Quote:Funny thing about the bolded.  I remember a Bill Barnwell piece from that draft talking about the worst trades made.  I thought it was the Linder trade, but I went back and found the article, and he named the least logical trade of the draft as that Allen Robinson trade.

 

His reasoning, at the time, isn't exactly terrible, but man does it look bad in hindsight.  Can't post article.  Search grantland for "NFL Draft and Michael Sam".

 

Found the article.

 

<p style="margin-left:40px;">"...But the Least Logical Trade of the 2014 Draft Belongs To …


<p style="margin-left:40px;"> Jacksonville!


<p style="margin-left:40px;"> 

<p style="margin-left:40px;">The Jaguars traded up twice this weekend, first sending the 150th pick to the 49ers for the privilege of moving up from 70 to 61, where they drafted wideout Allen Robinson. The Jags were applauded for finding “weapons” for new quarterback Blake Bortles, but even if Robinson develops into a player, he would theoretically be the third wideout in Jacksonville’s offense behind Cecil Shorts and earlier second-rounder Marqise Lee. And that’s without considering the possibility of Justin Blackmon ever returning. The 49ers, meanwhile, used the pick on center Marcus Martin, who would have filled a much more pressing need for Jacksonville
..."

 

I'd like to note here, while running the risk of falling down the 'who won the trade?!?!' hole, that the two trading partners that Jacksonville had with the Robinson and Linder selection were San Francisco and New England (New England selected C Bryan Stork from FSU). Neither of these players have started a full 16 game season, but then again neither has Robinson or Linder.

 

And I'd also like to take particular note of this line in the article:

 

<p style="margin-left:40px;">"...Randomness and variance swamp knowledge and scouting before a player gets to the NFL
..."

 

To be honest, I'm not entirely certain what Barnwell meant by that blurb, but at face value it seems to mean that you should draft based on statistical analysis and metrics and not your football knowledge and scouting. If this is the case, it's no wonder Grantland got shut down.

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