Quote: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.

 

I don't think he's speaking specifically about the draft in that line, but more what happens afterwards.  We've seen countless "can't-miss" players bust enormously and watched undrafted players become stars.  It's a human business, and no matter how many resources you commit to scouting them, it's impossible to tell exactly what they will become.  I think his argument is to give yourself as many opportunities to acquire players as possible, in the hopes that one of them breaks.out.  It falls flat when you see the type of players Robinson and Linder are, but then you look at that '08 draft and wish we had just stayed put and maybe gotten something.

 

As far as Grantland, IMO they had a ton of talented writers on that site.  From my perspective in reading him, Barnwell, along with the vast majority of those writers, puts a lot of thought and time into what he's writing.  I didn't agree with him all the time, but you could usually tell he had definitely done his research into what he was writing about.  Which is kind of surprising, considering Bill Simmons didn't seem to put any research or thought into what he was writing.

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