Commanders Post at The Warpath - View Single Post - Cerrato Vaguely Explains Draft Strategy (with Questionable Evidence)

bedlamVR · 12-18-2008, 04:10 AM

It all depends on how you define best .. is best simply the best athlete on the board or is best the best athlete where you have a need or the player would add something to the team and I kind of think it is the latter ..

I am not explaing that well ..

Okay say you go into the draft and you need a RB and a DE but you have thin depth behind veteran/aging starters at WR. OL, S and LB . When you come to pick all that is available are projects and marginal players at DE and RB, but there is a stud OLB. You cannot find anyone to trade down with to get more value so you are stuck . What do you do ? Draft a RB or DE anyway even though you know you are reaching ( the cowboys did this a lot in the late 90s under JJ) or do you take the better value at a position that is not such a glaring need in the understanding that your top pick may not see the field much in his rookie season.

Need positions in my opinion should be handled through free agency rather than the draft . Okay some positions like CB, OLT, No 1 CB rarely hit the market and you have to look to the draft for those but otherwise you draft for need and the player doesn't pan out you not only have a wasted pick but you still also still have the need .

Some people point to the Tuna when talking about draft picks and that is the way to go... Parcells drafted all OL and DL and that is a good way to go about building a team from the ground up, he went a similar direction with the Cowboys, but he did not draft well he simply drafted a lot . One way to approach the drafting for need is to simply pick a position and select the best player at that position with each of your draft picks . The Eagles do a similar thing, they throw a lot of picks at one position and hope something sticks. Sometimes it does work and you end up with a star but this approach leads to the detriment of other positions.

12-18-2008, 04:10 AM	#72
bedlamVR Special Teams Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 389	Re: Cerrato Vaguely Explains Draft Strategy (with Questionable Evidence) It all depends on how you define best .. is best simply the best athlete on the board or is best the best athlete where you have a need or the player would add something to the team and I kind of think it is the latter .. I am not explaing that well .. Okay say you go into the draft and you need a RB and a DE but you have thin depth behind veteran/aging starters at WR. OL, S and LB . When you come to pick all that is available are projects and marginal players at DE and RB, but there is a stud OLB. You cannot find anyone to trade down with to get more value so you are stuck . What do you do ? Draft a RB or DE anyway even though you know you are reaching ( the cowboys did this a lot in the late 90s under JJ) or do you take the better value at a position that is not such a glaring need in the understanding that your top pick may not see the field much in his rookie season. Need positions in my opinion should be handled through free agency rather than the draft . Okay some positions like CB, OLT, No 1 CB rarely hit the market and you have to look to the draft for those but otherwise you draft for need and the player doesn't pan out you not only have a wasted pick but you still also still have the need . Some people point to the Tuna when talking about draft picks and that is the way to go... Parcells drafted all OL and DL and that is a good way to go about building a team from the ground up, he went a similar direction with the Cowboys, but he did not draft well he simply drafted a lot . One way to approach the drafting for need is to simply pick a position and select the best player at that position with each of your draft picks . The Eagles do a similar thing, they throw a lot of picks at one position and hope something sticks. Sometimes it does work and you end up with a star but this approach leads to the detriment of other positions.