I have a few thought on this. Overall not a huge fan of this draft pick. However some of the other players we might have drafted at 25 are available at 33. So if we swapped picks no one would have cared as much.

First, while I used to agree that you dont take RBs in the first round, I dont believe that anymore. While I like James Robinson, I do agree that RBs like him are easier to find. He isn't a real gamebreaker taking long runs to the house but is it good at seeing the hole and getting up field. Very dependable and consistent. Guys like him are easier to find. But true multi-purpose weapons that can line up in the backfield, can play WR out of the slot, etc... true dynamic weapons, if you can find a guy like that in the first round, then take him. I dont care if he has a "WR" or "RB" next to his name. True game breakers can do either. And if Etienne becomes that guy then it'll be a good pick.

However I question whether Etienne really is that guy. A lot of his highlights are him running through wide open holes and there are lots of examples of him not being able to make a guy in the open field miss. He looks like a tougher runner than you'd think given his size but if he is truly a gamebreaker type player you'd want to see him make the guy miss instead of running through a guy. Every now and then you'll find a clip of a really explosive play (such as him catching a dump off pass in the semifinal game against Ohio St and blowing through the secondary for a long TD). But there are a lot of other examples where a guy has an angle on him and he cant outrun him. Or he gets in the open field and doesnt make the guy miss. He does look like he is really good at seeing a hole open up in the line, making a cut, and hitting the hole hard. Obviously we all hope he becomes Alvin Kamara. But what if he is more just a pass catching version of Robinson? Not sure he'd be worth the 25th pick.

Final point is this is why I think the whole conversation of drafting BAP, value, need, etc.. is dumb. This very well could have been their BAP. When they evaluate Etienne maybe they see him as Kamara. And if so then they picked the right guy. But if Etienne turns out to have been a bad pick, it wouldn't have been drafting methodology that caused it but instead lousing scouting. I have to think the vast majority of GMs and front offices around the league are smart enough to not draft a player in the 1st round that has 3rd round value because that just happens to be the best player at the position of biggest need. I don't believe that happens. Maybe there are a few teams that truly go with BAP but I'm sure the vast majority are doing their best to marry value with need. And at the end of the day a team's ability to scout is far more important than whatever drafting methodology they use.

---