Do we overvalue the draft?

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

What surprises me is some people seem shocked that the Redskins are trying to aquire a big name WR. Nobody from the front office ever said they are only going to look to the draft this year. Vinny spelled it out quite clearly that if a player was out there that they valued, they would go after him whether that means through a trade, free agency, or the draft.

I'm seeing alot of people trying to say that the Skins emphasis on the draft is somehow out the window now because they shopped 1 pick this year and 1 pick the next. All of a sudden it's back to their old free spending ways, the draft is blown, the future is down the crapper.... blah blah blah. Again, nobody from the Redskins front office ever said they were going to ignore free agency and or trading for players.

Well, I understand your point on others jumping the gun, but speaking for myself, trading for someone like Johnson would only hurt us. His attitude is too poor for us and I think it would ruin our chemistry. Plus his size is too small for me.
Boldin doesn't have the size I am ultimately looking for (6'3" of taller), but he does have a good attitude and boat loads of talent, so I could get on board with getting him. I just can't get on board with CJ in ANY scenario. (I still prefer Roy Williams)

[MTK]

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?

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

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.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

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.

[SBXVII]

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

[SBXVII]

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

[HOGTIMUS PRIME]

Originally Posted by Daseal

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.

[GusFrerotte]

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.