Do we overvalue the draft?

I've given paragraph to whole page answers to other post so here it is......YES!

not talking about your question Matty....my yes was to the thread question.

Boldin is 6'1 and built like a truck, and he's been very productive. You would turn him down due to the fact he's not 6'3?We should have drafted Boldin over Taylor Jacobs 5 years ago. I would be happy to have him, but offering anything more than a 1st rounder would be seriously overpaying, which we have been prone to do.

We should have drafted Boldin over Taylor Jacobs 5 years ago. I would be happy to have him, but offering anything more than a 1st rounder would be seriously overpaying, which we have been prone to do.

Hey, a lot of teams wish they would have taken Boldin earlier. If they could do that draft over I'm sure he would have been a top 10 pick.

First let me say, by we I don't mean Redskins Fans/The Redskins in particular. I mean football fans in general.

With that out of the way, on this boards I've seen people unwilling to part with a first round pick for proven high quality players. While it's necessary to use the draft to build your team, many players (especially at positions such as WR, DE, etc) have a huge bust rate. Going after a player that has played in the NFL and played well you know you're getting a commodity.

Hypothetically, I'd rather spend a first and a 3rd to get a proven player such as Chad Johnson, Roy Williams, Jared Allen, etc. Rather than take my chances with drafting a player and ending up with say Rod Gardner, Mike Williams, etc.

The draft is far from an exact science, and in the first round you're giving up big contracts. Every player you choose could turn out to be a stud, but statistics says most picks will be average at best. You hope to get a solid starter.

Yes, you have to build depth, etc on your team through the draft. It's necessary because even 3rd round picks are fairly affordable. You get good players, but rarely studs late in the draft.

I guess what I'm saying is I feel we overvalue draft picks sometimes. I'm not saying give away all our picks, or that they aren't important. But I will trade a 1st and a 3rd for any player thats already at the top 15 in his position currently in the NFL.

Hypothetically, I'd rather spend a first and a 3rd to get a proven player such as Chad Johnson, Roy Williams, Jared Allen, etc. Rather than take my chances with drafting a player and ending up with say Rod Gardner, Mike Williams, etc.


You did forget some players there as well, Brandon Lloyd, Mark Brunell, and apparently Randall El, because we now need Chad Johnson, the wonderful thing about this approach is you get to over pay for players and max out your salary cap, then you can continue to fill the same need year in and year out. You either have an eye for talent, or you don't, and the ones that don't will need to go after established talent, and even then they can't really determine if that player will fit into what they do, or if that players best years are behind him. Take a look at Moss in Oakland, or even welker in Miami. Moss a star was doing nothing in Oakland, and Welker? Talk about your all time home runs and it was the Patriots who predominately draft tremendously who were able to see his ability and absolutely steal him from the fins. By the way what did the Pats give up for Moss? Raiders and Fins have both been pathetic in the personnel dept. it doesn't matter whether it's a draft choice or an established player they will screw it up and so far we haven't been all that far behind them.

Bottom line, the draft is for real organizations who really understand football, they can predict how a college talent will translate into a pro talent, they wont be right all of the time but over the long haul they will have a ton of success, sorry but to many organizations [inc.ours] are really just playing fantasy football with their personnel dept. and don't understand the true value of the draft, free agent's and big trades are for teams who have built a team through the draft and need 1 or 2 players to seal the deal.

Good thread. I think we "misvalue" the draft. Having several draft picks doesn't mean their value is only for acquiring college players. Draft picks essentially collateral for acquiring talent (college or pro). I mean people want to complain about CJ and his attitude so they don't want to trade a 1st round pick for him because, to them, it's a waste of the "value" of the #21 pick. But how is that a worse "value" than using it to draft Malcolm "The Excuse" Kelly?

I tend to agree with the Beathard philosophy. Unless you're guaranteed some blue-chipper, then use your high draft picks to get proven players who can contribute now or for multiple, lower round picks that will improve your depth at a much cheaper cost.

It's not just a 1st round pick. It could be two 1st round picks, or a 1st and a 2nd. Sorry but that's too much. We've already tried this way and it doesn't work in today's NFL and that's the bottomn line. And Kelly complaining about his pro day isn't a big deal and I would put no stock in that what so ever. The 40 times are so damn silly it's not even funny and you can look no further than Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. Two guys that didn't run great 40 times but are some of the best players to ever play in the NFL. Kelly is good character guy and he's been a productive college player. I'd draft him in the 2nd round, but not the 1st.

The point is the Redskins have shown serious interest in drafting Kelly.

Is this a bad thing??

Is this a bad thing??

No.

Forget it.

Draft is overblown in general. I mean look at the ESPN coverage ,etc. Half the kids don't make an impact on their respective teams, if they make the cut at all. Look at our last few drafts and see how many actually made the team. The ridiculous coverage and the overhyping of the event itself has finally come home to roost in the form of premature Draft fatigue. Used wisely, with a great scouting staff, the draft can be a very useful tool in building great teams, but with several teams(Skins included) this is a lost art.