Quote:I was not a fan of that trade. More so because I didn't think we got enough for Monroe. I think most fans, knowing what we know now, would take Monroe and a different pick in the first. I know that draft was weak and hindsight is 20/20, but I'll never be convinced we got good value on the trade for Monroe. Caldwell has done much better than Gene in the draft (which isn't saying much since a monkey randomly picking had a very good chance of outdrafting Gene), but like all GM's he makes mistakes. Monroe trade was a mistake. Letting Daryl Smith go was a mistake. So far the Julius signing isn't looking good. And Beadles has also been extremely disappointing. He has not done very well so far in the first or second round. Cyprien and Lee are far from what we would have hoped at this point. Can't grade Fowler fairly, but Joeckel has been a huge disappointment. Bortles is much improved and I'm very optimistic about his future, but preseason and regular season are two different things. Overall I like what Caldwell has done, but there's nothing wrong with criticism.

I wasn't a big fan of the trade either. I think it is disingenuous for some to say that people thought Monroe was awful. I remember the general consensus was that  he was our best lineman at the time. 

 

I wasn't a big fan of the Joekel pick in the first place. The only way I could get on board was when they made the claim that RT was as important as LT and they wanted to draft him to be a RT.

 

Either way, it's still too premature to claim Caldwell made a good or bad decision at this point.

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