Draft Grades Part Deux
Some more draft grades for the Jets …
Michael David Smith: FanHouse B+
First pick Vernon Gholston is a stud. No complaints there; Jets fans cheered. Trading up for tight end Dustin Keller at the bottom of the first round was a surprise, and Jets fans booed. But overall this is a very solid draft for a team that’s had a good off-season.
Paul Zimmerman: SI.com (no grades … yay!!)
So what do you do when you’ve picked two of the finest athletes on the board, DE Vernon Gholston and TE Dustin Keller, and people are sneering at them? Great workout warriors, they say. Gholston is on and off and Keller can’t block. Well, if I were Eric Mangini, I’d make sure the clippings all find a place in their lockers. Strange things following consistent nagging –such as consistency, and blocking, and consistently blocking, you understand.
Rick Gosselin: Dallas Morning News C
“The Jets landed the best pass rusher and the best pass-catching tight end in the draft. San Jose State’s Lowery also was one of the best ballhawks available. Ainge could stoke an already-heated quarterback competition.”
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Found this tidbit in a John Clayton column:
“The Redskins have six of their seven picks for next season, losing a fourth-round pick for guard Pete Kendall because he played more than 80 percent of the snaps. They could even get three compensatory picks to bring their 2009 total to nine.”
Conditional draft picks!! The gift that keeps on giving!! I had no idea this was included in the Kendall deal.
Gosselin seemed to like our draft in his little blurb but still gave us a “C”. Strange…
Gosselin gave a “C” to 21 out of 32 teams (and that was also the lowest grade he gave). So more than two-thirds of the NFL gets a C. Why even bother?
Good point Anthony. So as I understand it, next year we will have Washington’s 4th, possibly New Orleans’ 2nd and Denver’s 3rd. Is that right? Does anyone know what the factors are in determining which picks, if any, we get from the Saints and Donkeys?
picks are basically contingent on vilma & robertsons playing time.
Is this ow it works?: The JETS drafted two future HOF and added solid contributors all throughout the draft they made smart value picks and stock piled up some picks for next years draft. This is one of the better drafts in my memory… Grade: C
thanks stevie k. i should have been clearer in my post, im curious what the specifics are (i.e. how much playing time = what picks).
Some Web site has a list of all the Jets players selected in every draft, back to when they had 12 and 15 rounds and players worked in sports stores in the off season. Try to find it. The sad fact is that most draft choices don’t make it. Tangini accept this reality, and thus try to for two starters from each draft. It’s not a terrible approach. But all drafts of every team would be graded as C-, if judged 3-4 years after the fact. At least Tangini buy into the proven theory that line players last longer in the league than running backs and QBs. Hence use your early picks up front.
matthewm … i was thinking about that last night … the best teams in the league keep about 2 players long-term from a draft class in any given year … the Jets place with the Patriots and other teams in this regard … better to hit on 2-3 players per year than hit on 5 one year and none for the next four years …
Brian, Another variation on these questions is whether it is best to have, say, four players from rounds 2 and 3, or two players from the first round. Wish I had the answer, and have never seen much research. I once studied Hall of Fame players by round of draft, and obviously most are from rounds 1 and 2. But then getting to Canton does not necessarily get your team the Super Bowl. Something tells me you do win the Bowl with a team of David Harrises more than a few HoFers. Statisticallly, then, the question is where on the famous draft-round curve do you want the most choices? Which is also now a question of cap and money. A gut instinct tells me that from middle first round to third round is where you want the most picks, but I have never seen an article that discusses some of these ideas. Maybe you have and can post the link? Be interesting to see something. I bet also some thinking is going into the age coefficient of lower round draft picks—meaning a fifth rounder at age 21, coming out as a junior, might equate in some cases to a second rounder who is age 23, and has redshirted a year. But they still have to block and tackle…..Matthew
grading drafts makes no sense. You can start grading a draft class until two seasons after they were actually drafted.
*cant start grading a draft class..
draft “experts” are full of crap..how many of tem have played 1 down in the nfl????? mel kiper should be sewing somewhere..throw enough shi.. against the wall, some sticks..go jets
them
Matthewm–good points and thoughtful analysis. Anecdotally and without any research at all, though, I feel like most superbowl winners have a core group of elite players drafted high and a secondary group of low picks/mid-round picks and bargain free agent pick-ups.