Quote:
Originally Posted by "Marrdro" #1090068
I think you are seeing a trend the last few years that will continue this year.
More and more teams are waiting and taking RB's in the later rounds and still getting pretty damn good production out of them.
Unless you have something special like an AD sitting there, most teams seem to looking at DL, OL and other "safe" picks at the top of the board.
As Mr. A said, Ingram appears to be the only one of that ilk this year.
I agree with what Marr is trying to say here, but think it's just a little different than how he put it.
Where I depart from the quote has to do with the idea that OL and DL are "safe" picks at the top of the board.
It's a little more nuanced than that, or perhaps a better way of putting it is this-
There are a couple of kinds of "safe", and the trend of late has less to do with what we have traditionally considered the "safe" route, that is, take a highly-touted O-lineman early (for example) as he will fit in somewhere along that line, or take that "planet theory" (+300 lb athletes are rare) DL and develop him.
Here's the nuance- I believe teams have had SO MANY MISSES on both the O-line and d-line in later rounds COMPARATIVE to RB's (and WR's) that they pretty much know that to get real quality in the trenches, they have to go early.
You aren't going to get a prototypical LT much past the 1st round anymore, and THIS draft is one of the few in recent memory where you could probably get a quality DE past the 2nd.
Example:
My boy Bulaga FELL to us last year, and we were THRILLED he was there, and he is NOT a protypical LT- he's practically DAMAGED GOODS B)
His arms are at least a full inch "too short" for LT, and that is why he "lasted" that long.
I like the example of AD. IMO, if a RB doesn't project out to something like an AD, that prospect is far more like a "commodity-pick". For example, would anyone really be all that surprised if Ingram (consensus top RB, by far, imo) didn't even go until the 2nd round?
Would that ?ever? happen anymore with the top OT or DE ?
I think not.
I tried to explain this elsewhere by saying that the 2nd round is now the 1st round for RB's. This is an over-simplification, and I fully acknowledge the high number of RB's taken historically in the 1st round-
It's just my way of saying that you can get 1st round quality at that position later in a draft COMPARED to something like the "keys" in the trenches.
Foster's axiom:
Make your QB comfy, make the other team's not. The rest is gravy.;)