In his recent article about the best drafters in the NFL, John Clayton swallows the Patriots cool-aid. He lists Bill Polian and the Colts staff as being the second best talent evaluators in the NFL draft. He inexplicably put the Patriots staff as the best. There is simply no justification for the Pats even being in the top five. They are a great organization and a great team. They did not get that way by drafting well. In their last draft, only their first two picks made the team. They have repeatedly made it to the top by signing key free agents. Just two years ago, they whiffed on their first round pick by drafting Marooney over Joe Addai. There is no one in football that would make that mistake today. Clayton admits the Pats have the fewest of their own draft picks on their roster than any of the other listed teams (The Colts on the other hand had just 3 players on their roster last year who had played with other teams). Basically, the usually excellent Clayton is saying, "There's no evidence that they draft all that well...but they went 18-1 so they must be the best". Their DRAFT record simply doesn't match up with the other teams on this list. They may have a great front office, but that isn't what this piece is ranking. You can argue that they have a better strategy for team building or cap managment if you like. You can say they have the best organization in football if that's the way you swing.
You cannot say they are the best drafting team. It isn't true. Not by a long shot.
Also: Jacob sends us this link to describe how we all feel in late February.
Polian says all the big names will be fine for opening day...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Here's a link of interest to add to your Sampson/IU commentary...
http://flatusyahu.com/
currently the 2nd post down. The one with the Jones Soda bottles.
For more idiocy from the Bristol Boys, see this article. He's talking about players that are likely to be traded or cut. Specifically, this:
Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts
Reasoning: Harrison will be 36 in August and he missed a large chunk of last season with a knee problem that might not get a lot better. Sure, Harrison is a Colt through and through. But Tony Dungy and Bill Polian already have shown they won't let sentiment get in the way of sensibility (see Edgerrin James). Reggie Wayne has established himself as the No. 1 receiver and Anthony Gonzalez had a promising rookie season.
There is no WAY Harrison gets traded or cut. The only he doesn't play next year with the Colts is if he retires. James was a free agent looking for a big payday. Harrison is in the middle of a multi-year contract that would result in a massive cap hit if he were cut. That article is just pure speculative nonsense. Of course, what else should we expect from ESPN?
Even better: the morons commenting saying that the Colts should trade Harrison for Chad Johnson. Yeah, THAT'S gonna happen.
I know, I saw it last week. Somethings are just too stupid to even bring up.
RE: the draft, I did not read Clayton yet, but as one of our pet Pats fans pointed out a couple weeks ago when I ridiculed last year's draft, Welker and Moss. In a lot of places that would end the argument. They make it a pretty good "draft," without which they have no SB appearance and no MVP, no 16-0 reg season, etc. Now it's not a draft, technically speaking, but it is a reasonable proxy for one since they traded picks for these guys. (Also, how does losing your 1st rounder because you are a-holes count as good draft management?) Agreed on Lawrence "Fred Taylor Jr" Maroney, of course.
But this is EXACTLY my point. You can say that they have great strategies. You can argue that they are the savviest guys. You can't say that they do the best job of evaluating draft talent because they signed Welker and Moss. This article was limited to just the draft. You made my point.
Post a Comment