Draft wrap-up 2013

Do the Giants and Ravens have good defensive lines?

Yes.

But they draft the big boys every year.

Hey, I'm not saying we shouldn't have drafted any DB's, but for a draft that's deep along the defensive line we got none. Look at us last year. Front seven was supposed to be the strength of the team and then Orakpo and Carriker go down and it's middling. The defense played way over it's head during the win streak and everyone likes to focus on how bad our secondary was. But hey, we had the third most picks in the league and the 23rd most sacks. I'm a believer that you can do smoke and mirrors in the secondary but you can't fake winning at the point of attack.

Not having a first round pick or money to spend on FA's meant this team was going to have some holes no matter what. With Griffin in the fold the only thing I would have truly cared about shoring up was OL depth and the front seven. Secondary and skill players be damned I want a team that wins up front. Obviously, the ideal is to have both but we went all in on small players and I can't fall in love with the strategy.

Meanwhile you guys are all giving out B's and A's. In my mind there is no such thing as getting an A in the draft with no first round pick and ZERO offensive or defensive linemen. Period.


In 2010-2013 the NYG drafted 11 Linemen(5OL, 6DL), the Skins took 10(6 OL, 4, DL). Source is www.pro-footballreference.com (http://www.pro-footballreference.com).

I don't know that one team has emphasized it more than the other. Now we have been substantially more uneven in the round drafted, but that is a matter of how we have generally been moving back to regain picks in the early years.
NYG Lineman per round: 2 - 1st, 2 - 2nd, 1 ea, 3, 4, 5, 2 - 6th, 2 - 7th.
Skins Lnemen per round: 2 - 1st, 1 - 3rd, 2 -5th, 2 - 6th, 4 - 7th.
Oh and NE, 7 in those 3 years, 4 of those in the 7th round, 1 - 1st, 3rd, and 6th

PS pro-footballreference has a great search tool that lets you slice and dice drafts of a team. Basically, I put in "all linemen", but you can do individual positions, or schools, or conferences or mix and match. Pretty nice.

For comparison purposes, here's what our draft would have looked like if we had taken purely the highest rated non-QB on my board at every pick, no regard for need:

2 (51) - Keenan Allen, WR, Cal
3 (85) - Stedman Bailey, WR, West Virginia
4 (119) - Jesse Williams, DT, Alabama
5 (154) - Jordan Poyer, CB, Oregon State
5 (162) - Andre Ellington, RB, Clemson
6 (191) - Brandon Jenkins, OLB, Florida State*
7 (228) - Phillip Thomas, S, Fresno State*

*Obviously these guys are only still available b/c we're redrafting the Redskins. Cierre Wood, RB, ND and Tony Jefferson, S, OU were my top undrafted players.

I guess the takeaways is that there was no way to get OL at good value, although there were DL to be had at good value (and we arguably got one of the best values there). And we were going to get DBs anyway. The draft was too deep in the secondary to not get DBs at BPA type value.

For comparison purposes, here's what our draft would have looked like if we had taken purely the highest rated non-QB on my board at every pick, no regard for need:

2 (51) - Keenan Allen, WR, Cal
3 (85) - Stedman Bailey, WR, West Virginia
4 (119) - Jesse Williams, DT, Alabama
5 (154) - Jordan Poyer, CB, Oregon State
5 (162) - Andre Ellington, RB, Clemson
6 (191) - Brandon Jenkins, OLB, Florida State*
7 (228) - Phillip Thomas, S, Fresno State*

*Obviously these guys are only still available b/c we're redrafting the Redskins. Cierre Wood, RB, ND and Tony Jefferson, S, OU were my top undrafted players.

I guess the takeaways is that there was no way to get OL at good value, although there were DL to be had at good value (and we arguably got one of the best values there). And we were going to get DBs anyway. The draft was too deep in the secondary to not get DBs at BPA type value.

This makes zero sense. There was absolutely no guarantee that Thomas and Jenkins would fall to us a round or many rounds later. We got Thomas in the fourth and Jenkins in the 5th.

This makes zero sense. There was absolutely no guarantee that Thomas and Jenkins would fall to us a round or many rounds later. We got Thomas in the fourth and Jenkins in the 5th.Which is why I gave you the next two up.

Which is why I gave you the next two up.

who are the next two up, because you're still not making sense

I fail to see how drafting a bunch of lineman would have helped us any this year. Outside of RT are there any other line positions up for grabs on either side of the ball??

It only makes sense to those who still believe A) football is a game of 3 yards and a cloud of dust and B) the only way to protect a QB is to have a dozen 300 lb. men up front.

The game has evolved, unfortunately quite a few fans haven't evolved with it

we all know the whole point of zone blocking is that it let's you go cheap on the OL right? you take small faster guys that other teams pass over, giving you higher talent in lower rounds (than average) without needing to use high picks or big money on a ton of OL guys.

the 3-4 let's you shift the expense (picks and money) of your DE's onto your pass rushing OLBs instead (though they're harder to find, DEs make more per sack than OLBs in general, so 3-4 pass rushing OLBs end up at around what a 4-3 DEs would cost due to rarity).

we've got the people for our systems now. our RT sucks, but everyone else is fine. last year we had some bad injuries on the pass rushing front, but we signed merling, tapp, and drafted a guy to help with that rotation (and a bunch of OL guys). we didn't have much in the way of money to sign guys, and we had more pressing issues in the draft. I don't think a 3rd round OT or 7th round OG would have helped us any. the OLB and rambo were picked WAY below value, so you can't swap those out. thomas was below value too, as was the TE we got (which is the only pick that really could have been spent differently. Maybe amerson wasn't the DB of choice, but all the good corners were going to be gone by our pick in round 3, so it was a now or never choice).

oh yeah, we signed the best UDFA OT as well. it's not like we didn't do anything. we actually got a lot of bodies with what we had to work with.

It only makes sense to those who still believe A) football is a game of 3 yards and a cloud of dust and B) the only way to protect a QB is to have a dozen 300 lb. men up front.

The game has evolved, unfortunately quite a few fans haven't evolved with it

ehh, yeah the game has evolved for sure. Still gotta control that line of scrimmage.