Tony Sparano Q&A: The Draft

Q. You drafted a big back in the second round in Daniel Thomas and you traded up to get him. You must have had a strong feeling about him?
TS: One of the first things that you look for in a back, and this was a thing that Bill Parcells used to tell us, is how’s he built and is he durable? This guy carried the ball for 250 carries a year on average for a lot of yards, so that way this is a big, strong guy.

I mean I hear about, ‘Oh, he’s not this fast. He’s not that fast.’ I know that there’s been a lot of those big backs that we play against that by the end of the game you can feel them and this is one of those guys, makes a lot of yards for his team.

Feature Back.

And then Pouncey being able to play inside allows you on game day more options when he can play two positions inside. So the flexibility and versatility of players helps me on game day with the roster but also helps from being so predictable and causes the defense I think a little bit of a problem.

I'd be willing to bet they evaluated Pouncey at C and G and thought he was NFL caliber at both positions which is why they drafted him at #15, they saw him as a can't miss at either position which if true means he was a solid value at #15.

Q. You drafted a player in the fourth round in Charles Clay who appears to give you a lot of flexibility. Is that how you see it?
TS: Yeah you know in this draft there were a lot of players that have a lot of flexibility but this guy, when you look at his background, really brings a lot of different elements to your team. He’s had 500 yards rushing; he’s had 189 catches; he’s caught the ball for 2,500 and something yards, has touchdowns rushing, touchdowns catching. He’s been through a couple different coaches, a few different systems so when you’re looking at him, you know, and we’ve done our homework, the mental part of this whole thing for him, the ability to use him a few different ways from a flexibility standpoint I think helps us.

And he played for the "father" of the modern WC, Gus Malzahn, at Tulsa, what I hope though is they did not get to caught up in mutli talented stuff and these guys can do 1 thing really well in the NFL.

"RoninFin4 wrote:

Two things struck me about that interview:

1) I owe padre31 a six-pack as Sparano basically said Pouncey's going to play C.

and...

2) He mentions sticking to the board "at the time" and feeling really good about it, but I really wonder about who was on, or off, that board at the time and whether or not that's going to come back to bite he and Jeff Ireland after this season.

Hmm, I took the opposite away from that interview, Pouncey may play either position.

His answers seem very disingenuous.

They stuck purely with their draft board. Right. They notched an interior OL, traded up for a RB, got the fastest WR in the draft, and then took a #2 TE, all in their first four picks of the Draft, all need areas, and he'd have us believe they stuck with their draft board...100% BPA and not needs-picking. Right.

Tony Sparano should be a car salesman.

Hmmmm. I would have liked to hear Sparano say the reason they didn't draft a QB was that they have confidence in Chad Henne, not "the way the draft fell". Probably being honest though. Leads me to believe they have someone in mind in free agency. I just hope they don't use next year's picks...

"MonstBlitz wrote:

Hmmmm. I would have liked to hear Sparano say the reason they didn't draft a QB was that they have confidence in Chad Henne, not "the way the draft fell". Probably being honest though. Leads me to believe they have someone in mind in free agency. I just hope they don't use next year's picks...

I got the same perception from that. Not a ringing confidence in Henne. I hope too that they don't mortgage the future on Kolb or someone else and not let the new regime that comes in next year without a 1st round pick. That would be par for the course here as of late. :tantrum:

"ckparrothead wrote:

His answers seem very disingenuous.

They stuck purely with their draft board. Right. They notched an interior OL, traded up for a RB, got the fastest WR in the draft, and then took a #2 TE, all in their first four picks of the Draft, all need areas, and he'd have us believe they stuck with their draft board...100% BPA and not needs-picking. Right.

Tony Sparano should be a car salesman.

I don't think it was completely disingenuous.
1. We didn't have a lot of options with our 1st round pick. Therefore based on who was available, Pouncey could've been the highest rated player on their board.
2. If Thomas had a 2nd round grade on him, then it's possible he represented both need and value at the bottom of the 2nd round (hence trading up for him).
3. Gates was a need, but he was an even greater value in the 4th round.
4. Clay was tremendous value in the 6th.

IMO at least 2 of our picks represented outstanding value while coincidentally fulfilling a serious need. I think we lucked out with both Gates & Clay.