Grading the Draft
You know the formula, it’s right after the draft, and all the talking heads are assigning arbitrary grades. Lets’ get this over with.
Source: USA Today
Grade: 3 of 4 stars (B)
Best Quote: “Trading up, the Jets plugged their biggest hole with CB … [and] LB David Harris, a prolific tackler who should step right into their 3-4 scheme.”
Bassett’s Thought: Being that this was the first pick that I looked at, I was suprised to see it get 3 of 4 stars.
Source: ESPN – Mel Kiper, Jr.
Grade: B
Best Quote: “I had Harris going in the first half of the first round, so this is a great pickup for the Jets.”
Bassett’s Thought: Whoah, and in fact, he did have it. Number 12 to the Bills to be exact. I knew the kid was buzzing up boards, but that was a bit extreme. Part of my ambivalence at first was due to not getting one of the draft’s better talents at linebacker, that was extinguished with Harris’ pick.
Source: CBS Sportsline – Prisco
Grade: C
Best Quote: “They got two good football players in first-round pick Darrelle Revis and David Harris, but are they a team that is just two players away?”
Bassett’s Thought: Fair assessment, but is this more an indictment of the draft class?
Source: Dallas Morning News – Rick Gosselin
Grade: C
Best Quote: “It’s tough to produce a great draft when you have picks in just the first two rounds and the last two rounds. The Jets had to trade up to get Revis, the best cover man in the draft …”
Bassett’s Thought: If Gosselin thinks he’s the best cover man, that’s all I need to hear. As far as the number of picks, as a fan, it’s hard to love the draft because I keep thinking those second and third rounders could have been possibly used to get better prospects at WR, OL, TE or DT.
Source: Detroit News – Mike O’Hara
Grade: B
Best Quote: “Trades left them with two picks in the first five rounds, but both are starters … the defense is better with quality, not quantity.”
Bassett’s Thought: Agreed, I will be very suprised if these two aren’t lining up for the first snaps of the season against the Pats.
Source: Yahoo! Sports – Jason Cole
Grade: C
Best Quote: “Given that the Patriots seriously upgraded their receiving corps, the Jets really needed an instant impact player like Revis. “
Bassett’s Thought: I don’t think that the Pats are the ultimate motivation of getting a CB. Also, Cole notes Bender as a “mauler left tackle,” think that’s locked up for the next ten years, how about right tackle?
Source: CBS – Charley Casserley
Grade: N/A
Best Quote: “Do not forget the addition of running back Thomas Jones to their draft evaluation. “
Bassett’s Thought: Did I really just spend time reading what the dude who had a five year plan for the Texans, and passed on Reggie Bush thinks? When does my wife get to give her opinion, it’s probably more relevant.
Source: ESPN – Len Pasquarelli
Grade: N/A
Best Quote: ” … in just their second year together, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini demonstrated they know their way around the draft and know how to work the phones to get key prospects they have targeted.”
Bassett’s Thought: Agreed, immediately after the J-Abe trade, I’ve learned early that the young duo are not to be taken lightly. I’ll just be curious to see how these guys shore up the defense.
Source: SI.com – Paul Zimmerman
Grade: B+
Best Quote: ” … look what dedicated individuals can accomplish when they set their minds to it.”
Bassett’s Thought: I remember just a few years ago reading an article about the Jets and their scouting department, with one of the biggest ones in the league, they did their homework.
Source: FoxSports – John Czarnecki
Grade: B+
Best Quote: “A lot of Bill Belichick has rubbed off on head coach Eric Mangini because they made some quality picks, even though it cost them”
Bassett’s Thought: It seems a simple statement but it’s true. The Pats weren’t thrilled with the talent from this draft either, as evidenced by their moves.
Source: NBCSports – Tom Curran
Grade: B
Best Quote: “They gave up some …”
Bassett’s Thought: From looking back at some of the past drafts in the 2000s, it seems that for the most part, if three guys made “major contributions” to the team over the course of even a few years, that would be a good average. If the Jets can get two sure things, how does that make you feel?
Source: Sporting News
Grade: A-
Best Quote: “… and David Harris gives them the big, physical inside linebacker they need for their 3-4 defense.”
Bassett’s Thought: Does it? Barton’s size is almost identical. I think the word left out here was young.
“When does my wife get to give her opinion, it’s probably more relevant.”
Beautiful…
In response to Jason Coles assessment: The Pats picked up Moss in response to the Jets picking up Revis..There’s no question about it..They got 3 or 4 WRs in the offseason, you think they would be set right? But as soon as the Jets picked a played that a lot of teams coveted (Pitt, NE) the Pats turned around and got Moss..they didn’t NEED him with Stalworth, Welker, etc. But the Jets made a bold move and picked up the best corner in the draft, so the Pats needed a response..It looks to me that the Pats are scared and desperate to respond to any move the Jets make..at least this show us that we’re doing the right things, and eventually all these moves are going to catch up with them one way or another..The fact that the Pats picked up Moss shows us how good of a pick Revis is..WE ARE SCARING THE PATS
As for the Harris pick, McShay (sp? aka Kiper’s heir apparent) was gushing about the Harris and Vilma combo comparing them to Ted Johnson and Bruschi..Harris runs N/S freeing Vilma to run E/W..I’m excited about seeing these guy on the field
I thought the same thing looking at Harris’ size, almost the same as Bartons. Difference is Barton plays more like an outside LB, the position he did play all of his career until 2006. Harris is a pure tackler.
Also, as you know, you drafts picks usually end up playing at 10-20 pounds heavier than their drafted weight (except ROT’s for the Jets).
Jets drafted Revis because he was the best player at a position of need, not because of Moss as I have seen written elsewhere.
And there is no way the Revis pick even crossed the minds of the Pats when deciding whethar to sign Moss or not, this has been in the works for a long time.
In summary, there is no connection in any way between Moss and Revis, other than we will get to see who made a better choice on opening day. My bet is Revis will shut down Moss.
wayne: the pats picked up stalworth, welker, washington etc in the offseason..why wait until the second day of the draft to pick up moss if it was in the works for so long? from the outside looking in it appears that the pats made a bunch of moves in FA to bolster their receiver corps, then when the jets picked revis the pats went ape and decided to pull the trigger on the moss deal..I mean you can’t say they’re not related because we picked Revis, the pats obviously saw we picked him, they thought about the match ups and then next day they picked up moss, doesnt sound like a coincidence to me..it obviously crossed their minds because moss wasnt picked up on friday, he was picked up on sunday after we got Revis..if there was no connection, then why didnt they opick up Moss in FA when they went reciever happy?
TFP,
The Raiders clearly wanted to get rid of Moss, but no team wanted to give up anything of significant value for him. The Packers were already purportedly out of the Moss sweepstakes and there was no way the Raiders wanted him on their team. Especially not when they are trying to rebuild the attitude of their offense. The Pats, already happy with their haul through free agency, drove down Moss’ price by waiting out the Raiders and then pulled the trigger when the price was in their favor. End of story. No way they did it because we drafted a ROOKIE CB.
Last year the Pats were picking guys off the street..in FA this year they got a trio of very capable receivers..now that all of a sudden the market price for Moss is down that they pull off a trade? If GB was out of the sweepstakes, why didn’t the Pats wait for OAK to release him in June? I really think that they want to win it all this season and with the Revis pick they saw it as a roadblock and raised the bar..because stalworth, welker, and washington are all very capable receivers, Moss is the nail in the coffin..they don’t NEED Moss, but with him it gives them a better chance..btw the Pats were 2 quarters away from the SB (and then a probable win) with garbage class c receivers, so they didn’t NEED to go nuts and get Moss, but they did..I just believe that they are feeling some pressure.
Has anyone seen some of the highlights of this kid Leonard Peters out of Hawaii we signed to a FA dealhe looks like a clone of Troy Palamalu.
Here are some You Tube Clips I found.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL91j6OHGvk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WciMUUbigxY&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M79Yce0Ggis&mode=related&search=
I don’t know how he didn’t get drafted after watching those highlights.
It was mainly because he was injury prone and not very fast.
Reggie Bush spoke very highly of him though.
I am very happy….see, I told you we would end up with Leonard!
Seriously, though, I know we only drafted 4 players, but if we’d have drafted six and Peters and Zalewski were the other two, I’d have been more than happy with the haul.
It boils down to this. If you thought you could give up a 4th rounder for one of the most dynamic receivers the game has ever seen, would you do it? Oh, you also have leaders like Bruschi, Harrison, Vrabel, and Brady to keep him in line.
Hey Ferra, I was watching some of those yesteday, and have been wondering if putting them in the “film room” would be info overload at this point … interesting kid indeed!!