Gene Smith... I could have done better than him. Fact

 

Gene Smith used to be a respected scout and he EPICALLY failed. Any fan, without even scouting experience, would fail worse than both Smith and Millen by a wide margin. 

 

That said, Gene Smith is the worst GM I've ever seen. Millen comes very close, but drafting Megatron takes him out of the running.

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Gene Smith used to be a respected scout and he EPICALLY failed. Any fan, without even scouting experience, would fail worse than both Smith and Millen by a wide margin. 

 

That said, Gene Smith is the worst GM I've ever seen. Millen comes very close, but drafting Megatron takes him out of the running.

Not true at all. I'm not a scout or GM and I know not to take a punter in the 3rd round.


My first round picks would have been as follows:

2009- Crabtree

2010- Earl Thomas

2011- Robert Quinn

2012- Not really sure... I wanted Blackmon but didn't want to trade up. Probably would have taken Kuechley


These are who I wanted before the draft and not 20/20 hindsight. Gene thought he was smarter than everyone.

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Not true at all. I'm not a scout or GM and I know not to take a punter in the 3rd round.


My first round picks would have been as follows:

2009- Crabtree

2010- Earl Thomas

2011- Robert Quinn

2012- Not really sure... I wanted Blackmon but didn't want to trade up. Probably would have taken Kuechley


These are who I wanted before the draft and not 20/20 hindsight. Gene thought he was smarter than everyone.

 

Dude you should totally apply for GM the next time there's an opening.

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Dude you should totally apply for GM the next time there's an opening.

I'm hoping!


I'm always looking on monster.com but haven't got any calls back.

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This isn't a nightmare situation for Bortles at all.  It's NOT a winning situation, but it's a good situation.  We've been her before. In 2003, we just drafted Leftwich, we were 1-8.  Leftwich threw 14 TD and 16 INT that year.  They ended the season 5-11.  Next season he threw 15 TD 10 INT.  They went 9-7.   Then 15-5 in 2005, and they went 12-4.   So is Leftwich better than Bortles?  

 

I think the training wheels are off with Bortles moreso than previous QBs.  He's not handcuffed and that is a step forward.  Instead of telling him who he's going to be and slowly teaching him how to be it, they are letting him be himself and letting him learn how to perfect it.

 

I don't know how Bortles turns out.  But I'll take a 30 INT season if that 's what it takes.   We need an elite guy, we don't need to be teaching game management right now.    

 

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excellent post

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This isn't a nightmare situation for Bortles at all.  It's NOT a winning situation, but it's a good situation.  We've been her before. In 2003, we just drafted Leftwich, we were 1-8.  Leftwich threw 14 TD and 16 INT that year.  They ended the season 5-11.  Next season he threw 15 TD 10 INT.  They went 9-7.   Then 15-5 in 2005, and they went 12-4.   So is Leftwich better than Bortles?  

 
I think the training wheels are off with Bortles moreso than previous QBs.  He's not handcuffed and that is a step forward.  Instead of telling him who he's going to be and slowly teaching him how to be it, they are letting him be himself and letting him learn how to perfect it.

 

I don't know how Bortles turns out.  But I'll take a 30 INT season if that 's what it takes.   We need an elite guy, we don't need to be teaching game management right now.    
 

Love this post. I know they'll be some tough games but I know he has all the uncoachable intangibles. Not only that, but our team will get better next year. I don't care what happens in the next 7 games, it's not like we are seeing 40 point blowouts. We are in these games with rookies and sophomores! I like that. I like our direction. We are two year removed from a total gutting of our team

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Gene Smith used to be a respected scout and he EPICALLY failed. Any fan, without even scouting experience, would fail worse than both Smith and Millen by a wide margin. 

 

That said, Gene Smith is the worst GM I've ever seen. Millen comes very close, but drafting Megatron takes him out of the running.

 

No, any fan without any scouting experience would do better than Gene Smith.


In fact a trained monkey could pick names out of a hat based on Walterfootball's mock drafts... and come out better.


Randomly Selected players from Walt's drafts: (These were randomly selected, and avoid all hindsight, and again it's using Walter freaking football as the scout)


2009: 

Round 1 - Michael Crabtree, WR

Round 2 - Max Unger, C

Round 3 - Dannell Ellerbe, LB

Round 4 - Michael Hamlin, SS (funny enough Roy Miller was originally rolled here, but I had to re-roll, because he was taken earlier)

Round 5 -  Antonio Appleby, ILB

Round 6 - Kevin Ogletree, WR

Round 7 - Jaime Thomas, OG


2010:

Round 1 - Taylor Mays, S

Round 2 -  Damian Williams, WR

Round 3 - Walter McFadden, CB

Round 4 - Ed Wang, OT

Round 5 - Blair White, WR

Round 6 - Vince Oghobaase, DE

Round 7 - Shay Hodge, WR


2011:

Round 1 - Jimmy Smith, CB

Round 2 - Brandon Harris, CB

Round 3 - Kendall Hunter, RB

Round 4 - Jason Pinkston, OT

Round 5 - Ugo Chinasa, DE

Round 6 - Bruce Miller, FB

Round 7 -  Alex Linenkohl, C



2012: 

Round 1 - David DeCastro, G

Round 2 - Alshon Jeffery, WR

Round 3 - Terrell Manning, LB

Round 4 - George Iloka, S

Round 5 - Tank Carder, LB

Round 6 - Jordan Bernstine, CB

Round 7 -  David Gonzales, OT


Some pretty bad picks, but I think it'd still come out better than Gene by a decent amount.  I'd take it in any case.


Heck, I'm pretty sure my eight year olds could do a better job than Gene just picking names from people's mock drafts.  

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I was wrong about Trent Baalke. 

Just re-watched the game.... And honestly, he wasnt really that bad. He actually made like 4,5, maybe even 6 really impressive throws.


But once again, playcalling was an issue. My God, how many screens were we gonna run in the first half? Bortles excels throwing downfield. What the hell was with that? No coincidence we started scoring after we changed it up.


Mechanics are still an issue once in a while. That second td to hurns hung forever. The same thing happened on his int (the attempt to throw OB)


But it certainly wasnt the disaster people are making it out to be.


As a side note.... Why the hell is ace sanders even around?

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I think playing him is working out well.  The majority of his mistakes are the easiest to correct.  

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No, any fan without any scouting experience would do better than Gene Smith.


In fact a trained monkey could pick names out of a hat based on Walterfootball's mock drafts... and come out better.

Randomly Selected players from Walt's drafts: (These were randomly selected, and avoid all hindsight, and again it's using Walter freaking football as the scout)

2009: 

Round 1 - Michael Crabtree, WR

Round 2 - Max Unger, C

Round 3 - Dannell Ellerbe, LB

Round 4 - Michael Hamlin, SS (funny enough Roy Miller was originally rolled here, but I had to re-roll, because he was taken earlier)

Round 5 -  Antonio Appleby, ILB

Round 6 - Kevin Ogletree, WR

Round 7 - Jaime Thomas, OG

2010:

Round 1 - Taylor Mays, S

Round 2 -  Damian Williams, WR

Round 3 - Walter McFadden, CB

Round 4 - Ed Wang, OT

Round 5 - Blair White, WR

Round 6 - Vince Oghobaase, DE

Round 7 - Shay Hodge, WR

2011:

Round 1 - Jimmy Smith, CB

Round 2 - Brandon Harris, CB

Round 3 - Kendall Hunter, RB

Round 4 - Jason Pinkston, OT

Round 5 - Ugo Chinasa, DE

Round 6 - Bruce Miller, FB

Round 7 -  Alex Linenkohl, C

2012: 

Round 1 - David DeCastro, G

Round 2 - Alshon Jeffery, WR

Round 3 - Terrell Manning, LB

Round 4 - George Iloka, S

Round 5 - Tank Carder, LB

Round 6 - Jordan Bernstine, CB

Round 7 -  David Gonzales, OT

Some pretty bad picks, but I think it'd still come out better than Gene by a decent amount.  I'd take it in any case.

Heck, I'm pretty sure my eight year olds could do a better job than Gene just picking names from people's mock drafts.

That 2012 draft is boss

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Things will shake out. I'd rather deal with his growing pains now then next year when it surely seems the rest of the roster from the OL, WR's, Backs, and defense are starting to come around.

 

Even at that he is still putting up some pretty good numbers with the mistakes being made with them.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

Nightmare scenario?

 

Not sure there needs to be so much drama.

 

He's just starting ahead of schedule.  The plan was to sit him, to let him learn from the sidelines.  Instead, he's learning inside the hashes, where it affects the scoreboard.

 

Both positively, and negatively.

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"You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud."

I am very impressed with the way he has played in this porous situation he has been placed in. I think its good for him to get these lumps in now and have everyone grow together faster. I was very scared of him starting because the supporting cast is pure rookies and second year players but he has played better than i was expecting. He has a bright future and once help arrives it will seem like a cake walk for him after going through this season. 

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1. He did not practice at all in the offseason to be the starter.  Henne got all of the reps as the starter.  This decision hurts now.  He lost valuable reps to some guy who lost his job to  very raw rookie.

 

2. There are 0 veteran leaders on the offense to turn too.  Who can he take advice from?

 

3. This team is too young.  There are no reliable targets aside from maybe A Robinson.  Lee is invisible, Hurns shows up some games, Shorts has trouble seeing the field, and who do we have at tight end? 

 

4. Fisch is inexperienced at the NFL level while calling a pretty poor gameplan. 

 

So tell me why do people expect all pro play with this mess he was put into? 

I agree 100%.  Give the kid time!!  This upcoming offseason will be crucial to his development.  He is smart and hard working.  He will be fine!!

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Go back and watch the Gruden QB camp with Bortles.  He's playing exactly like Gruden talked about, he's just not getting away with some of those plays on this level....yet

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Go back and watch the Gruden QB camp with Bortles.  He's playing exactly like Gruden talked about, he's just not getting away with some of those plays on this level....yet

Which is why I love him playing now. Let him make those mistakes by learning. Do it now, and be better for it.

 

Mistakes, and game film are the best tools of learning in football. I am glad he is making those mistakes now and not getting away with them. Sometimes success is the worst teacher.

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TravC59, aka JacksJags. @TravC59 on Twitter
;
; "This is really good, you want a bite, Honey?"

All I'm going to say to Bortles is this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA7G7AV-LT8

 

GO JAGS!!

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Let's Get Em!!!! Go Jags!