Drafting BPA

[DawgFan]

On a number of the threads here I have seen the statements "weird pick", "headscratcher", "what were they thinking"....and to that I can say only one thing....

It is called picking the BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE....ACCORDING TO THE DRAFT BOARD!!!

We may not agree with every pick, but there is a room filled with football guys that live, breath, and sleep (though seldom) NFL Football. These guys have spent the better part of 4 months doing nothing but preparing for this weekend and setting up their draft board.

They have watched thousands of hours of tapes that we, the public, do not have available to us. They have scrutinized physical reports that we will never see. They have examined the interviews they (and sometimes others) have conducted with these prospects.

Armed with that information (95% of which we have zero access to), they have developed a draft board and set values to each and every player in the draft...over 300 players in total.

Then, when they pick somebody that the media has not drooled over, or that WE do not feel is a NEED, we scratch our heads and call it an odd pick.

THAT, ladies and gentleman, is what it feels like when you have a team that is truly picking by BPA on their board. Look at the NE Patriots draft. They have totally ignored their need for an outside pass rush...but they have obtained depth and picks for the future.

This year, for the first time in my memory, the BROWNS have done it the RIGHT WAY. They have not only gotten good players with high upsides, they have obtained future considerations that will PERPETUATE the success of these last two drafts.

Next year, when we are sitting here waiting for our 2 FIRST ROUND PICKS, remember this weekend and don't be surprised when we trade one of them for a later pick and a pick first rounder in 2013.

The Browns have been in the league again since 1999...and FINALLY, THEY GOT IT RIGHT!!!

[Brown Warrior]

Maybe. Certainly looked that way in round 4. Round 5 was then set up for excellent value at positions of need. BUT... if we'd picked up Matthews and Salas in four, I'd probably like it quite a bit better.

[Enigmatic Evil]

Awesome post DF and I agree 100% with what you said here. This is the money quote, IMO:

This year, for the first time in my memory, the BROWNS have done it the RIGHT WAY. They have not only gotten good players with high upsides, they have obtained future considerations that will PERPETUATE the success of these last two drafts.

Next year, when we are sitting here waiting for our 2 FIRST ROUND PICKS, remember this weekend and don't be surprised when we trade one of them for a later pick and a pick first rounder in 2013.

The Browns have been in the league again since 1999...and FINALLY, THEY GOT IT RIGHT!!!

People looking for the 'sexy' pick or the 'big' pick may not feel like we've made the right picks but overall I'm happy with what we've drafted so far (The TE, maybe the only kind of eyebrow raiser but he's got freak athletic skills.) and I am espcially happy with how the day #1 trade down worked out for us. We've fortified the DL and we've got a WR playmaker that we needed, that's two of the teams biggest needs addressed. We got the RT i've been wanting to draft for a few years now and we got a hybrid FB/LB who seems like he could play either position though having that kind of bruiser opening holes for Hillis really gets me excited.

I'm liking the way things have worked out and this Draft has re-established any waning confidence in Heckert and Co. and the way that he GM's this team.

[Brown Warrior]

There is such a fear of "sexy" in here! It's an interesting sociological study, I think. Ties into a great article about "American Idol," where you don't wanna be too pretty or too talented. It's like we're still in a Joe the Plumber Everyman era, where on some fundamental level, we want to believe experts don't REALLY know more than us. Or "The Age of the Amateur," as Aaron Sorkin called it.

Did everyone REALLY guy Rebecca Black's song with ironic intent? Or is there something more to it?

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

It's like we're still in a Joe the Plumber Everyman era, where on some fundamental level, we want to believe experts don't REALLY know more than us.

Seems to me most people are saying the opposite. We understand who the real experts are, and discard the fakes who always want to go for "sexy".

[DawgFan]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

There is such a fear of "sexy" in here! It's an interesting sociological study, I think. Ties into a great article about "American Idol," where you don't wanna be too pretty or too talented. It's like we're still in a Joe the Plumber Everyman era, where on some fundamental level, we want to believe experts don't REALLY know more than us. Or "The Age of the Amateur," as Aaron Sorkin called it.

Did everyone REALLY guy Rebecca Black's song with ironic intent? Or is there something more to it?

I'm not sure we have a 'fear' of the sexy...but rather we try to keep ourselves grounded and not get caught up in the hoopla of the highly touted guys. Keep in mind that most of what we are basing our judgment on is information that is 3rd/4th hand info passed from an 'insider' (not likely even a real scout, but rather an agent) that told Mayock or Kiper, that then we read in somebody's newspaper/internet article.

Basically, there is a lot of 'media' hype that is not necessarily factual, and if you listen to what they actually say on draft day, a guy like Little may be considered the same level as a guy like Jones in some evaluators opinions...so I guess if you put it that way we DID get a sexy pick (just one with a little baggage).

[Enigmatic Evil]

Originally Posted by DawgFan

I'm not sure we have a 'fear' of the sexy...but rather we try to keep ourselves grounded and not get caught up in the hoopla of the highly touted guys. Keep in mind that most of what we are basing our judgment on is information that is 3rd/4th hand info passed from an 'insider' (not likely even a real scout, but rather an agent) that told Mayock or Kiper, that then we read in somebody's newspaper/internet article.

Basically, there is a lot of 'media' hype that is not necessarily factual, and if you listen to what they actually say on draft day, a guy like Little may be considered the same level as a guy like Jones in some evaluators opinions...so I guess if you put it that way we DID get a sexy pick (just one with a little baggage).

EXACTLY!

I like to be my own scout and watch youtube videos of the talent that's being hyped and make my own decisions, that way at the very least I feel I've informed myself rather than just parroting the opinion of whoever my favorite ... for lack of a better term, football pundit is.

It's not that I'm scared of the 'sexy' pick. For this year, for example, Julio Jones was not a 'sexy' pick and I like the upside that Greg Little has as a late second rounder after the trade down rather than drafting Julio at #6... that just isn't as sensible to me. Makes me think of drafting Colt in the third last year and now he's our projected starter (almost by default... but still.) the fact is Colt's the most talented QB on our roster at this time, the same could be said next season about Little in the WR pool.

When it comes to personal preference. I don't care about 'sexy' picks and it has nothing to do with an everyman mindset either. It boils down to what DF established at the start of this thread, BPA. We are a team with numerous needs and Heckert has shown that he is addressing those needs, he did so last year as well. He's been smart while runing this team, bringing in talent in the present but also 'stockpiling' for the future (one of the few things that Mangini earned praise for). I hardly see it as a sociological preference, almost more common sense than anything else.

[Vegasdogg]

Tim Couch was a sexy pick. Courtney Brown was a sexy pick. Kellen Winslow was a sexy pick. William Green was a sexy pick. Brady Quinn was a sexy pick. Braylon Edwards was a sexy pick.

We've done sexy enough. We're so lacking in playmakers that we cannot afford sexy right now. I'm not looking for the front office to make a huge splash that caters to the fans that get riled up over sexy. Those were all wasted picks.

So many - 65%? - of the players we've drafted since 1999 are out of football. When 65% of the players on our roster are draftees, we've done well. You can't do that with sexy picks.

We'll see how this turns out. If Lauvao and Herdesty contribute in 2011, and 3 players from this draft, we'd have 8 starters from two drafts. That's a good start.

Now coach them up and develop them!

[YtownBacker]

This is how you build a team. You take the BPA, good football players and you fit them into your system, especially in the later rounds.

When you are picking in the 100s you don't look for need. You pick football players with upside. there's a reason you spend months working on your board. It's not all about the first round. You trust your and follow it when you get here.

If the highest ranked player at 102 is a TE then you take him and tell the other guys that they now have competition. Mr. Evan Moore, time to get healthy so you can help this team or move over.

[PlaygroundLegend]

Big Question... Do we take Julio if we arent offered a ridiculous trade like ATL did?

[Sez.EJ]

Shep: I see where you are going with the "fear of sexy" and there is a bit of merit to it. I think right now..where this team is. We feel there are so many holes, we just want a handful of hardworking sob's who just work hard and get it done.... and we can add sexy when we have a core. We have had the sexy picks in Courney Brown, Braylon, KJ, Gerard Warren, Couch, William Green and others fall short too many times. We just want guys who can actually play football...

That being said. Taking a pass rushing DE in Sheard and WR Little feels sexy enough to me. Taylor was not the sexy first round pick (and that's ok) but round 2 made up for it. Especially in Little. I think we were all pretty sky high when that name was called.

[Enigmatic Evil]

Originally Posted by PlaygroundLegend

Big Question... Do we take Julio if we arent offered a ridiculous trade like ATL did?

I think Heckert had his heart set on 1 or 2 guys at #6, those guys were obviously gone and the trade-down was in the works BEFORE the draft. I think if ATL didn't come at us with a trade then we would have traded with someone else who coveted the #6 pick. With this Atlanta deal at least we got a lot in exchange for that pick.

I feel that if we hadn't struck a deal with Atlanta, we would have found another team to trade up with. Would we have gotten as much in return? Probably not, I don't think but who knows.