ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. looks at Redskins' late-round draft picks

^^ love the avatar.

Really? You're basing everything on his assessment of that one player? That would be like me basing all your posts on the one where you suggested we go after Jake Plummer
lol

not to mention none of them have played even a preseason snap yet.. so who are we to judge them based on their rankings yet? because of draft position? lol

i saw this earlier this week. its a decent review but i think there's a fundamental flaw in kipers logic - he gives teams with a full slate of draft picks high scores for selecting players he thinks may be stars or even just solid contributors at the next level. Yet, he penalizes us for trading picks for players who are garaunteed to do more for the redskins in 2010 than any rookie selected in the draft at the same pick. It makes ZERO sense to me.

We traded a 2nd rounder for a QB who will be better in 2010 and 2011 (at minimum) than any rookie QB. We traded a third rounder to select a LB/DE in last years supplemental draft - who looked great last year before he was hurt. This should count toward this years draft score since it didnt count in last years. Then, we swapped late round picks for a starting defensive end who will likely contribute more to the redskins over his career than any player selected between the swapped picks in the 5th round.

All of those things should positively affect our score instead of hurting it. If we had traded the picks for 3 old players who had nothing left in the tank, or guys whose ability to play in the NFL was seriously questionable, i could see downgrading our score. Kiper graded Jimmy Clausen as the #1 overall prospect in the draft. Close to 30 teams had picks before Clausen was selected and they passed on him. That tells me everything I need to know about what Kiper really knows about evaluating talent. He's a great TV personality, but his rating means nothing to me.

I agree with the part about the selective way that teams drafts are graded. However, just because Clausen fell down the draft board does not mean that Mel was wrong in his assessment of him. Only time will tell that. If Clausen proves to be as good as Mel thinks he will be then he was right, if not he's wrong. Where he was drafted is not a factor.

Well nothing he said there made me feel good. He didn't even mention Perry Riley, the pressure will be on Trent Williams to play LT right away, Morris had a few decent plays in college, Darryl Clark is a 3rd stringer at best... Okay. Maybe Eric Cook will make the team. Sweeet.

Well nothing he said there made me feel good. He didn't even mention Perry Riley, the pressure will be on Trent Williams to play LT right away, Morris had a few decent plays in college, Darryl Clark is a 3rd stringer at best... Okay. Maybe Eric Cook will make the team. Sweeet.

Mel knows nothing anyway so don't worry about it

Notable Shanahan Lineman
Matt Lepsis - T - UDFA - 133 Starts for Shanahan - Started 3rd year.
Dan Neil - G - 3rd Round Pick - 104 Starts - Started 2nd year
Mark Schlereth - G - 10th Round Pick
Tom Nalen - C - 7th Round Pick - 188 Starts - Full Time Starter 2nd Year
Ben Hamilton - G/C - 4th Round Pick - 104 Starts - Started 2nd Year
Cooper Carlisle - G - 4th Round Pick - Started Year 6

Perhaps I should clarify. I dont distrust kiper soley because he had clausen ranked so high on his board. That was just one example showing how far off his analysis of a player is from pretty much every NFL scouting department out there. Yes, we all know the draft is a crapshoot and assigning grades a day or two after picks are made is an exercise in futility. But everyone does it, so I don't fault Kiper specifically. Prmarily, i don't like his grades because they ignore draft picks that were used to acquire veteran players. You can't knock a team for not having picks. You need to consider what those picks were used to acquire, whether its a college player, professional player, head coach, ham sandwich, or whatever.

Perhaps I should clarify. I dont distrust kiper soley because he had clausen ranked so high on his board. That was just one example showing how far off his analysis of a player is from pretty much every NFL scouting department out there. Yes, we all know the draft is a crapshoot and assigning grades a day or two after picks are made is an exercise in futility. But everyone does it, so I don't fault Kiper specifically. Prmarily, i don't like his grades because they ignore draft picks that were used to acquire veteran players. You can't knock a team for not having picks. You need to consider what those picks were used to acquire, whether its a college player, professional player, head coach, ham sandwich, or whatever.

agree.
and it's definitely a ham sandwich league.

Perhaps I should clarify. I dont distrust kiper soley because he had clausen ranked so high on his board. That was just one example showing how far off his analysis of a player is from pretty much every NFL scouting department out there. Yes, we all know the draft is a crapshoot and assigning grades a day or two after picks are made is an exercise in futility. But everyone does it, so I don't fault Kiper specifically. Prmarily, i don't like his grades because they ignore draft picks that were used to acquire veteran players. You can't knock a team for not having picks. You need to consider what those picks were used to acquire, whether its a college player, professional player, head coach, ham sandwich, or whatever.
well with QBs even if a team has him ranked high, doesn't mean that they'll take him.. it's one of the few positions that that remains true with

surely he was ranked above several of the players taken in the 1st, just not every team is looking to use it on a QB

Kiper is like 1 scout. If you asked every NFL scout to give you his top 100 players from this draft they would all be different. Draft grades in general are stupid but people want to read them for whatever reason and Kiper is not the only one who does them. I read another article which called the Redskins pick of Williams the biggest reach of the draft which is preposterous.