Ferguson is no where near an A. He's at the most a B, you can't finish the season under 290lbs at left tackle and expect to not be criticized. Eric Smith is in no way a B yet. He may be a B on special teams, but it's not like he got 6 interceptions and 100 tackles. He needs to start, before I consider him higher than a C. Not to mention he was valued as a 2nd day pick. Brad Smith is nothing more than a C. Good situational player, but is no where near an A. Drew Coleman a B? Yeah he started, but looked terrible. He was a 6th round pick for a reason and his play definitely told why. I agree with it being a C+. While it was a good draft for the future, the only players set for stardom of some sort or Washington and Mangold with Ferguson being on the edge. Clemens is yet to be determined. This draft is a C+ with the potential of it being a B.
You have to take into consideration where people are drafted... Dbrick: B - Based on his early season work, which I considered an A, his late season woek was clearly a C. Mangold: A+ - Best pick of the draft, and everybody on Earth knew he was going to us at that pick for weeks. Love it. Clemens: A n/a isn't fair here. With the trades we made to get him, the value here was excellent. Son I'll go witn an INC B. Schlegel: Not fair to kill this guy yet. But a D is acceptable considering we could have had him in the 5th. ESmith: C+ - solid contributor, could be a future starter. BSmith: B - Teams sweat every time he came on the field. An excellent ST guy as well. Washington: A+ - Based on where we got him, this guy will turn out to be the steal of this draft for us. Pocsiask: F - I don't even remember him. Coleman: B - Fair grade for where he was picked. How many late round DB rookies actually contribute at all? Adams: C - For the potential value he offered this late in the draft, you can't hate too much.
This is why you cant immediately grade draft picks. It takes 2-3 years. When will people learn? If you were to grade it now, give the Jets a high grade. Not many teams have that many players make an immediate impact like the 4-6 rookies that did.
too many of you guys expect every player drafted to produce like a first round pick....whos gonna actually expect every 6th round pick to turn out to be the Tom Brady of their respective position??? The Good: Dbrick has great upside and kept pennington alive from the blindside more a majority of the season... Mangold was amazing to say the least E SMith contributed to the secondary at the end of the year and had a pick...future looks good for him Brad Smith is a ST gem, a gimmick threat, and a QB turned WR...he wasnt going to be the threat we all expect his first year at WR....this year will be the year we see what he can do Leon Washington: obviously the steal of the draft for us....you cant say this guy wasnt an A Drew Coleman: Rookie CB in the 6th round? yea, who really thought he was going to play at all much less make the team... The Bad: Schelgal: needs to step it up and actually make it to the field this year Adams: 7th rounder that wasnt expected to do much anyway...wooo hooo The Middlemen CLemens: upside, we know its there, just have to wait for his time to come, if it does Posiask- ummmm who? ---------------------- so overall thats 6 guys that we drafted that contrubuted to the team, 4 contributed alot in their first year....what more can you want from a draft...if we come out with 6 more guys that contribute this year ill be stoked!
1st Round: a) Ferguson- Showed the potential to be great and also showed that at times veteran lineman could abuse him. This is not surpising for a rookie LT. Mcneil was nasty last year and you could say he was better but in the long run I think Brick is the better player. He needs to put on 20 pounds or so and maintain that for the season. B b) Mangold- It's unheard of for a rookie to start at center. It's even more unheard of for a rookie to play well at center as a rookie. A+ 2nd round Clemens- incomplete. 3rd round a) Schlegel - I don't want to hear anyone actually grading Schlegel. He didn't play from scrimmage all year and he had some dumb plays on special teams. He's being groomed to play one of the more veteran positions in the sport as a 3-4 ILB. Get back to me in two years with a grade. Incomplete b) Smith- Smith was a solid contributor at safety, he's a good tackler, he's smart, he's exactly the type of player Mangini wants. Not the best athlete on the field but a guy who fits into the system. B 4th round a) Brad Smith- a great athlete making a position change. I don't know if he will ever be fluid enough to run routes like a typical wide reciever but his ability to make plays whenever he has the ball just causes problems for defenses. I would hope that this year they let him throw the ball a few times to keep defenses honest. His real value last year was on special teams, he may have been the best special teams player we had. B b) Leon Washington- Solid running back who like Smith with the ball in his hands can make plays. Is probably never going to be a 25 to 30 touch player but if he gets 10 to 15 touches he should be a very good pick. B 5th round: a) Posiask-incomplete 6th round: Drew Coleman- Considering he was a 6th round pick and he actually played that says a lot about the pick. While I doubt he turns into anything more then a nickleback at best the pick still has to be applauded. B- I don't see any one pick that anyone can complain about. From one draft to have Brick, Mangold, Smith, Smith and Washington contribute says so much about the draft. Now if Clemens and Schlegel become players you're talking about one of the best drafts ever for any team. Historically in 2 years half the guys you draft will either be bench warmers or out of the league. Even the best drafting teams miss about the same ratio that they hit.
The problem I have with the analysis is that the writer didn't take into account that we stole a 2007 draft pick for moving down in the 2nd round that turned into the Clemens pick, a pick that has great value. Plus he seemed real sour on Clemens which probably contributed to the low grade. I think the fact that we got a 2nd for just moving down in the draft (and getting the player they wanted on top of it) should move the grade to a B at minimum. The writer at the time of course didn't realize this pick was instrumental in us acquiring TJ - but just just goes to show the value netting this pick had. You could also look at it as we got Clemens for free - we got back the second to use the following year. I definitely think this should have given consideration when evaluating the draft at the time.
I don't understand the high grade on the Drew Coleman pick. He was a 6th round pick and showed that in his playing ability. If it weren't for our terrible depth a cornerback, Coleman would have never played. It's a typical 6th round pick. The fact that he started shouldn't be the role player here, it should be the performance he had when he was on the field.
