Is that we don’t have to hear how bad we drafted, what players were better that someone e would have picked for day after day after season after season.
Ive been saying since the 2021 offseason, the 2022 draft will be the weakest draft in decades. It was a good draft to trade away your picks for proven stars… i like next years draft way better than this one..
What I like about this years draft and offseason as a whole is the commitment to the scheme. This team is being built on athleticism and proven commitment to the craft. 4 yr players, team captains etc on multi levels. The players I see being acquired are not just fast, they are "sudden". Quickness, acceleration and then violent contact on defense. We got the highest Scrabble scoring name in ZaQuandre White who by the way looks like a combination Fred Taylor/Barry Sanders type RB. IDK I can't think of a comp for his style, but it's sexy. Just looks like this team is being built to Muhammed Ali all over this league. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see"
Only thing about this draft I’m upset with was that we should have taken punter Matt araiza I guy with that leg can swing momentum and field position every series. Shame buffalo got him as if they needed more help!!
I read a draft grade article yesterday that gave us a C- on this year's class. I had to laugh hysterically at it. It clearly pointed out that we traded away most of our draft picks, but then went on to say how poor our selections were because they're essentially late round picks that typically don't pan out. So... Anyone who wants to put a grade on this years draft class and doesn't want to factor in the offseason additions we used picks on is clueless IMO. This team has neglected offense far too long at the skill positions and no draft class was going to fix that as quickly and easily as we did this year with free agency and trades. I just found it funny that an article can point out we traded away most of our picks for hill and others; but then bashes the teams draft class for not having elite talent to chose from due to having late picks, then grading us the worst in the division as a result
The Pats took a 4th round guard with their 1st round pick- so I'm pretty confident we weren't the worst of the division. The Jets clearly won because they had 40 billion picks, and the Bills came in 2nd because they didn't need much and landed the stud punter. I'd put us a solid 3rd on picks alone and maybe 2nd overall once you factor in Hill.
Funny thing was, the article graded us a c- and had the Pat's as a C+ If I remember correctly; thats what made me laugh too. We had the worst grade in the division according to it.
I think he actually pays less dividends with Buffalo. Buffalo had 2nd best 3rd down conversion rate last year and I wouldn't be surprised if they jumped to #1 in 2022. the vaunted field position advantage diminishes with great offenses vs a bad offense (like we have every year). not saying he's not going to be a probowler, but he'd be more impactful with us than Buffalo. and I'm very glad we didn't take a punter with one of our first two picks.
Chenal seems like he can step in and make immediate impact more than Channing. But Grier has history going after raw potential with higher upside. Heard a couple of my favorite podcasts talk about a better strategy is to go after upside super athletes. It's boom (like A Jackson) or bust. but, for that strategy to work, you need to maximize draft # draft picks so the busts hurt less.
This is actually a stupid strategy, made for people who suck at talent evaluation ( which is most of the NFL). Just draft good players who have produced at a consistently high level against top competition. And the higher you draft them, the more NFL ready they should be. Drafting project players just based on athletic "potential" is a recipe for disaster. Especially if you draft them early in the draft. This is what Grier did in 2020 and he completely whiffed on all 3 first round picks. Wasted what should have been an era defining round for us. Instead of Herbert, Jefferson, and Jonathan Taylor, we came away with Tua, Jackson, and Iggy
I think this is a fair assessment: https://phinphanatic.com/2022/05/02...t-grade-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-afc-east/
I always get a laugh on "who won the draft" when historically almost half of these picks will not really make the impact that was projected.
It's a stupid strategy if you can't pick the right players, but same can be said in either scenario. Clearly Grier couldn't do it when he whiffed on Iggy and A Jackson and it's held us back for sure.
I remember that one year when Goodell got it all wrong when it came to announce the player we had just moved up to select. Instead of saying Lane Johnson he said Dion Jordan.
Sticking with the theme of this thread, what I like the most about this draft is that we don't need any of these players to be all-pros in year one. It's been a long time since we could say that, so it's a good feeling to be drafting for the future instead of for week one of the season. That's exactly how you become a perennial playoff contender. Also, I think it was smart to bring in a proven superstar with our 1st/2nd round pick. Some of you aren't high on Tua and I understand why, but even if Tua ends up being a complete bust, almost any QB can have success with Waddle, Hill and Gisecki, plus a solid offensive line. We aren't asking the QB to do everything in this offense and that's a massive advantage all by itself. So if Tua doesn't truly shine, we can still replace him with a backup or draft a QB next year. For the record though, I think he'll look awesome in this offense and have a lot of success. With that said, we did draft a potential starter at LB, WR and offensive line. White is very exciting at RB as well so I think we drafted well for future talent. If some of these guys bust then so be it, but it won't cripple the team this year. I actually think we got several stud undrafted free agents to be excited about in the coming years.
Throwback to 2021's draft. It's impossible to offer a true opinion for a couple of years, but early positive returns are always a good development.
If Hill stays healthy and Tindall becomes our version of Steve Tasker, then the draft was a resounding success. If they can get Tindall on the field and point that guided missile at Allen, Jones, Wilson, etc., then it was an A+++