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That’s a superb stat
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I still struggle to understand that draft by the Packers. Not in the sense that I’d have acted differently, but in the sense that I genuinely can’t fathom the thought process going into this draft.
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The CMC one is spot on, to be fair.
McCaffrey a D+ draft pick?
Yeah. There’s no value in a running back picked that high. I’m not doubting his ability, though. He’s a tremendous player. But drafted far too soon.
Generally agree about the idea of drafting a RB too early, but there’s no chance that justifies a D+ grading.
Why not? It’s a horrible reach that makes no sense from a cap perspective, ambition wise or any other way. It’s almost impossible for a player at that position to ever justify the value invested in him. You might as well draft a punter in the third round. It doesn’t matter how good he turns out, it doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t represent value.
If Cam hasn’t been broken it would most likely have been a different story, but yes it’s a fair point.mccaffrey had a great year and the panthers had the 31st best offense
Johnny Hekker is one of the best players to ever play his position. Where would you draft him now, knowing how good he is?
This can be applied to any good player. All we can do is look back at recent history to see how good these guys turned out to be and make smart decisions based on it. If 5 out of the past 6 RBs have been very good, then we will continue to see RBs getting taken top ten if the teams/GMs need to strengthen at the position.
I‘m asking where you’d draft him, if you knew for sure that he would be that good. Would it be a wise decision, just hypothetically, to pick him first overall? After all, he’s a generational talent at his position. Maybe the best, there ever was.
It would depend on the specific needs of the team and which positions the GM and staff prioritized before the draft. Punters, kickers, and long snappers would probably not be #1 priorities for any team, so to answer your original question, no.
Why wouldn’t they be a priority, though?
Because punters, placekickers, returners, and longsnappers are ancillary players. They only play once every few dozen plays and wouldn't warrant the sort of investment teams typically make in high first round picks. There's a massive difference between justifying a massive contract on a player who may see the field on about 5-6 plays per game and one who will see the field about 120-140 times in a game.
So different positions carry a different value. And that’s the case with running backs. Just because we’re used to seeing them being drafted at the top of the first round, doesn’t mean it’s not complete idiocy. Their production is easily replaceable and their rookie contracts are extremely expensive compared to other players at the position. They also have short careers and are often injured. There’s no value in running backs at the top of the draft. It’s simply bad business. Like drafting a punter high. It doesn’t matter how good they are, teams are better off for drafting them late or not at all and invest in more valuable positions. Players like CMC, Gurley, Barkley and Zeke can be as good as they want, it just doesn’t matter. They were all drafted too high.
taking the 10 ten running backs by snap count, they averaged 53 snaps per game. mccaffrey was first with 66.
Ultimately, its a team game so it would be hard to make the case that any one position wins you a SB - and I would include QBs in that as well since we've had backup QBs repeatedly lead their teams to SB wins over the years.
He played against my high school and I remember not being impressed with him. It was then I knew he'd have a hard time in the NFL.
Yup. But funny seeing it written downIm guessing there is a thought process that Packers wont be getting one of those QBs unless they tanked this season. Which would take some doing, but even then, they still picked a QB so yeah
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You don't need a WR in the first round to be great or win (Adams was a 2nd or 3th round pick IIRC) but it does show the Packers' unwillingness to surround Rodgers with elite talent.
Well Jordy Nelson springs to mind as an elite receiver who Rodgers linked up with and he was a second rounder.
This may be true to an extent as long as Aaron Rodgers is your QB, but how many teams such a luxury ?
There are always outliers (late bloomers or lack of opportunity in college), but I think draft rounds are definitely an indicator of talent.
As mentioned before, if its a quality player and the team has a strong need at the position, then they are likely to pull the trigger irrespective of which round, and especially if the player may be instead picked up by a rival in the same division. This would apply more to "high skill players" like QB, RB, WR, an Edge Rushers than others, and with special teamers prioritized the least for the aforementioned reasons.
2019 figures are very interesting!
Nick Bosa and Josh Allen as top 10 picks vs Mecole Hardman as mid 2nd round, although I think he was picked as punt returner instead of WR.
