.

 

In the seemingly countless debates on this board regarding BAP vs. Needs based drafting, I think the paradigm among those of us on either side of this debate was that BAP vs. Needs was pretty much a constant philosophy within a given organization.  In other words, absent a change in the people running the drafts, teams are either needs based or BAP based, and they don't deviate from the approach.  At least that's the assumption I made.

 

Caldwell's statements today indicate the drafting philosophy could change from year to year.

 

I know GMs give a whole bunch of smokescreens this time of year, and know GMS don't read message boards, but somehow I can picture him chuckling over the prospect of us debating this change, imagining our collective heads exploding. 

 

What do you think about this?

 

Is this part of a larger smokescreen?

 

Is this a legitimate change in approach?

 

Given how successful last year's draft seems to have been, should he change the approach?

 

Does it matter?

 

To me, as long as he is evaluating the players properly and drafting accordingly, it doesn't matter.

 

But it is interesting to see this shift.

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