Could you have drafted better than the Skins FO?

Probably not. We'd have all defensive players. I find offense............offensive.

I honestly thought that i could of drafted better than the skins, then I looked at the guys i would have picked over our own guys and think we did the right thing...
example:
We got devin thomas, and I was like, GREAT now lets calais campbell...
our pick came up and i thought we wouldn't hesitate getting him, then fred davis pops up

a huge "WHAT?!?!?!!" comes out of my mouth...then he goes next pick to Arizona...then a season passes and he didn't get a single sack for them or beat out one of their two average DE's (Laboy,Smith)...but who was available, I believe, was jason jones of eastern michigan, but I wasn't as high on him as i was with calais..he ended up having 5 sacks, and was able to play DT and DE, even while haynesworth was out...bottom line I would of had about the same draft as the skins...and even if we had picked calais, i think we still would have traded for JT...now finding chris horton in the 7th that was luck/good scouting (i guess), and i wouldn't have been able to think that of him..and i would have picked brooks at the time too, seeing how great of a punter he was.....Keep in mind that this is what i would have done on draft day, not knowing what these guys would have done

My thing with the FO is the trading down and that debacle in '06 draft I believe it was, when they drafted all those RBs for no apparent reason or need to. We could at least have tried to address the needs of both lines with those picks.

It's easy to go back years later and claim I would have drafted this guy, I was OK with that guy, but it seems as if you are being honest. I have to admit to being a Mike Williams guy in 05.

Although I think the thread is perhaps misleading in that everyone seems to agree we've done well at the top of our drafts. The problem has been trading mid-level picks and not always finding players when we had them. In that, I think a better job could have been done (which is not to say I could have done it, although I'm not sure that's the standard).

Trying to do this based on what I would have done that year. Keep in mind my beliefs as to how to actually build a football team have evolved over time so these picks are what I wanted during the actual draft day and do not necessarily represent what I would have done with my current mindset.

2004:
My Pick: Sean Taylor
Pick: Sean Taylor

2005:
My Pick: Mike Williams (:() Tossup between Merriman, Mike Williams, and Carlos Rogers (I had different priorities back then, plus with Williams production at USC I thought he was a lock to be a star. I loved Merriman's measureables though and the versatility was just icing on the cake. On the other hand I knew we needed a Corner so I was on board with the Rogers pick)
Pick: Carlos Rogers

2nd 1st Round Pick: Jason Campbell
My Pick: Stay pat and don't trade up. Ironically we would have been able to sign Drew Brees as a Free Agent with this plan. :D

2006:
My Pick: Mathias Kiwanuka or D'Qwell Jackson at 22nd overall
For the actual 2nd we got: Not to sure but I want to say Thomas Howard. I know I was really fond of Winston Justice on draft day.
Pick: Traded away 1st in real life. I personally wouldn't have traded the first but the first pick for the Skins was Rocky McIntosh.

2007:
My Pick: Laron Landry
Pick: Laron Landry

Also one that pissed me off was the 2007 selection of Jordan Palmer. If it was me we would have taken Ben Patrick in a heartbeat.

2008:
My Pick: Would have taken the Falcons up on their offer and came away with Devin Thomas, Calias Campbell, and Charles Godfrey
Pick: Devin Thomas, Fred Davis, and Malcom Kelly

3rd Comp
My Pick: Mike McGlynn G/T - Pitt
Pick: Chad Rhinehart G/T - Nothern Iowa

4th Round
My Pick: Owen Schmitt FB - West Virginia
Pick: Justin Tryon

6th Round
My Pick: Steve Justice (C, Wake Forest), Erin Henderson (LB, Maryland), Marcus Dixon (DT Hampton)
Pick: Durant Brooks, Kareem Moore, Colt Brennan

7th Round
My Pick: Kerry Brown (G, App State), Marcus Monk (WR, Arkansas)
Pick: Rob Jackson, Chris Horton

Undrafted Free Agents: Would have signed Colt Brennan as I honestly believe he would have gone undrafted.

My thing with the FO is the trading down and that debacle in '06 draft I believe it was, when they drafted all those RBs for no apparent reason or need to. We could at least have tried to address the needs of both lines with those picks.

All those running backs? Are you talking about Manny White and Nemo Broughton in 2005?

Nothing like a little hindsight to make ourselves all feel smart huh ;)

Nothing like a little hindsight to make ourselves all feel smart huh ;)

Lol, I'm trying to play it as honest as I can. None of the picks I disclosed on this thread were 20/20 hindsight choices.

I have to preface this by saying that I'm infinitely more knowledgeable about the draft now then I was back in 2004. So I probably would have ignored my own current guidelines and gone more off what the experts said back then.

If I was in charge of the Redskins, we would have ended up with the following players (unadjusted for lessons learned, if only to be fair).

2004 - DT Tommie Harris
2005a - DE Erasmus James (seriously)
2005b - CB Ron Bartell
2006 - TE Anthony Fasano
2007 - QB Brady Quinn (DT A. Okoye, if Campbell is assumed)
2008a - DT Trevor Laws
2008b - WR Limas Sweed
2008c - G Jeremy Zuttah

So yeah, I don't actually know if that's better, necessarily. It's different, fo' sho.

I have to preface this by saying that I'm infinitely more knowledgeable about the draft now then I was back in 2004. So I probably would have ignored my own current guidelines and gone more off what the experts said back then.

If I was in charge of the Redskins, we would have ended up with the following players (unadjusted for lessons learned, if only to be fair).

2004 - DT Tommie Harris
2005a - DE Erasmus James (seriously)
2005b - CB Ron Bartell
2006 - TE Anthony Fasano
2007 - QB Brady Quinn (DT A. Okoye, if Campbell is assumed)
2008a - DT Trevor Laws
2008b - WR Limas Sweed
2008c - G Jeremy Zuttah

So yeah, I don't actually know if that's better, necessarily. It's different, fo' sho.

I'm glad that you and others participated in my game. When I did my list, I discovered the same thing you did: The Skins FO has done a good job in picking players on the first day of the draft. I wouldn't have done any better, over a period of years.

Also, it seems to me that the Skins are improving at finding players in Rounds 3 through 7. I admit that they would beat me by default in those rounds.

The one thing that bothered me during this exercise was being reminded of the number of 1st and 2nd Round picks that the FO has traded away. Here we have a FO that has done a good job with the picks they've had but, IMO, they haven't placed the proper value on those picks. Holding on to those picks and drafting well would enable the Skins to continually refresh their roster and maintain a younger team.