Quote:
Originally Posted by Paintrain
NOthing wrong with building thru the draft.. Flooding the roster with 1st, 2nd and 3rd year players based on sheer volume however isn't a strategy for success.
Maybe I'll restate to clarify. In a 7 round draft where we hold picks in all rounds, a team can call 3 starters and a 2 backups an excellent draft, 2 starters and 3 backups a good draft and 1-2 starters and 1-2 backups an average draft.
2007 we had an awful draft. Landry was the only starter. HB Blades was the only backup.
2008 we had an awful draft. No starters. Davis was the only quality player, Jackson the only remaining backup.
2009 we had an awful draft. Orakpo was the only starter. Barnes the only remaining backup.
2010 we had an average draft. Williams and Riley are starters, Austin is a backup.
2011 we had a potentially excellent draft. Kerrigan, Jenkins, Hankerson all look like starters. Helu looks like he will either start or be part of a strong rotation. Gomes, Paul, Royster, Hurt, Nield all are backups.
Replicating 2011 will be difficult simply based on averages that most drafts don't provide that level of depth. But since we had an excellent draft in 2011 we can afford to be more aggressive in moving up to get a player without the risk of not filling needed holes. We also don't have a need as we did last year to 'stock up on picks' in this draft for the sake of getting younger. The 2011 draft really just averaged out the 2007-2009 drafts in terms of the number of expected starters and backups from each draft.
If anything if we move back, we should be looking to acquire 2013 picks. That's what NE does better than anyone, build forward.
Nothing wrong with getting younger, but young for the sake of young doesn't build winners.
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How Vinnie kept his job with those drafts that long is beyond comprehension. I know he only took credit for a couple of those years but still, I think he had a hand in many of them.
NE does an excellent job acquiring picks. They like to draft and accumulate 2nd rounders.