Thread: Draft Mixed Blessing

So far, I think Emery has done a good job. Time will tell.

I look at the cumulative effect of both the draft AND the other personnel moves. It's all part of "one big picture" to me. I always look at the top 4 draft rounds as a top-tier. Anything later than that is a roll of the dice (more so anyway, than the top 4 rounds).

Most of those top 4 draft round players should be quality picks. I thought with Shea, Jeffery, Hardin & Rodriquez - we make our team significantly better. The Brandon Marshall - Ashlon Jeffrey combo, will pay off huge dividends for years to come. Gutsy move to come back in that 2nd round with another stellar WR. Also, we desperately needed a receiving TE, and Rodriguez looks to be a stud to me. Harden will heal and be fine. Liked the pick.

Regarding the offensive line, I'm thinking (hoping) he will now direct his efforts at building an NFL-quality oline. Like he did with the WR problem. Both the WR issues and the oline issues are chronic problems that have dogged us for years. Years.

He needs to stuff a sock into Tice's mouth when he does this. Tice believes he can transform any bum into a great olineman. He can't. I'm not sure he knows what he's doing. All talk. No show.

Let's see if Emery does something similar to what he pulled with the WR problem. Draft a high pick and also grab a top-tier FA. There will be one out there at the end of the season. But we'll have to pay for what we get. If Tice can't coach up "real" talent, then get rid of Tice. Get somebody here who is more than hot air talk. A guy who can deliver on what he promises.

This alone won't solve our oline woes, but it's a start. Maybe we also keep our eyes open for TRUE talented "projects" .....maybe come back with a 5th round pick or so, and then add a journeyman guy from FA too.

I don't know what/who you keep from this existing group. Carimi may be fine. C.Will at LG is good. Garza may have another year or two. The rest? Floating turds in the toilet. Maybe fish one or two out and keep them until we can get better guys.

It hasn't been a full year yet. Need to give Emery at least two-three years to see how his first draft class turns out.

Hardin is on IR, but he'll be back and be a huge contributor. Anyone can get hurt. Shea, Ashlon, & Rodgriquez are all solid. We didn't have a 5th round pick. The 6th & 7th round picks were long shots, and yet, even then, we'll get one of those guys on PS to groom for the future.

That's pretty decent. Especially when you consider the Brandon Marshall move.

Something else to consider when assessing Emery's first draft. He didn't have the time to put his draft team in place. Essentially, the scouting/evaluation personnel for "him who shall not be named" were the same. Any differences in this draft are due to a different person "pulling the trigger" as it were. It may just be that there were just not enough people/time to analyze all the data. This could explain why Emery "whiffed" on his last 2 draft picks.

I seem to recall that there is a direct relationship between the size of a teams' scouting department, and how well that team does in the draft. (Note: The Packers have one of the largest scouting departments in football, the Bears had one of the smallest.)

It should also be noted that one of Emery's changes has been to expand the teams scouting department considerably this off season. I don't believe he fired anyone, but he did create a bunch of new positions and then hired additional personnel to fill those roles.

I can only speak for myself, but I'm not to worried about whether Emery is a "draft guru" or a "draft goof" yet. One, it's too early to tell. Two, we have yet to see the full impact of everything that Emery is doing to improve the scouting department. Three, (this echoes what others have said) his off season moves outside of the draft have been impressive. This is exactly what you want out of a personnel acquisition guy.

Originally Posted by XaosGorilla

Something else to consider when assessing Emery's first draft. He didn't have the time to put his draft team in place. Essentially, the scouting/evaluation personnel for "him who shall not be named" were the same.

I completely agree. I was actually thinking the same when I was posting, but didn't mention it. I think that he was given the major points to fix and he really wasn't able to do the best scouting job. I think next year will be even more representative of an "Emery" draft.

You guys covered everything well . Stole all the . .............................

We got four keepers (one on IR) and one PS guys so far out of six picks. Given the vets ahead of them that's not too bad. But like gamma says it'll take another couple of years to know exactly how well this worked although I think all of expect at least McClellin and Jeffery to make some impact plays this year.

It doesn't seem to have made any difference that we didn't draft any OLineman in the 6th or 7th. James Brown was worth a pick there that luckily we didn't have to use and he didn't make the final roster. Another whose name that came up often as a late round pick we might have made is Andrew Datko. He's been cut as well. Maybe the overall supply of lineman just hasn't been that good or more likely these guys just don't have the goods to pass block in the NFL this early in there careers.

I'm not gonna hang him for whatever OLine problems he's inherited. There are other teams who are struggling with the same problems. Dallas just made a trade for an OG because of all the injuries there and GB is having trouble staffing their LT spot too. I think the caliber of OL in the draft just isn't that good which is why we aren't seeing any decent vets being released.

I looked over that waiver wire and there's zlich in the way of OT who have got what we're looking for even as a swing tackle. Nothing but rookies and failures. Hell if OMG can still hold down a job in the NFL you know it's not pretty.