Excellent post. I think great teams have such theories. Bill Belicheck supposedly had such memorialized in a book which he brought with him when he interviewed for Cleveland. In the old days the Redskins carried this one step further and had ideas of how long it took a player to develop. For example, they tended to draft OL with good footwork in middle rounds, thinking that with one or two years of an NFL staff on conditioning and nutrition they could put the bulk on (i.e., they could more readily make them bigger, than they could make them nimble). More recently you see this with the Steelers where you get the sense there are some positions they're willing to invest in to retain (e.g, QB and OL) and other positions where they let people walk. I have never attempted such a theory however and if i did it would be nothing in comparison to yours. Just heard stories anecdotally.
Yeah, but those are fans, not GMs. Trading away draft picks was a Tanny specialty, and you know that I have continually blasted him over the years for that.
I agree with everything except the bolded sentence. The skill positions should not be afterthoughts or positions addressed once "the talent is depleted in the draft." That's a recipe for mediocre offense and a losing record.
As I watch more and more football I’m becoming convinced that the skill positions are just a reflection of the OL and QB, but I’ll accept an argument that you should *occasionally* invest a major resource into one
To an extent, they are. But, individual talent of the skill players matter. I don't believe Ardarius Stewart, Chad Hansen, or Jace Amaro would've made much of an impact even with a HOF QB and an OL full of all pros. Balance is needed.
Teams need to continuously draft players at high impact positions in the early rounds. The most impactful positions in today’s NFL are QB, OT (right and left), Edge, CB, and WR. GMs should be continuously adding to these 5 spots (4 if they have a QB). I personally don’t believe drafting DTs in the first round is a good strategy unless your team runs a 4-3. If you’re a 3-4 base, you can find guys in the later rounds to plug holes and eat blocks.
Currently most teams run nickel subs more often than “base” so you should be drafting for a 4 man front even if you are “3-4” as the Jets are.
Bingo. OL & QB are more important than WR; but that doesnt mean WRs arent important. And when team has repeatedly deprioritized WR & its repeatedly held the team back,things need to change if only temporarily to fix the issue. The brain & heart are more important than a liver.That doesnt mean you Prioritize the cardiologist when you’re pissing blood & your skin is turning Yellow.
