Do You Draft for Need or Best Player Available?

It really depends. Detroit went with the best player available and picked 4 WR's with top-10 picks over a 5 year stretch (2003-2007). By that logic, if a TE is the best player available when our 2nd round pick is due, we would draft yet another TE despite having Cooley and Davis. I feel that if the best player available plays a position where depth isn't an issue, then TRADE DOWN, add picks, and draft someone to fill a greater need.

Well said. We have many positions of need and so it will be easy to draft the BPA at a position of need. Thinking this way also allows us to avoid situations where we come home from the draft with three TE's because they were the BPA's.

Heres our answer for whom we need to draft from clark judge

'Skins needs: Hogging spotlight now? Start fixing that O-line - NFL - CBSSports.com Football (http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/13067998/skins-needs-hogging-spotlight-now-start-fixing-that-oline?tag=coverlist_active;coverlist_footer)

Great article. Refreshing to see the emphasis on O-Line in an article.

Articles are always great when they agree with what you think

Articles are always great when they agree with what you think

If that isn't the truth haha

I can't see drafting BPA cause I can't see us with a whole team of LB's or a whole team of CB's, Safeties, WR's or QB's. I've been more of the person who thinks you draft for need. If your team has a hole why would you draft everything but what you need? which is what Cerrato always did. So for me I think the team should be drafting BPA at the position the team has a need for. We need:

QB
OL
FS
LB
RB

None in any specific order. If those are the positions we need then take the BPA at anyone of those positions. Then there is all the other factors...

If OL is the position we have the most need for then pick the BPA at that position, but if the position has a large talented draft pool and we have a need elswhere which has a small talented draft pool, ie; QB, then I'd say pick for the position that has the least talent first.

Then there is the issue of whether the HC feels he needs an upgrade at QB. There are a lot of decent QB's. None that I know of went to a SB though. Most of the SB QB's are top tier franchise QB's. Finding a franchise QB late in the draft is like finding a needle in a hay stack or a diamond in the rough. It can be done but it just doesn't happen every year. So if the HC is not sold on any of his QB's he already has then he needs to pick one up as high in the draft as he can get to get the better talent. Otherwise we are trading out one decent QB for another decent QB. We will be just spinning our wheels. Considering we did so poorly last year and how high we are placed in the draft this year, and the fact that there is a lot of OL talent in this years draft, plus the fact the top OL in the draft is rumored to not fit our scheme, plus the fact that the HC will most likely have more wins then last year putting us farther away from the top tier QB talent next year I'd say we need the QB position first. If the QB we wanted is gone and the BPA at OL is gone and the one we want is not projected as a 1st round talent then try to move back and gain more picks. If moving back is not happening then either draft the OL we wanted at a higher cost then he should have gone, pick the next best QB, or pick at another position we need, ie; FS, LB, or RB.

I've always been a fan of drafting the best player available. Obviously, this only works if you have a good scouting staff. Saying, "drafting the best player available is a bad idea because the Lions drafted 4 wide receivers and are awful" doesn't make sense to me. Other teams draft the best player available and do well. New England and Indy have done it and it worked out for them.

Pretty much the only position I would oppose drafting the best player available, is the quarterback in the first few rounds, if you already have an above average quarterback. I only oppose that in the first couple rounds, since injuries will always happen and you never have 2 quarterbacks on the field at the same time(99% of the time) and the team might get no value from the high draft pick.

Free agency is where you go to fill needs. There are usually serviceable players in each free agency. Last year we got Derrick Dockery back, who is a capable left guard in the NFL. Every year's class of free agents won't necessarily be available to fill all your needs, but it's impossible to have pro bowlers at every position.

That's why I would love to see the Redskins actually draft whoever they think is best, especially in the first round. Eric Berry will probably be available at pick number four and if Berry is a bust and Landry continues playing the way he does, we could become the next lions by drafting 3 safeties in 6 years and be an awful team. But, if Berry plays like Reed, we could have a top 5 defense and a very good chance of making the playoffs.

Everything in the draft is a gamble, so I'd rather take a gamble on whatever has the best chance to succeed.

Man, how do you people write posts longer than this one?