Could you have drafted better than the Skins FO?

[KI Skins Fan]

Have you ever thought that you could have done a better job than the Skins Front Office in drafting players? I know I have. I also know that my thinking so is ridiculous but I like to play GM once in a while. So, recently, I went back a few years and looked at the players that I would have picked for the Skins in the first two rounds of the 2003-2008 NFL Drafts. I’m talking about the players that I would have taken at the time of each draft and not after the fact.

I thought it might be interesting to hear from others, as well, about which players they would have taken back then. If you’d like to participate, please tell the truth about what you wanted the Skins to do when they were on the clock with their 1st and/or 2nd Round picks back then. Here’s what I would have done at the time, based on my memory of the events.

2003 – 2nd Round (No 1st Round pick)
Skins pick: Taylor Jacobs
My pick: Anquan Boldin

This pick is actually what got me thinking about comparing the Skins’ draft to what mine would have been. That’s because I told everyone who would listen before this draft that Anquan Boldin was the best WR in the draft – bar none. So, for me this pick in the 2nd Round was a no-brainer.

2004 – 1st Round (No 2nd Round pick)
Skins pick: Sean Taylor
My pick: Kellen Winslow

Yeah, I admit that I wanted Winslow. He was the most exciting TE I had seen in a long time. If the Skins had taken Winslow, we wouldn’t have had either Sean Taylor or Chris Cooley (the Skins traded up to draft him in, I think, the 3rd Round). Getting both Taylor and Cooley was brilliant work by the Skins FO.

2005 – 1st Round (Again, no 2nd Round pick)
Skins pick: Carlos Rogers
My pick: Carlos Rogers

I actually wanted Antrel Rolle, but he was picked by the Cards just before our turn. I think Carlos turned out to be the better player of the two.

The Skins made a trade with Denver in 2005 for the 24th pick which they used to draft Jason Campbell. That trade never even crossed my mind.

2006 – 1st Round (#23)
Skins pick: None
My pick: Davin Joseph, G, Oklahoma

Since I wouldn’t have thought to make the JC deal in 2005, we would have had a first round pick which I would have used on Joseph, who was available at #23. Tampa Bay took him later in the 1st Round that year and he has been the starter at RG for them since early in his rookie year. Not a bad pick, if I say so myself.

2006 – 2nd Round
Skins pick: Rocky McIntosh
My pick: Rocky McIntosh

I really wanted Demeco Ryans here, but he was picked two players before we drafted.

2007 – 1st Round (Guess what? Right, no 2nd Rounder.)
Skins pick: Laron Landry
My pick: Adrian Peterson

I truly believed that Peterson was the best player in the entire draft. I would have taken him in a heartbeat, even though we had CP. They could have shared the duties for one season and then we could have traded one of them for a king’s ransom.

2008 – 1st Round
Skins pick: Traded down.
My pick: Kenny Phillips, FS, Miami

Sadly, we would have needed a safety.

2008 – 2nd Round
Skins picks: The Three Amigos
My pick: Limas Sweed, WR, Texas

He was the best available player, IMO.

So, what would we look like now with these players:

Boldin, Winslow, Joseph, Peterson, Phillips, and Sweed.

And without these players:

Campbell, Cooley, Landry, Thomas, Kelly, and Davis.